HGR Journal Entry No. 046 - Taking Of The Tower...

Date: February 23, 2008
Venue: Robinsons Galleria
Regulars Present: Balian, Sigismund, Kyuzo, Salubri, Ebon, Shink1m
Other Players Present: Adrian, Henry, Marty, Jessie, Alfred, Kei
Highlights:

We got a few more good games in today, with the Regulars giving the new players a wide range of what's out there in the depths of the Imperium...

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Game1 - Balian(13th Company) vs. Sigismund(World Eaters)
2000pts Take and Hold Omega
Balian Wins!

I heard this game got ugly with both sides getting into close combat early. It was a gruelling 8 Turns of multiple attacks from the 13th Company against the World Eaters' numbers. In the end, it was the ferocity of the 13th Company who won out.

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Game2 - Adrian(Azure Dawn - Space Marines) vs. Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines)
1500pts Recon Omega
Draw!

Adrian came with his fun list. Well, if you call facing 8(!) Tornados, 2 Drop Pods including 1 Seige Dreadnaught(!) fun. Variable ended game length ended in 7 Turns, with the Azure Dawn having a Tornado squadron and the Commander and Termies touching down compared to the Termies and Noise Marine squad in the enemy deployment zone for Chaos.

Some post-game lessons learned:

1) You can't deepstrike the Commander and Termies as one unit, unless the Termies are part of his retinue (Hang on, are the Termies the Commander's retinue? If so, they shouldn't double up in the recon score, correct?)

Balian - a commader in terminator armour can teleport with a squad of terminators... for VP purposes though, only double-up on the squad. Exclude the points of the commander, even if he joined the terminator squad. The case may be different if the termie squad is a command squad of the commander (depends on what codex you are using).

2) When shooting at a squadron, allocate hits to the members of the squadron, then resolve the armor penetration scores per model in the squadron.

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Game3 - Salubri(Death Ravens) vs. Marty(Tau)
2000pts Take and Hold Gamma
Marty taps out on the 5th Turn. Salubri Wins!

Heard Marty's starting to get the hang of what his Tau units can do and maximize the amount of shooting they can dish out. It was only the steady advance of the hard hitting Deathwing that did him in.

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Game4 - Ebon(Deathguard) vs. Henry(Space Wolves)
2000pts Seek and Destroy Gamma
Ebon Wins!

I think its the second time Henry has faced the children of Nurgle. Ebon duly responds with a few alterations to his list, including a special appearance of Typhus, Herald of Nurgle. Typhus with Wind of Chaos + 1 Space Wolves squad just disembarked from a Rhino = Lots of dead Space Wolves. Typhus rocks!!!

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Game5 - Shink1m(Tomb Fleet Vyr - Necrons) vs. Jessie(Luna Wolves)
1500pts Take and Hold Omega
Shink1m Wins!

Shink1m coming to play in Galleria after a long stint from the 40k scene. Welcome back Tomb Fleet Vyr! Third time this particular table rolled the Take and Hold mission. This time, Tomb Fleet Vyr comes in with a Monolith to give the Imperium something to think about.

Lesson Learned: Space Marines shouldn't consult the Imperial Archives regarding Necrons WHILE in the thick of the fighting. Hehehe...

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Game6 - Balian(13th Company) vs. Alfred(Armored Company)
2000pts Recon Omega
Balian Wins!

What high armor and heavy firepower the Armored Company had in spades, the 13th Company made up for in mobility. Commissar Alfred still continues to impress the Regulars with gutsy (bordering on mad) Baneblade shooting. Game ends with two Touchdown Units for the 13th Company with the Baneblade still intact but reduced to half movement. 13th Company edges out on VP.

A lesson was learned in fire discipline

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Game7 - Marty(Tau) vs. Adrian(Azure Dawn - Space Marines)
1500pts Recon Gamma
Adrian Wins!

Wasn't able to see much of this game, hearing it had to end a little short at the start of the 4th Turn, with Adrian winning out with drop pods literally dropping into the the Tau Empire's deployment zone with the dreadnaughts and tornados dishing out a lot of hurt.

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Seven games on two tables in a little under 8 hours. I'd say that's not a bad piece of game management and scheduling. Pats on the back all around. Hehehe... Game session ends 8:30-ish.

Some Quotable Quotes:

Adrian: "So, what do you think of the Siege Dreadnaught?"
Kyuzo: "Hmmm... didn't it blow up the turn right after it arrived? Guess we'll never know what it can really do now, won't we?" ;)

"Nakaka-guilty ang Wind of Chaos!" - Ebon after wiping out a full Space Wolves squad

"When you think you can't, then you lost out right that very instant."

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Pics from last Saturday:



Kim's commentary and a few pics on his game on his blog here.

HGR Journal Entry No. 045 - Holy Bolters! Argh...

Date: February 16, 2008
Venue: Robinson's Galleria, 3rd Floor
Regulars Present: Kyuzo, Ebon, Balian, Sigismund, Salubri
Other Players Present: Henry, Mike, John, Jaime
Highlights:

Change in scenery yet again. Kinda like going on a Galleria demo tour. Haha. But once we got tables set up, we were quick into the carnage, HGR style.

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Game1 - Balian(13th Company) vs. Kyuzo(Dark Eldar)
2000pts Cleanse Alpha
Kyuzo taps out bottom of 4th. Balian Wins!

Lucky me to decide taking out the Dark Eldar army right up against Balian's 13th Company. Most of my raider transports carrying wyches and Archon got shot down by the second turn, but they were effective against 13th Company units that ever got into close combat. By 4th Turn, a quick assessment of the table sees me with not enough scoring units to prevent the 13th Company sweeping in to claim quarters.

Good game.

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Game2 - Ebon(Deathguard) vs. Sigismund(Orks)
2000pts Take and Hold Omega
Ebon Wins via VP!

