Death or Glory!

"I'm not making a final stand, you're making a final stand!"

With this past weekend being the last official weekend of the last season of 9th edition, Da Masta Cheef made arrangements to try to get in a game of Warhammer 40k. We agreed to make lists of 1250 points and meet at The Outpost in Johnson City. 

I brought Hivefleet Neverness, since they're my current hobby focus and I wanted to give their a Codex a first, and likely,  final shot before we transition over to 10th. Some of the models had their bases melt in the car while I was at work, and dealing with that was a distraction for sure. Oddly, they could mostly still stand. Kind of. I used the Hivefleet Hydra rules for them as I wanted them to be pretty quick. 

Cheef also had a fiasco of his own when he realized he was missing units. So a lot his army was proxied in, thus the overabundance of primed models in his force today. We decided that we really want to keep the game as simple as we could so we chose the Death or Glory Open War mission from the main rulebook. No Secondaries or Objectives, or even Victory Points to have to fool with; just straight up killing. it's classic Attacker vs. Defender fight, with the Defender getting a Fearless special rule to keep their final stand right here on the table. Death or glory indeed!

 His army had an Inquisitor joined with it. He is the stumpy fellow in the pic below.  

The majority of the Space Marine force was set up in the middle of his Deployment Zone. 

My sneaky Broodlords were both set up behind a building near the center. 

The Tyranids set up right on the DZ line with every intention of moving forward as fast as possible. 

My dice were exceptionally hot to start the game off, with me making somc crazy stat-busting rolls. here was a group of 5+ saves I had to make to keep my genestealers alive. 

That doesn't mean the nids were immune to the Marine's firepower. In this next pic, the termagants are looking at the place before them where an entire brood of Genestealers were blasted away. The Termagants were torn up a bit also, but I was able to bring some of them back in my Command Phase using the  Endless Swarm Stratagem card. 

On my turn the Hive Tyrant showed up to deal with the Inquisitor. Despite laying down some fire with his big gun and some psychic shenanigans, he failed to make his charge.  The two Broodlords jumped the squad nearest to them and shredded them apart, leaving a sole, and fearless, survivor. 

Turn Two, the Cheef didn't need to move his forces much, but he laid down the fire power. The Inquisitor almost Dominated the Hive Lord, but a well spent re-roll on my part prevented that calamity from occurring. 

The Hive Tyrant charged the Marines and the Genestealers charged the Inquisitor, killing both units. The Broodlord that charged the lone marine managed to take him out also. It should be noted that at this point in the game I used the Rapid Regeneration Stratagem card (each one on different turns) on the Broodlords, keeping both in the fight way longer than they deserved to be. -And much to the annoyance of the Cheef. 

Heroes? All we see is bio-mass.

The Genestealers were shot to ribbons during the Marine's turn. Thanks to a strategic Fallback maneuver by the Intercessors, which allowed for the Genestealers to become prime targets. 

The Termagants, despite their over ambitious intentions, were cut down by the Assault Intercessors. This was a unit I grossly underestimated, as you'll see by the end of this battle...

More heavy fire power on the Cheef's third turn reduced the enhanced Genestealers (they were the painted ones with melted bases, they had an armor upgrade) to shattered parts. This was a swing turn for the marines, as they pushed back hard on against the Tyranids, and for a good while there, I thought the whole thing was about to collapse me. 

But I moved in the for the kill and was able to get things a bit more equalized. Still, at this point, the game looked like it could go either way...

The Hive Tyrant charged the Primaris Ancient. This guy once went toe-to-toe, surviving multiple Fight Phases, with a Keeper of Secrets, so I know what a mofo he could be. Also, the buffs he was giving out to his battle brothers made him a prime target. The Hive Tyrant softened him up a bit with a Smite during the psychic phase. and finished him in the fight phase. 

The Chaplin was too dire of a threat, and again with my lucky rolling, the last Broodlord felled him with a super-smite. An inglorious demise, but to the hive-mind, it was a necessary removal of a threat. Likewise, the Firestrike Servo-turret turned on the Broodlord and blasted him apart!

The center fight appeared to mine, as the Screamer Killer and the Primaris Chaplin tore into each other and my Termagants swarmed the Assault Intercessors. The Chaplain and the Screamer Killer both survived their first round of melee,  but the Termagants, well, they found out that they were not the apex of tyranid bio-evolution after all.... and yes, that squad of Assault Intercessors took out both broods of Termagants during this battle! 

