40k From Nowhere, USA

Hey All,

So I am now in the process of starting to paint my newest model, Captain Lysander. I have a feeling that eventually he will become the centerpiece of my army. The reason being because he is the only named character that the Imperial Fists are provided with. But looking at it right now he looks amazing! The detail that was put into this model is fantastic. I sure hope that I am up to the job of painting him to the level that he deserves.

This is also my first attempt at a picture log of my painting. Hopefully I can do this proud. Eventually this might turn into a painting tutorial. So anyway, without further to do lets get started.

Lysander is a cool model. I started by removing everything from the sprue. Then I glued him onto the base because it seemed to be the easiest way to glue him together. Then I primed him. Here are some pictures:







Anyway, look for more to come soon. Thanks for looking.

Hello All,

One of the things that I want to do with this blog is showcase and document my painting. One of my goals as a 40k player is to become a better and better painter. Perhaps I will showcase some of my other models sometime. Today however is about my first Legion of the Damned model. I have a squad of 10 that I will get painted, but this first one was a test model that I wanted to finish up. I am actually quite happy with the result. The bone on the face is a little chalky, otherwise I think it came out good.

The basing was a result of reading the limited fluff that I have on the Legion of the Damned. I imagine that the Legion is shrouded in mystery. I imagine that when they appear on the battlefield that they turn all of the natural systems of the universe upside down, so I made the ground glow an eerie green when they are walking across the battlefield. Just imagine that you are a Space Marine that is on the final stand on your homeworld. All hope is lost, you know as well as everyone else in your squad that you will die. So as a Space Marine, you choose to die with honor for the Emperor. Suddenly the enemy gets put into chaos. The Legion of the Damned have arrived and are fighting off the enemy. How did they arrive? They weren't teleported in like Terminators, there are no ships in orbit. There did not come in via drop pod. They seemingly come into existence. and there is an odd glow about them.

It isn't quite noticeable in the pictures but I attempted to do a glow effect on the models legs. Anyway here they are, enjoy!

Shared Force Organization Tournament
The local game store I play at started a Team Tournament where the team gets 3000 pts and each player gets to spend 1500 pts within a shared force organization chart. My partner and I both play Imperial Guard, our combined list is posted below, and our first game was against a combined Black Templars/Salamanders list. The game was annihilation for 6 rounds and no rolls, so basically the game only had 6 rounds... no more, no less... The Battle Report begins after the lists.

Imperial Guard Team

HQ

Company Command Squad - 50
Medi Pack - 30
Grenade Launcher - 5
Heavy Flamer - 20
Master of Ordanance - 30
Colonel Straken - 95
Nork Deddog - 110
Total: 340

Troops

Platoon 1

Platoon Command Squad - 30
lascannon - 20
sniper rifle - 5
Total: 55

Infantry Squad - 50
lascannon - 20
Total: 70

Infantry Squad - 50
lascannon - 20
Total: 70

Veterans - 70
sniper rifle - 5
sniper rifle - 5
sniper rifle - 5
lascannon - 20
Gunnery S. Harker - 55
Total: 160

Platoon 2

Al'Rahem Command Squad 30
lascannon 20
plasma gun 15
plasma gun 15
Al'rahem 70
Total: 150

Infantry squad 50
lascannon 20
Total: 70

Infantry squad 50
lascannon 20
Total: 70

Infantry squad 50
plasma gun 15
Total: 65

Infantry squad 50
flamer 5
Total 55

Heavy weapons team 60
lascannon 15
lascannon 15
lascannon 15
Total: 105

Fast Armoured Sentinel Squad (3) 165
plasma cannon 20
plasma cannon 20
plasma cannon 20
Total: 225

Elite

Guardsman Marbo 65

Fast Attack
Vendetta - 130
3x Twin-linked Lascannons

Valkyrie - 130
Multilaser
2x Rocket Pods

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Squad 1 - 370
Leman Russ 1
Battle Cannon
Lascannon
Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Leman Russ 2
Battle Cannon
Lascannon
Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Leman Russ Squad 2 - 640
Leman Russ 1
Battle Cannon
Lascannon
Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Leman Russ 2
Battle Cannon
Lascannon
Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Leman Russ 3
Pask
Battle Cannon
Lascannon
Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Heavy Stubber
Dozer Blade
Extra Armor

Leman Russ Executioner - 230
Executioner Plasma Cannon
Plasma Cannon Sponsons
Heavy Bolter

3000 pts

Salamanders and Black Templars Team

HQ

Vulkan 190

High Marshal Helbrecht 175. Command Squad of 9 Marines 144. Frag and Krak Grenades 27. Meltagun 10. Crusader Seals 18. Seargeant 15. Term Honors for Remainder of squad 80. Furious Charge 30. Rhino 50, Power Fist 25. 584 total.

