Starting a Warmaster Chaos Army – Thank God for Army Painter Quickshade!

I’m getting started (slowly!) on a Warmaster Chaos army.  I took one look at these little guys and said, “Oh, hell no!” to all of the fiddly little details all over them.  I wanted a way to paint them quickly and easily with good results.  I had heard good things about the Army Painter Quickshade, so I gave it a try.  I brush it all on rather than dip, and I’ve been very pleased!

BEFORE

AFTER

I think they look great!  You just slap a base coat on and the QuickShade takes care of the rest.  I knew I was going to be using cool colors for this army, so I selected the darkest shade.

Here are some more models I’ve painted.

 

Can’t wait to play!

 

 

Showcase Battle Report – Black Legion vs. Necron

“And it is called the Celestial Orrery?”

“Yes, my Lord” replied Ashkharaofth, Grand Sorcerer of Tzeentch, Seer of Ways.  “It is an ancient artifact, older than Mankind itself.  Within the web of living metal and hologram may be found every star in the galaxy.  By merely snuffing out one of the lights with your fingers, you cause its physical counterpart to go Supernova, engulfing nearby worlds in fiery oblivion”

Abaddon considered for a moment.  “Such wondrous technology is wasted in the hands of the Necron.  It shall be mine.  Where do we find this artifact?”

“Its location is shrouded in mystery to even me, my Lord.  Ancient rumors, whispers, and hearsay are all that I hear when I conduct the sacred divination rituals.  However… Tzeentch has blessed me with a vision.  I see a nearby mining planet… the ancient dead awakened from their slumber… whispers… voices… yes…  long forgotten gods… massacre… bloodshed…” Ashkharaofth appeared lost in reverie.

“It is here, my Lord”, he said, pointing to and highlighting a planet in the holographic map of the galaxy before him.  “The whispers tell me that the information we seek may be found here, on the mining world of Arjuna IX”

“You mean to tell me that the Orrery is located on this insignificant mining colony?”, Abaddon inquired, incredulous.

“No, my Lord.  My visions indicate that this is an awakening Tomb World.  Perhaps we may find clues as to its location by—”

“FIND IT!!” Abaddon roared, wind blasting from the sheer force of his voice, his eyes glowing red with impatient rage.  “I care little for your riddles and less for your presence!  Get out of my sight and do not return until you have found it!”

“My Lord”, the Sorcerer bowed deeply and scurried out of Abaddon’s chamber.

An expeditionary force lands on the Imperial mining colony.

The Armies

Black Legion
RETINUE [425]
8 Chaos Space Marines, (Chaos Undivided), Chaos Lord, 4 Havocs

RETINUE [365]
8 Chaos Space Marines, (Chaos Undivided), 4 Rhino, Chaos Warlord (Supreme Commander)

ARMOURED COMPANY [325]
(Chaos Undivided), 2 Chaos Predator, 3 Chaos Land Raider

ARMOURED COMPANY [250]
(Chaos Undivided), 2 Chaos Predator, 2 Chaos Land Raider

HAVOC RETINUE [225]
4 Havoc units, (Chaos Undivided), Chaos Lord, 2 Rhinos

RAVAGER TITAN [650]
(Chaos Undivided)

DEFILER ASSAULT PACK [275]
4 Defilers, (Chaos Undivided)

CHOSEN [145]
4 Chaos Space Marine Scouts, (Chaos Undivided), 2 Rhino

CHOSEN [145]
4 Chaos Space Marine Scouts, (Chaos Undivided), 2 Rhino

HELL BLADES [200]
3 Hell Blade Fighters, (Chaos Undivided)

Necron
INFANTRY PHALANX [505]
Necron Lord, 6 Warriors, 2 Tomb Spyders, Pariahs, 3 Immortals

INFANTRY PHALANX [405]
Necron Lord, 6 Warriors, Pariahs, 3 Immortals

INFANTRY PHALANX [405]
Necron Lord, 6 Warriors, 3 Immortals, Pariahs

MONOLITH PHALANX [275]
3 Monoliths

MONOLITH PHALANX [275]
3 Monoliths

PYLON [200]

PYLON [200]

ARMORED PHALANX [300]
6 Obelisks

TOMB COMPLEX [75]

WARBARQUE [350]
Supreme Commander

After dropping on planet and massacring the miners, the Chaos forces march steadily toward the menacing ziggurat, wary of the unknown enemy…

