The Last Crusade - Selling the Black Templars

Howdy hey gang,

Sadly, my laptop is dying and I am in dire need of replacing it, to this end I have decided to part with my oldest army the Black Templars. These guys were a huge labour of love for me at the time and they have seen plenty of action on the tabletop, but they are the most dated in terms of appearance as my painting skill has progressed and so I have decided to put them up for sale to help pay for a new laptop. 

I very much like having a two-way relationship with you as readers of my blog so I thought I would give you all first dibs before I put them up for sale in other places (eBay of course being the last resort with russian roulette bidding). 

Below are the pictures of all the models I am selling in closer detail:

As well as all the above that is fully painted I also have a squad of Sword Brethren converted to be vanguard vets/command squad as below:

And the whole bunch together:

The unpainted models can be supplied with either jump packs or regular back packs, though neither are anything special. 

Every single model has a Black Templar unique piece of wargear or shoulder pad on it except the neophytes which are just metal edition scouts. 

Anyway, sorry to plug my stuff at you! If anyone is interested then please do chuck me a message with any questions and offers, don't be afraid about what your offer is I'm quite happy to sell these at a discount to a reader compared to what I will put them up on eBay for, plus it would save me a lot of hassle with eBay fees. Cash on collection or paypal is what I'll be taking for this by the way :)

Back to less begging style posts tomorrow!

Peace out,

Rob

Battle for the Relay - Emperor protect us! Templars vs Orks

Hi Readers me again,

Its been a pretty post heavy week so far so hopefully I'm not inundating people with tripe but actual decent content! Today we have the concluding half of my last narrative battle. We have already seen the Orks run rampant through the substation tunnels, over running and slaughtering the brave Templar task force sent to fend them off. Will their devious machinations prove the undoing of the defence force above? Or will they have won the battle but lost the war?

The second game in this scenario was a custom designed one. It was based on a 4x4 table with small 750 points forces, the remnants of the Templars versus the fast pursuing horde of Orks fresh from their victory in the battle of the hive ruins. The Templars were deployed in the centre of the board and the Orks would go first and come on from whichever edge they chose too, encircling the Templars and going for the kill.

The central column on the table housed the last living astropath on the planet and he had to be protected at all costs to ensure speedy reinforcement of the planets defence. If he was held by the imperial forces at the battles close then the Blood Angels would be granted +1 to their reserve rolls in the coming battles, but should he fall the Angels of Death would receive a -1 to their reserve rolls instead. 

This battle started after turn three in the the tunnels had been completed so that the winner in the tunnels actually got to effect the game above them in the earlier turns. This was the dawn of a bloody battle, who would hold the upper hand at the close of day?

 The Templars have their back to the wall, soread in a defensive ring around the comms tower, even the neophytes of the chapter have been pressed into action in this time of dire need, the lone vindicator that survived the previous battle looks on in anticipation...

 The Emperor's Champion stands proudly, his faith is his shield and the Emperor's will prevails.

 The air is sliced as the buzzing blades of the Deff Koptas flank the stalwart templars, a wayward rocket rocks the vindicator but he will still have his say with his booming gun..

 Three more flying mad Orks come from the front but their manic shooting either miss or smash into the siege shield of the mighty blessed Vindicator

 The Ork force is fully mobile from its hot pursuit with two squads of boys and some burna boyz (far left) come screeching to a halt in front of the comms relay and lay down a hail of bullets, but as the wagons jerk to a stop only a few bullets make their mark and 2 neophytes fall...

 The deffkoptas look on and await the Templar response

 The Templars have withstood the brute force with a hull point and 2 neophyte casualties to their name. Retribution would be theirs!!

 The Demolisher cannon shook and boomed! And took a single glance on the Burna Boyz trukk with a 1... I forget to roll two dice here and this was a big mistake as I could have blown it up and taken some of those boyz out...

 Bloody Orks...

 A withering hail of fire wrecks the trukk (its a trukk honest!) but the melta can't explode it and so the boys retreat behind it and make a charge all but impossible, this was the major key moment in the battle.

 The smaller 10 man templar squad loses a man to overwatch and in the shooting face the sergeants plasma pistol blew his head off (face palm), but they make it into battle and with the rage of losing 1 of their number they thrash the orks!

 In a desperate squabble the buzzclaw ork takes down his brethren and stands alone against the zealous Templars

 The cowardly greenskins decide that discretion is indeed the better part of valour...

 In response to the best efforts of the Templars the Orks dismount as the Warlord strikes his chest and cries high into the sky.. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

 There is not safety, no place to hide, but to stand firm and face the green tide

 The battle lines clash!

 All foes are met!

 The line must hold! A further two neophytes fell in the shooting phase meaning the Templars were prepared to counter-attack and strike back with righteous fury!

 Meanwhile the buzzclaw was cleaved in two by the power axe

 The vindicator, having survived the onslaught of the last battle, is at last brought low by the dread deffkopts..

 The Emperor's Champion gallantly strode to the fore of battle and hacked 2 wounds from the Warboss, but as he raised his sword to end his life, the power klaw broke his guard and plunged through his torso, his lifeless form sliding to the ground...

 However, the templars in their defiance won the combat and 4 Orks perished due to in fighting and combat was held...

