Battle Report Time - Chaos Cultists take on Iyanden

Battle Report Time - Chaos Cultists take on Iyanden

Friday night fight night rolls around again and this time It sees my inaugural run with the Lost and the Damned. I'm a huge fan of the Redux version available here on Tactical Command which has an awesome theme and collection of chaos units to back up your veritable horde of cultists. Its a much more interesting list than the currently approved NetEA variant which is basically just gaurd with some chaos symbols painted on the side.

The lists

Iyanden
Avatar – 0 Wraith Gate - 50 Wraith Guard – wraithseer – 375 Wraith Guard – 275 Wraith Blades – 225 Storm Serpent – 250 Strom serpent 250 Night Spinners – 175 Revenants – 650 Wraith ship – 150 Vampire 200 Falcons – 4 falcons 2 firestorm – 300 Rangers – 100

So 3 units of RA4+ Fearless macro toting wraiths to deal with, in this game the blades were in the vampire and the gaurd in the storm serpents. Revenant titans providing massive fire support and the wraithship dropping double pie plates of death just to cause some dramas during deployment really.

The Lost and the Damned Redux

Link to PDF: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=26363

Unit Name	Description	Points
Cultist Coven	One Demagogue or Chaos Marine Aspiring Champion and eleven Cultists or Mutant units. Formation has Daemonic Pact. ADD – 6 Land Transports (60), Chaos Altar (150), 1 Technical (25)	460
Cultist Coven	One Demagogue or Chaos Marine Aspiring Champion and eleven Cultists or Mutant units. Formation has Daemonic Pact. ADD – 6 Land Transports (60), 1 Technical (25	310
Cultist Coven	One Demagogue or Chaos Marine Aspiring Champion and eleven Cultists or Mutant units. Formation has Daemonic Pact.	225
Zombie Infestation	3D6 Plage Zombie Units	175
Zombie Infestation	3D6 Plage Zombie Units	175
Plague Tower	1 Plague Tower	300
Plague Tower	1 Plague Tower	300
Fire Lord	Two Fire Lord Bombers	250
Doomwings	Three Doomwing Fighters	150
Hellfire Cannons	Four Hellfire Cannons	200
Hellfire Cannons	Four Hellfire Cannons	200
Daemon Pool	7 Lesser Daemons 2 Greater Daemons	105 100

A bit of a mixed bag but the basic principle is that you have two fast moving cultist formations who can summon daemons to support their assaults across the board and a third one held back as a blitzgaurd. Fire support comes from the plague towers who can do good damage to infantry and light vehicles with their BP barrage and the Hellfire cannons which offer long range macro battlecannon death. Two sets of planes gives the army the capasity to strike all over the place and the Doomwings are also a solid figher option to buff the quite depressing ground based AA options.



Deployment

I'll confess to not having a solid plan for this one. My build essentially works on the idea of getting solid fire support from the plague towers and hell cannons, doing some distracting with the zombies and taking ground with the cultist units. Like all the best plans this one lasted until the first shot...

The cult was spread from one end of the table to the other with a fairly symmetrical allocation of cultists, hellcanons and plague towers. The BTS cultist unit is the blob with an altar on my left. Opposing it the eldar have grouped up around their blitz and with a clear flanking force of revenants and storm serpent.

Waiting to be summoned in one form or another... The lesser daemons would be waiting a while!

Turn 1

Turn 1 starts very cagey, not confident of a good position the plague zombies stay in hiding and much of the Iyanden force is still holding off in the warp. In hindsight keeping the zombies in reserve feels like a mistake and I should have dropped them turn 1.

Iyanden win initiative and start with a Dragon ship killing a land transport and an infantryman from the BTS cultists followed by a few more casualties from the night spinners as I advanced.

The hellcannons on the left decided to advance through terrain to take revenge on said voidspinners... 3 of them didn't survive the trip and the last one missed... My leftmost plague tower advanced only to have 5DC stripped by the revenants who doubled to light it up... so far not so good!

Adding insult to injury a huge assault goes off on the cultists on my right who had advanced. A broken storm serpent delivered a unit of wraithgaurd who prepped the cultists ready for an air assault from the wraithblades which wiped the cultist unit out. The only redemption was the firestorm bombers sniping out the transport afterwards. What a mess.