Ebon's Deathguard takes Rite of Passage against Sigismund's Orks for 4 hours. Noteable is the amount of carnage that has ensued in those 4 hours, with the Green Tide still pouring it on in the latter rounds. Could we say a tired Ebon swinging an imaginary scythe is Quotable? Lolz...

Balian - to illustrate how long this game was... me and kyuzo started our game at the same time, we packed-up after, watched henry and salubri deploy, had lunch, went back, and salubri and henry finished their game same time this game concluded. Whew!

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Game3 - Salubri(Deathwing) vs. Henry(Space Wolves)
2000pts Seek and Destroy Alpha
Salubri Wins!

Salubri comes to Galleria with an all Deathwing Terminator army! No Landraiders, no Ravenwing, just all-Terminators! The Deathwing's steady advance proved to be a little difficult for the Space Wolves to handle. Game ends with Salubri having 2 scoring units remaining to Henry's 1.

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Game4 - Ebon(Deathguard) vs. Henry(Space Wolves)
2000pts Cleanse Gamma
Ebon Wins via Massacre!

Not much highlights from me on this game, it was simultaneous with my game against Mike.

Balian - what I saw were meltaguns, about 6 inches away from landraiders...

Ouch...

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Game5 - Mike(Ultramarines) vs. Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines)
1000pts Recon Gamma
Mike Wins via VP!

Had my hands full on this one. With the config I pulled out, it was difficult to recover unit losses. Took a big gamble in turbo-boosting my Sorcerer Biker in front of one Tactical Squad na one Scout Squad, taking one wound from a bolter first before finally getting killed by one single Scout missle. To compound my problems, a second gamble in deep striking terminators without the aid of teleport homers proved to be their undoing when they deviated into an enemy squad. That's 1/3 my army in just two turns!

Chaos Space Marines proved to be real nasty in close combat compared to their Loyalist counterparts as they methodically took out three tactical squads in three full turns. Game ended with victory points in the Ultramarines favor, the points difference would've been a bit more respectable if only my remaining CSM squad was able to reach the enemy deployment zone. Just one turn short.

Good game.

Balian - this game reinforced my trust in bolters... and showed all of us an alternative (and effective!) way of rolling dice :D Mike also showed us how Space Marines should fight!

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Gaming ends 8:00pm.

Quotable Quotes of the Day:

"Uh Ryan, I think it feels like its FIVE against one..." +P

"Orks were literally stopping in mid-swing to drop their choppas for a second to check out their codex if they're doing it right..." Wahahaha!!!

Salubri - "Super Mom!!!"
Balian - "What? Where? Oh thaaaaat.... Super Mom nga!"
Kyuzo - "Super Mom?! Where? Wwwaaahhh!!!"

Friday 1K

Romy braved the rally in Makati to trudge to Fortress at Greenhills VMall to face off against Kim, who was trying to dust off his Necrons with more regular Friday games.

Coming from more frequent WM gaming, the long hours of six turns was a culture shock to me. The basic rules were still familiar, but there were some things that I needed to get used to.

I was witness to a mathematical anomaly though, in the form of a lone Khorne Terminator in the midst of my Necron Warriors who survived from the early rounds and which proved to be the downfall of my army. It was one of those times where I wished I had this or that, specifically the Veil or a Monolith. Close combat was never a forte of Necron Warriors, having no sergeant with a Powerfist. Close combat against a melee-strong Khorne Terminator WITH a Powerfist wreaking havoc in the ranks of my Warriors, now that's just plain sad.

Romy's gamble paid off big time though, successfully deep striking his Terminators in my deployment zone after I had brought down his bike-riding Sorcerer (Warriors did this, Heavy Destroyers just flashed their guns to look good). I hope I will have the same luck in future games, as Necrons do have knack in teleporting stuff on the table, too.

Here be pics:

HGR Journal Entry No. 044 - Games Gone The Distance...

Date: February 9, 2008
Venue: Robinson's Galleria That Basement 1 Atrium Place
Regulars Present: Kyuzo, Balian, Sigismund, Salubri, Ebon
New Players Present: Marty, Henry, Mike, Ike, Yano, John
Rules of Engagement: Warhammer 40k
Highlights:

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Game1 - Balian(Steel Falcons) vs. Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines)
2000pts Secure and Control Alpha (5 counters)
Balian Wins! (Balian claims 3 counters with 1 contested against none claimed by Kyuzo)

I had to be aggressive on this one, or the Steel Falcon light show will punish you in the middle rounds if you're caught out in the open. "Word In Your Ear" screwed up my Havoc squad position and subsequently fail in guarding the flank where the Predators and Landspeeders advanced. On the other flank, I was lucky in Deep Striking the Khorne Terminator squad right behind enemy lines and kill off a couple of Steel Falcons as well as the Inquistor Lord. Daemon Prince got to take out the Scout squad, the (pesky) Calidus Assassin and Librarian. Balian in typical fashion zoomed out his Landspeeders on the last turn (really my fault in not eliminating that threat) to claim three points, contesting one and doing nothing else but do the HBK pose and say, "I'm done". +P

Good game.

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Game2 - Sigismund(Blood Ravens) vs. Salubri(Deathwing)
2000pts Recon Gamma
Salubri Wins via VP!

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Game3 - Henry(Space Wolves) vs. Marty(Tau)
1500pts Seek and Destroy Gamma
Draw!

It's been a hard fought game between two players playing their first game. In the end it was a hard fought draw with a couple of lessons for both players to carry into their next games.

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Game4 - Ebon(Death Guard) vs. Salubri(Deathwing)
2000pts Cleanse Alpha
Joel Wins!