Emperor's Champion 90. Accept any Challenge, no matter the Odds 50. 140

Troops
Scout Squad 75, 2 extra scouts 26, 6 sniper rifles 0, Missile Launcher 10, Melta bombs 5, teleport homer 15, camo cloaks 21, power fist 25. 177

Tac Squad 90, 5 extra marines 80, flamer 0, multi melta 0, combi melta 10, rhino 35, extra armor 15. 230

Tac Squad 90, 5 extra marines 80, meltagun 5, multi melta 0, combi flamer 10, rhino 35, extra armor 15. 235

Crusader Squad 10 Initiates, 160. Neophyte 10. Plasma Cannon 20. Meltagun 10. Krak Grenades 22. 222.

Elites

Terminator Assault Squad 200. Thunder hammers and storm shields 0. 200

Terminator Assault Squad at 7 terms, 240 Crusader Seals 14. Furious Charge 21. Land Raider Crusader 265. 540

Dreadnought 105. Heavy flamer replacing storm bolter 10. 115

Fast Attack

Land Speeder 50, Multi melta 10, heavy flamer 10. 70.

Assault Squad 100, Melta bombs 5, Power Weapon 15. 120

Heavy support

Predator 60. Side sponsons with heavy bolters 25. 85

3000 pts

---------------------------------------------------------

IG won the roll and went first deployed first.

Guard Deployment

I deployed my squad of 3 Leman Russes in one corner and Pask's Squad in the other corner, since it was a pitched set-up i tried to cover as much of the table with guns as possible. My executioner deployed in the middle. My partner then placed a meat shield of regular guardsmen with a Lascannon in front of my 3 Leman Russes and then deployed his Sentinels behind a building, just in case they stole the initiative, and placed the rest of his platoon across the board behind walls for cover. Company Command Squad is placed behind the 3 Lascannons squad. My Vendetta was placed in front of the Squad of 3 Lemans as far up to 12" as it could go and my Valkyrie was placed in front of my Executioner to prepare for their scout moves. This ends our Deployment.

Space Marines Deployment

The space marines players deployed in a denied flank set-up with the Emperor's Champion's Land Raider Crusader in the far corner facing Pask's squad, a Predator, Rhino carrying Helbrecht and Vulkan's Land Raider Crusader beside a building facing the heavy weapon's squad. A black templar squad with a Plasma Cannon holed up in the building next to the Predator and a Rhino with a Salamander Tac Squad hide behind the same building. A dreadnought lined up in front of a rhino carrying another Salamander Tac Squad. This ends their deployment.

Infiltrators

My teammate infiltrates Gunnery Sergeant Harker's Squad into a set of barricades set up in a square. Salamanders player infiltrates scouts into a fortified wall/bunker in the middle.

Scout Moves

My Vendetta moves up to hide behind building on the right side of table. Valkyrie moves up to face Scouts.

Stealing Initiative - fails

Guard Turn 1

Movement phase

Vendetta moves up beside Gunnery Sergeant Harker's squad to gain LOS on the Salamander's Rhino hiding behind the building. Executioner moves up 6". Sentinels move 12" behind Executioner. Everything else stays still.

Shooting Phase

Orders- Take it down fails for 3 Lascannon squad but passes for the Single Lascannon squad next to it.
Vendetta fires at Rhino and causes a wrecked result causing Tac Squad to get out. Battle Cannons from the squad of three fire into the building killing 2 Templars, causing them to move out of the building 3". Valkyrie fires Rocket pods and Multilaser into Scouts but only causes 2 scouts to die, he missed his 3+ cover saves. 3 Lascannons fire and hit the rhino but only shakes it. The now twin-linked Lascannon hits the Pred and causes it to explode. Pask's Squad misses all of its shots... Sad day :( Orbital Bombardment fires into building but deviates into Rhino that was shaken earlier, and immobilizes it. Lascannon squad by Executioner fires at Dreadnought but only causes a shaken as well... Rolls were pretty bad for both sides this turn. Gunnery Sergeant Harker's squad missed the dreadnought with everything. This ends our shooting.