This is a textbook example of a great engagment... pity it wasn't me attacking!

Turn 2

Plague zombies come down to surround the revenants and be annoying and potentially attack the scouts near the Eldar BTS. Sadly it wasn't to be as eldar once again stole the initiative. The plague zombies surrounding the revenants were quickly cut down and broken by the wraithgaurd and rangers but being fearless they planted themselves in and prepared to be as annoying as possible

In response the BTS cultist formation summons a lord of change who snipes out the middle storm serpent with its double macro shots. The plague zombies near the Eldar BTS happily engaged and wiped out the Eldar rangers in an impressive display of competitive brain eating.

Eldar Falcons zoom up and snipe the alter out of the BTS formation which gets sucked back into the warp on a crit followed by a retain with the sup com wraithgaurd formation emerging from the webway to challenge the lord of change to single combat, amazingly he survived it and the broken wraithgaurd fall back to a safer position.

Turn 3

Avatar pops up next to my cultist formation, Eldar win the strategy roll, only to fail to activate the wraithblades... twice. Sad day for the Eldar.

Plague tower siezes the opportunity to break the storm serpent in the middle and then a retain sees the right most cultists summon a bloodthirster and head straight for the revenant Titans. After 2 epic rounds of combat a revenant lay smoking but the cultists lost their nerve and fled.

The remaining wraithgaurd sustain on the plague tower taking it down to 3 wounds and the avatar follows up for an engagement reducing it to a single wound and broken.

I saw an opportunity to run for the enemy blitz and secure a win but a tragic 3/4 failed rolls for activation robbed me of my opportunity and we set up for turn 4....

After rally phase there's not a lot on the table, it's a plague tower, 2 sets of planes, 1 cultist unit and some plague zombies versus a storm serpent, 4 wraith guard and 3 wraith blades....

Turn 4

Eldar win the final initiative bid of the game and move in for the kill on the plague tower

Wraithblades clear the zombies and and the wraithgaurd bring down the tower with massed fire.

Bombers and fighters both fail to activate, one with a sup com so it comes to the zombies to clear the void spinners off the enemy blitz which they do! The win then comes down to the BTS cultist unit walking up to the uncontested enemy blitz.... guess what....

So net result was a VP count back and a score of

Eldar kill - 1385 Cultists kill - 1205

Conclusions

A damn close game which the cult could have taken out if not for some nuts failed activations in the last turn or 2. Most of the remaining Iyanden troops were broken but those wraith constructs are damn hard to finish off. Not a bad first go for the cult. Things I learnt this game:

Hellcannons are damn fragile... and clearly a massive target.

Cultists are good fodder but don't expect anything much else.

Plague towers are really good for all round FF support and flexibility but again a big target and they can't respond well to the big stuff which will be hitting them.

Bombers and planes are both good options... when they turn up!

I expected the bloodthirster to be the man of the match but since he doesn't do much when not in BC my final conclusion was that the Lord of Change was much more useful overall.

Plague zombies are great, such a pain for the enemy to deal with even if they will never actually achieve much else.

Lesser daemons - funnily I never summoned even one despite having invested in a bunch of them. I really need to work out how to use them or just drop them altogether for something else.

Space Dwarves are not extinct! Tactica Squats

Tactica Squats - How many battle cannons is too many? 

So I'm stepping out of the usual mould this time round and actually discussing EpicUK squats rather than NetEa. The reasoning is very simple, there is no approved NetEA squats list, the best we've had is developmental and thanks to some jerk abusing the list at this year's Cancon even it has been sent back to the experimental phase. Given that list development tends to take years I wouldn't hold my breath on getting something proper anytime soon. If you are a squat lover I'm sure the Squat AC over at Taccoms would love your support in the new development but until then I'd suggest you stick with EpicUK squats which of course are fully approved and have recently been updated so you can assure they are as balanced as you will ever find. 

Hold the line! Goliath Mega Cannons and Thunderfires are a solid combo

Core choices

Squat warriors - These guys are much like tactical marines or some core formations for Gaurd, jack of all trades but masters of none. In epic what that means is that you have some guns but not enough to shoot anything much, you have some CC and FF capacity but your armour is still crap. This is not a unit in ever a fan of because I prefer more tailored tools, for that reason I just don't run them. 