It's the Marines' Turn five, and the Nids needed to maximize the kills if they were to secure victory. i decided to split the Screamer killers attacks between the Assault Intercessors and the Chaplin. This always works right? Well, this time it did! The Chaplin's Rosarius failed to protect him from the massive xenos claws.

...and the Assault Intercessors were reduced down to a final guy. 

Tyranids Turn 5, and it was all or nothing time. Both sides have only two models left. The Hive Tyrant withstood the attack from the Firestrike Servo- turret, taking a Wound, but the Hive Tyrant crushed the gun like an aluminum can. 

The lone marine stood his ground, and managed to take off another Wound from the xenos monstrosity before him. But it wasn't enough. The Screamer Killer overwhelmed him, rending him apart, the last chance the Ultramarines had of defending this fragile world. 

An epic final stand. 

That was a crazy game! But a good one! The close games are always the best ones. and this is one that neither of us will forget soon. I am hoping the Cheef will paint that Chaplin model, despite his epic demise,  he kicked ass! So did his Assault Intercessors. I think I need to get mine assembled and painted sooner than later. 

I think the MVP of my game was the Rapid Regeneration Stratagem and Endless Swarm Stratagems. Without those cards this would've been a very different story.

So were talking about refighting this battle, perhaps even using the same scenario, in 10th edition, y'know, once we get it all figured out, just to see how different it will be. Summer just started a few days ago, I hope it will still be Summer when get together to do that. 

Genestealer #11

 The next Genestealer* to be graced by my paint and brush is a more modern interpretation of the concept. This one I believe came from the wh40K 4th edition starter, the Battle for Macrage.  I got it with a small batch of nids that Da Masta Cheef tossed my way. Why he only had a single one is a mystery to me, perhaps he'll tell us below, or maybe there's just no tale to tell? Only he knows for sure...

Basecoated. And no, he won't end up with lipstick! 

The basecoats were done using Macrage Blue and  Luxion  Purple Contrast Paint. 

Basecoats, bird's eye view.

I really liked how the Luxion Purple worked on the Genestealer so I didn't feel the need to use Xereus Purple  and skipped it. I went strait to the Genestealer Purple which I used sparingly and highlighted it with Kakophoni Purple. 

On the blue area, I used Calgar Blue, a layer of Fenrisian Grey with a final highlight of White Scar. 

A dead Ultramarine, a homage to Cheef's current Astartes army.

I think this turned out better than I was expecting . I like how it turned out out so much that I am tempted to paint up all of those Space Hulk Genestealers that I have lurking somewhere.

White highlights on the spine and elbows.

And I think I have finally settled on a fast and easy paint scheme for my nids. I just need to decide what gets the honor of being painted next for my skittering little army...

Free hugs for the four-armed Emperor!

Last minute addendum: on Saturday night I took the bugs out for their first game in years,  and my first game in 7 months,  but I underestimated how freaking hot the car would get while I was at work. About a dozen model had their bases damaged from the heat but this guy was the only one hat was truly damaged. Hit leg melted! Arrrrgh!!!!

He was literally my latest painted model too.. Mrs. Neverness thinks he looks cool, like he's being gunned down... 

So this, the other eight** Genestealers, a ripper swarm, and the patriach all have damaged bases.  Expect their repair to be a future blog post....

* I promise I am not going to make a post featuring every single individual Genestealer I paint.  Promise! 

** only two of the painted Purestrain Genestealers came out of this with undamaged bases. 

Genestealer #10

 This is only the 10th Genestealer I have painted (if we discount the hybrids and Patriach). So, yeah, I just finished a squad, or rather a brood, of ten models. The first few were painted while I was still living in the U.K. way back in 1992.  Three decades for one unit... kind of impressive huh?

Basecoats.

Genestealer #9 was finished last year and this critter was supposed to join him at that time but it just didn't happen.  So here we are now with the opportunity to get him done. I followed the steps discussed in Genestealer Killteam #2 with a few changes. 

Mostly done.

The biggest change was not using my ancient Citadel Worm Purple and instead using Xereus Purple and Genestealer Purple with a final highlight of Kakophoni Purple.  

Genestealer #10 and #9. 

He's probably not the best of my painted Genestealers, but in a large group he'll look just fine. 

"Fear not men, we have lasguns!" 

And, even with just a single addition, Hivefleet Neverness grows...

Corsair: The Face Of The Void (Review)

 

Corsair: The Face Of The Void is an audio drama* written by James Swallow. 

