Jodrell Plays Games

Last weekend, Rob and I fought another 2,000 point Legions Imperialis game, but now that he’s repainted his army as Ultramarines, we can now situate our battles in the Shadow Crusade, the classic “red vs blue” conflict of the Horus Heresy.

Rather than decide on the mission and secondary objectives on the day, we rolled for them in advance. This allowed us to tailor our lists accordingly, which made for a more thematic game.

The mission we played was Conquest:

Fortuitously, Rob rolled Breakthrough for his secondary objective, while I rolled Defiant. This meant that we were set up for a classic attacker-vs-defender battle: if he was able to penetrate my deployment zone, he’d win, but if I could maintain control of it, I’d win.

Accordingly, I created a very defensive list, consisting of two Legion Garrison Forces, filled with Deredeo dreadnoughts, tarantulas and rapiers, a Legion Armoured Company, a Legion Demi-Company and a Warlord titan. Rob’s army was highly mobile, with lots of Scimitar jetbikes, Sicaran tanks, and Predators.

In the end, Rob was unable to penetrate the wall of iron I’d built around my deployment zone, and when my Leviathan dreadnoughts demolished the building his Reaver was hiding behind, and my Warlord destroyed it in a single salvo, he conceded the game at the end of the third turn. Victory was mine!

More pictures below the fold…

This game was a rematch of the last one - same opponent, same venue, but we downscaled to 2,000 points, which I actually think I like a bit more than the 3,000-point standard game size.

We played the “Confrontation” mission, and both rolled the “Breakthrough” secondary objective, meaning that we both had to try to reach each other’s table edge before the end of the game.

I managed to score a win, thanks mainly to a mistake on my opponent’s part, as he hadn’t appreciated that the assault troops and Sicaran tanks that were on his side of the board were heading for his table edge, and not trying to outflank his garrisoned positions.

The smaller game size made for a less cumbersome and more enjoyable game. We have another game planned for next month, and I’m going to suggest that we roll for mission and secondary objective beforehand, as I think being able to tailor your list for the mission will add some depth to the game.

More photos below the fold!

A couple of weeks ago I pitted 3,000 points of my Word Bearers against a combined force of Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors. The venue was the superb Mug and Meeple in Gravesend.

I won’t say that I played with a great deal of tactical acumen, but I held up pretty well despite the occasional blunder and it was still a load of fun.

Plenty more pictures below the fold!

Last night I schlepped up to the big smoke to play my first game of Legions Imperialis with my good friend Rob (for whom it was also his first game). We each had 1,500 points of Legiones Astartes (me Word Bearders, him Sons of Horus) and played the “Retrieval” mission.

In this mission there are three objectives placed on the centre line of the table. The twist is that if you control an objective at the end of the round you can move it up to 5 inches.

As you might imagine, this setup meant that we ended up getting into close combat pretty quickly and the game was fast and bloody. We’re both veterans of 2nd Edition Epic: Space Marine and NetEpic so the game felt pretty familiar, with the difference from the old systems suiting the Heresy-era setting very well.

We both had loads of fun and will be playing another game soon!

More pictures below the fold.

The other week Mark and I got in a game of Gaslands, having been inspired after picking up Gaslands Refuelled and a bunch of accessories at Salute.

Despite barely managing half a lap of the circuit, we had loads of fun, with lots of wipeouts and general mayhem, and I'm sure we'll be playing more of it in the future.

More pictures below the fold.

As (possibly) previously mentioned, my home town is lucky enough to have (a) a great independent wargames store, and (b) a High Lord of Terra and New York Times bestelling author, who is also the unofficial patron the aforementioned store.

Last weekend, No Mans Land had a grand re-opening in its new location in a swanky shopping arcade, and Dan came along to sign books, answer questions from the gathered throng, and throw some dice and push some models around a table.



Dan played two games of Epic - one versus me, and then another (which I GMd) against Darren (also known as The Burning Beard), another store regular, using the NetEpic rules, slightly modified to suit small Adeptus Titanicus games.

In the first game, we took one Warlord, Reaver and Warhound each and squared up against each other. I was able to knock out his Reaver in the first turn. My Warhound survived a strafe from his Warlord and ended up in close combat with the Dan's Warhound. Meanwhile, our Warlords went toe-to-toe with almost identical loadouts: my titan had twin Gatling Blasters, A Quake Cannon and a Volcano Cannon, Dan's had twin Gatling Blasters and twin Volcano Cannon. Dan's only mistake was moving his titan when could have stood still; that meant that I could open up on him in First Fire before he could hit me (he'd won initiative). My Gatlings and Quake Cannon stripped his remaining shields, and the Volcano Cannon dealt the final blow.

For his second game, Dan wanted to do something a bit different, and decided that he wanted to take out my Imperator, Machinator Formidabilis ("Fearsome Engine" in Low Gothic), against a pack of four Warlords, commanded by Darren.

The game began, and the Imperator stood and watched (and saved up plasma in its reactor) as the Warlords approached.

But calamity! In a well co-ordinated (and unexpected) surprise attack, all four Warlords pounced at once, stripping the Imperator's shields and starting to do damage! First a gun tower was knocked out, then a sensorium. Just when it seemed that the Machinator was going to survive the turn without any serious damage, a deflected shot took out the coupling on the left arm, and the mighty Plasma Annihilator came crashing to the ground!

With Machinator's most deadly weapon wrecked, and surrounded on all sides, there was little that Dan could do as the Warlords moved in for the kill. One of the Warlords was reduced to slag by the defence laser, but in the same turn, a shot from the rear penetrated the plasma reactor, and KABOOM! For the first time in twenty years of combat, my beloved Machinator Formidabilis was destroyed in a mighty conflagration.

Despite the ignominious defeat of an ancient and noble God-engine, great fun was had by all, and No Mans Land had a fitting and enjoyable (if rather chilly) re-opening.