The Return to 40K

The Loss of Interest in 40K

A long time ago I admit I completely lost interest in 40K for a number of reasons. All of these reasons put together was simply to much to make me completely quit 40K. I still had interest in other games, mostly Battletech and Robotech. However I have branched of into hobby areas such as Gunpla (Influnce solely completely from my friend Dan.), some scale modeling. I also started collecting and building Legos with my wife which has always been a favorite of mine. I also play games on my XBOX ONE and my PC so no explanation there.

The Winding Down of Other Favored Games

Battletech had a wind down as my long running ATOW RPG game came to a halt when one of our players had a dramatic change in his life. Robotech was a complete failure. I may continue painting the models and maybe play the game in the future, but for now Fuck It ALL.

The Rise of Gunpla and Scale Modeling

Happily Gunpla and scale modeling are here to stay. Dan show me countless times one his excellent work on his models so I joined the fray. I have bought many and built many and I don't plan to stop. It is a far different hobby then wargaming so it is nice to be a part of it.

The Renewed Interest in 40K

While working in Knoxville, I passed by a game store I have never been to. I poked around and saw the new Kill Team merchandise. On a repeat visit I purchased the Starter Box which came with everything I would need to play the game. I started assembling, I started painting, then came my Codex Tyranids, then came a game of 40K.

It was fun to play a game again with Dan. It was also nice to use some of his older Tyranid models since I managed to forget to bring half my models and my wife ha to  bring me my codex, lolz.
I will  point out the yellow Tyranids are my color scheme. I like 8th edition a lot.

I probably have more to say, but I have said enough for now. More to follow soon as I have more to show.

Learning To Fly and Go Team Lictor!

Playing 40K

Recently I had a chance to play two games of 40K using my Tyranid swarm against a new player and his Deamonkin cult. In fact those two games were the second and third time I have got to play 40K this year I believe. Both games, both armies used different list options with interesting results. As much as I detest Deamon rinces and Bloodthirsters, I had a huge pool of physic power at my disposal. I did two different things different when playing I used the rules for a flying Hive Tyrant and we used Tactical Objective cards.

Being tossed off the cliff and learning to fly isn't so bad when another player explains it from a biased opinion. The new player gave me a general run down and really thought I should just give it a go. This player honest approach to explaining flyers is how I came to face my fears of using a flying Hive Tyrant and use one in my list. Including a flying Hive tyrant made a huge different in games and I may never go back to a ground based Hive Tyrant again. Although I do love my panted Tyrant Guard. I think what might have been holding me back is the whole wait a turn to assault after grounding, but my Hive Tyrant shouldn't be assaulting anyway because he sucks at it. I learned very easily a flying shooting Hive Tyrant is an absolute menace if left unchecked and getting into assault is another story altogether.

Tactical Objective cards really changed the flow of the normal boring kill everything to actually use strategy to gain points. Tactical Objectives allowed me to emerge better in raw scoring power versus raw killing power. My set of cards has been sitting still wrapped unused for quite some time so getting some use out of them was welcomed. I will definitely use these cards much more often.

Packing for Playing 40K

The real reason for this post is something I found mildly amusing when I was packing all of my Tyranids to go play 40K. Currently I am working on painting a brood of three Lictors along with a small brood of ten Termigaunts. Naturally I would take all of my Termagaunts as they are a huge necessity my current list to work correctly as cannon fodder or Deamon Prince/Bloodthirster tar pits. My Tyranid swarm's lone Licor brood Never sees the light of day as they suck. The great hive mind has read their rules and determined them kah kah. However bad they may suck the Lictors still get packed with the rest of the swarm to go play 40K.

When I was packing the Lictors I had only painted their normal flesh color and their armor plates minus any shading. Their look amused me slightly as they looked like football players. For a minute their I thought my Lictors had switched game systems. My Lictors looked like they were wearing helmets, shoulder pads, and knee pads and them middle Lictor in the picture below looks like he is ready to receive a pass.

Team Lictor's Star Quarterback and his guards.

"Hut One, Hut Two, Hike"

Since taking this picture, the inner flesh has been painted and the armor shading has been applied. The Lictors still looked like football players, lol. Painting the scything talons kind of took the look away, but made them look like mean football players. Painting the flesh hooks removed the look and they were no longer football players, but Lictors invading a planet slaughtering football players and everything else. The Lictors own the stadium now.

 "Go Team Lictor!"

This is all for this post. I just wanted to provide a little information about my time in the 40K universe. I will continue painting my Tyranids for sure and playing 40K when I can and try to capture a Battle Report, because they are full of the lulz I enjoy. Next post I will be switching to Battletech where I will give some information and notes for an upcoming Battletech game for my current ATOW RPG game I run. Soon along after you should see a Battletech Battle Report and my finished painted brood of Lictors.

I've been Working on the Tyranid swarm.

I've been Working on the Tyranid swarm. All the live long day.

Working on a Tyranid swarm due to the large model count is sometimes a daunting process to handle and complete. This post is a look into how I go about working on my swarm so hopefully the entire swarm comes together finished at some point to a fully primed army and hopefully a fully painted army.

The Woes of Painting Tyranid 3rd Edition Biovores

Returning from vacation

I meant to get this posted in late May,before I went on vacation, but later is better than never. It is a bit of backstory and general thoughts on painting this fellow here.

How I achieved a painting goal.

Pictures, or it never happened! is what I imagine any viewer is thinking who comes across this kind statement on my blog concerning achieving a goal. I wouldn't move to stop any person's thoughts either as I have failed in the past. I am here to not only prove to any viewer who reads this post, but prove to myself I have the potential to succeed. This post is long, but it attempts to give as many details as possible and maybe it might help another viewer.

Please follow along as I explain ... How I achieved a painting goal.

312 > 174

Why is 312 greater than 174?

174 is the amount of miniatures I received in the last few months of 2014 for three different games.

140 miniatures are from a kickstarter campaign for Robotech RPG Tactics. 25 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Warhammer 40,000. 8 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Battletech. 1 model is from a surprise birthday present for Battletech.
140 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave One
25 miniatures for Warhammer 40,000 Deathstorm
4 miniatures for Battletech Assault Lance
4 miniatures for Battletech Pursuit Lance
1 miniatures for Battletech (King Crab) :)
174 miniatures in total.

