HGR Journal Entry No. 056 - Good Day For Chaos...

Date: May 24, 2008
Venue: Robinsons Galleria, near Victory
Regulars Present: Balian, Kyuzo, Ebon, later to be met by Salubri and Midnight
Other Players Present: Mike and Jesse
Highlights:

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Game1 - Ebon(CSM-Deathguard) vs. Balian(13th Company)
2000pts Take and Hold Omega
Ebon Wins!

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Game2 - Mike(SM-Ultramarines) vs. Kyuzo(CSM-Black Legion)
2000pts Recon Gamma
Kyuzo Wins via Massacre!

[Might put in a more detailed batrep after I finish on a few stuff at the office]

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Game3 - Ebon(CSM-Deathguard) vs. Jesse(IG with Daemonhunter Allies)
2000pts Cleanse Gamma
Ebon Wins!

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Balian, Ebon, Jesse and I met up with Salubri and Midnight at Shakeys Katipunan to iron out a couple of details on the planned mini-tourney this coming June, while most of us went the Bunch Of Lunch At Night route. It will be the first tourney for the year, and will be the first tourney for a few of the new players so getting it right would be important.

Session ends 9pm-ish.

HGR Journal Entry No. 055 - The Day Of Wastedness... :P

Date: May 17, 2008
Venue: Robinsons Galleria near Victory
Regulars Present: Salubri, Balian, Sigismund, Kyuzo
Other Players Present: Marty, Henri, with the other Marty and Naj passing through
Highlights:

The day has been agreed by everyone as a day of wastedness with a few Regulars a little under the weather, a couple under the effects of medication, yours truly just coming from the end of a toxic work week, or just plain spaced out. Perfect excuse to get together to play a couple of games of 40k was my reasoning, and the others agree. :D

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Game1: Salubri(Eldar, Sword of Light) vs. Balian(Space Marines, Steel Falcons)
2000pts Secure and Control Alpha (4 counters)
Draw!

Saw this in its closing stages. Jetbiking Farseer with Runes of Warding and the Eldar Flying Circus was evenly matched against the Inquisitor and the Steel Falcon Light Show. Game ends with one counter secured by each army, with the other two counters contested.

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Game2: Marty(Tau Empire) vs. Henri(Space Wolves, Iron Wolves)
2000pts Secure and Control Gamma
Marty Wins! via VP

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Game3: Kyuzo(CSM, Black Legion) vs. Sigismund(Space Marines, Blood Ravens)
2000pts Take and Hold Gamma
Sigismund Wins! via VP

Sigis tweaked his Blood Raven list, using SM traits to convert his bikers to Troops and his Landspeeders taking up the rest of his Fast Attack slots. Who says Sigis does not know how to discover his own cheese? Hehe...

The mission and Sigis's revised config is supposed to bring his Blood Ravens out of hiding and make an aggressive move to the center and not just stand back and shoot from afar. Things looked promising for him with Landspeeders zooming on his left flank and Bikers on the other. Tried to neutralize both on the second turn with Terminators taking out the Landspeeders with combi-meltas and the Bikers with a Defiler. One squad of Bikers managed to get away and swamp one Defiler and eventually destroying it after three turns.

I made a serious error in marching my Terminators to chase a Librarian hiding in the corner after failing miserably on my saves from FOTA gayness. Lolz. In the end, Sigis won on VP and hopefully a few lessons learned to be carried in the next game.

Unless he brings Tau next session... :P

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Game4: Kyuzo(CSM, Black Legion) vs. Henri(Space Wolves, Iron Wolves)
2000pts Take and Hold Gamma
Kyuzo Wins! via VP

Rolled up a similar mission on the same table against the Wolves now. Almost did a similar approach from my last game but had to take care of a different set of threats from the Iron Wolves, in the form of two Terminator Squads of Wolf Guard poised to sweep my right flank and a Venerable Dreadnaught taking the center. Tried to change my tactics in getting my Terminators more involved in taking the center and tried to make a suicide run on the Iron Wolves Termies with my Slaanesh Lord and Sorcerer on bikes. Almost pulled it off with my biker HQs by killing them off except they didnt last long enough to finish the game. VenDread was immobilized from meltagun fire with the rest of the Black Legion holding out the center for the last turn. What everyone found funny was the highlight of the game on the final turn with the Defiler rounding the center and "defile" a Rhino in the rear with "penetrating hits". Where's a digicam when you need one? Lolz.

Good game.

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Game5: Marty(Tau Empire) vs. Ryan(Eldar, Sword of Light)
2000pts Take and Hold Alpha
Draw after 4 turns!

As we say, Marty's defense tactics are getting better by laying down a lot of withering mid-range firepower against The Sword of Light's dizzying guerilla tactics. Game had to be cut short by 4th turn with venue already in its closing stages with each side having one scoring unit each in the center. Wish there was more time to see how thia game would've shaped up.