They don’t need to wait long.  Strange glowing structures appear out of thin air before them, shimmering into existing as if a mirage

Quickly the battle is joined.  A Black Legion armored company advances and fires on the strange monoliths, but the laser blasts are simply absorbed by the alien metal

The Necron Pylon crackles to life, and searing beam of light flickers toward the titan, dropping one of its shields

It is followed an instant later by another blinding beam, which drops one more shield

The Defilers open fire on the Warbarque with their long range battle cannons.  But, again, the shells are merely absorbed by the strange alien metal

The alien craft appears to spit the shells out of its hull.  All damage is repaired as it fires upon the Black Legion Armored Company, but causes no damage

The eerie Monoliths float listlessly forward, and beams of light pour forth, destroying two Rhinos

The Chosen of Nurgle march forward fearlessly, looking to assault the Pylon or to harass the Necron flanks

Metallic undead infantry come pouring forth from glowing portals located in the center of the Monoliths

The garrisoned Chaos Space Marines unleash a hail of overwatch autocannon fire, cutting down three stands

The Necron fire back, but only cause some suppression

A Black Legion Armored Company sallies forth and fires on the Monoliths, but, again, the strange metal seems impervious to their lascannon fire

Monoliths fire beams at the Land Raiders, but their thick hulls hold true

CSM Havoks occupy a building and let loose with their autocannons.  The shells find their mark, and one of the Monoliths shatters!  Finally!  The Monolith formation is broken

The Necron have no more activations for this turn.  A CSM Retinue advances along the right flank and fires on the Obelisks, but cause no damage

The Slaanesh Chosen march along the left flank and take cover behind a large sand dune

 

The Titan marshals, clearing blast markers and regenerating shields.  The Hellblades, wary of the Necron Pylons, go on combat air patrol for the time being

 

End of Turn 1

 

The Monolith formation that sustained damage in the last turn disappears from the battlefield and reappears in an entirely different location!

The Chaos Space Marines, with their superior tactical abilities (Strategy Rating 4), go first. The Chosen fire on the formation and immediately break it.

The Black Legion retains the initiative.  Defilers fire battle cannon shells at the Warbarque, finally managing to damage it

In a cunning move, a Necron Monolith formation disgorges a phalanx of Warriors, Immortals and Pariahs into the flank of an Armored Company and CSM Retinue

An intermingled assault ensues!

The Necron are victorious.  The Armored Company and Retinue break and flee!

The titan advances and unloads on a Necron phalanx, breaking it

The Obelisks float unnaturally and unleash dizzying colored lights on the Chosen, killing and breaking the formation.  The Necron retain and a Pylon fires at the titan, but only drops one shield

A Black Legion Armored Formation advances and fires on the Warbarque, failing to penetrate its hull but confusing its systems enough to break it

The other Necron Pylon fires at the titan, but the Necron technology is having a hard time getting past the shields.

The Slaanesh Chosen go on overwatch, choosing to take cover and threaten the Necron flank

The Necron are out of activations.  A CSM Retinue sustains fire on a Monolith formation, destroying two and breaking the formation

Havoks advance and fire on the broken Necron Phalanx, destroying it utterly

The End of Turn 2

The Warbarque teleports back onto the battlefield, but the Armored Company is waiting for it.  Their lascannons find their mark and destroy the Warmachine

The Black Legion retain the initiative.  The titan lumbers forward and opens fire on a Necron phalanx, but destroys only one stand

The Monolith floats over the dune and unloads its deadly cargo

The Necron phalanx assaults the Armored Company

Their gauss weapons shred the hulls of the Chaos tanks

The CSM Retinue shifts slightly to capture a nearby objective and fires at the Obelisks, again doing no damage

Black Legion retains the initiative.  The broken CSM Retinue rallied in the recovery phase.  It now pushes forward and fires on a phalanx, killing two stands and occupying an objective.

A Pylon sends a crackling bolt of pure energy at the titan but misses

The Defilers fire their battle cannons at the Obelisks and manage to destroy one

The Necron phalanx marshals and moves to contest a Black Legion Defend the Flag objective.  Its position in the Black Legion half of the battlefield also denies them the They Shall Not Pass objective.  Will they hold on?