Squat Berzerkers - This is my go to formation for core troops in squats. Their extra BC engage hits are good and they have the same FF as warriors. The Hearthgaurd carries a gun which allows you to zoom up and put a blastie on something if needs be and most importantly they are cheap as chips. That Hearthgaurd gives you inspiring as well which is just fantastic. I usually run 3-4 min sized units of these with most in rhinos but with 1 unit in termites which are fantastic for popping up under an objective in turn 3. Your warlord could go here if you like or in a bike unit if that floats your boat. 

Berzerkers emerge from tunnels to take the defence platform

Squat support units 

Bikes - fantastic unit, fast, hard hitting cheap and effective. The trikes are a mandatory upgrade in my mind. The only wierd part is the guild master whose light vehicle status makes him prone to random death if you aren't careful. Definitely a 1+ unit for inclusion 

Iron Eagles - certainly not a cheap unit by any terms but if you feel the need to take scouts this is your only option. Personally I never felt the need and I think there are much better options around. For firepower I go with overlords, for speed I go with bikes and scouting I don't stress too much about because your big war engines are solid as and you can easily cover key units with placement of things like Berzerkers. 

Overlords - Easily the best unit in the entire game and in fact it was my (ab)use of these at this year's Cancon tournament that caused such controversy that Netea squats were sent back into extinction until a full review could be conducted. To be fair I took 5...  Their firepower is amazing, as is their armour and they come with built in AA and solid FF support. They are just a really easy unit to get value out of. Support combines the best parts of skimmer for your benefits but you do have to be careful at how visible you are for return fire. I would consider 3 to be a friendly level of inclusion, 4 to be optimised for competition, 5 or more you should buy your opponent a drink first because what you are planning on doing to them is rude. 

Heavy support - robots and tarantulas are both useless in my mind but the other two so have some potential. Mole mortars are the unit that get the most attention because of their potential for 6bp with disrupt but considering their range is literally 30-60cm the unit becomes problematic. You will need to garrison forward to do much which means you could be outside of your AA bubble and after a bunch of games with and against them they lost their shine to me. 

      Squat light artillery has lots of range and some potential but I've always looked at them and compared them to an overlord which for similar points is just so much more flexible in basically every way. So unless you are experimenting it going for a particular theme I don't see much value in any of these units. 

Thunderers - nyah, there are so many better options for whatever role you are considering. 

Thunder fires - Absolute must have, with no flying AA you need solid ground options but with their great range and hitting power you won't regret this unit. Coming with transport gives you lots of flexibility and resilience to blasties so I would definitely include a unit of these. I'd run two if I didn't have the overlords to provide extra AA bubbles. 

Overlords launching from their landing pad to bring the rain 

Squat war engines

The very definition of spoilt for choice, ultimately it will come down to individual preference what you spend your points on here but I can't imagine why any own would run squats without spending some points here! 

Goliath Mega Cannons - a truly amazing artillery unit, phenomenal range and ignore cover to really put the pain on light infantry or even hit heavier infantry like marines that want to hug rhinos. Also the 6bp for the bonus blast marker can be important. I would basically always run a unit. 

Leviathan - I really like my leviathan in my NetEA Cadians but I feel you have better options in squats so don't bother 

Colossus - A solid all rounder with plenty of shots and the option to do one glorious 11BP barrage that could catch many opponents off gaurd by instantly breaking every DC3 war engine and unit you can cover with 3 templates. Having been on the receiving end of that I won't underestimate it twice. 

Cyclops - What it does it does amazingly well, but how many big Titans do you come across really... I think it's too one dimensional for my liking 

Land Train - the opposite of the cyclops and in my mind the best of a great bunch of war engines. Some people go for lots of cars and options but I've always kept my lean and mean. Usually I would run an engine, bomb car and 2 Berzerker cars so I get a nice solid 4BP macro along with 3 shields and 5DC without spending too many point. You could add another car or two if you wanted to make it more aggressive but being so slow it's a solid blitz Gaurd/BTS combo. 

Squat bikers escort the land train, keeping it safe from perky teleporters...