This was the proverbial "fun game went serious" between Ebon and Salubri who just realized they haven't played against each other in a little over two years now. Deathwing Landraiders' misfortunes continued for being immobilized in the early turns. Deathguard advance was hard to stop, winning out over the Deathwing's brave stand.

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Game5 - Balian(Dark Angels) vs. Ike(The Azure Blades - Space Marines)
1500pts Secure and Control Alpha (4 counters)
Balian Wins! (Balian claims 3 counters against Ike's 1)

Whoa. Balian's got TWO armies in the bag?! Balian brought Ike to school with an all-infantry Dark Angel army. Game went through the whole stretch with Balian doing a second HBK move for the day.

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Game6 - Sigismund(Blood Ravens) vs. Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines)
2000pts Cleanse Omega
Kyuzo Wins via VP!

Some payback against the Blood Ravens, who deployed their initial troops out a little thin. Thin enough to be picked out one by one by the Chaos Space Marines. Game ended with a titanic showdown with the Chaos Sorcerer Killing the Blood Raven Commander with this force weapon and dying by the Perils of the Warp with its death blow. Blood Ravens had only the Terminators on the table against close to half of the forces of Chaos.

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Other new players of note. John's currently working on a Tyranid army (Maybe about 1/4 the way. Ouch.) and his brother Mike just showed his drop pod from plasticard (Maybe he can make LOT more for the others too. :D).

Some Quotable Quotes:

"Independent Characters can't score."

"Somebody's lost his bearings." - Balian's comment after picking up a ball bearing out of nowhere.

Army Roster

I'm updating the army rosters on the sidebar. Each of those armies will have a page of it's own. For several players who own the same kind of army... they will be sharing the page. In view of this can I ask you guys to please send me pictures of your painted units? Send only the ones that are fully painted. Also I need a write up from you guys... about the army... what got you started, what you like about it, etc etc. Oh and I also need a picture of you that I can use as a player portrait pic of sorts. kahit maliit lang.

The write up can be in tag-lish if you like. This blog is mostly for pinoys anyway. :D

HGR Journal Entry No. 043 - Apocalypse Cometh...

Date: February 2, 2008
Venue: Robinsons Galleria atrium-like thingy
Regulars Present: Balian, Sigismund, Salubri, Ebon, Kyuzo
Other Players Present: Naj, Adrian, Jessie, Alfred
Other Friends Who Passed By: Justin, Owen
Rules of Engagement: Warhammer 40k
Highlights:

Strong attendance today, with two 4x6 tables giving some new players a chance to get some 40k gaming, HGR style.

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Game1 - Balian(Steel Falcons) vs. Adrian(Twilight Dawn - Chaos Space Marines)
2000pts Seek and Destroy Gamma
Adrian taps out on Turn5. Balian Wins!

Balian's becoming the resident submissions specialist. Adrian's Daemon Princess made a slight mistake of showing up in the open, right into the Steel Falcon lascannon field of fire. "So, your Daemon Princess got to see the Steel Falcon light show first hand, eh?" Lolz.

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Game2 - Sigismund(Orks) vs. Ryan(Death Ravens)
2000pts Take and Hold Omega
Sigismund Wins!

25 Death Ravens. Three and a half hours. 144 Orks. Three and a half hours. Sigismund was thought to have brought Tau earlier. Three and a half hours. A few Regulars could use an Advil after reading Sigismund's "New Ork Codex". Oh, and did I tell you their game took three and a half hours? :P

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Game3 - Naj(Dark Angels) vs. Adrian(Twilight Dawn - Chaos Space Marines)
1500pts Secure and Control Alpha
Adrian Wins!

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Game4 - Naj(Dark Angels) vs. Ebon(Deathguard)
1500pts Secure and Control Omega
Ebon Wins!

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Game5 - Alfred(Armored Company) vs. Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines)
2000pts Recon Gamma
Kyuzo Wins!

Baneblade!!! At 577(?) points, dishing out a LOT of firepower including one big-ass ordinance template, it's an intimidating piece on the gaming table. Had to get my Rhino troops to within assault range quickly or I would have trouble getting to what was looking like a solid defensive position. Critical move was baiting half of the Leman Russes to take out a couple of Rhinos and pen them in so my disembarked CSM troops have a chance to close in with meltas and powerfists while Noise Marines who aren't equipped to take out heavy armor so are reduced to do a touchdown role. Armored Company made a gutsy move by wiping out a squad of Chaos Terminators with the Baneblade cannon AT CLOSE RANGE! MVP of the game would be the Chaos Sorceror on bike diverting most of the Baneblade firepower (Alfred threw everything, lascannons, demolisher cannons, even the Baneblade kitchen sink!) and saving ALL instakill fire, as well as one havoc squad hitting the side of the baneblade, taking out TWO structure points in the process!

Game ends with Chaos Space Marines having three units and both HQ's in the endzone against the Armored Company having only the Baneblade remaining on the table with one Structure Point left.

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Game6 - Adrian(Twilight Dawn - Chaos Space Marines) vs. Jessie(Luna Wolves)
2000pts Recon Gamma
Adrian Wins!

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Special thanks to Sigismund for reserving tables for the session as well as Ebon for bringing in some additional terrain. A lot of curious onlookers came to watch and ask about the game too. Balian and Kyuzo's auspexes had their overload moments, while Salubri most likely will be hoarse tomorrow after his match against Orks On Steroids. Hehehe...

Game Session ends 8:00 PM.

HGR Journal Entry No. 042 - Tap Out 40k, HGR Style...

Date: January 26, 2008
Venue: Neutral Grounds Galleria
Regulars in Attendance: Balian, Sigismund, Salubri, Kyuzo, Ebon
Games Played: Warhammer 40k

Highlights:

Third straight Saturday at Galleria! Got to rack in four, count 'em, four games in one table on an afternoon and evening of gaming.

