We Interupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...

Although this is my Cities of Death League Blog, I'm going to momentarily pause to tell about this weekend's event I'll be attending. After the witer holidays and some fieldwork caused me to get little-to-no gaming in, I decided it was time to get in a day's worth of 40k gaming. No good events were presenting themselves, though, so I decided to contact some friends and set-up a round-robin type of event. The original idea was for 4 of us to play a true Round Robin type event (i.e., where each player playes each other player once). Unfortunately, one of the 4 couldn't make it, so the three of us decided to open the event a little and make it a 6-person invitational event. As the three of us discussed what we wanted to do, it became apparent that we wanted what essentially would be an "anti-tournament" (thanks for coining the term, Mike). "What's an 'Anti-Tournament'?" you ask? Basically, it means every element of the event is geared towards being the opposite of what your standard 3-round RTT is.

• Custom Missions, with 2 assigned to each table (players dice to determine which one is played)
• 3 unique tables, one of which is Cities of Death
• 2500 points
• "anyting goes" (except no flyers, super heavies, or monstrosities) including variant army lists, Chapter Approved units, VDR, etc.
• 2 'longer' rounds (to accomodate the inflated points values)
• more relaxed lunch around the barbeque (burgers and brats) rather than the informal huddle around the pizza boxes
• NO scoring - just playing for playing's sake
• Door prizes for EVERYBODY

I'll be fielding my Deathwing army. I figured for a one-off event during a league, I'd field one of my non-league armies to "get a break". And since the release of Codex:Dark Angels, I have not had a chance to play my Deathwing. So it was a no-brainer!

So wish me luck. I'm REALLY looking forward to this event! While I sort-of came up with the original idea, I could NOT have done this without the help of Matt and Mike. So thanks guys - I'll try not to beat you up too badly w/ my 32 Terminators, 2 Land Raiders, and Dreadnought... ;-)

Game 3, Domination vs. SM (Dave)

Ok. So a second wind got this posted tonight. I figured if I didn't, it'd be next week before I got to it.

The third game of the league was the “Domination” CoD mission. This one is similar to the first week, but units must remain in the ruin to control it (rather than just drop a flag and move on). I played the sewer rats and medicae facility stratagems (although I totally forgot to use the medicae the one time a dire avenger died in that building). Dave chose the siege shells stratagem and the power generator (I think – the one that re-rolls missed to-hit rolls).

I won the roll for quarter and the roll to go first. The game started w/ Night Fight rules due to the Dusk and Dawn roll.


Turn 1 – both players
I went first and moved up some, behind some terrain (as much as possible). Dave also repositioned and moved up some w/ his assault squad/chaplain and tac squads. Neither of us could see, so little-to-nothing actually happened.

Turn 2 – Eldar
The Fire Dragons popped out of the sewers and wasted the Predator Destructor. Whew! I did NOT need that many autocannon and heavy bolter shots coming my way. The Farseer destroyed one of the Vindcators in an assault move. Whew! I did NOT need that pie-plate-of-death heading my way. The Harlequins (freshly primed, I might add) assaulted a Tactical squad and killed a few (there was a bottleneck and I barely got in base-to-base, so the Harlies didn’t get to attack a whole lot).

Turn 2 – SM
Combined fire from several tactical and devastator squads killed all 10 Fire Dragons. The assault squad and chaplain assaulted the Harlequins and killed a few; the Harlies split their attacks and whittled down both SM squads a bit.

Turn 3 – Eldar
My other sewer rat squad, a squad of Dire Avengers, came out of the same sewer opening the Fire Dragons did, entering a building, and bladestorming a Tactical squad, killing only 3. My shining spears assaulted the 2nd Vindicator and destroyed it w/ the Exarch’s Starlance. The Harlequins concentrate on the Chaplain and assault marines and in the process, wound the chaplain, but get cut down to only the Shadow Seer.

(interjection – with the Harlequins finally primed, I was looking for them to do some good for once. I’d say their performance wasn’t “great” per se, but it sure was heads-and-shoulders better than the first two games)

Turn 3 – SM
Much like the Fire Dragons last turn, concentrated fire from several SM units cut down the newly arrived Dire Avenger squad. A devastator squad shot at the Shining Spears, killing one. The Captain shot his storm bolter at the deployed Dire Avenger squad and killed one (this is where I forgot about my medicae facility). Finally, the Shadow Seer Harlequin misses the chaplain and gets waxed by a powerfist.

Turn 4 – Eldar
Things are really getting thick at this point and both Eldar and SM are dropping like flies… The deployed Dire Avenger squad bladestorms a tactical squad, killing 3 of the 5 there. Autarch jumps close to the Captain and instant killed him w/ a fusion gun shot. The Warp Spiders kill the remnants of the assault squad and chaplain with shooting. The Farseer assaulted a devastator squad to the tune of a 0/0 tie. The Shining Spears assaulted a tactical squad remnant and killed one.