Strategies

Squats are a grind army more than a big dramatic hit sort of army. You will want to be positioning your objectives close together and close to the enemy objectives. You don't have a huge amount of speed options but you can if needs be. You would split them against other armies that love frontal smash tactics like Knights or Titans but generally you can rely on your amazing firepower to carry the day. Focus on finding a spot for your blitz that your train or other war engine can babysit whilst having great lines of sight. Or alternatively find somewhere with no line of sight and drop the goliaths down as the blitz gaurd and advance with the train. Experimenting here is important because the train can be such a solid gaurd but it also is great for FF support. 

       Traditionally I would grind my way up the field for 2 turns using battle cannons and templates to blast everything in sight. My Berzerkers and bikes would be looking to synergies with the overlords and the train to find nice clipping engages where there bad armour isn't a big issue and they can win on static res and FF support from the war engines. I usually would have a unit of tunnellers in the tube which would pop up in turn 3 either under the enemy blitz or on an objective in their half. You could try and be super clever with these though and have them pop up in one of your objectives or something if needs be, again experimentation is key.  

       Overall if you play it well Squats are an extremely powerful force. The trick is to keep moving forwards each turn even if you have long range shooting because you can't do massive zoom forward moves like Marines or Eldar love to do. If in doubt read up on standard American military philosophy, blast everything in sight with overwhelming firepower and send in the troops to sweep up the remains, it works for them and it will work for you! 

Sample build

Incompertus, 3000 POINTS
EpicUK Squats (EpicUK 191115)
==================================================
BIKERS [275] 
3 Bike, 3 Trike, Grand Warlord

BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD [200]
1 Hearthguard unit and 7 Berzerker units, Termite Tunnellers

BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD [200]
1 Hearthguard unit and 7 Berzerker units, Rhinos

BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD [200]
1 Hearthguard unit and 7 Berzerker units, Rhinos

THUNDERFIRE [175]
3 Thunderfire cannons plus transport

THUNDERFIRE [175]
3 Thunderfire cannons plus transport


OVERLORD [250]
Overlord Airship

OVERLORD [250]
Overlord Airship

OVERLORD [250]
Overlord Airship

OVERLORD [250]
Overlord Airship

LAND TRAIN [475] 
1 Land Train Engine, 2 Berserker Battle Car, Bomb Battle Car, Living Ancestor

GOLIATH [300] 
2 Goliath Mega Cannons

12 Activations with 11 on board at all times and the 12th tunneling up in turn 3 wherever you feel you can wreak the most havok. Berzerkers are a great unit for getting right up in people's faces and hit pretty hard whether its in BC or engagement, just be careful of copping too much return fire because of their low armour values. The Artillery and train give you excellent long range double template blast options with both Macro and Ignore cover being fantastic in the right situations. Thunderfires are there to do exactly what you would expect and the overlords are really just there for mobile fire support options. Their range and firepower are both outstanding and they can do a nice amount of FF support if you can combo it properly. Just be careful with the bike unit. It's not really there for a proper fight, more just an escort for the Sup Com. 

Time for an Epic Slow Grow!

Time for an Epic Slow Grow! 

Welcome Epic Addicts to the first Epic slow grow hosted on the blog. D6addiction is my first foray into the blogging world and its been a really interesting few months. I watched the first few weeks as we were hitting about 5-10 views a day and now we are averaging 2000 views a month, that's a lot of interest for a "dead game". There's been talk around my gaming circle of doing a slow grow for a while now and so I thought I might combine both ideas and see if we could generate some interest in the community. The real question was how many players out there just needed a little bit of peer pressure to kick off some frantic hobbying!

The response you will see below, at last count we had 13 players covering a wide array of different armies and we hope you all enjoy checking out the progress updates each month and perhaps even find a little inspiration yourself to dust off the metal and get some colour on there. The plan for the slow grow looks something like this
Below each of the players will be providing a starting pick and a little blurb outlining the army they are building and a little bit of background about their connection to the game.

Each month the growers have been asked to complete approximately 1000 points of their army and provide us a progress shot highlighting their achievements for the month. Hopefully we can inspire some of you readers into dusting off your own toy soldiers and grabbing a paintbrush too!

We will likely get some sample builds going sometime in the first month too so each of you can see the thinking process behind the armies being constructed. Where possibly we will line up some battles and post up reports too but the players are pretty spread out so we will see how that goes.