Breaking down 174

I pledged for the Showdown in the Robotech RPG Tactics kickstarter which gave two times the Battle Cry pledge which basically was the core set and unlocked stretch goals. In other words I have a shit ton of miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics.
The Deathstorm boxed set was perfect for me as it includes both armies I own and use, plus the handy small updated rule book. This boxed set was such a bargain as it gave my Blood Angels a new captain, new terminators, new dreadnaught (magnetize for all flavors if can), and additional death company. The box will also bolter my Tyranid forces with a new broodlord, genestealers, a carnifex (magnetize those dual devourers), and warriors. :( Warriors, hmm ... they are the new sculpts with swords and lashes and they can make a prime. :) I am very interested in playing the scenarios from the campaign booklet for some easy quick games.
The Battletech lances gave me some new battlemechs to use and especially new battlemechs to throw at my players in my ATOW campaign. :) I love torturing them with challenges just as much as one of my players loves getting head hits. Best of all they don't need to be assembled, they are ready to play. The birthday present was a surprise and I can't wait to play a game with two of these death machines running around terrorizing and destroying everything they can. Only one player I know off hand would say game on. Needless to say this probably will make an appearance in the ATOW campaign.
There is more, eventually and hopefully anyway.
84 miniatures for Reaper Bones II 2013 Core Set
54 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two
138 additional miniatures in total will eventually be added. I say eventually as the updates from

Reaper concerning the Bones II kickstarter point to a successful delivery soon. Actually today Reaper confirmed they have started Wave I fulfillment and I am in Wave II. I still have no idea what I will do with them to be honest. Hopefully is all I can say for Wave two of Robotech RPG Tactics and that’s all I have to say about that.
If you add all the received miniatures and the additional miniatures up you will get a hefty sum.
312 miniatures in total. This is why 312 is greater than 174.

I could be off by a few.
Actually I could say 313 miniatures as I assembled a Wolverine II model for battletech last Sunday I purchased in late 2014.

Goal for 2015

I have set a goal for 2015 of assembling and painting miniatures once a week. It doesn't have to be much, just assemble and paint something once a week. Any easy goal in all respects. When it comes to the assembly portion of the goal I can use assembled minatures in game as soon as they are assembled. I can assemble small things or large things, this game or that game, or start something this week and finish something next week.

Proof

The first week of January I started my once a week assembly goal and I think it went well. I got two battlemechs assembled. One battlemech was the Wolverine II I mentioned earlier which will go to a Marik unit I am building for the sake of building. The other battlemech was a Thug which was sent as a return fire birthday present to a friend. It has found a happy place in the ATOW campaign.
I started assembling the captain and terminators from the Deathstorm boxed set during the first week of the New Year and continued some more. I used my bag of bricks for basing materials on my previous Devastator squad I finished a while back. I intend to glue the miniatures to their bases before priming them to make it easier and so I can use them. I post about these units later.
During the first week of the year all the way to the end of January I assembled a lot of the Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures from one of the boxed sets. I tried the valkyries first and went WTF over the amount of pieces and which arms are for what. I have a lot of battle pods together. I got two destroids together as well. The amount of parts for some of the miniatures is huge and daunting, they will take time. The amount of time to remove mold lines takes time as well. I need to focus on what is needed to play the scenarios in the back. Whatever some may say I think those are easy step up battles to help learn the rules very easily and fast.
I did cheat one my never buy expensive GW tools, but I ended up buying the mold line removal tool and so far it is very helpful.
Painting I have been sticking to as well. I started with the repainting of my Tyranid Ravener. I changed the overall paint scheme to make it much easier and faster to paint them by eliminating certain complicated steps, paints which dry too easily, and adding a few steps to better the miniatures. I have picture of them, but I would rather post about them later. I have actually moved into painting my Hive Guard now.

TL;DR

I have a large backlog of combined old and new hobby work. This backlog needs to be worked on to get more game time. I’ll have plenty to post about soon. I was going to post pictures of everything stacked high, but does anyone really want to see hobby backlog porn?


I’ll have plenty to post about soon with pictures.

Tyranids Vs Tau 7th Edition Battle Report

Last weeks venture to play 40K I met two new players who were Daniel and son or guy with hat, I forgot the other guy's name. Both were looking to play a game and were not use to the normal phenomena of waiting 40 minutes to play 40K. What was first offered from the new guys was a dual game was quickly shot down by Mac, nice call. Mac with his Chaos Space marines took on the guy with hat, while I took on Daniel's tau with my Tyranids.

While Daniel took a bit of time to create a nice well balanced list I got to sit down with Rob to learn about some ancient history concerning the Manei Domini.

I used what seems to be my normal 1500 points list which uses just about everything I like to use and does a good job. I thought about swapping the Raveners and the Biovores for a Mawloc, but the leftover points always leaves me wanting and wondering. Other thoughts have made me think of swapping the Tyrant Guard for a flying Hive Tyrant, but I really need to read up on the rules for flyers. So here where our lists.

Tyranids

Hive Tyrant w/ 2xTL Dev
Pychich Powers - Primaris, The Horror, Paroxysm
Tyrant Guard x 2

*The Hive Tyrant had two offensive powers, one good for scaring off enemy units and the other for weakening or shutting down enemy units.

Zoanthrope x 2
Pychich Powers - Primaris, Paroxysm, Warp Blast
Zoanthrope x1
Pychich Powers Primaris, Onslaught, Warp Blast
Hive Guard x2

* Usually all of the Zoanthropes are in the same brood, for this battle I split them up for better survival and synapse coverage. The additional bonus was a bit more psychic power. The dual Zoanthrope brood's additional power may prove useful leaving the single Zoanthrope brood to utilize the Warp Blast power

Tervigon "Momma" w/ Stinger Salvo, Scything talons, The Maw-claws of Thyrax
Pychich Powers - Primaris, Catalyst
Termagants x 30

* Momma's additional power should prove useful as always

Raveners x 5 w/ Scything Talons, Rending Claws

Bivores x 3
Carnifex w/ 2xTL Dev, Spine banks
Exocrine

* Someone reminded me of the Exorine's BS being +1 if it doesn't move so +1 to you sir


Tau

Commander w/ BattleSuit, Iridium battlesuit, Plasma rifle, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Airburst Fragmentation Projector,Onager Gauntlets, Shield Generator, Kitchen Sink, and a Puretide Engram Chip

Ethereal

Firewarriors x 12, bonded
Firewarriors x 12, bonded
Firewarriors x 12, bonded

XV-104 Riptide, Ion Accelerator, TL Smart Missiles, and Stimulants
Stealth Suit Team w/ 4 x XV15 battlesuits w/ burstcannons and 2 x XV25 battlesuits with fusion blasters

Pathfinders w/ 7 Pulse carbines and Marker lights, and 3 with Rail rifles

Hammerhead Gunship w/ Railgun, TL Smart missiles, Disruption pod, Target lock, and Submunition rounds
XV88 Broadside x 2 w/ TL High Yield Missile pods, TL Smart Missiles, Seeker missiles, and Stimulants

* I have faced everything here before except a Riptide so this will be a learning experience. If all things the always useful idea of ignore it may come into play.


