Tuesday 10 January 2017

A Resurrection

So its about damn time I resurrected this blog and showed some actual work. And what better way that to start from the beginning. The XVI Company has undergone a serious fluff and paint overhaul since I last showed anything and hopefully this'll better represent my vision of the III Legion and how I wanted my army to work.

The Story so Far

Under the orders of the Primarch Fulgrim the 8th Millennial had been dispatched to the Terion System alongside Imperial Army support in order to bring the worlds into the Imperial fold. However what was thought to be a peaceful, if archaic system turned out to be under the control of a form of unknown psychic Xenos. With enemy armies controlled by these shady figures similar to a hive mind, the Emperor's Children found themselves fighting a protracted campaign against an unforgiving force that inflicted heavy attrition on the Imperial Forces. It would be 5 Terran years before the fourth and final planet in the system had been brought under Imperial rule, and the Emperor's children had lost no less than 15% of their Legionnaires, whilst the Imperial Army suffered roughly 40% casualties. During this period of isolation, the mood of the 8th Millennial had shifted to one of deep cynicism, criticism of the Warmaster and the Great Crusade was spoken of in hushed tones in the Officer's lodge, and amongst the Imperial Army campaign fatigue had settled in, with many forces requesting colony rights in the new system - something vehemently denied by newly arrived civilian administrators.

It was then with great pleasure Lord Commander Sebastian received news of an approaching Emperor's Children cruiser, fresh from the Istvaan System, bringing the news of the Primarch's latest deeds and presumably reinforcements. When the vessel arrived it hailed the 8th Millennial as brothers in arms and it was agreed a great mustering would take place on the planet of Terion Primus to celebrate victory and presumed redeployment.  As the first landing craft began to descend the 8th Millennial arrayed its full might outside the planetary capital below, some 1700 Legionnaires, supported by thousands of Imperial Army men and war machines, their armour polished and repaired, banners weighed down with battle honours and oaths fufilled. At the head of these massed ranks stood Lord Commander Sebastian and his Officer cadre, eager to reacquaint themselves with their esteemed battle brothers.

However those Astartes who emerged from the landing storm eagles was nothing akin to the brothers once departed. Filthy, deformed, corrupt marines strolled out of opening doors, the stench of exotic perfume rolling along the ground like a carpet of pink phosphex. The leader of this force, a mere Centurion by the name of Allois, swaggered at the head of his force, draped in furs and leathers like some strutting peacock. As more drop ships disgorged ranks of traitor humans and chapter serfs Allois approached Sebastian, his arms wide to greet Sebastian in embrace. His warmth was met with cold legion salute and harsh questions. Allois appeared to relish in the shock of his superiors, and explained gladly the events that had transpired at Istavaan III and V.

This cheerful regalement of a story wrought with death and betrayal greatly angered Sebastian, who had held close a number of those brothers who had fallen on Istvaan III. In a fit of rage he drew his arcane paragon blade and separated Allois' head from his shoulders, cutting short his traitorous tirade. Refusing to believe the fall of his beloved Primarch and Legion, Sebastian was further rocked to the core when the arriving force retaliated to the death of their commander en masse, cutting down the 8th's Legionnaires where they stood with a vicious torrent firepower. The ensuing battle was bloody, and many of the 8th were slaughtered like cattle, as companies in full ceremonial formation attempted to organise reactions to the enemy attack. The fight would take nearly twenty hours, and it saw the 8th Millennial eventually every last traitor Legionnaire, war machine and orbital vessel to the sword. The heresy had come to the 8th Millennial, and it had torn them asunder. From its starting 2000 Legionnaires and 200 armoured vehicles there now remained around 800 men and 60 machines, whilst its army support by this stage stood at around 20% of its starting size (some 22,000 fighting men).

