Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!, from My Dice Hate Me!

- Meatball

Crusade of Alamodia IV: Higher Ground

This is a battle report from the recent Campaign my friend Jason and I played, for more details you can view the following posts right here on My Dice Hate Me!

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6

Battle Briefing:

This battle represents a fight for some strategic ground. This winner will most assuredly control the destiny of further battles in this war.

Playing the Battle:
- Mission Type: Capture and Control
- Deployment: Spear Head
- 1500 pts per side, Standard FOC, restrictions/additions as per Special Rules for Battle 2
- Terrain - Hills, woods, open ground
- Each sides objective will be a hill located in their deployment zone

Special Rules:

The Victor of this battle has gained a strategic advantage and therefore may choose to go first or second in battle 4 with no Seize the Initiative for their opponent.

With the loss of one of the ancient dreadnoughts, Marshal Haas is looking for vengeance as the Templars approach the first major action of the war. The hill country outside of Saint Antonius is a pivotal battle ground. He who controls the Hill Country may just control the war.

Both sides set up their forces to initially protect their section of the Hill Country. The Black Templar seized the initiate and things just went down hill from there for Waaagh! Skulzbasha.

 
The first sign that things were going to be bad came when the Templars destroyed my looted wagon in the first round of shooting.

 With the loss of the looted wagon as well as many more of my boyz than I liked on the templars first round of shooting,things were not looking good as I stared at the Templar's heavily fortified hill.

I left a unit of Shoota Boyz and headed straight for his objective with everything I had left. The only way I was going to win this battle was an all out Orky Waaagh! adn hopefully overwhelm the templar forces.

My Battle Wagon  was able to speed around to the east flank but failed a cover save and thus was immobilized, forcing Grubak to once again try to get to the enemy on foot. My boyz in a trukk were even less lucky as their transport was blown out from under them, only to ramble into another unit of boyz on foot, causing more causalities than I was comfortable with. 


Then the Templars brought the pain, first the Chaplain and Assault squad assaulted Grubak and his Nobz and no matter what I did I could ot make a save or feel no pain roll. This cost me big as I lost the fight then proceeded to get run down as I ran away.

I was faring no better in the middle of the field where I was in protracted battles with several of my mobs, none of which were making any progress and stayed stuck in combat for far too many turns.


My shooting was terrible even for Orks and Marshal Haas took advantage by swinging he Speeders along the west flank and getting ever nearer to my objective. If I didn't do something about them soon my boyz on the objective would be taking some serious hit from them.

Things were looking grim for Waaagh! Grubak, as the number of Orks on the battlefield dwindled to insignificance compared to the number of Templars left.

I was seeing quickly that there was no way I was going to pull off a win, so I started playing for a draw by concentrating on defending my objective.


For my shooting phase I began to concentrate any fire I could on the land speeders and I was successful at bringing down one of Templars crafts.

Defending my objective was a long shot, and one I was not feeling very confident about as the Templars continued to dwindle down my Orks leaving me with only the mob left guarding my objective.


The Templars pushed their advantage, and continued onward towards my objective. I did what I could with my shoota boyz, but I no longer had the numbers needed to inflict serious casualties on the Marines. Finally the remaining orks fled the board after taking some serious shooting from the remaining Speeder.

This battle was doomed from the beginning for Waaagh! Skulzbasha. I just couldn't get anything to go my way. Jason played smart and I just couldn't keep up.

Jason was able to roll for two more units for Veteran abilities, while I had no units left at the end of the game so I was unable to nominate anyone.

The battle itself was fun even though my orks failed me at every turn. It was nice to see the ebb and flow of battle as we fight each battle in the campaign.

Stay tuned for the next battle in the campaign as we put to use my City of Death themed board for battle 4. I have a ton of pics of the battle so the report may take me an extra day or so to post.

As always, thank you for stopping by my blog, and please feel free to leave a comment.

-Meatball

Crusade of Alamodia IV: Reinforcements

This is a battle report from the recent Campaign my friend Jason and I played, for more details you can view the following posts right here on My Dice Hate Me!

