January Commitment Complete

Finished up the plasmagun equipped veterans this morning:

For February (the first real month of the challenge) I'm thinking of working on a normal infantry squad and also either the Inquisitor or the Psyker.

Games Played - 05/01/14

Got the first game of 2014 and of the Overlords Escalation League in this afternoon!

Alas I did not win but that hardly matters - a fun game and a few more lessons learned for next time.

Game 1: Inquisition
Size: 500pts
Mission: The Scouring
Deployment:
Enemy Force:
Coteaz with two squads of henchmen, one very stabby with a priest and one half shooty, half stabby - both in chimeras.

Game Summary:
This was a very cagey game indeed with much of the early-to-mid game spent attempting to maneuver our units into the best potions before dealing a killing blow. Sadly (for my troops anyway...) Coteaz and his attached squad of crusaders and flagellants made their move first!

A bold charge into my lines led by the man himself saw my veterans and their transport brought down - sadly my Psyker-Warlord was attached to their unit and thus died with them. It wasn't a total loss though as every single henchman in his retinue died in the process. Coteaz survived, however.

Nearby, an infantry squad remained out of the melee. They were tank-shocked off their objective and rather than stand and fight, I chose to make a break for a different objective nearby. They made it but it wasn't enough to save the game.

On the other side of the board, the mixed unit of acolytes and crusaders faced off against my platoon command and the other infantry squad (both safely fortified within my Imperial Defence Emplacement). This was a less eventful skirmish... each holding an objective, a few casualties on either side - stalemate, really.

Result:
Minor Defeat
Inquisition - 5  (One objective worth 3 VP plus Slay the Warlord and First Blood).
Imperial Guard - 3 (Two objectives worth 1 and 2 VP each).

Thoughts:
I need to be more aware of assault ranges. I could easily have avoided the charge by moving defensively (I actually had moved CLOSER on my previous turn...). I also realize now that I should have actually accepted Coteaz's challenge with my Psyker, tying him up for an extra turn! As it was, I declined not really thinking that the whole unit could still be wiped out regardless. Just declining the challenge doesn't mean you can't be killed!

In general, I made some small mistakes but nothing catastrophic. I probably should have utilized my veterans more aggressively in the early game by pushing for one of the enemy objectives. With this mission, it might even have been wise to reserve them so that I could pick the most valuable target (once the objectives had been revealed). My Psyker tried his best but Throne... two successful deny the witches, a bum roll on Psychic Shriek and a perils of the warp... it just wasn't his day. Not willing to give up on him just yet though - we'll see how he gets on in future games.

Another fun game anyway - next week I think I'll try to get a game in against a Xenos or Chaos army as I haven't really faced anything but Imperial armies since 3rd Edition...

January Commitment

Although the Independent Characters HPC doesn't begin until February, the rules permit for the painting of excess units prior to this - provided that one commitment is still completed during each month between Feb and June. So, I'm going to get one of my units out of the way this month.

I'll be painting a squad of Veterans with 3 plasma guns and a sergeant with a plasma pistol / power sword combo. As with all of my troops they use Forge World Elysian models. Their veteran status is denoted by their bandannas, shaved heads and dust/glare protection goggles. My veterans are typically mounted in a transport (be it a Chimera or Vendetta) and are tasked with seizing enemy-held facilities, fortifications etc., to that end they're armed with compact CQB-variant lascarbines.

Before painting. All models primed with Army Painter Uniform Grey.