Exploding Mechs on Solaris VII

 Battletech is the grand-daddy of Sci-Fi wargaming. Every hobbyist, at some point in their journey from newbie to gray-haired grognard, will have at least one mech in their collection. It is a classic, with solid mechanics and a lot of room for narrative customization. And, if there is anything I love in miniature gaming, it's good rules that can play out the weird stories I make up in my head. So, thanks to my buddy Jeremy, a group of us at Endgame have fallen face first into a Solaris VII campaign.

The Dead Crows (Enforcer, Griffin, Catapult, Zeus)

Solaris makes for a really fun and friendly setting. For the uninformed, Solaris VII hosts gladiator-style combat in various arenas. For this campaign, the players have each created a stable with mechwarriors and mechs that will compete against other stables for glory and credits. This has been setup as a summer campaign, and last night was our third meet-up as a group. My Dead Crows was matched up against David's Dat Boi Stables, and it was an instant classic. So, in order to capture the legendary battle, I decided to write a narrative battle report. Hope you enjoy it, and happy Friday!

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"Sweet Odin's Asshole!", screamed Thor Josefson as the Hunchback's AC-20 lit into his Griffin's chest. He returned fire with a beam of energy from his PPC and attempted to slink back into cover. Attempted being the operative word. The 55 ton machine's legs gave out and crashed through the woods and smashed into the perimeter wall. 

 "The bastard took out my gyro", Thor murmured after he caught his breath. He wiped the sweat from his eyes and stroked his braided brown beard as the machine picked itself up from the ground. All the armor on his right torso was gone. He could vaguely see the Hunchback sulking on the other edge of the wood. Thor saw his opportunity and ran into the open, hoping to catch his opponent unaware. The Griffin wobbled drunkenly into position. As he raised his PPC to fire, Thor's mech swayed and crashed into the wall. The energy beam caught the Hunchback in the left torso. Melted armor slagged off the mech as it fell to it's knees. But joy quickly turned to fear as Thor saw the red beam fly from the knocked-out Hunchback's medium laser.

It caught the Griffin in a large hole in the mech's torso. The ruby red energy burned through a thin layer of steel and hit the first of sixteen rounds of long-range missiles. 

Thor ejected high in the air, propelled by the massive explosion of his destroyed mech. The crowd cheered along with the massive explosion. Their eyes trained on the fireworks. Thor cared not for explosions. He had seen many in his glorious mercenary career. His joy came when he saw the Hunchback fall face first into the mud of the arena. Thor had escaped. With his life, and most importantly, another destroyed mech for the standings.

Horus Heresy Bundles from FW!!!

 

Hey everybody! I know its been a while, but life/work/etc. have sure gotten in the way of my hobbying as of late. But, never fear! I saw this and I realized I just had to share it. If you have been waiting on starting a 30k army, here is your chance. For about $350 you can have a new army from your favorite legion! Now is your chance. Horus Heresy is by far GW's best game, and this is a great way to start. From here, all you need to do is buy huge tanks and Primarchs. Who DOESN'T want huge tanks and Primarchs?

Jump on-board you freaky Emperor's Children fanboy! Feel the burn you crispy Salamanders player! Buy more gold bodypaint Son of Sanginius! Get excitied, because 30k is having it's coming out party. And, we are all invited!

Until next time!

Ave Dominus Nox on Fluffius Fridayius

Man, it's been a while! The end of the summer was a whirlwind for me, but things are finally starting to settle down. Here is a #flufffriday piece I wrote for Inspiration Friday over at Bolter & Chainsword. Make sure to check it out when you get a chance. Anyway, this is a story about my new army project (duh...duh...DUH) the Night Lords! I have been trying to only use old Rogue Trader models, and I look forward to sharing more pictures soon. In the meantime, enter Headsman Halan of the VIIIth Legion:

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Terra's Might was a vessel of fantastic size and incredible might. The flagship of the Imperial Fists XXIVth company had seen many battles during the Great Crusade, who could forget it's heroic actions against the greenskins at Gillean IV, and her honors were bestowed upon her bows. Great murals of battles, heroes, and the glorious Emperor of Mankind stood as giants amongst the endless void of space. It was impressive. Halan, so inspired by the work of the remembrancers, had decided to make his own mark on the masterpiece.