Deployment

Six random objectives were placed on the board and they revealed before the first turn.
The thing about this board was we left it as is when we played on it so it had a nasty dead zone between both sides. I figured Daniel would place his three objectives in his deployment zone like myself, but he boldly placed one in my deployment zone.

Before deployment the six objectives were placed

• Tau Objective 1 - In the ruins on the Tau's right flank
• Tau Objective 2 - In the ruins on the Tau's left flank
• Tau Objective 3 - In the ruins in the middle of the Tyranid's northern deployment zone
• Tyranid Objective 1 - In the ruins on the Tyranid's left flank
• Tyranid Objective 2 - In the ruins on the Tyranids's right flank
• Tyranid Objective 3 - Behind the hill in the middle of the Tyranid's southern deployment zone

Obviously Tyranid's don't deploy objectives so it must have been a bunch of junk the Tau empire lost and want to reclaim.
Tau chose to go first.
The Tau's warlord trait seemed to be about as useful as flock on the board. Perhaps a grass cover save would have been better.
The Tyranid's warlord trait added +1 to the seize the initiative giving their roll a 5 and they fail to seize the initiative.
Night fight was is in effect.

With the new rules of any unit being able to claim objectives, I spread my Tyranids as much and as safely as possible. This allowed me to possibly claim up to four objectives on the first turn. With this in mind I didn't need to move most of my units at all depending upon their revealed point values. This left me with a few units to move around according such as the Hive Tyrant and the Raveners and to some extent the Zoanthropes. I knew Daniel had a reserves unit and I could possibly be forced off an objective or even shot off an objective such as the case with the Biovores so I had to be aware of them till they arrived from reserve and deployed.

* Blue and green markers are reminders for the presence of psychic units
* Blue ice dice are the psychic unit's rolled psychic powers

After deployment the six objectives where revealed

• Tau Objective 1 - (2) In the ruins on the Tau's right flank
• Tau Objective 2 - (2) In the ruins on the Tau's left flank 
• Tau Objective 3 - (3) In the ruins in the middle of the Tyranid's northern deployment zone
• Tyranid Objective 1 - (3) In the ruins on the Tyranid's left flank
• Tyranid Objective 2 - (4) In the ruins on the Tyranids's right flank
• Tyranid Objective 3 - (1) Behind the hill in the middle of the Tyranid's southern deployment zone

Tau near two objectives and Tyranids near four objectives already placed the Tau into challenge mode. The Tau will need to come to the Tyranid lines or try to shoot them off their objectives.

Turn 1

The Tau forced moved their entire East flank forward with the commander leading the charge forward. The Pathfinders entered the ruins in front of them, the Firwarriors in the open moved forward with their commander supported by the Hammerhead behind them. The Firewarriors in the center ruins moved forward out of the ruins slightly with the Riptide in front to provide support.

With night fight rules in effect, the Tyranids thought the Tau shooting would not be as good, but the Ethereal reminded his followers to be rock stars and announced to the Tyranids.

DEAL WITH IT!

The Tau used their special sunglasses. The Tau concentrated their firepower to eliminate a third of the large Termagant brood along with adding a single wound on the Exocrine.

Momma ordered her Termagant brood forward to close the opened gaps. The Carnifex climbed atop the ruins to perch itself for a higher vantage point. The Hive Tyrant pressed the Hive Guard to bash through the windows of the ruins into safe hiding so they could use their weapons with no LOS.  The Hive mind sensed the Raveners eager willingness for biomass consumption and necessary casualties, but ordered them like the Hive Guard to bash through the windows of the old ruins to safely close the distance to their targets ahead.

* The Hive Guard were placed on the top of the ruins in the places where they would be in the ruins for simplicity. The same idea was used for the Raveners.

Momma angered by the sight of her large brood being decimated attempted to prognate more of her lesser Termagants and succeeded with a small brood of seven Termagants. However, Momma's anger got the better of her and the stress was too much for her brood pronating organs to process anymore Termagant order for the Hive Mind.
The Tau commander saw this as a blessing, the Hive mind knew the Tau's battle strategy was a fault and foresaw no need to lose additional troops.

* Psychic Phase

So far it is not bad, I like it a lot better than challenges even thought it is much different. In this battle the Tyranids had a ton of psychic potential leaving the Tau at the mercy of what the Tyranids initial roll would be. This gave the Tau to some degree a buffer, but a buffer which had to be carefully used.

The first Tyranid psychic phase was good with a few warp blasts being tossed on the Firewarriors moving out of the center ruin and Feel no Pain being applied to the Exocrine courtesy of mamma. The Tau focused on trying to deny the Feel no Pain application than trying to deny the warp blasts which did far more damage.

The first Tyranid shooting phase opened with the best Biovore barrage any Tyranid commander could ask for. All three blasts hit directly on target to the Firewarrior squad in the open awarding a total of 27 hits. The lone shroud save did nothing to help the Firewarriors as they were bio-bombed into oblivion.
The Exocrine's original target was the Firewarrior squad, but since it had been eliminated the Tau commander was too tempting of a target and was fired upon. The Tau commander was killed in a horrendous volley of alien firepower.
Between the Carnifex and the Hive Tyrant, the Hive Tyrant was able to wound the Riptide.

* The Tau commander dying was just an offset I suppose. Daniel managed to fail a great deal of 3+ invulnerable saves than I expected. I also thought moving his commander out was dangerous, but I think it is a play style to in a sense marshall his troops and show a no fear atitude. Not the same for my Hive Tyrant which usually cowers at times till it can safely move acrooss, lol.

The purple die near the Tervigon is not a wound die.

Turn 2

The Tau's Stealth Suits arrived and deployed behind the Tyranid lines placing themselves by the hill slightly to the left behind the Biovores. With the Stealth suits deployed, the rest of the Tau movement was simple with the Riptide moving to the right flank and the Hammerhead moving up to cover the gap produced by fallen comrades. The Tau's shooting was something to be desired as well with only a single wound going to the Exocrine, I think, a few more Termagants being killed and a sadly single Biovore dying from the stealth suits. The Tyranid's were expected the loss fo the Biovores after there nasty barrage before.

The Hive mind's response to the Tau at this point was respond and push forward. The Tau commander was feeling a sudden iminent loss for the Stealth suit team. The  Termagants moved to their position along with the Hive Tyrant and his Tyrant guard. The single Zoanthrope brood tuned to face the Stealth suits while moving to a safe position. The Exocrine pivoted around to assure complete destruction. With almost the entire left flank of the Tyranid force responding to the Stealth suits, the Hive mind still pushed the Raveners out of the ruins and into the ruins before them to assault the Tau Pathfinders hiding within.

