Carnage!

I played a crazy game last night with 3 of my friends. It was a 4 way free for all. I was tight for time and we had decided last week to do a "play night" rather than the usual "paint night" and we were all supposed to show up with 1000 point lists (or so - since it was for fun we went ahead and allowed an extra 10 points or so). Since we were tight on time we implemented a rule that each player had 2 minutes per turn with an extra minute "combat time" for close combat.

It was CRAZY! You had to prioritize what you were going to do ahead of time and even set aside the dice and then just move what you could (often leaving units static for a turn or two) and then throwing down.

The only "comp" was the standard force org and the thought that if your list was too tough everyone would gang up on you...

The lists were:

Black Templars (me)
Castellan with termies retinue 2x asscannons
Emperor's Champion, abhor the witch vow
Reclusiarch, bolt pistol termie honors
Venerable Dread with smoke and armor
5 initiates with missile launcher in laserback
7 initiates, power fist, melta 2 neophytes

Blood Angels (Ryan)
Chaplain
5 death company with jump packs
2 LS Tornadoes
Baal Pred
Pred
2 drop pods with 8 guys

Space Wolves (Todd)
Venerable Dread
5 bikes with rune priest on bike
2 grey hunters units in rhinos
5 termies
1 grey hunter unit in razorback

Emperor's Judgment (Shawn)
2xplasma squad in rhino
2xmelta squad in rhino
fire support dread
5 termies, 2 asscannons

We each took a corner and set the rule that no one could deploy closer than 24" to anyone else. I was across from Shawn and Ryan was to my right which left Todd catty corner to me. We rolled off to see who went first and let the carnage begin!

My Templars sensed fell witchery with the wolves and surged towards them.

Ryan went first, he moved towards me and shot my laserback destroying it. D'oh. I swept towards the Blood Angels to enact my vengeance.

Shawn is a very cautious player and crept forward. Todd, being the exact opposite of cautious zipped towards the Blood Angels as well, the bikes charging the death company. That was a bad idea and the combat lasted most of the rest of the game.

Next turn one of the Blood Angels drop pods shows up and fires up my "big" crusade and they zeal forward setting up a charge.

My termies show up and drop back near the wolves and fire up the razorback, destroying it. I charge over difficult terrain (a wall) and hit the drop podding Blood Angels. They hit first but I hit harder and win combat.

Shawn's dread moves towards the Templars / Blood Angels scrum eventually that combat will wind down to just my chaplain, a blood angel with power fist and the dread. On the last turn of that combat I swing at the dread instead of blood angel so his powerfist will hopefully take out the dread, but instead he turns on me and then in the next turn takes out the dread.

It was a crazy game that ended with the Blood Angel with power fist, my termie marshal and a unit of grey hunters Shawn had a couple more units because of his cautious nature so was obviously the winner points wise.

It was a total blast to play in this way and the game only took about 45 minutes (which isn't bad for 4 1000 pt armies). We are definitely gonna play in that style a bit more just to speed up our tourney play.

A Crusade of Heroes

These are the models I have assembed so far and painted so far. I decided that the name of the world that they were recruited on becomes attached to them. This makes them emmisaries for their entire world in the eyes of the Emperor. What do you think of that idea? Anyway, these guys are pretty much just my kill team, but they are coming together and I think that they look really good. Many of the pics below are just ones I happened to have, not necessarily the right one for the person.



Christian and Christobal d'Artaigne
Christian is Neopythe to Mogaba and Christobal is Neophyte to Brandt. Twins born to the nobility of the sky-worlde Artaigne. They attracted the notice of the Templar Stewards by completing the Quest of Inquiry.

Lodron d'Armageddon Neophyte to Larriman
Lodren was a hab rat in Hive Tarterus running errands for the gangers. Despite being only 7 during Ghazgull's first assault Lodron used his intimate knowledge of the hive to scout for Imperial forces on the world. On one occasion while running a message to an inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos he attracted the attention of a Templar who was serving in the deathwatch named Caragh by killing an ork. Caragh arranged transport offworld in a black ship to a crusade in a nearby sector where he underwent the procedures to become a Neophyte.

Horence du Quillones - Neophyte to Lazar
The Quillones is an asteroid mining colony on the Eastern Fringe in M.36 for being a hiding place for the brutal Dark Eldar. A crusade under Marshall Steveren purged the field and an enormous chapter keep/space station was dedicated on one of the asteroids. Hortense was the 10th of 12 children of a wealthy miner. The family was one of the many wiped out in a H'rud infestation. When the templars cleared the warrens of the filthy aliens they discovered a grubby child who had been killing the hrud and sabotaging the mining equipment to prevent it from being of use to the aliens.



Mogaba de Zuul
Mogaba is a veteran of the Astran Scourging and the Vallus Crusade. On the Vallus crusade he met and became bondsman with Ting prior to Ting being selected for the Deathwatch. He is still one of Ting's closest friends and confidants.



Brandt d'Hell's Teeth
Brandt selection as Initiate in the early days of the Vallus Crusade caused much controversy due to his short period as a Neophyte. His performance during that bloody crusade vindicated Marshall Cordine's decision. His exceptional skill with heavy weapons has earned him the nickname Brandt Tankkiller.

Larriman du Camden
Larriman is returning to the field after a long stint as Steward of the Chapter Keep on Varda III. He feels that he has much to prove to the more hardened veterans of the Vallus and Atrian Nebula Crusades who form the core of the Akrian Crusade though Marshall Geryn wouldn't have selected him were he not satisfied of his mettle. Geryn hopes that by tutoring the impulsive Lodran that Larriman will regain the furor that saw him promoted to Steward many long years ago.



Lazar
While many felt that Brandt's initiation came early it was felt that Lazar's was, perhaps, overdue. If Lazar himself felt that way, he never gave any indication. He has a reputation for patience that is uncommon amongst his Templar brothers though his faith and zeal are the match for any in his Chapter.

The beginning

This is where I will tell the tale of my Black Templars, the Akhrian Crusade. My friends and I are planning a campaign this summer and I will be plotting my painting progress as well as how the games go.