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6

Battle Briefing:

This battle represents both sides trying to get or stop reinforcements to the front lines.  It uses the Ambush rules on pages 268-269 or the BRB

Playing the Battle:
- Mission Type: Ambush
- Deployment: Ambush
- 1000 pts per side, Standard FOC
- Terrain - Hills, woods, open ground and buildings

Special Rules:

Random Game Length
Any units the defender gets within 12" of the Attackers board Edge are free to buy for Battle 3
Any Defenders Non-Troop Units that get Destroyed cannot be used in Battle3.

With the supplies recovered it is now time to reinforce the front lines. As the convoys make their way they must watch out for deadly ambushes. Since neither side was able to recover any objectives we decided to roll off to determine attacker/defender. 


Marshall Haas recovered from his battle wounds quickly and took the lead of a vital convoy to re-supply the front lines.  Meanwhile Grubak Skulzbasha was determined to crush the convoy in retaliation for the Templars knocking him out of the last battle.

Jason pretty much lined up in a column with a supporting Assault Squad and Chaplain to deal with any ambushers. 

I set up my ambush markers heavy on the south side of the board leaving only two on the north side, one of which was a decoy and the other was Grubak Skulzbasha with his nob bodyguard. This is the one I wanted Jason to focus on so I put it as close as I was allowed to his formation.


On the first turn he revealed Grubak's unit which is exactly what I wanted as now I knew his chaplain and assault marines would focus their attention on the warboss, which is exactly what Jason did.

With my plan intact I began revealing my other ambushing units. First of which was my Tank Bustas who shot five rokkits into the lead vehicle, a Sisters of Battle Rhino, I managed to immobilize it, thus obscuring the path for the rest of the vehicles. 


On Turn two Jason got his assault marines and chaplain into combat with Grubak and his boyz this battle lasted several turn effectively taking an HQ and assault unit away from the main battle. I was able to bring my reinforcements on in the form of my Deffkopters and a looted wagon. The Koptas launched rockets into the Templars Dreadnought destroying the old warrior (This meant Jason could not use him in the next battle). Then my boomgun struck the now disembarked Sisters of Battle landing a direct hit and killing off half of the unit.

The next couple of rounds had plenty of action as most units engaged in hand to hand combat. The Templars managed to wipe out the Tank Bustas, while a unit of boyz took out the remaining Sisters. 
The Templar Assault Squad finished off Gruback and his boyz (next game they will have a pain boy damnit!) only to be wiped out to a man from another lucky shot of the looted wagon's boomgun. 
Other battles continued as neither the Templars or the Orks would give ground!

Jason attempted to get his only functioning Rhino across the now difficult terrain left by the Dreadnought only to have it become immobilized in the terrain. (His dice were just not with him this game). 


Two mobz of boyz converged on the Emperor's Champion's unit that was trying to get to the objective on foot, the attack stopped the cold and probably saved the game for me. 





Meanwhile the rest of units continued to battle it out. The Templars were losing more numbers than they could afford and it was quickly turning into a route by the Orks.


The Emperor's Champion and his unit were able to wie out the Orks blocking them from their destination, but the victory was shortly lived as at the end of the turn fates had ended the game.


This scenario was a blast to play. I truly felt bad for Jason as he fell right into my trap, and then to top it off his dice would just not cooperate with him when he needed it.

When it came to the Veteran Abilities, I thought my Looted Wagon did well destroying two units at vital times in the game, so I rolled on the vehicle Crew Veteran Ability and got the only thing I didn't want, the ability to re-roll dangerous terrain tests. Since I won I got to nominate a 2nd unit for an ability so a unit of my boys got lucky and rolled Feel No Pain . Jason got Counter-Attack for his Emperor's Champion's unit.

Over all this was a fun battle as we had a few epic moments. Stay tuned for further battle reports from the campaign. As always, thank you for reading the blog and please feel free to leave a comment!

-Meatball

Knights of Bal Timorea: Sir Dubois is finished!

Finally after much delay Sir George Thaddius Dubois is complete. I had a blast painting this model and coming up with his history and heraldry. I have him packed up and on the way to the mail so i will have to let the guys at SCWH know he is on the way but might not get there by the deadline. I just got severely behind due to the holidays and limited hobby time.