The Tyranid psychic phase had the Zoanthropes warp blasting more Firewarriors from the center squad in the center ruins. The time he Tau tried to deny this compared to tryingt o deny the Feel no Pain application.

Tyranid shooting was even more destructive. The Biovores missed the Firewarriors in the center and left a large spore mine cluster to the right of the Riptide and way too close to the Firewarriors in the ruins to be ignored. The Hive Guard impaled a Broadside battlesuit while the rest of the Tyranids on their flank completely decimated the Stealth suits. The Termagants failed to do anything, while the Tyrant killed all but one allowing the Exocrine to finish off the last suit.

Tyranid assault phase had the Raveners assault the Pathfinders in the ruins. The Pathfinders struck first dropping two before the Reaveners tore more of the Pathfinders into pieces. The Pathfinders held there ground for now.

Stealth suits? What stealth suits?

Turn 3

The Tau were presented with little movement options. The Riptide moved to the center Dead Zone to support the three remaining Firewarrirors from the center sqaud dashing for the center cover.

Tau shooting concentrated on various threats the spore mines, Biovores, and the Zoanthropes. The spore mine cluster could not be ignored, the Biovores were especially dangerous for fear of the Ethereal getting bombarded causing a serious morale loss, and the Zoanthrope were simply terrorizing the Firewarriors and getting within leathal range of the Hammerhead. The Firewarriors in the ruins killed the spore mine cluster. The Broadsides and Riptide combines firepower to at the Biovores removing them. The Firewarriors and the Hammerhead combined firepower at the dual Zoanthrope brood and kill one and wounded the other.

With the exeption of the wounded Zoanthrope, although leaving only one left was still a 50% reduction in
there offensive cability. I think Daniel's descisions on which target's to shoot were tactically sound on what he could and could not harm.

The Pathfinders in the ruins continued to hold despite loosing more members of thier squad.

* We weren't sure if a spore mine clsuter automatically explodes when wounded, so we left it as not exploding to be sure.  I couldn't find anything in the codex entry about it at the time.

When it was time for Tyranid Hive Mind to act, the Hive Mind turned the Hive Tyrant as he turned his own Tyrant Guard around towards the Riptid. Mamma ordered her Termagants in the center to chain the brood between the Exocrine and the hill top were the Biovores were previously. The Zoanthrope broods were rushed forward as well.

Tyranid psychic phase proved useful and useless, the Hive Tyrant smacked the Riptide causing its WS and BS to drop by 3 each and the Zoanthropes failed to wound the Riptide with a warp lance and failed to cast warp lance against the Hammerhead.

Tyranid shooting saw the Firewarriors in the center loose more lives by the work between Mamma and her Carnifex perched above.  The Hive Tyrant and the Exocrine had enough combined firepower to punch through the Riptide's shield and wound it.

The Hive Tyrant attempted an assault on the Riptide which failed with no damage incurred. The Raveners tour apart the remaining Pathfinders.

Turn 4

Tau movement started with the three leftover Firewarriors in the center moving to the cover in the middle of the dead zone. The Riptide moved back a bit, but still remained the front unit in combat. The Hammerhead moving ahead just a bit and to the left a bit to gain more targets and hide from the Exocrine.

Tau shooting was light. The center Firwarriors failed to down the nearby Zoanthrope. The Hammerhead tried to use a large blast weapon on the Termagants to perhaps shoot them off the objectives, but the shot scattered killing only a few Termagants. The Hammerhead also failed to kill the nearby Zoanthrope. The Riptide's shooting turned to garbage by the Hive Tyrant's paroxysm power needed the help of the lone Broadside managed to kill a Tyrant Guard and wound the other Tyrant Guard leaving the Hive Tyrant unharmed.

The same Tyranid broods which moved ahead previously were ordered to do the same along with the Exocrine moving to switch sides. The Raveners were kept in place to claim the objective.

Tyranid psychic phase was dangerous. The Zoanthrope near the Hammerhead warp lanced the Hammerhead and immobilized it. The Hive Tyrant continued to bully the Riptdie and smacked it causing its WS and BS to be reduced by 3 each again.

Tyranid Shooting was concentrated on the Riptide an Broadside as the entire Tau left flank had collapsed. The Hive Tyrant caused what damage it could to the Riptide while the Exocrine completely finished it off by punching through its powered up shield. Mamma and her Carnifex finished off the Firewarriors in the center as well.

End Game

Once turn four passed the Tau commander conceded the battlefield to the Tyranid Hive Mind.

Final Victory Points

Tau

+2 Objective

2 Total

Tyranids

+ 13 Objectives
+1 First blood
+1 Slay the warlord

15 Total

* Examining the objectives again I removed destroyed units from adding points.

Thoughts

Daniel was using a set of older GW dice from a green tin, I recommend he fired those dice and towrds the third turn or so he began to agree.
Daniel's list was a great mix of what his codex could do, but I believe some units were a bit on the pricey side. It would be interested to go again seeing his maybe use the same list or free up some more points for some more group units.
Daniel's decision to place an objective in my area was bold, but bad in the end. My Tyranid list is build for shooting, but has some close combat abilities, however it has limitations so it is no means perfect.
The Riptide was a tough bastard to bring down absorbing more firepower then I could ever believe, but nothing holds better then Bob's Eldar, those things can tank!
Paroxysm is dangerous when used correctly and if the roll is decent.
I forgot my Raveners were equipped with rending claws so they should have killed the Pathfinders off sooner, but no worries.
I think Daniel may have been surprised by the amount of wounds the Biovores and the Raveners had, they come to a great advantage to low non-instant death weapons.
Daniel kept trying to kill the Exocrine, but how it was deployed next to the ruins it was 75% in cover from both points of view of the Hammerhead and the Riptide. The no cover allowing missiles it made all its normal saves most of the time.
The idea of any unit being able to claim an objective is great when you have low troops count to help balance the rest of an army.
The Exocrine moving little as possible really helped in shot output.
I considered reviewing certain units of the Tyranid code from my own opinions, but I can leave it to another time if anyone cares to here my blabber.

Overall it was a great game and a great chance to see how different units interact on the battlefield.

Blood Angels vs Allied Xenos Battle Report 3,000 Points

Last Saturday I attended the regular local game night and played the usual game of 40K. I had no idea who I would play against, but I ended up with Masta  Cheef. Then the resident Tau player arrived and to avoid him showing up without game we included him in the game. The game was decided as a two versus one being allied xenos composed of allied Eldar and Tau against the might of the Blood Angels.