Assault Phase

Being guard and it's the first turn, there were obviously no assaults.

Space Marine Turn 1

Movement Phase

Dreadnought moves towards Vendetta and pops smoke. Rhino that was behind it moves towards the Executioner 12". The immobilized Rhino (Helbrecht's) sits tight keeping the guys safe inside. Emperor's Champion's LRC (Land Raider Crusader) moves 12" towards Pask's Squad. Vulkan's LRC moves up behind the immobilized Rhino, scared to take the test to get by it. Everything else stays still..

Shooting Phase

Scouts try to fire missile into Valkyrie but only shake it. All other shooting was inconclusive. Yet another shooting phase of bad rolls.

Assault Phase

No assaults

Guard Turn 2

Reserve rolls bring in Al'Rahem's Platoon on the Left board side by Pask's Squad. 30 guys blobbed together with a meat shield of 10 in front of that.

Movement Phase

Vendetta moves 6" back away from the Dreadnought. Executioner moves 2" to get better LOS on the approaching Rhino. Valkyrie Moves sideways 6" (Looking back, this was a dumb move which ultimately causes the loss of my Valkyrie). Pask's Squad rotates to face the on coming EC's (Emperor's Champion) LRC. Squad of 3 Leman Russes move left 6" to get better LOS on the building containing the Black Templars. Everything else stays still.

Shooting Phase

Gunnery Sergeant Harker fires Lascannon at the Dreadnought, goes through the smoke, only to shake it again! My Vendetta's 3 lascannons did the same. This was very saddening but we figured out later we were using the wrong (each other's) dice (My partner is very superstitious about his dice). 3 Lascannons failed to damage Vulkan's LRC. The Lascannon team that was twin-linked last turn blew off the storm bolter. The squad of 3 Lemans cause 2 more wounds which moves the Templars in the building 5 more inches towards my Valkyrie, a.k.a. out of the building and slowly out into the open. The executioner, after the Sentinels failed to do anything to the rhino, cause it to explode which also kills 2 Salamander Marines that were inside, leaving 8 in a crater. End of Shooting.

No Assaults this turn either.

Space Marine Turn 2

Reserves bring in Assault Marines which come in on the table edge, and moved in right next to Harker's Squad.

Movement phase

Dreadnought moved 6" towards my Vendetta. Salamanders that got rudely kicked out of their Rhino on the first turn move into the building with the Templars. EC's LRC moves up and releases its load of Termies and the EC himself. Everything else stood still.

Shooting Phase

Scouts fire a Krak into Valkyrie and cause it to become Stunned. Multimelta from the Salamanders in their crater misses. Assault marines fire pistols into Harker's squad causing 2 veterans to die. EC's LRC fires Multimelta (not within 2d6 range) into Pask's Squad and fail to hit. No other Shots were taken.

Assault Phase

Assault marines assault into Harker's Squad, causing 6 wounds but taking 1 from the squad. Harker's remaining unit, the lascannon, runs away but is not caught and heads towards the 3 Leman Russes. EC and his squad charge into the meat shield of guard in front of the blobbed Platoon. They kill all of them with just the EC and the Lightning Claws, Hammers never went off.

Guard Turn 3

Movement Phase

Vendetta moves 12" to get side armor on the Dreadnought. Lascannon runs 3" more. Sentinels move over to get LOS on the Termies and EC. Executioner moves back 6" to get away from Multimelta just enough. Nothing else moves.

Shooting Phase

Pask's Squad fires into the Termies and only kills 1 due to Stormshield saves. Executioner fires into crater squad and kills 6 leaving 2 left. Sentinels fire into Termies and kill 3 more. Blob platoon first rank fire second rank fires into the Termies as well and causes 16 wounds which are all but 2 saved. Vendetta fires 2 lascannons into the dread and causes it to explode. Squad of 3 Leman Russes fire into the scouts and only kills 1 (a little streak of bad rolling on my part with good cover save rolling on my opponents). This ends shooting.

Assault Phase

None.

Space Marine Turn 3

Reserve rolls bring in the Land Speeder which moves from the table edge and goes to face off with my Vendetta.

Movement Phase

Assault Marines move up to assault the Lascannon running away. EC and squad moves up to charge blob. EC LRC moves up to prepare to fire into Pask's Squad. Salamanders Squad moves further into building. Vulkan's LRC moves up beside Valkyrie. Helbrecht and his squad get out of their immobilized Rhino to fire into a Lascannon guardsmen squad. Everything else stands still.