Shattered, broken, but not defeated Lord Commander Sebastian Rallied and reorganised his forces into a cohesive fighting unit, assembling the Astartes into the 16 independent battle companies, each outfitted to fight on its own or as part of a larger operation. With this change Sebastian also introduced the new name 'XVI Company' as a show of separation from their old roots and fallen legion. During this period of reorganisation reports slowly leaked into the system of the wider galaxy at war, and the Officer's soon fell around discussing just where the company's loyalties lay. Their Legion, and the Warmaster who commanded them, were denounced as traitors and betrayers, however the Imperium was still referred to as the unwanted taskmaster, who had driven the legionnaires and men into the meat-grinder with no reward or respect. Fears were also raised that, as Sebastian refused to remove the purple and gold livery, their forces may be labelled traitors by their more zealously loyal brothers. With this in mind the company elected to fight as a fleet based operation, using their low numbers and mobility to wreak bloody havoc among Horus' stolen territories - a vengeance for brothers lost...

So the XVI, whilst still Excommunicatus Traitoris, have elected to retain more traditional Legion beliefs and standards, something I'll embellish on as I show more units, however for now enjoy the angel himself:
The new Lord Commander Illustria Angeleon Sebastian; Conqueror of Darin, 'The Winged Astartes'
(On top of the traitor Allois no less)





Friday 27 February 2015

Weekender Part 2 - Batle Reports!

So with the weekender came the lovely mini-campaign that forgeworld love to set up, and naturally I can't resist joining. Over the Saturday the XVI took part in 3 separate combats and gave the Loyalists 3 victory points (d'oh!)

Battle 1: 1000pts vs Mechanicum

So first up was a 1k points game against the mechanicum, where the XVI and their solar allies attempted a small sale flanking manoeuvre against loyalist defenders. Rolling 'big guns never tire' made it interesting - as my opponents bright yellow mechanicum had a Thanatar and my SA had a Demolisher with tank commander.

Deployment:
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Summary: Over the 5 game turns my assault troops and centurion flank attacked - only to be wiped out by the enemy Castellax in combat! The Demolisher weathered a series of shots from the Thanatar - wounding a few Castellax before its eventual destruction in combat. My Volkite support squad tried to flank an objective but were shot down, and finally the Lasrifles (after nearly running off the field in the 1st turn) attempted to kill the enemy's 3 Thallax (wounding one in combat).
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                           The assault Squad Attempts a Charge!                                                                                       After some swift butchery - the castellax carry on regardless.

Battle 2: 2600pts vs Iron Hands

So against the Iron Hands we decided on the Event special game mode called "The Oncoming Storm" in this mode there is one 'rally point' objective, placed by the loyalists and worth D3 VPs. Any unit within 6" of the rally point are fearless and have counter attack (representing how both sides see it as a vital capture point). The game begins with only the troops from the primary detachment on the table - everything else being in reserves. VPs are scored for units killed or falling back, with loyalists scoring extra for any traitor units in the traitor deployment zone, and traitors scoring for any of their units in the loyalist deployment zone. To make this even more complex we rolled diagonal deployment.

Deployment:
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The Iron Hands place their rally point in a building at the far corner of the map - putting a full squad of tac marines on it.
His forces: Autek Mor, Castman Orth, Pravius with 2 Castellax, 2 Tac squads, Sicaran Venator, Contemptor with two ccw, Vindicator, 3 graviton rapiers, whirlwind and a typhon.

My Forces: Sebastian and Command Squad with Power Axes, 2 Assault Squads, Ventrix, Iosef with 10 Terminators, techmarine, Predator, Demolisher with SA commander, 20 lasrifles, Thunderbolt.