Turn 4 – SM
One of Dave’s Devastator squads shot at the Warp Spiders and killed 4 of them, with the remainder of the unit failing their LD test and falling back. In my turn 5, the Spiders were too close to an enemy squad, so had to continue falling back; in turn 6 they finally regrouped, but too little, too late. Continuing w/ turn 4… The Eldar Farseer killed on devastator in close combat.

Turn 5 – Eldar
The Eldar forego shooting this turn. The Autarch assaults a Devastator squad, killing 2. The Farseer and other Devastator squad end in another 0/0 tie. The Shining Spears kill off the remainder of a tactical squad in the central building (thus claiming it).

Turn 5 – SM
A tactical squad repositions in a ruin and shoots at the two remaining Shining Spears, wounding twice, but both were saved (another “Whew!” moment, the Spears are still a scoring unit). A last man standing from a tactical squad moves up and flamers the shining spears, who saved against one wound. In the assault phase, the Farseer kills one more Devastator, but the rest pass their LD test to stay locked in combat. The Autarch kills one of the other Devastators, who also pass their LD test to stay locked in combat.

Turn 6 – Eldar
Its down to the wire folks. Most of the Eldar and SM are dead, and the 11th hour scramble for claiming objectives is in full tilt swing… The deployed Dire Avenger squad bladestorm a tactical squad, reducing it to 2 models. In the assault phase, the Autarch finishes off his Devastator opponents; the Farseer on the other hand, manages yet another 0/0 tie.

Turn 6 – SM
Somehow, the Shining Spears manage to stave off another flamer attack that was followed up by an assault.


In the end, the 2 shining spears captured the central building for me, and the Dire Avenger squad deployed into the medicae facility claimed that objective. Dave was also able to claim 2 objectives – the building the Fire Dragons and Sewer Dire Avengers couldn’t hold for an entire turn, and the building featuring the Farseer-Devastator squad combat (the Farseer as an independent character could not claim the objective, so his opponents did). In the end, this was just an excellent game. I had a ton of fun, and have to give Dave more Kudos! on his excellent Space Marine army!

So until next time, always keep in mind that the Turbo Boost button on your jetbike makes it harder for your enemies to hit you.

Week 3 Army Lists

Wow. This blog is late in coming. My game vs. Dave was like over 2 weeks ago. Better late than never…

This game, I decided to go with a much faster force and I also wanted to break out my Autarch since I had just finished a conversion of one. So here’s my list.

Autarch w/ Jump Generator, Fusion Gun, Power Weapon, Mandiblasters
Farseer w/ Jetbike, Fortune, Doom, Spirit Stones
8 Harlequins incl. Shadowseer (w/ H-kiss), 4x H-kiss, 2x Fusion Pistols, 1x Shu-Pistol/CCW
10 Fire Dragons incl. Exarch w/ Firepike
2 squads of 10 Dire Avengers incl. Exarch w/ Shu-Pistol and Diresword and Bladestorm
10 Warp Spiders incl. Exarch w/ Powerblades, 2x Death Spinners, and Withdraw
5 Shining Spears incl. Exarch w/ Starlance, Skilled Rider, and Withdraw

I did not get a chance to write-down Dave’s SM list, so have to go by a bit of memory and a few notes. Before I get to the list, I have to say, Dave’s SM army is incredible. It LOOKS awesome. It is well painted, features several nice conversions, and many older minis – combined these elements made for an excellent army. But wait, there’s more. Dave told me the backstory about the Chapter (I won’t go into it, I would not do the story justice) and how that guided the Traits he chose. Also, to fit with his fluff, Dave chooses to field ONLY low-level HQs. In essence, his Chapter is a Siege chapter. So he uses the “Devastators can = Elites” trait and the “heavy weapons can be exchanged for assault weapons” trait. The drawbacks were no scouts and no infiltrators (I think). Anyway, Kudos to Dave for his excellent army. Onto the vague list…

Low level Commander
Low level Chaplain
6 (or so) Assault Marines without the jetpacks
2 or 3 Tactical squads w/ 8 (or so) marines, melta and flamer
2 or 3 Devestator squads (6-man, I think) w/ Missiles and Heavy Bolters
Predator Destructor
2 (Yes, TWO) Vindicators


I’ll *TRY* to get a bat-rep up tomorrow night, but I’m striving to have a Deathwing “Belial” and Deathwing Terminator Interrogator-Chaplain painted for an event this weekend (Belial is half done, I-C is about 1/3 done). Until then, keep the mandiblasters charged-up and the teeth of your scorpion chainsword razor sharp!