All of these armies should be fully completed by January ready for some glorious finished army shots and some well deserved rest for the painters! I'm hoping that as many players as possible will make it along to Cancon 2017 at the end of January and test their shiny new armies at what will no doubt be a huge epic event to kick off the new year. Enjoy the read and throw your support behind the players in the comments section below!

Player 1 - Steve 'The D6 Addict' Gibb
So I'm that sort of player who tends to purchase far more minis than I ever have time to paint. For me the slow grow is all about having just enough of a boot up the bum that I will finally have motivation to get out one of the 3 armies I currently have in bear metal and get them done. In the end I settled on Chaos Cultists as my focus partially because of a love of all things chaotic and partially because nobody else in the grow was doing them! I'll be basing my build on the developmental Lost and the Damned Redux list available here  on the Tactical Command forums which I feel is a far more interesting and charismatic chaos cult that the current approved one. I'll post a sample build in the near future but the army shot should show you that the basic philosophy will be to drown my enemies in junk troops every step of the way. Cultists, daemons and daemonic war engines to chop, crush, infect and burn the enemies of the dark gods

 

Player 2 - Zac 'Shenanigans' Manning

I will be completing my Iyanden army for this slow grow. I have always wanted to play elder since I started playing 40K when I was 12. I never got the chance then and now is a great time (mainly as I have money to buy things now haha). Alaitoc was always the craftworld I was most interested in to play closely followed by Iyanden. However Iyanden won the battle for what Eldar to collect and play in Epic as the Alaitoc list just does not float my boat.

      I liked the Iyanden list as it allows me options to play a different sort of playstyle to the past armies I have played (Marines, Tau and Iron Warriors). Iyanden allow me to combine similar aspects of all three into one if needed or can still play like the cheesy elder they are. At the end of this I aim to an army that can be mobile with Vampire Raiders, Storm Serpents and Web Way Portals while being able to smash things with the fearless macro weapon wielding Wraiths and Revenant Titans (because who doesn’t love titans than can move shoot move and have holo fields). Throw in some Night Spinners, Wave Serpents and Rangers with the mighty free Avatar and we have what on paper should be a solid army that can deal with most on comers.

      As for painting I have finally found an army where I can use orange as the main colour. The scheme will consist of orange and blue armour plates with bone and black weapons. Gems will be purple and green I feel at this stage. This can and will more then likely change as painting is not my strongest aspect of the hobby and try to follow paint by numbers when I can. For the bases I have found some circle scenic bases with gems that look very eldarly (will post the link for these later on when the army commences). 

Player 3 - John 'Girl Power' Hammond

 To counter all the abominable filth, heretics and foul xenos that I see the others building I give you the most pure form of the Emperor's Judgement!

The Adepta Soriotas have arrived!

When approached about the slow grow I knew it was time to finally work on a force I've always wanted, the Sisters of Battle. I've had most of the models for this army stashed in boxes in the hobby room for almost 12 months now awaiting the inspiration  to get back into painting them and now the moment has arrived. I've always liked the Sisters approach to most problems in the 40k  world, mainly being fire, holy fire and even more fire, and hope to bring this to the epic tabletop in a very aggressive in your  face Firefight style army.
This list will be based of the experimental list here  on the Tactical Command forums and I hope to be giving some  reports and feedback to help move the list along.

I'll admit I'm also cheating and getting a head start with my army as I plan on taking the first 1000pts to a local minigeddon  event towards the end of the month (MOAB 2016). The starting army will look like:

----------------------------
Mission [8 sisters] 275
Rhinos

Exorcism [5 exorcist] 250

Repentance [6 Repentia] 225
Rhinos
Immolator x1 25
Priest 50

Penitence [4 Penitent Engines] 175

-----------------------------
I'll report back next month with how they go and keep you up to date as I dispense with the enemies of mankind!

Player 4 - Ben 'I'm not a communist I just like red' Tranter

You know what rocks? Titans!
You know what sucks? Being unable to select their armament outside the predesigned load outs.

Enter the Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarri army! Able to take all the fun goodies that a pure Titan army can have, with the ability to field a 'proper' infantry army too. I'm also looking forward to fielding some of those wacky Ordinartus weapons.