It was either Masta Cheef or the Tau player who had such a look on their face. They saw I had placed more than fifty marines on the setup table with the intent to deploy them all. Half a chapter's worth of marines were coming to get them. I selected what units I had and borrowed a few from other to fill the ranks. Overall it was a good mix of infantry, tanks, and some elite units.

Blood Angels Host

Quick Summary

Four independent characters
Two dreadnoughts
Sixty-five space marines
Four landspeeders
Three tanks
Two drop pods

Army List

HQ
Mephiston, Lord of Death with  (Proxied using a Space Wolf model from Screech, lol)
(+D3 rage points added to Masta Cheef's rage scale per close combat phase.)
Librarian


Elites
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon
(+D3 frustration points points added to Tau player's frustration scale per turn once deployed.)
Transport
Drop Pod
(+D3 rage points added to Masta Cheef's rage scale per turn once deployed.)
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon
Transport
Drop Pod
Sanguinary Priest
Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack
Sternguard Veteran Squad with 2x Combi-Melta and Power Fist
Transport
Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta


Troops
Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Lascannon
Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Lascannon
Tactical Squad with Flamer and Heavy Bolter
Tactical Squad with Flamer and Heavy Bolter
Combat Squad
Tactical Squad with Flamer
Tactical Squad with Heavy Bolter
Assault Squad with 2x Meltagun and Power Weapon
Death Company x 5 with Jump Packs and Power Weapon


Fast Attack
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Multi-Melta
Land Speeder Squadron with Typhoon Missile Launcher


Heavy Support
Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Predator with TL Lasconnon and Lascannon Sponsons



Big Guns Never Tire

The Tau empire had dispatched a small strike force to a ruined imperial world to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade. The fallen Tau previously gave his essence to the greater good while assisting with planetary evacuations when the planet originally fell to disorder. The Tau emerged to discover a similar sized Eldar strike force bent on similar objectives. Both forces agreed only the need to recover their lost and no need for loss of life. A large force of Blood Angel were on the planet. The Tau and the Eldar agreed to join forces to recover what was theirs. With this agreement the Tau ordered a small bombardment around the objective building as they approved the battlefield.

Battle Report

Blood Angel deployment

The first Furioso Dreadnought transported in a drop pod would deploy via drop pod assault.
The second Furioso Dreadnought transported in a drop pod was kept in reserves.

To the far right off the picture is where the other Predator and all of the Landspeeders deployed.

Neverness took a nice picture of my effective deployment silliness so I swiped it.

Xenos deployment

Eldar A Wave Serpent transporting infantry and a Vypher were both kept in in reserve

Tau Command Battle Suit squad were kept in reserve

Tau deployed a Hammerhead  to the far left and far right.

Turn 1 (Night Fight)

Blood Angels

The first Furioso Dreadnought arrives via drop pod.

The Land Raider Crusader advanced slightly.  A Tactical combat squad advanced along the left side of the LRC to the large ruined aquila. Both Predators moved slightly to better firing positions. All Landspeeders move slightly out of cover with the twin Multi-Melta Landspeeder moving flat out straight towards the enemy line and some cover. The Assault squad walked a few feet. Both Mephiston and the Death Company jumped to nearby cover.

Night fighting reduced a lot of shooting, but the Furioso Dreadnought unleashed its frag cannon upon the unsuspecting Tau. 

Xenos

The Eldar advanced towards nearby objectives. The Tau adjusted firing positions.

Night fighting reduced most shooting power for the Xenos as well. Despite the close proximity of the Furioso Dreadnought and the Multi-Melta Landspeeder, the Tau player failed to harm either vehicle.

Turn 2

Blood Angels

The second Furioso Dreadnought arrives via drop pod from reserves.

The LRC advanced slightly again and opened the assault ramps to allow the Librarian, a Sanguinary Priest, and their attached squad of Sterguard veterans to deploy. The Tactical combat squad kept stumbling on the ruined aquila barely managing to move at all. Both Predators only adjusted position. All Lanspeeders moved slightly. Only the Multi-Melta Landspeeder moved within optimum firing range to the nearby Hammerhead. The Assault Squad jumped to the middle of the battlefield. Both Mephiston and the Death Company jumped to the Eldar front lines.

Blood Angels shooting phase proofed very detrimental to the Tau player. The Multi-Melta speeder destroyed the Hammerhead on the far right. Combined fire power from all units removed two battle suit squads leaving just the Broadsides and almost every Tau infantry unit save two badly damaged squads. The Tau forces responsible for protecting he right flank had completely collapsed.

Mephiston and the Death Company assaulted the Eldar front lines wiping out a Wraithguard unit.

Someone is attempting to use scare tactics and moon the Blood Angels.

Xenos

The Eldar Wave Serpent along with a Vypher emerged on the far left flank to help bring some heavy weapons to bear against the enemy.

The Tau player couldn't get a break and failed to bring in his command battle suit unit by failing both a roll and a re-roll.

Movement was scarce just as much as shooting from the Xenos forces which were quickly being surrounded. The Eldar did claim a second objective, stunned the Furiouso Dreadnought which dropped in the middle flank along with destroying the Multi-Melta Landspeeder.

Masta Cheef's rage meter filled the the break and burst, the battlefield was beginning to heat up. Neverness stepped in with a calm spell. 

The pile of bad dice proven two fold, green sometimes is not best and they were horribly cursed.

Turn 3

Blood Angels

The Blood Angels move for the Eldar in force. The LRC and the Landspeeders and a Tactical squad all move towards the left flank corner. The Tactical combat squad finally moved off the dreaded ruined aquila. The Sterguard move for the Eldar holding the objective on the right flank while Mephiston and the Death move for the Eldar holding the objective on the left flank. The Assault squad jumped towards the last remaining Tau infantry unit.

Blood Angels combined shooting was proving to much to bare for the Xenos forces as more and more fell to the unchecked firepower. The Eldar lost various infantry units along with the Vypher.

Blood Angels launched three separate assaults against units from both Xenos forces. Mephiston battled an Eldar squad while the Death Company watched. The Assault squad tore apart the Tau infantry squad. The Stergaurd fought to remove the Eldar from an objective.

The Wave Serpent came close to destroying the LRC.

Xenos

The Tau command battle suit squad arrived from reserved and seeing all of his army almost completely wiped out he deployed to the far left flank.

The Xenos shooting was low as they only brought two of the Mephiston down by a few more wounds and the Death Company's numbers down by two.

The small clear blast templates are drop pods, lol.

Turn 4

Blood Angels

All Blood Angels continue their advance towards the remaining Eldar on the left flank while the LRC moves to support the Predator Annihilator deal with the Wave Serpent threat.

The Blood Angels shooting and assaults wipe out all the remaining Eldar units along with the Tau commander's body guard and a Broadside.