If the Chaos Marines can shift the other Phalanx from this position, they can capture the Take and Hold objective.  Slaanesh Choosen circle around and set up a crossfire, but don’t do enough damage to break the formation

The Obelisks float over to protect the Necron tomb, and fire on and break the Nurgle Chosen

The Havoks sustained fire on the Phalanx, hoping to capture Defend the Flag and They Shall Not Pass objectives.  But the Necron hold on just one blast marker away from being broken!

The Hellblades, which stayed off the battlefield all game in fear of the Necron Pylons, fly on and fire on the Phalanx, breaking it!

The Black Legion have captured the Defend the Flag and They Shall Not Pass Objectives.  The Necron, seeing the futility of continuing to fight, disappear from the battlefield

 

The Chaos Space Marines advance on the ancient and mysterious ziggurat, not knowing what they might find inside….

Post Game Thoughts
What a fun game!!

This was my first time using my Black Legion army and it was my opponent’s first time using his Necron army.  This was purely a friendly match, not a league game or anything, so our goal was just to enjoy ourselves.  The Necron have a lot of funky special rules that probably take a while to get the hang of, so he didn’t know what he was doing, especially at the beginning of the game.  We’ll chalk it up to the Necron battle protocols not quite being booted yet – they are freshly awake after millions of years asleep, after all!

But we still had a lot of fun.  The Necron seem very interesting and I think have a great deal of potential for making a crafty and dangerous opponent.  I can’t wait to see what he comes up with as he gets a feel for the army.

I was quite impressed by the Black Legion.  This is pretty much my first time running anything other than loyalist marines, and it was cool playing by the same set of rules as everyone else for once.  The Black Legion feels like a horde army with bad ass armor saves.  Kind of like an elite Imperial Guard.  I was impressed by their resilience on defense and aggression on offense.  Super cool army that I look forward to getting familiar with in the future.

I’ll be continuing to write more showcase battle reports, and we will have a part two of this particular narrative!  Stay tuned!

Epic League Game – Blood Angels vs. Iron Warriors

This is game 7 of the the Los Angeles Epic league, and this one is a real grudge match.  My opponent this time is Volrath with his Iron Warriors, the last time we faced off, in a friendly non-league match, he was able to table my Blood Angels.  As the Blood Angels army champion, I’ve tweaked the list a bit, and this time I’m out for revenge!  Let’s see how it goes.

The Lists –

BLOOD ANGELS

DEATH COMPANY [300]
Chaplain, 4 Assault Death Company Units

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [250]
4 Devastators

THUNDERHAWK [200]

PREDATORS [275]
4 Baal Predator

PREDATORS [275]
4 Predator Annihilator

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [450]
6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, Land Raider

ASSAULT DETACHMENT [375]
6 Assault Units, 2 Assault Units, Chaplain

THUNDERHAWK [200]

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [275]
4 Devastators, Blood Angels TL Lascannon Razorback

LAND SPEEDERS [200]
5 Land Speeder

BIKE DETACHMENT [200]
4 Blood Angels Bike, Attack Bike

IRON WARRIORS

IRON WARRIORS COMPANY [400]
6 Chaos Space Marines and 2 Havocs, Stalker, Warsmith (Supreme Commander)

IRON WARRIORS COMPANY [350]
6 Chaos Space Marines and 2 Havocs, Iron Warriors Lord, Stalker

IRON WARRIOR TERMINATORS [275]
Iron Warriors Lord, 4 Iron Warrior Terminator

DEFILER ASSAULT PACK [400]
6 Defilers

ARMOURED COMPANY [200]
4 Chaos Predator

ARMOURED COMPANY [250]
5 Chaos Predator

SUPER HEAVY COMPANY – DECIMATOR [225]
Decimator

SUPER HEAVY COMPANY – DECIMATOR [225]
Decimator

RAVAGER TITAN [650]

The forces face off

Blood Angels win the initiative roll and force the Iron Warriors to go first.  A CSM Retinue advances behind cover.

Blood Angel Land Speeders Zoom across to the other side of the table and take cover.  The deployment of my bikes and speeders here was mainly a feint to get the IW to divert resources to the left flank – my plan was to make my primary push through the city on the right flank and apply unequal force to collapse his battle line.

The second Iron Warrior Retinue advances forward on top of a Blood Angel objective.