First 1000 points undercoated and ready to go:

Incompertus, 1000 POINTS 
Gryphonne IV Skitarii Legion (NetEA v2.04 *EXPERIMENTAL*) 
==================================================

SKITARII DEMI-CENTURY [500] 
2 Secutor units, 8 Hypaspist units, Hydra, 10 Chimedons

CATAPHRACTI SUPPORT [350] 
Macharius Command Tank (vulcan), 2 Macharius

CRUSADER SCOUT MANIPLE [150] 
4 Crusader Robots




Player 5: Colm "no nickname" Kiely
I've been playing Epic in a fairly low-key for a couple of years now, and aside from the first couple of learning games, I've used a Codex Space Marine force exclusively.
      I wanted an excuse to get some new models and to try a different style of army. In my browsing I found some awesome looking Knight models and I've always been a a sucker for the "future feudalism" aspect of the 40k lore, so my decision was made for me. The "slow grow" group was advertised and it sounded like a great way to motivate myself to make steady progress with the new army.
      I've gone for a reasonable number of activations and kept it mostly knights, which means small unit sizes. Three units of engagement-focussed Errants are backed up by three units of ranged Castellans, with a couple of units of AA guns, a pair of Thunderbolts (reusing the ones in my Astartes army) and a unit of rough-riders to round out the force.
      Keeping the knightly theme going, I'm using English War of the Roses knights for my rough-riders.








Player 6: Jeff "what's a blurb? Thomson

Here's my 3000pts of standard IG. There's no real blurb or reason behind this force, except that it means I get most things painted in batches, rather than painting it all in bits and pieces. I don't intend to play it as it is here.

I'm going to try and stick to standard Steel Legion colours, though I have enough models (not being painted during this) to also use it as the Minervan Tank Legion, and also plan to get the required models for use as DKoK.

Player 7 Dave "Fruitbat" Dinglestad

I was a huge fan of Epic back when everything came on square bases and it was called Space Marine. It dropped off my gaming radar for a few decades, but a mate lured me back in with a couple of intro games over the last few years. I bit the bullet this year and finally played some games with the full rules at Castle Assault. It was a rapid learning curve, particularly game 1 vs the feral Orks, but I was hooked again. I'd acquired several armies over the years in bits & pieces, and settled on Imperial Guard using the Steel Legion approved list because tanks are cool. Also, because being a newbie I wanted a list that wasn't too hard to remember what stuff does. Guardsmen move forwards a bit, shoot lots, and die. Easy! For the Emperor!

Player 8 Chris "Fake Nightlords" Smith

I thought getting into this slow grow was a great idea to get yet another army going, I have only been in epic for just over a year, played in 2 tournaments and thoroughly enjoyed the game.

The reason for starting my Night Lords was just purely because of the slow grow, another chance to paint more epic. Because Night Lords aren't official yet I'm going to be building my army list using the approved Black Legion list.

And we have to rid the galaxy of them traitorous loyalists as we were meant to rule the galaxy.

Player 9 Ben "Genuine Fluffbunny" Spaulding

 Armageddon 233rd Armoured Regiment

++ Open transcript 311-ZA-[233-A] ++
Request received from 101st Mechanised Regiment –Armour support required.
233rd Armoured Regiment available for redeployment – advance element to mobilise within 24 hours from Hive Infernus. Body of force to mobilise within 72 hours, tasked to escort Mechanicus forces hailing from Voss Prime to rendezvous with Legio Invigilata.
Route of advance – ‘Hell’s Highway’ – projected minimal resistance.
Rendezvous with 8th Super Heavy Tank Company at southern entrance to Hive Helsreach.
++ Close transcript 311-ZA-[233-A] ++

I fell in love with the Gothic battles of the 41st millennium when stumbling across a display of Steel Legion vs. Orks at a local hobby show, at the impressionable young age of 12. There was something about the scale that never sat well with me however; a handful of models slugging it out didn’t portray to me the epic scale of the conflicts. I discovered Epic while at Uni, and was blown away by how well it portrayed the epic conflicts, but sadly Specialist Games was discontinued before I could find anyone to play with.

I have moved to Brisbane recently, and found a thriving scene still playing Epic Armageddon. I’m looking at getting involved, and saw the slow-grow as a fantastic opportunity to stay motivated. This scale allows me to field the mighty war machines that attracted me to the game, and takes the emphasis off the individual soldier and on to formations.

