Batrep: Ultramarines vs. Black Legion (80 power)

Simon managed to come spend the early part of Black Friday at my place where we commenced with a good old-fashioned game of 40ks. This is our story.

The Forces of Ultramar (Brigade):

• HQ:
  • Chaplain Cassius
  • 1x Lieutenant w/ the Burning Blade & Combi-Flamer
  • 1x Lieutenant w/ Powerfist & Stormbolter
• Elites:
  • 1x Chapter Champion
  • 2x Honor Guard
  • 1x Company Standard
• Troops:
  • 5x Tacticals w/ Plasma Gun & Multi-Melta
  • 5x Tacticals w/ H.Bolter, Flamer, & Powerfist/Plasma Pistol
  • 5x Tacticals w/ Missile Launcher
  • 5x Tacticals w/ Plasma Gun & Lascannon
  • 5x Tacticals w/ H.Plasma Gun
  • 5x Tacticals w/ Meltagun, H.Bolter, & Powersword
• Fast Attack:
  • 1x Attack Bike w/ Multi-Melta
  • 1x Attack Bike w/ Multi-Melta
  • 3x Bikes w/ 2x Melta & 1x Powersword
• Heavy Support:
  • 1x Whirlwind w/ Castellan Missiles
  • 1x Whirlwind w/ Castellan Missiles
  • 1x Thunderfire Cannon

Simon started off by stating he was going to try to fill out a Batallion with only 80 power. That seemed a little far-fetched to me because you just have to have some cheap options. I know that Tyranids can do it because they have so many 2-3 power level options–many of which are quite good–but for Marines & Chaos, it seemed far-fetched. It’s worth noting that he eventually had to pull the plug, but I barely squeaked by using the cheapest of all of the painted models I had for each selection. Of course, it didn’t give me a whole lot of options, but frankly the list isn’t so bad.

When I look at the list above, I have some mobility (the bikes), some long range fire power in the form of various heavy weapons; lots of ways to hold objectives; and some ways to deal with hordes (lots of bolters). The only thing the list seems to be lacking is any real assault power (or psychics). To combat the former, I wound up deploying all of the characters / small units together in a sort of a deathstar. That gave me a bunch of power weapons in a group that could prove formidable against most anything if they had to get stuck into assault. In total, that’s a Champion, 2 Lieutenants, Cassius, Standard, and the Honorguard, plus a couple of combat squads–granted, it’s not the toughest thing in the world, but it’ll work as an assaulty type unit in a pinch.

Batrep: Space Marines vs. Necrons (124 power) *

This week for game night, all of our regulars that don’t play 40k confirmed they weren’t going to make it, so we were able to schedule up a 40k evening. Unfortunately, we just had three players show up, but we managed to make it work with a little two vs. one battle.

Sam’s Imperial Fists

• HQ:
  • Chaplain w/ Bolt Pistol & Jump Pack (warlord)
• Fast Attack:
  • 10x Assault Marines w/ 2x Plasma Pistols & Powerfist
  • 1x Landspeeder w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter
  • 1x Landspeeder w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter
  • 1x Landspeeder w/ Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter
• Flyers:
  • 1x Stormraven Gunship w/ Multi-Melta, Assault Cannons, & Hurricane Bolters

Sam and I wanted to mix things up with team options, and try some list ideas neither of us had ever worked with. Sam had made an 80 power list when he came over, with the intent of playing a bunch of heavy bolters & assault cannons, supplemented with Assault marines. Basically, he was fielding the sorts of things that he never plays with. In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that these few models comprised half of our army…

Batrep: Space Wolves vs. Ultramarines (70 power)

It had been quite a while since I’ve dusted off my 40k models, so with some friends out of town, we opted to forgo the regularly scheduled game night so we could play some 40ks…

Sean’s Space Wolves:

• HQ:
  • Bjorn, the Fell Handed (Warlord)
  • Arjac Rockfist
• Elites:
  • 5x Wulfen inc. 4x Thunder Hammers & Storm Shields and 1x Lightning Claws
• Troops:
  • 5x Grey Hunters w/ Plasma & Banner
  • 5x Grey Hunters w/ Melta & Banner
  • 5x Grey Hunters w/ Flamer & Banner
• Heavy:
  • 6x Long Fangs w/ 5x Heavy Plasma
• Flyers:
  • 1x Stormfang Gunship

I’m not 100% sure of the breakdown of units and loadout–or that they’re necessarily lumped into the correct categories, but that’s essentially what he had. Arjac forgot to come out during the photo shoot, but trust me, he was there. He also apparently paid to upgrade a single sergeant to a wolfguard battle leader in terminator armor, but forgot to put him on the table.

This is probably a good time to point out that neither Sean or I have played 40k in entirely too long, so this game involved a bunch of looking up rules, general misremembering, and an ultimate realization of how out of practice we were…

Batrep: Ultramarines vs. Black Legion (80 power)

Getting back on the horse as far as 40k goes has been a slow process, but it’s still going.  This week, Simon, of all people, showed up to game night and we threw down for a game of 40k.

My Ultramarines:

• HQ:
  • Cato Sicarius (warlord)
  • Sergeant Telion
• Elites:
  • 5x Assault Terminators w/ Lightning Claws
  • Venerable Dreadnought w/ Twin-Lascannon & Missile Launcher
  • 3x Centurion Assault Marines w/ Hurricane Bolters & Flamers
• Troops:
  • 10x Tactical Marines w/ Missile Launcher, Plasma Gun, & Power Weapon
  • 10x Tactical Marines w/ Heavy Bolter, Flamer, & Powerfist
  • 10x Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, 4x Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher, 4x CCW/Pistol, & Powerfist
• Fast Attack:
  • 1x Storm Talon w/ Assault Cannons & Typhoon Missile Launcher

I originally started by pulling out the Tyranid codex, but realized that I have to play alot of marine games to catch up to the number of bug games I’ve played this year.  I didn’t know what to play though, so I just started taking advice around the room of what to include.  I started with Cato because I don’t know when the last time he saw the table was, and then Telion because he was a cheap second HQ option.  With Telion, I needed a squad of scouts, and everything else was added based upon the suggestions of those around me.

They were intentionally choosing less than ideal option, but I was ok with it.  Simon and I have played a bunch and the win/loss ratio is a tad lopsided, so having a slight handicap would make things more fair.

Batrep: Black Legion vs. Ultramarines (81 Power)

It’s been a little while since I’ve played 40k.  Based upon the blog history, I’ve played four other games so far this year (or five, if you count the last Apoc game, which definitely happened last year), so it can’t have been a very long stretch.  Many of our regularly Friday game nights are taken up by board games, based upon the folks that show, so 40k is coming less frequently.

Well, with the recent President’s Day holiday, Simon dropped by and we threw down for his first game of 8th edition.

Simon’s Black Legion

• HQ:
  • Chaos Lord in Terminator Armor
  • Demon Prince
• Elites:
  • 5x Chaos Terminators
  • Hellbrute w/ Multi-melta
• Troops:
  • 5x Chaos Space Marines w/ Plasma Gun & Power Sword
  • 5x Chaos Space Marines w/ Plasma Gun & Power Sword
  • 5x Chaos Space Marines w/ Plasma Gun & Power Sword
• Heavy Support:
  • Defiler
  • 5x Havocs w/ 4x Autocannons
• Transports:
  • Rhino w/ Combi-bolter
  • Rhino w/ Combi-bolter
  • Rhino w/ Combi-bolter

Simon hadn’t played a game of 8th edition yet, so he threw together whatever he had.   As with most people, a typical 8th edition list starts off by playing what you played in 7th edition, so you can see how it fares.  The list contained a fair number of high-wound models with reasonably high toughness, plus a smattering of different units to hold objectives with.