A mysterious plastic class drop ship arrived to evacuate the Eldar spirits.

Xenos

The Tau now alone failed to any significant harm to a host Blood Angels missing arms, bodies, heads, and weapons and left the Battlefield. Actually when the Tau player did point this out I saw laughter in his eyes, it was lol.

The Eldar gone and the Tau with four units left.

End Game

The Blood Angels discovered a covered among the rubble in a ruined building. The Librarian began to wonder if this was all a big misunderstanding. However, imperial teaching reveal anything Xenos to be bad and the Librarian ordered the Tactical squads to torch and burn what was left of the area.

Was it all a simulated event?

Was it a bad omen?

A moment of silence for those who fell on the battlefield.

Thoughts

For such a large game I added Mephiston to simply try out the character to see how he plays. His psychic ability along with the other Librarian was shut down constantly. I find this annoying a lot. I guess it is a balance of a rule which is table wide, army wide, or limited to certain distances, however I am not one to argue. I only used him for one model which could strike higher than I4. I think he acted more as a fear tactic than anything. If an opponent tends to focus on one model they can literally break elsewhere. The Tau player gained an obsession to kill him, but failed, however I would have done the same. 

The Librarian didn't die!

The Sanguinary Priests saved so many marines with their FNP ability. I feel I got a good amount saved versus losses. These FNP saves really robbed Masta Cheef sometimes of some helpful kills which could have help keep him fighting longer.

I forgot to give the Sterguard their bolters. Masta Cheef always comments glue their guns on. Everyone says my army has no heads. See a pattern of lulz?

The Furioso Dreadnoughts and their Frag Cannons were plain nasty and this is the second time I have used them which they are proven units. When both the first Furioso Dreadnought and the Multi-Melta speeder had survive the first turn I felt I had a huge upper hand as I had two units in my opponent's deployment zone capable of causing major damage. This helps me justify a Drop Pod purchase in the future. I use the small blast templates for friendly game. I usually tend to forget to shoot the weapons on them so they are just plain delivery systems to me. I would like to buy them, but presently I have a new purchase waiting assembly and trying to stay positive and continue painting my Blood Angels to achieve the Ultimate Goal!

Blood Angels players like to use a tactic called wall of armor 13. Although I was not using the tactic so to say it kind of made sense when my opponents had serious trouble breaching the front armor of the Furious Dreadnoughts which is 13. When both Dreadnoughts front armor along with the front armor of the Predators are added together I had 5 units with front armor 13 plus the LRC was 14 all around as usual. This could still fall from better dice rolls.

I love Landspeeders and the twin HB and then two with twin HBs can really do some major damage over time. Still twelve HB shots fired at any unit is potentially bad. I used a Predator Destructor, but for twenty more points I could have two more Landspeeders with twin HBS, but I did not have the models. I also need to order new flight stands.

The Predator Anihilator although expensive is efficient at killing high armor targets. If the vehicle can be deployed and get into a good firing position without much movement it can be very hard to dislodge or fight with out in the open. I may need to rethink my thoughts upon it.

I think the Tau only killed maybe two Tactical Marines and if they weren't his kills then he failed to kill anything leaving Masta Cheef with the feeling of having to fight all on his own the entire game. The Tau player was trying to use new rules for his codex and the crappy ordered from GW left him without a ton of extra units to potentially use. I think this is the main reason his rage scale flourished to its maximum levels. Neverness be praised.

It was fun to get to use a large amount of my Blood Angels units. Masta Cheef is always great to game against and the Tau player is cool to.

All right I am done.

Hobby desk update

Here are a few items I have been working on the past few days.

In the world of Battletech

New Vehicles

Last Christmas season my good friend Masta Cheef gave me the gift of Battletech in the form of a pair of Harasser Missile Platforms. I figured I need to get these vehicles assembled and into my regular vehicle inventory so they can be used in upcoming games. Masta Cheef loves destroying my vehicles as much as I love trampling his with assault mechs.

Assembling the models was easy. I wondered if the SRM launchers were actually mounted to a turret so I stopped before gluing the launchers permanently in place. I did some research and sure enough there is a turret. Since the vehicle has a turret and I had some small magnets which would work perfectly I magnetized the turret. I have not added the hover base yet and may not at all, it sometimes gives the model balance issues on mapsheets.

The red marker gives away the presence of where I have placed a magnet. I used very small magnets which were 1/16 x 1/32 in size. The magnets stay connected quite well for their size.

Turret twisting is a go. I have no idea how these vehicles are going to fire into their left or right side firing arcs. Who needs the rear spoiler anyway.

In the world of 40K

Painting Space Marine heads

If you have read some of my previous posts featuring the WIP shots of my Space Marine Devastator squad all but seven members of the squad have their heads missing. The sergeant has a flesh head which is not a concern and two squad members have their heads attached as I could not remove them prior to paint stripping the models. Blood Angels Devastator Marine helmets are blue compared to the rest of the army so they have to be painted separately. I do this to avoid having to paint blue over the red prime coat. The two Marines with heads were carefully covered to avoid any red spray applied.

Painting heads attached to a chest is easy, but what about painting detached heads? I tried using pins in the necks so I could hold the heads in place with my fingers but this did not work. Neither did holding the pins with some pliers or even placing them in styrofoam. The heads would continuously spin which was not helpful. I was not in the mood to go purchase cork material either.

An Ingenious and Cheap Idea

Then I thought of an idea from a bit of excess sprue left over from a new model. Using the out lining portion of a sprue as a base and leaving some for holding and structure I made a pallet base to attach and paint the heads on. I originally was going to super glue the heads to the side of the sprue, but I saw the round joints on the sprue would work perfectly as a base to mount the heads upon with a bit of super glue. I can easily remove the heads at the base where they are glued and attached them to their respective models and no one will notice.

This idea has worked great. I have been able to prime them much easier as I used a brush on white primer and a brush on blue paint. I can add ink to the heads just as easy and paint them with ease. Heck I hate painting eyes, but I can hold this sprue bit steady and paint them much easier than a model in hand.

One area I am still at odds with is the blue ink I have applied to the heads so far. I could not find a blue ink which is close to the Army Painter Ultramarine Blue so I used the closest color being Prussian Blue ink. I am not using the inks as a wash necessarily, but rather as an enhancement to the overall color. The ink becomes the next layer and gives the armor the shine and color of the Emperor's finest. 

The blue heads on the Devastator Marines have a 1:1 distilled water/ink mix applied. I felt this was maybe too heavy and mostly it gives off a definite purple hint in natural light. I tested out a 10:1 ratio which appeared too light and even tested a 2:1, 3:1, and even a 4:1 ratios. Oddly enough the 2:1 and 3: 1 ratios appeared the same while the 4:1 appeared a bit dark for my tastes. I even tried mix some chestnut in as I do with red ink, but it did not work at all, however it produced a wonderful teal color i might be able to use for plasma weapons.