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Game1 - Sigismund(Tau Empire) vs. Balian(Knights of Ibelin)
2000pts Take and Hold Alpha
Sigismund taps out in Turn4. Balian Wins!

Sigis pulls out yet another surprise by bringing in his all-white (but in progress) Tau Empire. Little did he know that Balian was ready for him when he brought out his ALL-WHITE Knights of Ibelin with THREE white Vindicators!!! Lolz.

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Game2 - Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines) vs. Salubri(Death Ravens)
2000pts Take and Hold Alpha
Salubri wins via Massacre on Turn5!

Things went downhill for the forces of Chaos right at the start when a combined attack from Deathwing assault and Ravenwing scouts rendered a havoc squad on one flank useless with a Land Raider providing problems at the opposite flank, destroying one rhino and disrupting what's intended to be a steady press to the center. Forces of Chaos never had a chance to recover with units being picked one by one taking out all Chaos scoring units to leave center uncontested by the Death Ravens.

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Game3 - Balian(Knights of Ibelin) vs. Ebon(Deathguard)
2000pts Secure and Control Gamma
Balian wins via VP!

Immaculate Vindicators DID NOT MISS during the entire game. Enough said. ;)

(the vindicators did miss.. but when they missed, they still hit something :P My MVP for the game though was Balian himself, the Emperor's Champion! Too bad the commander, Godfrey, did not reach combat... my fluff says that dude once fought for two days with a bolter shell in his testicles :P - Balian)

That's what I meant too! Lolz.

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Game4 - Salubri(Death Ravens) vs. Sigismund(Tau Empire)
2000pts Cleanse Gamma
Sigismund taps out in Turn4. Salubri Wins!

This was an interesting game. For starters, it was a relatively fast paced one (with a little help from Balian and Kyuzo doing some quick rules reading and casualty packing for Sigis to focus more on the game). And it was all that shooting from the Tau Empire against Deathwing Terminator armor! Talk about "fighting in the shade"! Now maybe if Sigis HAD first turn was not as tangled up in deployment and made full use of his mobility and be able to spread himself out a little more to max out shooting at the Death Raven spearhead... well... we'll never know now would we? Hehehe...

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Other Warhammer 40k players showed up to pass by or watch the games with us. There was Marty, and er... Marty, and Naj(?) and RJ(?). Maybe they might be able to join us in the next scheduled Saturday game.

Today's Quotable Quote That Sounded Kinda Wrong Award goes to Justin - "Excuse me Emcee, pahipo ng Rhino mo..." :D

Gaming Ended close to Closing Time (9:00PM).

See you next gaming session.

HGR Journal Entry No. 041 - More Galleria Gaming...

Date: January 19, 2008
Venue: Neutral Grounds Galleria
Regulars Present: Kyuzo, Balian, Sigismund, Ebon
Games of Choice: Warhammer 40k
Highlights:

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Game1 - Balian(Ravenwing) vs. Sigismund(Blood Ravens)
2000pts Cleanse Gamma
Balian wins via VP

Ravenwing doing a lot of faking one way and move the other, with Blood Raven terminators zigzaging and shooting behind cover. Sigismund's tactics (and shooting) were sound, dessimating Ravenwing forces to more than half. Only critical error was Sigis had no available units to contest quarters in the closing turns, which pretty much proved to be the points difference between them.

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Game2 - Kyuzo(Chaos Space Marines) vs. Ebon(Deathguard)
2000pts Cleanse Alpha
Ebon wins via Objective [one scoring unit on one uncontested quarter vs. none]

I tried experimenting by making some major adjustments to my Emperor's Children list by mixing in more chaos space marine units along with some rhinos and havocs too. The set-up has its merits, though I guess I should not have been overly aggressive against Deathguard. Plague marines at T5 and Feel No Pain is a pain. Lolz.

It was a close game with Ebon's claiming unit just one model short of not scoring. Had a chance at a draw if it were not for that crucial miss on that lascannon shot at those dudes on the very last turn.

HGR Journal Entry No. 040 - Galleria Learning Experience

Date: January 12, 2008
Venue: NG Galleria
Regulars In Attendance: Balian, Sigismund, Kyuzo
Games of Choice: Warhammer 40k
Highlights:

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Game1 - Balian(Dark Angels) vs. Sigismund(Blood Ravens)
2000pts Cleanse Omega
Balian wins via VP

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Game2 - Balian(Dark Angels) vs. Sigismund(Blood Ravens)
2000pts Take and Hold Omega
Balian wins via VP

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Game3 - Sigismund(Blood Ravens) vs. Kyuzo(Emperors Children)
2000pts Cleanse Alpha
Draw

Playing Emperors Children using the new CSM rules needs a bit of adjustment on my end, especially with the loss of indirect firing defilers, daemon bombing, and daemonic strength powered aspiring champions which my playing style was heavily banking on during the early days. Personal assessment is an uphill climb using a themed army, which with the new rules, does not really restrict you from following nowadays. Figured out a couple of weak points in the army set up I used against Sigis's Blood Ravens, which is something for me to ponder on when I figure out my adjustments for the next gaming session.

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HGR Journal Entry No. 039 - Fortune Cookie Crumbling...

Date: January 5, 2008
Venue: Midnight's Place
Regulars Present: Balian, Midnight, Kyuzo
Rules of Engagement: Warhammer 40k
Highlights:

It seems that Balian kept himself busy by assembling and priming 2000pts of Ravenwing over the Christmas holidays! So here we go!

Game1 - Balian(Ravenwing) vs. Midnight(Space Wolves)
2000pts Secure and Control Omega
Balian wins via VP!

Space Wolves had their hands full right from the get-go, with Ravenwing going from one flank to the opposite end in just two turns. What really did them in was the ton of assault cannons and meltas that took out most their infantry and armor respectively.