Shooting Phase

Scouts, and Plasma Cannon Squad fire into Valkyrie only stunning it. Vulkan's LRC fired its Multimelta into the Valkyrie as well causing it to Explode. Salamanders in crater manage to glance and immobilize my executioner (Guess I didnt move far enough). Multimelta on the EC's LRC fires into Pask's Squad and blows off a battle cannon on the other tank. Land Speeder misses its multimelta and prepares for pain.

Assault Phase

EC and Termies assault blob squad and cause 11 wounds but takes 1 causing the blob squad to run away. Assault Marines assault the running away Lascannon and kill it easily and consolidate closer to the 3 Leman Russes.

Guard Turn 4

Movement Phase

3 Leman Russes rotate to face Assault Marines. Pask aims his turret towards Helbrecht's squad out in the open. Blob squad runs around Pask's tank 2".

Shooting Phase

Orders - Get back in the fight on the blob squad - passes and so does first rank fire second rank fire
3 Leman Russes fire into Assault Marines and kills all 5. Vendetta fires all three lascannons into Land Speeder and causes it to explode. Pask fires into Helbrecht's squad and kills 9 Marines leaving a sergeant and Helbrecht, his squad then moves 5" forward after their leadership check. Blob squad fires into Termies and EC and causes 13 wounds but only kills 1 Termie. Sentinels finish off the squad.

Assault Phase

None

Space Marine Turn 4

Movement Phase

Vulkan's LRC moves towards the immobilized Executioner and releases its Termies and Vulkan. Helbrecht moves to assault a Guardsmen squad with a lascannon beside the squad of 3 lascannons. EC's LRC moves up 6" to fire more into Pask.

Shooting Phase

Plasma Cannon kills 7 in the blob squad, they pass their leadership. EC's LRC fires into Pask but fails to do anything. the other LRC misses the Executioner. Scouts fire a Krak into the Sentinels and wrecks one.

Assault Phase

Helbrecht assaults the Guardmen and kills 6 and the rest are swept. The duo consolidates towards the Company Command Squad. Termies and Vulkan assault and explode Executioner.

Guard Turn 5

Reserve Rolls bring in Marbo and he infiltrates into cover next to the EC's LRC.

Movement Phase

Vendetta Rotates to get LOS on Vulkan's LRC. 3 Leman Russes Rotate to face Termies and Vulkan. Pask rotates to fire on EC's LRC. Sentinels move back to help out with Termies. the Company Command Squad moves to charge Helbrecht.

Shooting Phase

Pask's firing does nothing to the LRC. Vendetta fails to do anything to Vulkan's LRC as well. 3 Leman Russes kill 2 Termies. Sentinels kill 2 more, leaving 1 Termie and Vulkan. 3 Lascannons fire into the Immobilized Rhino and finally blow it up. Marbo throws a Demo charge but fails to damage the EC's LRC. two Guardsmen Squads with Lascannons fire into the crater Salamanders and kill both with lasguns.

Assault Phase

Company Command Squad assaults Helbrecht and wipes the squad and consolidates towards Vulkan's LRC.

Space Marine Turn 5

Movement Phase

EC's LRC moves almost right next to Pask. Vulkan's LRC rotates to fire into Company Command Squad. Salamander squad in building moves further into building. Vulkan and Squad move to assault a guardsmen squad with a Lascannon.

Shooting Phase

Ec's LRC has ineffective Shooting again. Vulkan's LRC kills two guardsmen in the Company Command Squad but fails to cause them to run. Scouts fired a Krak into Vendetta but fail to hit. Sniper Rifles fail also. Vulkan flamers guard squad and kills 4.

Assault Phase

Vulkan Assault and kill guardsmen squad they consolidate behind cover to keep Leman Russes from shooting at them.

Guard Turn 6

Movement Phase

Company Command Squad moves next to Vulkan's LRC. Vendetta lines up a shot on Ec's LRC. Sentinels move to get shots on Vulkan. Leman Russes face the building full of Marines. Pask does as well. Blob Squad moves towards building. Marbo moves through the terrain towards the building as well.

Shooting Phase

Vendetta fires one shot (the wings were not in range) and hits and cause the Land Raider to Explode. Sentinels fail to wound Vulkan and his Termie companion. Every Leman Russ fires into the building managing to kill the rest of the scouts, 3 Black Templar and 5 Salamanders.