Salubri's Take: Marty is getting a good grasp of Tau tactics. He played all his cards right from deployment till the later stages of the game with only one major mistake and some minor mistakes taking down targets of opportunity. He took full advantage of terrain for deployment and typical Tau shoot and hide approach. I on the other hand pressed my transports forward on his right flank and the gambit work as it forced him to pour most of his troops to that side... exposing a weak left flank. I was taking him down slowly from the left while he scrambled to wipe out the surviving aspect warriors. Committing to that right flank was his only mistake for the game. If we had played the full 6 turns I'd have pushed for the objective with the Hawks, Guardians and Wraithlord without opposition while the Spiders wrecked havoc on his surviving Tau units.

Good game nonetheless... and definitely an up and coming Veteran!

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Pack up time was around 8pm-ish.

That leaves Kyuzo, Salubri, Balian and Henri to find dinner after good day of gaming. Quattro turned ou to be packed, so we ended up eating over at Shakey's instead. Had a bit of fun in ordering Bunch-of-Lunch for dinner... but other than that, we were already tired to think up anything else but eat and go home shortly after.

Session ends 10pm-ish.

533rd Cadian Battle Force

... with attached 431st Catachan Expeditionary Force.

"Deadeye's Imperial Guard"

Emcee's Steel Falcons

Craftworld Megil en Mea "The Sword of Light"

The Sword of Light was one of the few Eldar vessels that escaped the fall largely untouched. The trading vessel with it's then small crew often made runs into the farthest colonies surrounding the outer rim of the Eldar empire. It was by fate that the ship was far from the epicenter of the catastrophe that claimed so many lives.

Even though far away from the anomaly that would later on be referred to as the eye of terror the crew knew instantly of the tragedy that struck their race. They had born witness to the slow descent of eldar society into depravity. With each trip home the crew of The Sword of Light saw what had become of their brethren. Though the seers aboard the ship tried to plead with the leaders of their world their's was ultimately a lost cause. No one would listen.

After the fall the vessel made one last trip home. They had sought to find survivors. What they found was death. Where the once mighty empire of a star spanning race stood... there was only a rift thru time and space. So it was that the ship headed for the rim worlds of the pioneers we have come to call exodites. On their way they found numerous survivors and each ship found either added itself to the fleet or melded the ship to The Sword of Light thru the bone singing prowess of their seers. It was thru this process that the craftworld grew to accomodate the burgeoning population of survivors. The exiles and the last of their kind...

Salubri inspecting his then newly acquired cheddar, I mean Eldar army. :D

The path of the Warrior

The eldar of "The Sword of Light" strongly believe that their continued survival rely heavily on their ability to eliminate threats before they become evident. To achieve this goal the craftworld adopts a more militaristic approach similar to that of the eldar of BielTan. Their interventionist stance also explains why rumors of strikes made by the craftworld all over known space. 1

Howling Banshees

Fire Dragons

Warp Spiders


Shining Spears


Swooping Hawks


Dire Avengers

Escalating Conflict

While the craftworld may employ the honed warriors of the different aspects for surgical strikes a more prolonged or major conflict also sees the presence of civilian volunteers. They come to the field with different roles, from support to frontline troops. Even the youngest of the eldar are trained to fight in the defense of their home and species.

Guardian Defenders

The Living Dead

For the eldar, eternal rest is but a dream for even those that have long since passed away may yet be recalled to life in service of the craftworld. At times of dire need the Spirit Seers will rouse the souls of legendary warriors from sleep. They are then placed within an incredibly resilient wraithbone structure that can house their souls and allow them to move around in the world of the living.

Wraith Lord

HGR Journal Entry No. 054 - On 40k Gaming, Bitch Slapping Bragging Rights, Freaky Rains, and Billiards...

Date: May 10, 2008
Venue: Robinsons Galleria
Regulars Present: Ebon, Kyuzo, Salubri with Balian in the background and Meanderer was, well, meandering ;)
Other Players Present: Adrian with Jesse watching the games
Highlights:

Only a couple of games were played today, because some came in late, Balian going lone wolf in the MTG tourney scene, and later on finding out Midnight was out with family and Henri down with the flu (get well soon man).

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Game1 Adrian(Chaos Space Marines-Twilight Dawn) vs. Ebon(Chaos Space Marines-Deathguard)
2000pts Cleanse Alpha
Adrian Wins!

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Game2 Salubri(Eldar) vs. Kyuzo(Dark Eldar)
2000pts Recon Omega
Salubri Wins!