For clarity here is the Devastator Marines before and after the original 1:1 ratio was applied to the blue paint.

Blue helmets without blue ink applied.

Blue helmets with blue ink applied.

Replace the Sergeant's auspex with a mic and the bolter with a guitar and he is platinum.

Here is a close up of the heads on the sprue. The middle helmet and the helmets adjacent to it have had ink applied with 2:1 ratio. You can see they have a slight purple tint, but they look good. The purple tint might only be showing in direct light focus as the lower row does not have the light focused directly at them. Perhaps after painting the various other parts oft the helmet the purple may become less noticeable or naturally work itself in. There might be a way to tone down the blue ink a bit, but I am unsure of how. I could apply highlights, but I tend not to on armor. I can try to apply some water across the heads to perhaps wash some of the ink away leaving the stained portion behind. If this works it should remove the purple tint, but it loses the shine which matches the rest of the armor the ink application gives.

Heads On A Sprue!

I presume I will probably decide on using the 2:1 ink ratio as I would rater not wait longer or fall into another viscous cycle of the inability to decide. If I don't get any ideas I will either have made a decision or left the heads of as usual.

Check back very soon for a new Battletech Battle Report.

Battle Report - Dark Angels versus Tyranids 3000 Pts

Last Saturday I was originally going to leave very early for a two hour drive to attend a board game event, but the early snow scared me off. I recovered and decided to go to the normal local game night ordeal. In preparation my Blood Angels needed a new list because most of the heavy support choices are either being paint stripped or being painted. I also decided to bring my Tyranids out of hiding and made two very similar lists for my Tyranid army. I showed up with two armies to game with.

When I finally arrived I saw one game being setup, another game in preparation and one player still waiting for a game. There was also another player I met in the parking lot who arriving at the same time as me and to my amazement he had a Tyranid army. Eventually I suggested to the waiting player if he could up his forces to a points level to 3,000 so the other Tyranid player and I could join against him. This gets a game started and no one left waiting for a game. The waiting player had Dark Angels and he had no issues being able to up his forces, new Dark Angels codex and more points I could hear the cash register sound. :) This idea worked perfectly as I got to game with two new players and I got to use my Tyranids again in the new six edition environment with a fellow Tyranid player.

Proceed past the break to read this large battle report.

Land Raider WIP Part 6

Working, working, working on the Land Raider ...

This will be the final WIP post for this Land Raider so the next post with be the finished model with better pictures as I took these pictures in low light. Keep in mind I do not intend to dirty or weather this model. I have such a huge back log it not in my interest. This model is taking longer, but the amount of paint recipes I have attained will hasten the next model. Anything you might suggest or tip me off to please feel free to.

The Multi-Melta mount has a few details to fix on the back panels, but it is otherwise finished. This I will never allow anyone to touch as it can snap if pulled off in a hurry due to a weapon destroyed result. The magical bond of plastic, pin, and metal I hope will last a long time with care.

I have finished painting the Assault cannons and assembled them to the cupola. The Assault cannon molds were so bad I had to create a plastic card spacer and even then they are slightly bent. The right Assault cannon's top and lower barrel don't even look like barrels. I glued the upper shield to the Assault cannons, but perhaps I should have glued them to the mounting pegs as well. I highly doubt I will bend them to a target during a game.

I painted and washed the tank treads before gluing them to the hull. They are still shiny as I noticed they had black primer showing though so I added a think layer to stop the black primer show through. I will add two layers of wash to the treads to dull them like all the other metal parts. I also found out this glue is great as it is strong and won't give much of a haze at all.

I believe I hate painting yellow and to add to the pile of yellow hate I hate painting black bars on yellow lights. I skipped the yellow bars on the search light which is blue in color, I wonder if I could have done the same with the yellow lights. Much light the search light the small glass view points on the various cupolas are painted using  combination of inks and washes.

The Hurricane bolters are painted and placed in the sponsor mounts along with the sensors glued to the tops of the sponsor mounts. I think the Hurricane bolters came out well how I painted them and I have started to add a thin highlight to the black to bring some more focus to the weapons. I am debating on whether to paint the square portions of the ammo bins metal to take more black away, but would this bring attention away from the weapons. The shields which are below need to be added as well.

Oh all the skulls I have painted on this model, the skull on the right access point is the best of them all. I need to clean up the wings a bit more to finish that piece off.

The Frag assault launchers I used some inks and washes to help bring out the individual launcher hatches. They need a bit of clean up, but otherwise they are looking good.

The goal is to have this Land Raider finished by the end of the month or earlier. All of the difficult parts are done its now a lot of clean ups and touch ups and a bit of assembly. Plus a final foam piece for it to be stored in. 

Past the Land Raider

Continuing on my current Blood Angel painting whim I examined all of my models to see what would be a good next contender. I thought heavily on the Assault squad, but I have a working one for now. The Ball was the next, but to my demise half of the bits are not cleaned yet. The Landspeeders might be a good one, but I am considering a large paint stripping job to match the new red color. 

My final choice was the small Devastator squad. The sergeant and the four missile launchers marines all have easy chest armor to paint and I will mostly paint black and metal. The sergeant has a few other details and his skin color to paint, but otherwise they all should paint up nicely. Oh course there are the eyes in the marines heads, however this thought comes to mind.

I'll skip the heads. Into the stripping progress the Devastator squad went.

Between the Land Raider

In the meantime in between working on the Land Raider and waiting for the Devastator squad I pulled out this lovely and started happily working on it. I was working on my Hive Guard models, but the primer I used was complete crap and it keeps coming off so I will need to strip them and use an auto white primer for a better hold on the metal models.

I have thought about bringing my Tyranids out for a game and this Trygon model usually makes the cut so it was a good choice to try and catch up were I left off. I focused on painting the rest of main grey skin color and the green inner flesh portions ending with lower arm work. I am running out of Badab Black wash so I will need to get a replacement soon in order to wash the grey skin color. It has a head and this particular head is one of the best painted heads I have so far.

This week will end on a good note as Masta Cheef and I are going to have a nice game of Battletech were we casually try to blow the smithereens out of each other's forces. Will BBQ squad show, who knows, stay tuned.

Till next time.

Blood Angels Battle Report

THREATCON: COREY

In regards to the my local game group.

DEFCON: COREY status has now been lowered to THREATCON: COREY status.

Assassins were sent, missiles were fired, and even the local game space had to be moved to a new location.