I also got to use one of my Christmas presents. My mother-in-law got me a photobox and I messed with it tonight when taking my pics. I know it is not perfect yet, but I hope to keep improving the quality of the pics as I get better at using the box.

I am looking forward to seeing all the entries in the Knights of Bal Timorea Project as it draws to a close. As always, thanks for taking the time to check out the blog and please feel free to leave a comment. Check out the other pics of Sir Dubois below.

-Meatball

Motivational Monday: Commisar Cain

Today we get inspiration from my favorite 40K character, Ciaphas Cain!

 

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-Meatball

Crusade of Alamodia: Planet Fall

This is a battle report from the recent Campaign my friend Jason and I played, for more details you can view the following posts right here on My Dice Hate Me!

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6

Battle Briefing:

This battle forms a 'prologue' to the campaign, taking place before the main offensive gets underway. Both sides have deployed a force to recover the supplies lost by an ill-fated re-supply mission. On top of the supplies the Canoness of the Order of the Valorous Heart is missing in the same general area and must be rescued.

Playing the battle:
- Mission Type: Seize Ground
- Deployment: Dawn of War
- 750 pts per side, Standard FOC
- Terrain - Hills woods and open ground

Special Rules:

No matter the amount of Objectives rolled, at least one will be a Sister's of Battle Canoness. If the Canoness is controlled by the Templar Player, they will then have access to Units from the Witch Hunter's codex for the rest of the campaign. If the Orks capture this objective then the Templar player will not have access to the Witch Hunters units; they will be too busy mounting a rescue of their Canoness. If no one controls this objective, roll a D6, if an even number is rolled the Templars will still get access to the Witch Hunter codex for units.

Each objective controlled gives 50 additional points to the player for the next battle.
The victor of the battle gains an additional 50 points to spend.
The Victor of the Battle is the attacker for Battle 2.

As WAAAGH Skulzbasha prepares its onslaught of Saint Antonius, Marshal Haas of the Black Templars has responded to the distress calls and is preparing for planet fall. Supplies have been dropped to the planet's surface in automated containers; some have went off course and must be gathered for the upcoming battle. Just before the drop, word came from the planet that the Canoness of the Order of the Valorous Heart has gone missing in the same grid as some of the supplies. Marshal Haas has vowed to rescue her as well as recover the supplies.

We rolled 5 objectives and immediately both armies deployed their forces either on top of objectives are heading towards the closest ones. Just like in real life the battle plan did not survive contact with the enemy. Grubak Skulzbasha decided that he didn't care how many supplies he got, he wanted to get that Canoness and torture the human female for a bit, so he directed the majority of his forces to intercept the leader of the Order of the Valorous Heart.

Seeing the Ork horde change focus to the Canoness, Marshal Haas ordered the bulk of his Crusaders to her aide. This left relatively small forces on both sides to guard the remaining objectives.






As the battle heated up around the lone Sister of Battle small skirmishes broke out around the other objectives with neither side giving/taking much ground.

As the smaller battle continued to wear each other down the Major fight around the Canoness came to a head s both Ork and Templar smashed blades and brawn.




The Templar were winning the struggle for the other objectives as the lone surviving Crusade squad beat the last of the Ork resistance. The only problem now was the fact that the lone squad could only control one objective and word had reached the Emperor's Champion that the Marshal and his men were losing the fight to save the Canoness.

The Marshal himself had to be removed from battle due to an injury suffered from Grubak Skulzbasha, and without their leader the Templar forces were quickly succumbing to the Orks superior numbers. It would not be long before this battle was decided.




The long Crusade squad decided to abandon their objective and take on their Marshal's quest of rescuing the Canoness. By the time they arrived at the site the battle had already been decided. The Emperor's Champion shouted his war cry at the remaining Ork, he answered by abandoning the Sister of Battle and charging the last of the Templar forces.

The orks hit the Crusade squad hard slaying over half of the unit, but it was the Templar's counter attack that won the day, in a flurry of power and chain swords they were able to wipe out the entire ork mob finishing off the Nob at the very end of the fight.