I’ll be building my Armoured Regiment around the Steel Legion 233rd Armoured Regiment, and the Battle for Helsreach. This was a large battle during the Third War for Armageddon, and gives me the opportunity to draw units from other Guard regiments, Cult Mechanicus, and the Adeptus Titanicus!

Here is my plan for the first month, which has been built using the Net-EA Minigeddon mods to allow smaller points games. Once I’ve got a couple of games under my belt, I’ll look at what I need to expand on to take the list to 2000 for month 2.

Advance Recon Element, 1000 POINTS
Minervan Tank Legion (NetEA Tournament Pack 2014) (Minigeddon)
==================================================

TANK COMPANY [400]
6 Leman Russ

TANK COMPANY [400]
6 Leman Russ

SALAMANDER SCOUT PLATOON [100]
3 Salamanders

SALAMANDER SCOUT PLATOON [100]
3 Salamanders

Player 10 - Ben "I need a reason to paint" Wadswoorth

Finally, the excuse i needed to start collecting and painting epic again! you guys rule!
      Ben here, and the last time i played epic was in high school. swooped in on the day before GW stopped selling it and picked up a tonne o' marines & guard for a couple years advance on xmas and bdays gifts lol. many good times. then, you know, puberty etc. later it was all sold on ebay as a poor student, but with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Now as a grown ass man (albiet with nearly 10 WHFB armies on the shelves) I'm back on the teeniest of tiny buzz with a vengeance!
      NetEA seems better ruleswise from what i remember, and nowadays there's some great alternative ranges, so i had to try something new and go with the space commies, with the encouragement of sensei norto.
      Still got another ax-10, ten stands of infantry, a couple drones and a trio of rippaz on the way, but i had a couple days off at home last week and just couldn't balance anymore treats on my nose. so I'm a dirty cheat and 100% couldn't be happier lol. still plenty of painting to go though!

Player 11 - Daniel "Needs a head Start" Schmidt

My first 1000 points. I'm a massive cheater and have started painting already, but given how slow I am at painting and how busy I am with work these few months, I figured I needed the head-start!

Will be a Bad Moon/Evil Sunz standard Ork force. The Kult of Speed and Blitz Brigade will be in Evil Sunz colours, and the other mobs will be in Bad Moonz colours. Decided to go with Orks as the sheer variety of models and units makes them pretty interesting to paint and model up. No idea if it will be competitive at all, but it should look great! :)

The list:

Evil Sunz/Bad Moonz 1000 pt Minigeddon Ork Horde, 1000 POINTS
Ghazgkhull Thraka's War Horde (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
==================================================

BLITZ BRIGADE [150]
3 Gunwagon, Flakwagon

MEKBOY GUNZMOB [175]
5 Big Gunz, Oddboy

MEKBOY STOMPAMOB [275]
3 Stompa, 2 Killa Kan

KULT OF SPEED [200]
7 Skorcha, Warbuggy

WARBAND [200]
2 Nobz, 6 Boyz, 2 Grotz, Warlord

Player 12 - Kendall "The Colombian Kingpin" Williams

I'll be running Genestealer Cult for the slow grow, which works pretty damn well with my recent appointment as the NetEA Army Champion.

The initial list as follows
Hybrid Brood + 4 Civ Vehicles
Hybrid Brood
Sentinel Squad
Purestrain Brood
Lictor Brood

This is a pretty aggressive list, prime for rushing the enemy to overwhelm in combat, at least this is the theory.
Most units can move fast, and even with my low Strategy Rating, I shoulf get favourable engagements in thanks to having infiltrate on my Stealers.and Lictors, plus hybrids in fast moving vehicles.

The hybrid models and Civie Vehicles are from Onslaught Miniatures.
The rest are GW.

Bases have been made using Samurai Miniatures magnetic bases + 2.5 mm thick plasticard for the road base + thin cork board and 3mm square tile plasticard to form a higher sidewalk area.

I'll start painting them soon - looking at a burnt orange primary, grey-white secondary and cult purple accents.

Stay tuned for progress shots, minigeddon game reports and next months developments.

Player 13 - Dan 'Wait for Me!' Hutchi

*coming soon*...