The Night Lord's dreadclaws landed in a circle around the halo above the Emperor's head. Activating their melta-cutters, the midnight clad ships danced, cutting a large hole in the side of the beautiful ship. Bodies struggled, then went slowly limp as they were overtaken by the void. The Terror Squads poured into the ship. After three hours of bloody battle, things were looking bleak. The combat shields of the few remaining breacher squads were blocking off the bridge. Harlan was perturbed. His men had taken the engine room, so he would destroy the ship. But, the Captain would not be happy with his work. He reached out with a blood-red gauntlet to activate a portal to the landing bay. No luck. "Meltabombs," he barked over the vox as he walked behind his men. He stared at his gauntlets again. He was marked for death, and a failure in this mission would see it sooner rather than later. The bomb turned the door to slag as his squad ran into the room.

They were surrounded by astartes. Silver armored, beak-nosed astartes. The Night Lords opened fire, then quickly stopped and began to laugh. These suits of armor were empty. Of unknown mark, but surely empty. There had to be hundreds of the suits. Halan smiled a crooked smile. His company had been fighting in patched-up suits of mark IV and make-shift mark V armor for years now.

"Get these to the ships now! Katarc, how long 'til the reactor blows?", Harlan growled.

"Fifteen minutes Headsman".

Halan stood and admired the view. Amongst the stars a metal disk spun slowly in space. Once his men transferred the last of the power armor to the waiting Storm Eagles, he walked onto his ship. As soon as the ships and dreadclaws were a safe distance away, he commanded all of his men to activate the pict-screens in their worn helmets. The Emperor's head floated above Terra's Might. Burnt metal and singed paint had morphed his stern face into a sad, black skull. Halan activated the vox network.

"Five... four... three... two..."

A blinding white light illuminated the darkness. The Night Lords cheered, then began to chant in unison, "Death to the False Emperor! Death to the False Emperor!". Halan would avoid death again, but it would still come one day.

"Katarc!", the Headsman growled, "Have a servitor prepare one of the new suits for me. I grow tired of these rags".

Night Lords Praetor

Hey everybody! It's been a while since I've written anything. But I'm back with a new project, the Night Lords. I plan on building an army for 30k and 40k (using the Khorne Daemonkin codex) as a matched pair to fight against my Raven Guard. I've always been interested in the VIIIth legion, and all the beautiful Forge World bits and models have finally pulled me in. Expect some updates on this army soon, as I'll be using them in a 30k campaign and eventually building up to an 1850 list for next years Bay Area Open. I've never run a Chaos army before, but the Daemonkin codex looks really fun, and should be a nice change of pace.

On a related note, make sure to check out the Eye of Horus Podcast. These Aussies craft a really excellent 30k podcast, and there last episode on the Night Lords was great inspiration for my new army. I would recommend these guys to anyone, even non-Heresy fanatics. Hope everyone has a great weekend. And lookout for an update on the Warriors in Midnight Clad next week.

Also, don't forget to check Corsair Radio out on Facebook and my posts over at House of Paincakes. Until next time!

Red, Warhammer, and Blue (Happy 4th of July!!!)

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow freedom loving 'Muricans! Thanks to a day off of work Friday, I decided to challenge myself a little this weekend. So, I will be painting up Pedro Kantor, a Tactical Squad, and some Centurion Devastators for my new allied contingent of Crimson Fists that will be joining my Raven Guard at the BAO next weekend. Make sure to check out the Facebook page for live updates. I'll be posting the finished minis on Monday morning.