The skirmish would go to the Templars but as no one controlled any objectives, the battle ended in a draw.












 
It was a close fight but in the end it was a draw. Jason was lucky enough to have a few models left on the table so he was able to nominate them for a veteran ability. He rolled on the table and got counter attack for his unit, that would come in very handy in future battles.


With battle one under our belt as a draw, we rolled off to see if the Canoness would offer Jason the help of her forces. He got a lucky roll and for the rest of the campaign the Templars were able to pull units from the Witch Hunter's codex.


This initial battle to the campaign was a blast and it quickly reminded me why I enjoy playing friendly games with my buddies as opposed to tournaments. I was able to put some role-play elements into the game and just have my orks act like orks.  Yes it may have cost me a win in the game, but in the end Jason and I had a fun battle with some epic movie type moments.

I have included a slide-show of all the pics I took, so please feel free to view them and leave me a few comments. Now I am off to type up battle 2. As always, thanks for stopping by the blog.

- Meatball

Are you looking for that one special bit? Why not try the Barter Bucket? I have used it over a dozen times, so stop by and check it out.

Tavern Talk - Looking Back

Kuffy, over at the Trading Post, has posted a final topic for Tavern Talk 2010. Basically he is asking us to post about our accomplishments and failures for Fantasy Battles over the last year.

My failure for 2010 is easily the fact I didn't get my Vampire Counts painted. I was planning on painting them up for 8th edition, but things just kept getting in the way  that prevented me from sitting down and painting the little blood suckers. I did get much of the conversion work done that I wanted to do, but at this time I still don't have all the models I want so they are still very much a work-in-progress. The one piece of good news relating to my vampires is that I did manage to paint one of my Vampire Counts for a competition. I didn't win, but at last it got something for my Vampires painted this year!

Hopefully 2011 will see me getting some paint onto my Vampire Counts, but the projects are already lining up so I am going to have to push my vampires to the front of the line.

My proudest achievement for Fantasy Battles for 2010 is very easy for me to pick. I was able to re-acquire my Orcs and Goblins army through a trade. Why do I consider this such an achievement? Well this army is the first ever army, that I painted, and that was over 10 years ago. Not only was it the first army I completely painted, but it was my first army period, this includes both Fantasy and 40K. I collected and painted the army for about a year and then I was dumb and traded it to a friend for my first 40K army. I have regretted that trade ever since. I never found another Fantasy army I was as fond of as my Orcs and Goblins

Then low and behold 10 years later and I am back living in San Antonio and gaming with many of the same friends when out of the blue my buddy asks me if I would be interested in trading to get my old Orc and Goblin army back. At first I thought he was messing with me, but he was serious and wanted to trade it for my Necrons. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity.

The army was just how I remembered leaving it, except my buddy had added many of the newer miniatures to the army.

 I know the paint job is showing its age, so I plan on at least updating it a bit with some washes and maybe new bases. Unfortunately this again will take time away from my Vampire Counts, but I am willing to take that time to get my Orcs and Goblins back into playing shape!

Well that is both my biggest gaming failure and success for 2010. I hope to have much more success in 2011 by not only updating my Orcs and Goblins, but also getting some paint onto my Vampire Counts. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to leave a comment or two, and be sure to check out the Trading Post, your hub for Fantasy Battles blogs!

-Meatball

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I just wanted to wish all the followers of My Dice Hate Me! a very Merry Christmas!

-Meatball

Knights of Bal Timorea: Sir Dubois' Warhorse

Today I finally got started on painting my Warhorse for Sir Dubois, my submission to the Knights of Bal Timorea project. I chose to paint my horse as a Dark Bay and I used the Games Workshop tutorial "How to Paint Horses" found on their website. I have also been using the Games Workshop tutorial "Painting the Bretonnian Warhorse" also located on the GW website. This has led to the images below.