Ravenwing is scary I tell you. Scary enough for me to admit the Emperor's Children I brought won't be able to last 3 turns against those guys. :P

Had a relatively early dinner over at Shakey's. Then Salubri called in hoping if we can still have coffee at the local Starbucks. Perfect timing.

Balian and I were able to meet up with Salubri over the usual Starbucks. I said perfect timing coz it was the perfect opportunity for me to give Salubri's "fortune cookie" which was with Midnight since Christmas break, and with Balian getting his "fortune cookie" earlier in the day. I'm glad to know that they were happy with what I gave them. ;)

HGR Journal Entry No. 038 - Long Walk to Dinner...

Date: December 22, 2007
Venue: Salubri's Place
Attendees: Salubri, Balian, Joel, Kyuzo
Rules of Engagement: Warhammer 40k, Warmachine/Hordes
Highlights:

Christmas season traffic! Took a while for me to get to Salubri's place after my work (Still working on a Saturday before Christmas! Sheesh.). Hope the others fill in the details of the earlier games.

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Game1 - Salubri(Deathwing) vs. Balian(13th Company)

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Game2 - Balian(13th Company) vs. Joel(CSM Nurgle)

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Game3 - Salubri(Commander Adept Nemo) vs. Balian(Sorscha)
420pts Assassination
Sorscha wins via Assassination

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Game4 - Kyuzo(High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza) vs. Balian(Sorscha)
420pts Assassination
Sorscha wins via Assassination

Made a fatal error in giving Sorscha a charge lane (Right in between Two Devouts! Argh!). Underestimated Icy Gaze and Eiryss's disruption bolts.

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Game5 - Kyuzo(High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza) vs. Salubri(Commander Adept Nemo)
450pts Mangled Metal
Commander Adept Nemo wins via Assassination

Low FOC management still needs some getting used to. Disruption from Nemo and Thunderhead was difficult to neutralize, since most of my tactics using warjacks is very much dependent on focus. Salubri was patient enough to point out some rules which made me rethink my tactics as well in more than one instance during the course of the game. Still a ways to go for me with Amon, with lots of self discovery moments this day to help me out in the games ahead.

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Session Ends 7-ish.

Christmas season traffic unusually heavy that night, even to the point that traffic has reached Salubri's street. So we decided to walk to Quattro for dinner. Other than the fact that the walking experience was character building, dinner wasn't as eventful. Plans for the next gaming day set. Until next gaming session.

HGR Journal Entry No. 037 - November 30 Holiday Gaming

With the country barely blinking after another failed Mutiny attempt and an imposed curfew, 101st Regulars meet for some Warhammer 40k and Warmachine gaming. Kyuzo would have been there but he had to call in sick early morning. The guy practically braved a "Warzone" the day before.

Attendees: Midnight ( 'coz it's his house! :P), Balian, Sigismund, Salubri and Joel.


November 30, 2007

Warmachine @ 420 pts
Salubri's Nemo vs Balian's Sorscha
Nemo Wins by Assassination (Killing Field HGR version)

The Old man fires the first shot of the game and took out Balian's manhuntress and widow makers with nasty Chain Lightning rolls. Next turn saw the Spriggan immobilized with Voltaic Snare and pushed back from the objective by the GMC adepts gun. Balian decided to forego the objective and went in for the kill. Sorscha feat turn saw the death of the GMC adept and turns everything Cygnar useless except for Nemo hiding behind a hill. Drakhun charges Nemo but after racking up 4 additional focus to his 7 the old man survives! The following turns saw Nemo once again raking up additonal focus from Sorscha and Grey Lords spell casting and the eventual defeat of Sorscha at the hands of the Thunderhead.

Warmachine @ 750 pts
Midnight's Thagrosh vs Salubri's Epic Stryker
Midnight Wins by Objective (Killing Field HGR version)

First time I've seen Legion of Everblight with a list brimming with Warbeasts great and small. Assassination was once again out of the question and I was forced to duke it out with Midnight with one critical blooper that may have cost me the game. I ended up killing one warbeast on a trample attack which gave Thagrosh fury for transferring damage. I opted to throw the Carnevaen away as I did not want to destroy it and have to face it with full life again when Thagrosh does his feat. Plans to kill Thagrosh on the final turns failed though as I took too long to do it and Midnight racked up on Control Points. I hate Death Shroud... and that freaking Pow 15 spell. Aaaaeiii!!! Lol

Salubri's thought during the game: "Nooo don't cast that damned spell on my Thunderhead!" lol

Warhammer 40,000 @ 2000 pts
Balian's 13th Company vs Sigismund's Speed Freaks
Balian Wins
Take and hold(?)

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Joel was unable to play due to time constraints. Sorry man. We'll make it up to you next time! I've got a box to put my Deathwing in. I can play 40k again! lol

The guys wrapped it up early with a trip to Max's for dinner. Talks about new orks, eldar cheesiness and some notable differences about 40k and Warmachine ensued. Once again everyone had a problem paying with the magic 500 php bill. lol

HGR Journal Entry No. 036 - Overloaded Auspexes...

Date: November 24, 2007
Venue: Salubri's Place
Attendees: Salubri, Midnight, Balian, Kyuzo, and Joel
Rules of Engagement: Warmachine/Hordes, HGR style
Highlights:

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Game1 - Balian(Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff) vs. Midnight(Archdomina Makeda)
500pts No Man's Land
Midnight wins via Objective

Finally bringing Makeda out of retirement for a 500 pt game vs. Sorscha. I forgot to factor in the effects of the spells I cast during this game - which prompted me to buy the Skorne tokens. I also forgot to cast my feat at the right time, then deciding as most my troops were dead anyway, to no longer cast it all. I did get the chance to use Makeda's 8 strikes (2 basic+6 additional) on a knocked down spriggan - eventually demolishing the whole thing after repeated strikes of increasing POW!