Have a great weekend full of fireworks, hot dogs, and Screaming Eagles!

Until next time!

Taking SK-57 (Narrative Battle Report from the Ghoul Stars)

On Tuesday, I got to play my first Zone Mortalis game. And it... was... awesome! I cannot recommend ZM enough. With some really great terrain (thanks, Greg!), it makes for an awesome setting with a very grimdark 40k feel to it. This particular battle was the Raven Guard and Death Watch against Necrons and Orks for control of SK-57, a mysterious space station in Warzone Giza. While the White Raven's forces did take heavy casualties, nothing was permanently lost from my Order of Battle. Boosted by this victory, the Raven Guard are traveling via Storm Honda to Sacramento this weekend to hang out with Farseer Joel and Arch Magos Scott. Make sure to check out the Facebook page for pictures and hobby related updates. Also don't forget to check out Dredging the Grimdark, a series I've been writing for House of Paincakes.

For now, enjoy #flufffriday with a narrative battle report and some pictures from this weeks game. Until next time!

Shadow's Claw

A wall of crude promethium welcomed the Raven Guard. Walking though the fire, they would have seemed liked gods to any mortal man. But, to the vile greenskins, Krios and his men were just another fight. Their horde seemed endless, numberless amongst the corridors of the old space station. An overwhelming "WAAAAAGGGHHH" erupted from the Orks as they charged towards them. "Hold!", shouted Krios over the rising tide. Shadow's Claw, his custom chainglaive, came to life as he braced for impact. "Hold!", Krios commanded as the Raven Guard aimed their bolters. When the Orks reached ten meters from their position, he gave the order. "Now!".

A storm of fire cut down the front line of the assault, forcing the horde to jump and crawl over the bodies of their dead. Krios ran out into the enemy. He spotted the largest Ork he could find and swung his chainglave with incredible force. It caught the Nob in the neck, and Krios quickly pulled it toward the floor. The Ork was split in two, both halves falling with a thud. Shadow's Claw seemed to dance in the air, spraying warm blood on the commander's face and armor. Every strike was as quick as lighting. The weapon's adamantium teeth ripping and tearing into the green tide. Soon, a pile of dead Orks surrounded the White Raven. The clamor of battle became quieter and quieter. Then, silence.

Krios observed the corridor with disgust. A sick ichor of blood and green flesh covered everything. He grabbed a piece of tatter cloth from one of the dead Orks and cleaned his face. He has lost brothers today. By Corax, they would be avenged. Krios spotted a dying greenskin crawling towards the end of the hall. He slowly walked over to the beast and placed his ceramite boot on the it's leg. The Ork turned to see what was holding it back, and was met by the thud of Shadow's Claw slamming into it's forehead. The greenskin was terrified, yellow eyes starting up at the weapon. "For the Emperpor", Krios muttered as the chainglaive's teeth came to life.

Ghoul Stars Campaign Day Photos

This has been a crazy week at work for me (managing company moves has got to be right up there with fighting daemons for a living) so this will be a bit of a photo dump. The first day of the Ghoul Stars campaign was a couple weekends ago, and it was awesome. The mezzanine at Endgame was packed, and the two games I had were both really fun. I promise I will actually write up a narrative battle report, but for now here are some pictures from the day. Big thanks to Mike and Adan for running an awesome event.

On an unrelated note, make sure to check out Gav Thorpe's latest blog post on world building. Some very cool tips for when you write your next narrative campaign or battle reports. Head over to Corsair Radio's Facebook Page for the link. And, while you there, like our page so you can see more cool links and pictures from the wild and weird world of 40k!

Until next time!

Raven Guard are extra camouflaged in black and white photos.

Hide, hide, hide!!!

Hipster Space Wolves with Meltaguns

Emperor's Children MC

He came THIS close to dying

Multi-Melta Dreadnought would be a great metal band name

Space Marines, Assemble!!!