The Game: His first turn involves moving his one squad to the roof of a building, I start off by moving around the board on two flanks. 
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Turn two for him saw everything bar Mor and the Typhon immediately come out of reserves, with the castellax, contemptor and vindicator taking shots at the assault squad to the right flank. In return my lasrifes, Thunderbolt, pred, Sebby and Ventrix all appear on the board (the two jump units deepstriking). The Thunderbolt immediately opens up on the vindicator and wrecks it in a salvo of missiles, autocannons and lascannons. Meanwhile the remaining men of the right assault squad charged the castellax and were torn up in overwatch.
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Turn Three saw no new units for him arriving, however the Iron Hands worked to consolidate their position - damaging the Thunderbolt and killing some of the remaining assault squad. In response my Terminators, Techmarine and Demolisher enter the field, two making a direct line for the enemy positions whilst the Techmarine held behind the tank. The Thunderbolt left the field at this time too. My shooting vaguely damaged the contemptor and the venator - however nothing serious was killed or destroyed.
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Turn for for the IH saw combined firepower take down the assault squad and all of Sebastian's command Squad, along with the Venator immediately destroying the Demolisher and the contemptor jiggering the poor predator. Also the Typhon arrived and immediately shot at my terminators, whilst Mor just joined the Tac squad on the objective. In return my Thunderbolt put an end to Orth's venator (though not killing the character - who got in the Typhon) and saw Sebastian charging into the Graviton rapiers - killing 4 of 6 crew.
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Over the last two turns - the IH killed Ventrix before he could charge, the contemptor turned and butchered the poor lasrifles, the Terminators weathered ludicrous whirlwind and Typhon fire. Sebastian killed the remaining crew, followed by the sergeant and three men of the nearby tactical squad, before being brought low by sheer numbers. The game ended with 2 of my units in enemy zones (The Thunderbolt and Iosef) and a victory for the loyalists.

The Last Game I forgot to take pictures of - but consisted of an unholy alliance of Space Wolves and "Loyalist" Thousands sons (both using just normal legiones lists) facing the XVI in a 4200pts game. To summarise the XVI did awfully well, with Sebastian and his Squad teaming up with a lone sergeant to kill 16 assault marines and Praetor - THEN another 10 Vets - THEN Sebastian weathered an entire enemy shooting phase before eventually dying, Centurion Valentine (Siege Breaker with Thunder Hammer) one shot killing a contemptor mortis, An Auxilia Techmarine and Servitors killing a jetbike Squadron and the Thunderbolt being shot out of the sky by a single intercepting, rending sicaran shot!


Overall Summary: Damn good gaming!  If I can take anything away from the weekend its that:
- forgetting my rapier crew is a terrible idea.
- Also that I need to not take allies in a Heresy game under 3000pts, as it only hinders what I can fit into the army list.
- Iron Hands Pravius with Castellax is expensive but bloody hurts/Castellax bloody hurt!
- Always take Blast Chargers on lasrifles - would have allowed me to wound the castellax and rear of the contemptor.

Monday 9 February 2015

The Weekender Part1

So I went to the Horus Heresy Weekender again! ^^ As such I'm just going to do a nice big photo-dump in the half half, to get all the art/explanation of new stuff out the way!

First up is the new Mhara Gal Dreanought - a beast!

These are the two event special models/unique characters.

New rapiers for the SA

Vindicator Laser Destroyer

Its a WIP - but its very akin to the thunderfire/achilles mortar.

SA Command section - not totally sold on em myself.

The Latest Marine flyer - definitely not a viper ;)

Deredeo Dreadnought with Plasma Carronade.

The new Thanatar Calix (possibly in Book 5)

Next up is the new board done for Tempest = Ultras fighting Word Bearers!






Heres some of the announcements made in the new models!

SA Command Squad
New Tech Magos
Scyllax Guardians
The Thanatar Calix
Mechanicus Ordinatus! >:D
New Reaver Weapons
Redoubt with Turbo Laser (Note this will be swappable with the Reaver Missile Launcher.
Thunderhawk Landing Pad
Raven Guard Upgrades - including MKVI shoulders
Dynat!
A named Daemon Prince from Book 6 (the Shadow Crusade)
The Viper ;)
The Sokae Class Stormbird - smallest Stormbird Class


Meduson - a numbered release novel only available from Warhammer World

Book 5!


Ultras designs/ideas (its still WIP though)

Roboute himself - to be timed to release with Tempest.
Ultras Upgrade Packs.
As for extra bits - the main thing I found through talking with Mark Bedford, was that he's been really psyched over designing the Invictas Wardens for the Ultras. These are the captains in the making - armed with "Axes of Macragge", Boarding Shields and Personalised Armour (likely Artificers) I'm interested in where they'll feature. (Could possibly see them as an alternate to Honour Guard)

That's the main bits of info that I'm assured about - and Im sure you've already seen plenty from other sources too - stay tuned for battle reports!