Assault Phase

Company Command Squad assaults Vulkans LRC and Shraken causes it to explode, and then consolidate towards the building but spreading out to prepare for a potential shot from the Plasma Cannon.

Space Marine Turn 6

Movement Phase

Salamander Squad moves out of the building to fire on the Blob Squad for possible last turn points. Vulkan and Termie move to assault Sentinels.

Shooting Phase

Plasma Cannon misses blob Squad. Salamanders cause 3 wounds but fail to make the squad run.

Assault Phase

Vulkan and Termie assault Sentinels. Cause one weapon destroyed and then destroys one. The lone Termie gets kicked in the face and fails his save.

Games ends.

IG win

2685 Victory Points to 1625 Victory Points

Looking Back Comments

For the next game I'm hoping to not make dumb moves with my Valkyrie if it gets stunned. I basically gave them 130 free points right there. I might try to have my teammate focus more on the vehicles instead of randomly firing lascannons into random troops. But mainly I liked the deployment of a crossfire style set up with Leman Russes on both sides and my Exec in the middle. it caused them to focus their troops all on one side which made it easier to pick my targets and fire and kill things. Anyways, it was a very close game at first but once the transports were either empty or dead it became a one sided shoot fest.

This is Lenin_Guard signing off...
Until next time...Round 2... Which will hopefully be next week.

Today I want to talk about my Biker Space Marine List. It is as follows

HQ
Kahn
-Moondraken

Command Squad
-Bikes
-Champion
-3 Power Weapons
-Power Fist

Troops
Bike Squad
-+5 bikers
-Sarge PF
-2 Meltaguns
-Attack Bike with Multi-melta

Bike Squad
-+5 bikers
-Sarge PF
-2 Meltaguns
-Attack Bike with Multi-melta

Bike Squad
-+5 bikers
-Sarge PF
-2 Meltaguns
-Attack Bike with Multi-melta

Elites
Ironclad Dreadnought
-2 HK missiles
-Hurricane Bolter
-Seismic Hammer w/meltagun
-Drop pod

Ironclad Dreadnought
-2 HK missiles
-Hurricane Bolter
-Seismic Hammer w/meltagun
-Drop pod

Ironclad Dreadnought
-2 HK missiles
-Hurricane Bolter
-Seismic Hammer w/meltagun
-Drop Pod

Total 1995 pts

I have now played a few games with this list and I am really starting to be happy with how tactically flexible it is. It works as follows: Everyone starts the game in reserve. Why? Simple. If the enemy has any sort of long range artillery, eg. Leman Russ Battle Tank or a Vindicator, my bikes are toast. With high strength weapons, bikes die just as easily as regular marines, at nearly double the price. Oh, and if they just happen to fail their morale check, they run 3d6” away instead of the normal 2d6”. With only 30 Bikes, and 3 Dreads at 2000 points, you need to be careful with your limited forces.

I have tried to do a pure biker list, but it just is not quite as effective or detrimental without the Ironclad armor. Ironclads are nice because of the AV 13, and from my experience tend to be much more survivable than regular dreadnoughts when they are dropped in.

So if you go first:

You don’t quite know what the enemy has, so you want to outflank. The important thing about choosing your deployment zone is to deny the enemy the better deployment. You want to make sure that he can deploy closer to the edges, where your bikes can come in. Remember that cover is also a consideration. As bikes have no ability to climb up into 2^nd level ruins, the less that the enemy has the ability to get set up into the cover, the better for you.

One of you might think that deployment is actually an ok strategy in this situation, after all you are going first. 40k is about implementing a plan and sticking with it. If the enemy takes the initiative, you may be toast. The point is, the less the enemy can do to screw up your plans, the better your plan (maybe I’ll do a tactica on this sometime).

If you deploy second:

Same story, outflank. There is an upside to deploying second, the enemy is not expecting you to keep everything in reserve. If they are, that’s fine, it doesn’t matter. The plan for you does not require the enemy to do anything.

Turn 1:

If the enemy has gone first, congratulations, you have just wasted a whole turn for him. If you go first, two Ironclads drop down and hopefully destroy some enemy armor. The drop pods can also close off some tight enemy lines, forcing the enemy to go another way. However you cannot depend on this.

Turn 2-7:

Bikes come in, take objectives, destroy enemy units. The important thing is to keep the bikes alive. (I will write a tactical on the effectiveness of this as well.) Remember that bikes are fast and that command squad is a beast.