This was fun. Salubri and I have been wanting to find out for quite some time now how these two armies would fare head to head. Omega level kinda put me at a slight disadvantage when my Dark Eldar are all on transports while Salubri's Autarch helps in getting his reserves faster. But compared to his current config I had a slight edge on speed while he can hold a line better with shooting compared to delivering my close combat troops using my flimsy transports. I hesitated in zooming all my transports the full distance and tried to shoot at the harlequins moving towards the center, only forgetting they have this Confusion ability to check distance before your can shoot those gaudy garbed gits. That proved my downfall and in true Dark Eldar tradition, hard to recover from. Well, that's one up for the Eldar Craftworlds.

I tried to make a game out of it by moving my remaining Dark Eldar Wyches (the other squad died after their Raider crashed to Ranger sniper fire) and set myself for a showdown against Salubri's Harlequins. Bitch-slap Bragging rights belong to the Dark Eldar Wyches, having taken out a squad of Harlequins in one turn and a squad of Howling Banshees the next. Chalk one up for the Dark Eldar. ;)

I decided to tap out on the bottom of the sixth turn when the Dark Eldar Wyches were shot down by Waveserpent transports and when my Archon failed to consolidate into close combat with the Fire Dragons who incinerated her with fusion gun fire.

Good game.

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We packed up relatively early, and was later joined by Balian after his MTG tourney. 2wins and 4losses is not a bad result. So Salubri, Balian and I went to Metrowalk for some dinner over at Duck Wok when the rains started to pour hard. Freaky weather we're all having. So, I asked them to play a couple of racks of billiards at Elbow Room while we wait for the rains to subside a bit. No sooner have we started, we've gotten a bit competitive and kept score. The games were close, with no one actually dominating. Only on the last three racks was I able to get a groove and end the night on a high note. Final Scores: Balian-4 Kyuzo-7 Salubri-4.

Session ends 9:30pm.

HGR Journal Entry No. 053 - Prey On The Weak...

Date: May 3, 2008
Venue: Robinsons Galleria
Regulars Present: Ebon, Sigismund, Balian, Midnight, Kyuzo with special appearance from Salubri
Other Players Presnt: Marty, Henri, Alfred, Jesse
Highlights:

The boyz resumed gaming hostilities after a couple of weeks off from the Galleria gaming scene. Oh, and a belated Happy Birthday to Jesse(April 29) too!

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Game1 Marty(Tau) vs. Henri(Space Wolves-Iron Wolves)
2000pts Recon Gamma
Henri Wins!

Saw the closing Turns of this game, with Henri edging out on Victory Points.

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Game2 Ebon(Space Marines-Dark Angels) vs. Sigis(Space Marines-Blood Ravens)
1750pts Cleanse Alpha
Ebon Wins!

Sigismund turned turtle on this game, with Blood Ravens staying within their home quarter for three turns before cautiously venturing out with his Terminators and Bikers on the table edges. Ebon took his time picking off Blood Ravens through systematic shooting before committing his Assault Squads into close combat when Blood Raven Bikers and Terminators got too close.

Game ends with Ebon claiming three quarters to Sigismund's one.

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Game3 Midnight(Space Wolves) vs. Alfred(IG with Daemonhunter Allies)
2000pts Secure and Control Gamma 4 Control Points
Midnight Wins!

This was a good one. Alfred's Imperial Guard is getting better with their tank tactics, providing solid defense and scary shooting. Space Wolves were also methodic in their approach to get into close combat with meltabombs and landspeeders. Alfred taps out on the 5th Turn for Midnight to secure the win.

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Game4 Kyuzo(Dark Eldar) vs. Jesse(Space Marines-Luna Wolves)
2000pts Recon Omega
Kyuzo Wins!

Game took 9 Turns! Luna Wolves and Dark Eldar went the distance on this one.

Dark Eldar had nothing on the table to start out the turn. Their only saving grace was when on the second, practically EVERYONE came in except for one Raider with Wyches! Dark Eldar went to concentrate on a speedy advance to one flank, preying on two Dev squads an one Dreadnought while the Luna Wolf Terminators and Land Raiders have not yet arrived. Luna Wolf Veteran Squads followed by a Librarian with Terminator retinue tried to control the center, only to be attacked by Wyches and Archon with Incubi hiding behind the hill.

Of note among the Luna Wolves is the Veteran Squad's Rhino tank shocking raiders and troops on the later turns, even chasing off a squad of Reaver Jetbikers in the process. Extended game length went the full distance of nine turns with the Luna Wolves' Assault Terminators touching down against The Kabal's Wych Squad, two Raider Squads, and a Ravager.

Good game.

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Some note-worthy episodes and sightings outside the gaming tables. Here's to list a few:

Balian's Bad Mojo moment...
Mom/Ate in Pink!
And who would forget the History 7 Girl!

Salubri, Balian and Kyuzo then proceeded to have dinner at Quattro... for a change. Dinner took a little longer, capping off the night with a cocktail advertisement that we just had to ask the waiter for copy and show you how much that capped off our evening. :D

Session ends 10pm-ish.