Next I moved onto the bases which I painted Bestial brown over the white primer, then I gave it a wash with Devlan Mud. I then painted some of the grass pieces with snot green, highlighted with Camo Green. Once all of the paint was dry I applied some "Custom Decals" from a BOLS Tutorial. With this step completed, I just waited for the decals to dry then I sealed the model and added some static grass to the base.

There you have the completed Warhorse of Sir George Thaddius Dubois. Next post I will take a look at the steps in painting Sir Dubois and getting him ready to be mounted on his steed.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and please feel free to leave me a comment or two.

-Meatball

Weekend of Gaming: Friday Fun

Well after a game of 40K on Thursday night, Jason was willing to give something new a try, so I introduced him to a game of Warmachine/Hordes. I only have 1 army for each and I knew Jason, being a Black Templar fan, would enjoy the Protectorate of Menoth, so I played my Circle of Orobos Hordes army.

We played a 25pt Caster Kill game just to get him used to the rules. He used High Exemplar Kreoss as his caster with a Crusader and Repenter as his jacks, followed by a full Choir, min Flameguard with unit attachment, min Exemplar Errants and Deliverer Sunburst Crew as troops. For his Solos he chose a Vassal of Menoth and a Vassal Mechanik.

For my Circle of Orboros I chose Krueger the Stormwrath as my warlock, with Pureblood Warp wolf, Feral Warpwolf and an Argus as my warbeasts. Added to support them was a min unit of Tharn Bloodtrackers as troops and a Blackclad Wayfarer as a solo.

Jason micked up the rules rather quickly and we had an awesome game that was close down to the bitter end when he managed to get Kreoss through the lines using his Knockdown feat and a turn later he was beating down Krueger in hand to hand. I was happy that Jason picked up on the game so quickly and he really enjoyed playing it. You can see some of the images of the battle below.

Later in the evening we decided to give a game of Fantasy Battles a try. I enjoy WHFB but Jason has never been a huge fan of it but he decided he wanted to give it a try again. He saw that I had acquired a Vampire Counts army so he decided that he wanted to give them a go. I chose to play my Dwarf and Jason has faced my Orscs and Goblins several times in the past. I will update this post with our lists if I can find exactly what we did with them. I basically took a gunline combined with as many units of Dwarfs I could fit in the army. Jason took 3 Vampires and a Necro and supported them with tons of Skellies, Zombies, and bats.

Needless to say the game did nothing to encourage Jason to enjoy fantasy more as my Dwarfs blasted away at the undead and then their excellent leadership kept them in most close combats which meant I was able to give him high losses even after losing a few of the first rounds of combat. In the end it was a massacre and Jason was left as disappointed as always with the Fantasy Battles rules system.

I did take a few pics of our battle and I am posting them below in slideshow form as well.

As awlays thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read the blog. I will be posted some more pics from my weekend as battle reports from the 40K campaign we played. Please feel free to leave some comments.

-BJ

Motivational Monday: Opportunity

Today we get our inspiration from a Fantasy RPG perspective, enjoy!

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-BJ

Weekend of Gaming: Thursday Night 40K

I picked up my buddy Jason from the Airport and we immediately got into a game of 40K. Jason did surprise me by deciding to go with Sisters of Battle instead of Black Templars. So I decided to play my Chaos Marines. This was really just a battle to get Jason used to 5th Edition rules.

We played a Capture and Control Mission with Dawn of War deployment.  Jason chose an objective in the NE corner of the board while I chose my objective in the center of the Southern edge.

The battle started out badly for Jason as he was trying to use Sisters of Battle like Black Templars and this cost him two units of Sisters early in the game. Then about turn 3 things started to turn around as Jason was getting comfortable with the rules as well as the Sisters, and he starting using the Faith Powers at the perfect times.

Alas towards the end of the game Jason's dice began to abandon him  and Chaos started to control the game.

By the end of turn seven I was firmly in control of both object as Chaos went onto victory.

Well this was just a brief post of how Day 1 of my gaming went end went. I am sorry it is not more detailed but we are stating the campaign today so it is time to get back to gaming. If you would like to see more pics of Thursday's game just view this slide-show below

Long Weekend of Gaming

As I mentioned in my Crusade of Alamodia Campaign posts, my good friend Jason is coming in for a long weekend visit which we will be spending the majority of gaming. Tonight, after I pick him up from the Airport, I plan on taking him to the Warmachine/Hordes night at my FLGS and introducing him to that gaming system. I am assuming he will be tired after the long trip, so that may be all the gaming we do tonight.