 On the counter, the Templars, fresh from victory against the other deffkoptas sweep into the second squad and take a single wound off for the loss of one marine. The deffkoptas fail to leave combat with their mobility and are locked hard against the chassis of the vanquished tank

 The templars prepare themselves for another round of bloody combat

 Despite their bravery and amid good losses from the orks, the beaten Templars retreat further towards the comms tower, desperate to protect the Astropath inside.

 Further shooting fells a neophyte and combat is met once again, the grouond lies slick with red and green blood. But the Templars fall.

 So few remain from both sides, but the remaining templars are caught up and cannot make their way to the tower to defend the feeble psyker within!

 In the distance a great rumble is heard from beneath the ground as an almighty explosion occurs! Fearing the blast will be the end of them, the Templars brace themselves, but they are mistaken!

 The blast erupts beneath the burna boyz trukk taking another hull point off it and leaving it sunken amid rubble with movement a great danger now.

 The rmaining boyz climb the tower and the warboss full of confidence rushes to finish off the final marines, but is swiftly met with a power axe to the face! Crushing his skull as the final marines decide to prepare and make good their escape.

Few survived, but the astropath was not among them as the final 6 boyz run amok in the tower. The Templars had fallen and the Angels would find only death waiting for them...

Conclusion

This was a very fun game to play with a custom scenario and there was a lot of valiant combat all over the place and some brutal Ork kunning to take the day at the end. If I had blown the burna boyz up or have got the charge against a single squad of Orks off to take them down piecemeal I may have been able to hold, but weight of numbers finally pulled through and I just couldn't bring them down. Losing the Emperor's Champion to a failed 4+ invulnerable was also a shame as he did well to take 2 wounds off the warboss, but no 6's to wound which would have been instant death.

I hope you enjoyed this report anyway! The next game will be a maelstrom game, though we haven't picked one yet I think contact lost would be very appropriate!

Till next time guys and gals,

Peace out,

Rob

Death in the Tunnels - Narrative Battle Report

Hello Readers,

This is the first half of my narrative game I had last Thursday. This comprised of two games running side by side but staggered for effect. The game which started first was a modified Kill team where we just used individual models and normal 40K rules to avoid anything too complicated as neither of us had experience with kill team and we were a bit time constrained to try something fully new out.

The game in the Tunnels would provide the winner (Last man standing) the opportunity to set off a large blast on the other table and give his army a boon in the fight above ground. This would be strength 9 AP2 large blast so potential for some serious havoc. BUT it would scatter twice and we were only playing on a 4 foot square board so hazardous!

The game in the tunnels was played using a special board the club has that we made up to 2 by 4 feet and the beginning deployment of our forces was as follows:

A really cool board! nice and modular with plenty of interesting hidey holes. We had a plethora of flamers between us, but I was numerically outnumbered and I didn't have any AP2 weaponry compared to his meganobz power klaw. Yikes!!! Lets see how we got on...

The first couple of turns consisted with both of us running headlong at each other with little thought other than getting stuck in and getting down and dirty! A few ranged attacks came to nought.

 The prize fight between my Terminator Sergeant and his Meganob began in earnest!

 Some closer angles

 And you can see my flamer backing him up through the tunnel door

 The Orks advance cautiously with a flamer taking cover and burning a Crusader to crisp! My inability to pass a 3+ save would become something of a theme through both games... Its worth nothing that we house ruled that the wall of flame would only do 1 hit if you charged a flamer.

 After seeing his subordinate become a charred lump of flesh the sword brother with twin lightning claws make a tactical withdrawal to the other side of the map to support the right flank and over run the Orks!

 The sole crusader of the left flank is left to face two Burna Boyz!

 Oh dear.. It doesn't look good!

 In a moment of shame, the flamer wielding crusader is taken down by a shot from a grot! I can only imagine a ricochet bounced around the cavern before plunging into the marines flame canister setting him ablaze!

 The left flank is now cleared by the burna boyz after a dramatic charge from the crusader ends in death...

One Ork boy is taken down by bolt pistol fire but I have only a crusader, the terminator sergeant and the Sword Brother left and he has almost all his Orky buggers marauding through the tunnels!

 After 3 turns of the Meganob passing all his 2+ saves and being unable to land a blow, he finally rips the Sergeant limb from limb in frenzy of gore and saliva. The grot gets a second lucky shot and takes down the final crusader!

 The sword brother, pursued by a boy, charges into a burna boy and takes him down in style!

 In the next turn, the sword brother charged by the final burna boy and normal boy slaughters them both. But alas to no avail as the Meganobz shooter punches through his armour from the back and the Orks stand triumphant in the tunnels.

The menacing Meganob stands imposing in the tunnels halls as the begin to converge on a site to set of their bomb. Will it turn the tide of the battle above? Or will the battle already be won or lost for the greenskins?

Final Thoughts

I had an absolute blast with this little game and it was really a case of the odds going against me that turned the tide, I didn't pass a single 3+ save up until the Sword brother was in combat and the meganob passed about 6 2+ saves so he could have failed at least one! 

It was nice and cinematic though and it was fun to fighting to have an effect on the battle on the other table which could really turn the tide with a good scatter (or no scatter rather!).

I hope you enjoyed this first half and turn in to see how the battle above ground went as the Black Templar forces attempt to defend a comms relay as they signal for help to surrounding imperial space to prevent this Ork incursion from becoming the end of this planet.

As always, comments welcome!

Peace out,

Rob