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Game2 - Midnight(Tyrant Lord Hexeris) vs. Salubri(Lord Commander Coleman Stryker)
750pts No Man's Land
Salubri wins via Assassination

Midnight: Fielding another 750 army! Hexeris is proving to be more interesting as a warlock especially in 750 pt games. I still have to get the hang of casting spells and calling Hexeris feat at the right time. I did get to replay death march and hexeris feat but to a lesser extent - his cavalry leader getting away! Stryker still proving to be a challenge but good game nonetheless =)

Salubri: Going up against Midnight's Hexeris is a daunting task. His ability to use my/his dead models right after they die makes his warhost even scarier. Especially when he's fielding a huge number of Beasts! It was clear to me from the start that assasination was not possible until I remove all the War Beasts in play. I opted to keep Stryker back and cast him into a support role. It proved to be effective with Centurion standing guard. The Hunter was probably one of the most valuable units I had here as it did some major damage as well as delaying his left flank. First time I ever used Stryker's cloud for an extended period. It was fun moving the cloud around though it did little damage to his units. Bloody business, this one!

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Game3 - Kyuzo(High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza) vs. Joel(Goreshade the Bastard)
500pts King of the Hill
Joel wins via Objective

Goreshade... yikes. And with a Deathjack too! Tried out an Amon-Ad Raza list, along with a couple of Dervishes for the first time to check out how well Synergy would work on them.

The Deathjack's advance deployment pretty much did the damage in taking the objective since they were able to take the hill early on while the rest of Joel's battlegroup as well as mine were advancing towards the center. By second turn, Joel made a good move by charging his Deathjack straight to my Castigator (who ended up as scrap one turn after and pretty much stopped my advance to contest the hill) while Goreshade and the rest of his minions took over the controlling duties of the objective. My Dervishes and Devout were able to keep his Slayer and Deathjack from running over to Amon, even destroying the Deathjack in the process. Some last turn heroics by Amon in taking out Goreshade by charging in through a gap but not enough attacks or damage was enough to take him out as he secures the hill.

In hindsight some lessons learned:

1. I think I got a better understanding in playing out the Devout warjack compared to last time I played it.

2. Made the early mistake of NOT moving Amon forward and let him get into Meditative Stance early. First turn should have been, move the warjacks first, THEN activate Amon and go Meditative Stance on the next turn.

3. Synergy rocks. Gone high as +8 with just the light warjacks. Too bad I made low damage rolls thus taking a couple of turns longer in destroying the Deathjack and hopefully look for other targets, maybe even Goreshade himself.

4. Amon DID have a chance in taking out Goreshade. Should have Tripped him with Oblivion first, THEN use the succeeding attacks with boosted damage after. Though the math involved an unboosted To Hit roll of 8, I had a better chance.

5. A slight modification to the list I used would be able to make the list more efficient. Take out the Devout and the rest of the troops and try to keep two heavies and the two dervishes in the battlegroup and the rest of the points for choir, wracks, and a couple of solos should make them more cohesive.

Charge to experience. Good game.

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Session ends 9PM

Went to Quattro and Starbucks after, for a change. Both Quattro and Starbucks were packed to the rafters. Let's suffice it to say most of the auspexes were overloaded way before the night was over. Some honorary mentions to Ms. One-Two, Ms. One(!), Ms. Pillowcase, Ms. Lifesaver, Ms. Pink and Perky who pretty much made the night for most of us.

Maybe some plans for the coming Holiday this November 30. Maybe 40k at Galleria? Abangan...

HGR Journal Entry No. 035 - Newbie Moves By Veterans...

Date: November 17, 2007
Venue: Midnight's Residence
Regulars Present: Midnight, Salubri, special participation of Joel, Kyuzo
Games Played: Warmachine/Hordes

Highlights:

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Game 1 - Salubri(Lord Commander Coleman Stryker) vs. Joel()
750pts

Well fought game with Joel. We ended up bum rushing each other in the center of the table with my Storm Lances getting the better of his Bane Knights(?) and Mechani Thralls(?) only to be wiped out by Purges during Deneghra's feat turn. The Helljack went on a duel vs. the Thunderhead with Joel ending up throwing the Cygnaran jack every turn but doing little damage because of it's disruption field. Pistol Wraiths did their job by pinning and killing some of my other units. One blooper I made was I declared to make an electro leap from the Storm Guard only to find out the nearest model within 4" was my own Storm Lance. I ended up killing a friendly! :D

Joel took the field by pinning down Stryker with multiple "sacrifice movement or action" from the pistol wraiths as well as Deneghra's spells.

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Game 2 - Kyuzo(High Exemplar Kreoss) vs. Midnight(Lord Tyrant Hexeris)
750pts Pendulum
High Exemplar Kreoss wins via VP after 5 turns

I made a few adjustments to my 750pt Kreoss list (taking into account what I learned from my last game against Salubri's Lord Commander Stryker), taking out a Revenger, Devout and a Reclaimer solo in favor of maxxing out Holy Zealot, Temple Flameguard and Exemplar Errants squads and adding in Vilmon and two Paladins. Kept the Castigator and Crusader (wish I could afford to field another warjack, but I guess this will have to do for now).

It was my first time to go up against Midnight's Lord Tyrant Hexeris and with six(!) warbeasts! My initial impression in deployment his config had multiple threats that I had to resolve decisively and not get bogged down in close combat.

midnight comments in italics.
as usual i deployed with my warbeasts in the middle and my fast moving units on the flanks. as i wasn't sure how kreoss would play, i felt this was the safest deployment. i was surprised to see a unit AD with ranged attacks to boot! the rest however i felt i could take on if i get them to split up by the house in the middle.

i immediately went for the house and waited for him to come and i would attack him one at a time. damned basilisks frenzied too early which left my praetorians on the right exposed.