The new location is much better and it appears the attached shop has some love coming for our local game group in the form of useful terrain. If this reveals to be true I think it is really cool and they will get continued support from me in the form of my money.

Battle Report

I did get to play a game last Saturday and I thought I might have been able to encounter Rogue Trader's mysterious Dark Eldar representing the Cabal of the Black Primer. Instead I encountered Eldar representing the Craftworld of the White Primer with attached * Flare Boys squads with "Heeey!" shields.

* Flare Boys = Harlequins
* "Hey!" = Advanced

Army Lists

Blood Angel army list


Headquarters
(Warlord)
Librarian w/ JP w/ Psychic Powers - Biomancy x 2
(Joined to Assault squad)

Elites
Sanguinary Priest w/ JP
(Joined to Assault squad)

Troops
Assault Squad w/ 2x Melta guns, PW
Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon, Plasma Rifle, PW
Death Company x5 w/ PW
Dedicated Transport - Land Raider w/ Multi-Melta

Fast Attack
Baal Predator w/ HB Sponsors, Dozer blades
Landspeeder Squadron x2 w/ x2 Tornado pattern HB
Landspeeder Typhoon

Heavy Support
Devastator Squad w/ x4 ML

Two ideas which continue to cross my mind are

Only two scoring units and one of the scoring units is the most aggressive units.
If the Land Raider is switched to a Land Raider Crusader, how much will change.

Eldar army list

What follows are the units I can remember.

Farseer (Warlord)

Warlock (I think)

Avatar

Striking Scorpions

Harlequins x 2 (Flare Boys w/ "Heeey" shields)

Guardians ???

Guardians with a gun platform of the utmost uselessness

Rangers x 2 Snipers

War Walkers

The game was kind of one sided due to the Eldar's codex and lack of anti-vehicle support. The eldar in this fight could hold their own to an extent in close combat, but against vehicles, they were hopeless to stop them. I have no idea what Rogue Trader's Eldar unit inventory consists of nor do I understand the problems plaguing the Eldar. The Eldar army was almost entirely made of infantry units except a small squadron of war walkers. No Tanks, Vyphers, or Jet Bikes suprised me since his Dark Eldar army is full of them.

Deployment, lol.

In accident I nuked the deployment picture.

Speaking of deployment, last game Kushial's Marine army was crowned "Bucket of Marines".This game Masta Cheef brought a huge Gretchin based army and deployed it with a different perspective using his new "Box of Gretchin" deployment style. Go here if you would like to see an army of Gretchin woop a marine army good and best of all they brought the Space Choo Choo!

Gretchin deploy using the experimental "Box of Gretchin" deployment method.

Now on to the hopeless engagement of a Blood Angel headless beat down of Eldar. The game had six objective of various point values to capture.

Blood Angels Warlord trait was WIN.

Eldar Warlord trait was FAIL. A re-roll of -1 was awarded. The Warlord trait re-roll was another Fail.

Blood Angels win the first turn.

Turn 1

Blood Angel

All units advanced except the Devastator and Tactical squads. The Baal Predator advanced around the front of the far right Harlequin squad. The Land Raider advanced to the Striking Scorpions and opened the assault ramps to let the Death Company inside have some fun. The Assault squad advanced to the other side of the Striking Scorpions position in support. The Landspeeder squadron advanced from behind a building to an open fire lane to the guardian squad next to the Avatar. The Typhoon advanced from behind a building to an open fire lane to the center Harlequin squad.

The Baal combined with the Tactical squad and the Devastators could not harm the Harlequins. The Typhoon proved no use either. 

Stupid amount of fire power = Stupid cover save power

The Assault squad soften up the rear of the Striking Scorpions for the Death Company upcoming assault. The Landspeeders chewed up the Eldar near the Avatar while the Land Raider managed to kill a single ranger above them.

The Death Company after making a risky assault move assaulted and completely annihilated the Striking Scorpions.

"A warrior doesn't need a head, just a good strong body."  -  Megatron

Eldar

In response to the Blood Angel's first turn the Eldar were like LOL, while the Harleguins were like "Heeey". The rest of the Eldar which had range to the Death Company shot the Death Company to bits leaving only the lone Death Company with a power weapon alive. The middle rangers moved closer to the Devastator squad and the War Walkers ran behind buildings.

The Blood Angel's Tactical squad claimed a mysterious objective and received a grav field severely limiting enemy assault distance to their position.

The Eldar claimed a mysterious objective and received a skyfire bonus. FAIL
The Eldar claimed another mysterious objective and received another skyfire bonus. Another FAIL

End of Turn 1

Turn 2

Blood Angels

The Assault Squad and all of the Land Speeders advanced slightly while the Baal Predator back peddle slightly in case the Harlequins move with intentions of assault. The lone Death Company marine advanced towards the Eldar with courage.

The Landspeeders chewed up the remaining Eldar near the Avatar while the Land Raider made the rangers above them go to ground. The Devastators killed a single ranger in the center.

Eldar

The Avatar was like you don't scare me bro and walked past the lone Death Company marine and hid behind a building near the advancing Assault squad. Both Harlequin squads advanced along with the War Walkers running behind a building again. 

The center Rangers fired at the Devastator squad with much hate for Sergeant Sir point to nothing useful, killed Sergeant Sir point to nothing useful and a missile launcher marine.

End of Turn 2

Turn 3

Blood Angels

The lone Death Company marine advanced to the Rangers on the left. The Assault squad advanced to the Harlequin squad in the center. The landspeeders advanced next to the Land Raider and the Typhoon advanced slightly as well.

The Land Raider shot the Avatar a bit with little success. The Landspeeders outright murdered the lone Warlock below the rangers.

The Tactical Squad killed a single Harlequin. The happy Harlequins responded with "Heeey". The Baal Predator killed the rest of the Harlequins. The happy Harlequins responded with "Heeeeeey". The Typhoon was left without a target. :(

The Lone Death Company marine assaulted the rangers on the left and wiped them out. The Assault squad assault the harlequins in the center and wiped them out losing only a single assault marine to the Eldar initiative.

Eldar

The Eldar might have got some firing in, but I believe at this point the game was hopeless for the Eldar. The Eldars's closely guarded Keeblar recipes were now in the hands of the Blood Angels's.

End of Turn 3

End Game

Rogue Trader folded and I can't blame him for doing so. Rogue Trader mentioned the Death Company who have no heads must kill to get heads. The taken heads from kill provide vital knowledge through their possession. Chaos winds indeed.

Death Company enemy head count total.

Striking Scorpions - 7

Rangers - 4

Despite the endless flaming against one's own army codex the game was fun and it was nice to try out the new camera on my new iPhone which is superb to my much older Droid 1.