Tomorrow we will start with a game or two of 40K just to get him used to the 5th edition rules that he has yet to play, then maybe some Warhammer Fantasy just to change it up a bit and possibly going to go watch Tron at the movies.

Saturday will be devoted to the campaign which should take up the majority of the day as Waaahg! Grubak throttles his Black Templar crusade. If needed we will carry over the campaign into Sunday, but if not will we fill Sunday up with more 40K, Fantasy Battles and Warmachine/Hordes!

All and all I am really looking forward to the weekend, I am just Happy his wife let him come for a visit and that my wife is willing to lose her husband for 4 days of gaming madness. I will post as much as I can throughout the weekend, but I will make the more quality posts in the week that follows I am sure.

As always, thank for taking the time to read the blog and please feel free to leave a comment.

-Meatball

Motivational Monday: Steam Tanks

This week we get our motivation from the Empire!

Remember, if you have made or found a cool gaming motivational poster, send it to jackal@lglogan.com and I will add it to one of the next Motivational Mondays!

-BJ

Cursade of Alamodia Campaign: Battles 4 thru 6

This is the 3nd in a Series of posts Please read the prior posts to get all the information.

Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: An Introduction
Crusade of Alamodia IV Campaign: Battles 1 thru 3

In the last post I discussed the the first 3 missions of the campaign. Today I will be posting my rules for the last three battles in the campaign.

Battle 4 - Siege of Saint Antonius

With the battle for the hill country over, fighting has now moved into the city of Saint Antonius where both sides are fighting for control of the city and its star-port.

 Battle Briefing:

This battle represents an all out city fight for control of Saint Antonius, the victor here will have a major advantage going into the final battles.

Playing the Battle:

- Mission Type: Firesweep (Cities of Death)
- Deployment: As per scenario
- 1750 pts per side, Standard FOC
- OMEGA size battlefield

Special Rules:

The Victor of this battle has gained a major strategic advantage and may choose  the deployment for Battle 5

Battle 5 - The Last Stand

The final battle for Alamodia IV is here. Both armies are committing everything they have to decide the fate of the planet. Only one side can arise victorious!

Battle Briefing:

This battle represents the final major battle in the conflict. This winner of this battle will secure the planet for themselves.

Playing the Battle:

- Mission Type: Annihilation
- Deployment: Victor of Battle 4 may choose
- 2500 pts per side, Spearhead FOC
- SpearHead formations are available

Special Rules:

The Victor will be the attacker in the battle 6.

The Victor may add 50 points to his army list for every VP above the loser for Battle 6

Battle 6 - "Remember Alamodia"

With the final battle over, the enemy is retreating, this is the final chance to wipe out the enemy, preventing any further attacks and securing a claim of true victory.

Battle Briefing:

This battle represents the victors chasing the defeated enemy as the retreat. The enemy is trying to get someone import to a shuttle to evacuate the planet!

Playing the Battle:
- Mission Type: Evacuation
- Deployment: Per BRB Page 271
- 2000 pts per side, plus additional points for the victor of battle 5

Special Rules:

Random Game Length

If the Templars are the Defenders they must get an Inquisitor to the shuttle. Use the stats for an "Elite" Inquisitor from the Witch Hunters codex along with 25 points of gear. No henchmen are allowed, they have already died getting the Inquisitor this far.

If the Orks are the defender they must get their Warboss to the shuttle.

The defender may get the entire campaign to a draw if they can get their objective to the shuttle. It will take one full round to get the objective off the planet once they have reached the shuttle.

If the Defender cannot get the objective off the planet then the attacker wins the entire campaign.

Well there you have it. The final 3 battles in this narrative campaign. I hope you have enjoyed reading my campaign rules. Please feel free to leave some comments, I just ask that they be constructive so that I can make quality adjustments to the campaign.

-Meatball