The game was a comedy of errors on my part, most memorable of (honest) mistakes is taking note of damage points to my warjacks ("9 points on column 6...:P).

memorables for me include: moving titan gladiator on his units of diehard knights, then casting deathbringer on titan gladiator which wiped out his knights. on the downside, i took 6D3 damage points on the gladiator.
basilisk taking out the left and right arms of a crusader then decimating his grenade lobbing troops.
cataphract centratii also taking out his castigator's right arm, then the cyclops taking out the left arm. unfortunately it was not enough to render the jack inert - which would've given me enough vp's for the win!

Due to the time constraint, with no control points established by either side, the game was resolved via VP, with Kreoss edging out Hexeris 10-9.

yup, kreoss hid behind the other side of the house the WHOLE game. that's playing like you've got a pair

Wehehe... I must admit I played timid with Kreoss who went without a Devout in a long while. Between the choices a) Go around a disabled Crusader to take out the Basilisk Drake, b) Go behind a Castigator (with memories of being slammed by it in the last game against Salubri still fresh in my mind) and c) Wait behind the house, I chose the house as the most logical thing to do. :P

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Session ends 9:00PM.

HGR Journal Entry No. 034 - A Few Firsts...

Date: November 10, 2007
Venue: Salubri's Residence
Regulars Present: Salubri, Balian, Kyuzo, with special participation of Joel
Games of Choice: Warhammer 40k, Warmachine

Highlights:

Today was a day of firsts. It was Balian's first Warmachine game that from what I gather did not show much signs of newbie-ness. It was also the first Warhammer 40k game in a while with Joel contributing to the group's impression on the new Chaos Space Marines codex. And it was Kyuzo's first venture into a 750pt Warmachine game. Here's a couple of accounts made by the Regulars and the games we played that day. Enjoy reading and keep on gaming.

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Game 1 - Salubri(Commander Coleman Stryker) vs. Balian(Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff)

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Game 2 - Balian(Dark Angels) vs. Joel(CSM Plague Marines)

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Game 3 - Kyuzo(High Exemplar Kreoss) vs. Salubri(Lord Commander Coleman Stryker)
750pts Pendulum
Lord Commander Coleman Stryker wins via Assassination and Objective

Kyuzo report (some details ripped from Silence in Darkness blog):

I agreed to play a 750pt Warmachine game against Salubri's Lord Commander Coleman Stryker using my High Exemplar Kreoss. First time for me to play 750pts and against an epic warcaster at that. I lost that game, still had fun in the process, and did a bit of analysis of the outcome.


I think I did well in surviving Epic Stryker's feat by weathering out his battlegroup's extra attacks as well as keeping his Storm Lances stuck on the far flank by the Temple Flameguard. I tried to counter it by popping Kreoss's own feat on my turn to deal some considerable hurt back at the opposition. But I guess it wasn't enough and the casualties both sides inflicted created some avenues for some precise charge attacks. It was the Centurion slam on the Castigator resulting in Kreoss knockdown + the Stryker overcharge(?) that caught me flat footed. Simple error in judgement of charge distances and in placement of my remaining forces on the table. It's nothing a little more practice and gaming time can't fix. Good game against Salubri. Didn't disappoint.

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Session ends with dinner Quattro (for a change), with Balian and Salubri giving new meaning to the joys of line of sight while Joel and I got a bottlecap opener each instead.

HGR Journal Entry No. 033 - November Gaming...

Date : November 2, 2007
Venue : Pitshop/Pet Stop
Attendees : Adrian, Henri, Byron, Kyuzo, Midnight, Balian, Sigismund, Doc Lance, Mang, Pat

Games Played : Warhammer 40k, Warmachine/Hordes

Highlights :

Finally, some 40k games played after a long drought...

Came unprepared for it too, considering I was fresh out of the All Souls' Day madness. Met up with Balian and Midnight. Brought along whatever CSM models I got and hopefully I can whip up a list using the new CSM army list.

Had a good representation of Regulars. My game against Balian's Dark Angels was an interesting one, given the fact that I had to make some adjustments to my Emperor's Children list. No more siren-DP, no daemonic strength AC's, no blastmaster havocs, and to top it all off, no daemonettes! Argh. It was uphill from Turn 1. But it was fun. Can't wait for the new codex to come out as well as hopefully, my daemonettes will come back. Sigh.

Most those who went with me finished early, wanting to get a quick dinner before going home. It was a holiday and most of us were on Cinderella time. We left, with Sigismund still "educating" Byron using a virtually defunct Iron Warriors list, with the onset of the new CSM codex.

Salubri joined up shortly after that since dinner was near his house. The usual talks ensued with a few questions cropping up from both game systems for future clarification. Will post those at a later time.

Midnight report
It's been too long since I last used my space wolves and so when I heard about the games at pitshop, I just had to bring em out again for a ride.

Balian deployed most his troops as separate squads across the entire length of the table. Looking at all the plasma cannons and missile launchers on the other side, I had some serious doubts about getting to the other side. Good thing we ended up with recon and alpha level which meant we were only counting scoring units!

I got second turn and was extremely lucky that my tanks survived the Balian's shooting. We zoomed towards my left flank and waited for the next round of shooting. I could see his assault squad closing in on my hapless scouts - and knew these guys wouldn't last long. I just gambled that in moving the assault squad forward, my speeders may just be able to whittle them down later in the game. What a gambit - leaving my right flank with just the scouts and speeders to defend it. I kept reasoning to myself, if he takes out the scouts, I'll try to shoot him for 2 turns then run away to the other side.