This is a bit different than your typical 40k story, and yet it was quite entertaining. To sum up, a ship called The Corsair carrying a Rogue Trader, Captain Santiago, and her crew, who are chasing down a pirate ship (which at one point it is said that they are "abhumans") which is trying to reach a warp-jump point to escape. They are putting up quite a fight when it appears to disappear. When the ship reappears it seems suddenly derelict and abandoned. They board it only to discover that the ship appears to be extremely old and decayed despite not being that old (by Imperium standards anyway). They are attacked by warpghosts whom they determine were the crew who were trapped on this ship went it went through the temporal event that aged the ship. They're also attacked by a single Chaos Marine who proves to be a bit of scary, if not 2-D, kind of a chap. 

They find the cargo which is clearly xenos in origin and very likely worth a lot of money due to the reward on it.  They know per the reward stipulations that they are to bring that crate back unopened and intact. But the crate has other plans...

+++SPOILERS AHEAD +++

The cargo is Dhokar, a Necron Chronomancer (it's also called a Cryptek) held in stasis. And, with not too much effort, it escapes the stasis and begins an assault on the ship. It summons necrons to it and it starts taking over the ship. I loved this guy's dialogue: "I have no more need for you organic!" as he disintegrates a guy. "You. Will. Pay for that. Organic wretch!" he curses the Aeldari Ranger during the battle. However the Captain and her crew figure out how to defeat the necrons by ejected them into the warp by opening an airlock. "You, will not escape us, fleshborn!" he shouts while being pulled out into the abyss, where the daemonic forces wait eagerly to feed upon them.  

Narrowly escaping the warp themselves, the Corsair translates back into our reality only to find itself surrounded by an Imperial war fleet. They get the crew to stand down and the Captain and her aeldari Ranger escort go to the flagship where they are have an audience with the Tetriarch Queen Belletane herself. It was the Queen who had purchased the stasis box with the Necron inside of it. After pirates stole her good she is the one who put out the bounty for her item. Now she has tracked down the vessel that retrieved box with the intention of taking it and screwing the Corsair crew out of it's reward, only to find that they had jettisoned it in the warp. Santiago uses the threat of reporting the Tetriarch Queen to the Ordo Xenos to sort of parley with her. The Queen agrees to allow Santiago and the Corsair crew go but they are restricted to her sector. 

That was the seriously abridged summary. The audio drama itself has a lot of nuances and personality to all the characters that often distracts from the plot. 

• Did I like it? I did. But it's kind of a hot mess. My first impression was that it reminded me of those BBC radio dramas I used to listen to. Or the Dr Who audio stories that Big Finish produces. But there is a lot of energy to this story, almost chaotically so. 
• Was it hard to put down? This isn't a book, but the concept is that same: did I lose focus on the story? No. Being that there are different voice actors for the characters, as opposed to a a guy reading a book to you, it was a lot easier to engage and follow this story. 
• Could I care about the characters? Some of them, yes. The Eldar Ranger in the crew is so....ELF, that it must have pained Mr Swallow to not have a dwarf in the crew for him to banter with. I did like how the other characters talk about him, referring to him as an 'it' devoid of humanity. Back to that Chaos Marine, by scary, imagine if a Chaos Space Marine were to appear on Scooby Doo. His dialogue was pretty much yells of "Enemies!" and other bellowing declarations. Icaylian the psyker was an interesting character but she seemed predictably fragile. The Enginseer with a death wish was a fun character. 
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Yes. This was a fun story and it felt like how a Rogue Trader RPG adventure would play out. 
• Was I being talked down too? The way Captain Santiago talked was in a constant tone of derisive annoyance. She was annoyed by everyone and everything and seemed like nothing couldn't piss her off. Since she's essentially the main character, you couldn't help but feel a bit of her wrath. "I'll shoot you in that damned excuse for a face if you don't do your damned job Kyteal, MORE SPEED NOW!!!"  
• How predictable is this story? The first half of the story kind of is, but the last act with the Tetriach Queen was quite different. Clearly the ending of this drama was setting up a continuity in the hopes that this would become a series. In an interview with James Swallow he stated that this was set up as basically a pilot episode to a bigger story but since this came out in 2018 (it's halfway through 2023 at the time of this writing) I'm doubtful that a sequel is forthcoming.  
• Do I recommend this book audio drama? By no means is this a vital story, and it's probably not worth seeking out, but if you stumble upon this and want to be entertained, then yes, go for it. 

*A fancy word for "Play".