Turn 4-5, my vindicator and 1 predator were dead as well as my scouts on the right flank. Luckily my come-from-behind scouts were able to tie up his units on the left flank (before saying hello to the Emperor!). Big bash on the left flank - SW HQs going up against DA elite squads. Fortunately my I5 boys were able to kill off the DA defenders. Speeders get away from the assault squads and run to the opposite side on the left flank.

Turn 6 was a mad dash for touchdowns! Balian was able to get 5 squads to my side on his last turn. But last minute shooting from my speeders was pretty lucky having managed to whittle down 1 squad to less than half. Final score SW 6 scoring units (3 troops, 2 speeder squads, and 1 predator) vs. 4 DA scoring units.

HGR Journal Entry No. 032 - Killing Fields - Aftermath

Okay so midnight and I went to HH after office hours last wednesday to test the modified version of Killing Fields. It ended up being just that. A killing field!

We both decided to deploy facing the center marker as spreading our forces too thinly would cause our troops to get picked off one by one. Turn two and no one decided to take on the objective as each opponent was poised to counter anyone going for the objective. On Midnight's left flank sat the Totem Hunter behind some buildings, staying out of the Gun Mage Captain's effective range. On his right flank were the Centrati which eventually easily over came the two Stormsmiths sniping at their leader and was free to take the object. The game was decided in the middle however, as the bulk of the battlegroups and war parties were lined up for a major engagement by turn two. Turn 3 proved to be the deciding factor as midnight pours out a flurry of spells that caused the Thunderhead's strength to be used against every Cygnar model within 3". The result was catastrophic almost wiping out the knights, killing the journeyman and damaging the Thunderhead! To add to that it was Hexeris' feat turn which then put every "dead" model in his control before being removed from the game! Devastated by the enemy, the Cygnaran's went into melee and Stryker seeing a hole in the enemy's defense took his chance! It was feat turn for Cygnar and everyone could move 3" and attack after all friendly model's have activated. This allowed an overloaded Stryker to make the final movement and contact a fury-less Hexeris!

The game ended with Cygnar taking the field after 1 hour and 30 minutes!

Scenario Edit from recycle bin

Okay guys here's what I propose. These are some minor changes to the mission Killing Fields, just enough to make it more enjoyable... err I think. :P

Mission: Killing Fields
Modifications: a. Begin counting control points at the end of turn 2
b. Control points are counted at the end of the turn (after both players took
their turns)
Explanation: I'm thinking this only makes things a bit more fair because it eliminates the early advantage of being able to go first and also having lots of advanced deployment models. The original form started counts for control points on the first turn. Which meant whoever went first could get the required number of points by turn 2 (5 CP). Also I think that counting control points at the end of each player turn rather than at the end of 1 game turn (when both players took turns) kinda screwed the 2nd man a bit since you could run, sit on the counter and he won't be able to stop you from gaining a point.

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I'm hoping that we'll get past some sort of legalism here as I've always thought of our gaming group as playing for fun rather than for keeping a tally of who wins and who loses. At any rate, just so you don't get any wrong ideas that I'm trying to change the way missions are played in the current WMH community, I am NOT repeat NOT pawning these changes to the community. Hence the reason why I'm posting it here in OUR BLOG. Its just for our gaming group and only if you want to try it. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything. My only aim is to make things more enjoyable for everyone concerned. Personally I'm okay to play with anyone using whatever scenario but I'm thinking it would be more enjoyable for us if we "fixed" some of the things that we are not comfortable with. Games are made for gamers after all and not the other way around.

At any rate I leave you with this: Prime Remix, page 81, middle of left column: "Experiment with different combinations, and feel free to create variations or unique scenarios of your own."

HGR Journal Entry No. 030 - Weekday Katipunero session #1

Midnight and Salburi met at hobby haven for some Warmachine VS Hordes Action!

Setup:

Midnight had 500 pts of Skorne Against Salubri's 500 pts Cygnar. The guys decided to play pure assasination to get the most out of their game. It promised to be no holds barred metal vs muscle slugfest!

Highlights:
*Salubri discovered some nasty tricks up Skorne's sleeves when the basilisks starts spraying and doing their paralytic field/aura combos. to quote Salubri: "Nabobo yung Centurion ko dun nang 2 turns!"

*Stormsmith evades Cyclop's boosted attacks twice! lol

*Storm Lances executed a perfect flanking maneuver! effectively separating Huge bad ass titan from main battle group and holding opponents for several turns. (total amor= 20 from arcane shield bonus!)

*Storm Knights earn their pay in glorious battle with the leader bringing down both a Titan and an arcuari with one charge! ( flank attack... engaged by armless hunter. :D )

*Hexeris disengages from Centurion to make one final gambit vs Stryker only to be cut down by free strike. ( sakto pa yung damage sa life 15 vs 15. lol )

Results: Cygnar win by Assasination vs Hexeris

HGR Journal Entry No. 029 - Starbucks Revisited

Date : July 28, 2007
Venue : NG Galleria
Regulars Present : Balian, Sigismund, Salubri, Kyuzo
Highlights :

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and I had to carefully work my way through EDSA traffic to catch up in time for the second game over at NG Galleria. Arrived in the nick of time, only hitch was that we were only allowed to play 2000pt games on a 4x4 table. As if that would stop us, eh? :)

40k Results:

Game 1 - Balian(Dark Angels) vs. Sigismund(Black Templars)
2000pts Take and Hold Gamma
Balian Wins!

Game 2 - Kyuzo(Emperors Children) vs. Salubri(Deathwing)
2000pts Cleanse Alpha
Salubri Wins!

HGR Session ends 8:00pm.

The boyz broke off the Galleria scene choosing coffee with a view over dinner over at the local Starbucks. Of course, the Starbucks we went too rarely disappoints, if you guys could've seen Balian's spaced-out expression.

Starbucks session ends 10:00pm.