Volrath has a tendency to play very aggressively with his Iron Warriors, which often works very well for him, but sometimes it leaves individual units exposed and unsupported. Knowing how tenaciously CSM Retinues can cling to objectives throughout matches, I jumped on this opportunity to destroy one.  The bikes lay down a blastmarker.

And then I retain the initiative to call in a Thunderhawk Assault with the Death Company

With support fire from the Bikes, the Blood Angels are able to break the CSM Retinue.

Iron Warrior retribution is swift and violent.  A Decimator entirely wipes out the formation of Blood Angel Bikes.

The Iron Warriors retain and Predators advance to fire on the Devastator squad, causing no casualties.

The Blood Angel Tactical formation with Supreme Commander advances into the city, being very careful to take advantage of cover.

The Iron Warrior Ravager Titan advances and destroys the Devastator Squad.

Iron Warriors retain the initiative and advances Predators, which then fire on the Thunderhawk, causing no damage.

Blood Angel Predator Annihilators advance and break an Iron Warrior Predator formation – my goal was to start breaking and destroying his smaller formations to cut into his activation count.

The Defilers advance and open fire with their battle cannons, but only kill one Predator.

Blood Angel Predators advance into cover and unload on the CSM Retinue hiding behind a building, needing sixes to hit and causing an unbelievable four casualties and nearly breaking the formation.

A Decimator lumbers forward and unloads on the Devastator formation, but only kills one stand.

The Blood Angel right flank seems to be holding its own very well, so I send my Baal Predators over to the collapsing IW left flank to push forward and eventually encircle the Chaos Space Marines.

The Iron Warriors are out of activations, so the Blood Angels call a second Thunderhawk Assault on the already broken CSM Retinue, not only to finish it off, but also to establish position in the IW rear / flank. The Blood Angels win the assault and rout the Chaos Space Marines.

At the end of Turn 1, the Blood Angels have nearly managed to encircle the Iron Warriors. The Blood Angels hold two objectives, the Iron Warriors one.

TURN 2

The Blood Angels win the roll to go first and take full advantage of it.  First, the Predator Annihilators fire on and break the Defiler formation.

Then they retain the initiative and the Death Company makes a ballsy assault against the Predator formation in the center of the battlefield.

The Death Company wins the assault without taking any casualties and sends the Predator formation packing.

An Iron Warrior Decimator unloads on the Blood Angel Devastator formation and breaks it.

The Iron Warriors retain the initiative, and the Ravager Titan destroys the Predator Annihilators.

The Blood Angel Assault Marines on the left flank fall back out of range of a Decimator lurking nearby, but remain within marching range of the IW Blitz objective and one Take and Hold objective.  Because one stand is within charge range of the Decimator, they actually need to overcome Frenzy to make this move.  They fail, but then pass on the Supreme Commander re-roll.

The remaining Iron Warrior CSM Retinue doubles over and opens fire on the Death Company, but does no damage.

The Iron Warriors retain the initiative and a Decimator advances and kills one stand of Death Company.

Back on the right flank, Blood Angel Land Speeders advance and open fire on a Decimator, but fail to do damage.  The blast marker would later prove important, however.

The Iron Warriors are out of activations, so the Blood Angels keep going.  Both Thunderhawks fail their initiative checks to come in for ground attacks and stay in the box of shame.

The Baal Predators advance and let loose a withering hail of the Emperor’s Justice upon the IW Marine Retinue, destroying quite a few stands and breaking the formation.

The Tactical Squad advances and puts fire down on the Decimator, doing one point of damage and breaking it.

The End of Turn 2 is not looking so good for the Iron Warriors.  Only two units are unbroken heading into the rally phase.  Meanwhile, most remaining Blood Angel formations are at or near full strength.

TURN 3

Before the turn begins, the Iron Warriors teleport the Terminators that they had forgotten about in Turn 2.

But, the Blood Angels manage to win the initiative roll again, for the third straight turn.  The broken Blood Angel Devastator formation, which managed to rally, fires on the also freshly rallied Defiler formation, instantly breaking it again.

The Blood Angels retain the initiative and send the Baal Predators to welcome the Chaos Terminators.  They destroy two stands and break the formation.

The Iron Warriors respond by breaking the Blood Angel Land Speeder formation with a Decimator.  The war is on to break and destroy objective grabbers.

The Tacticals consolidate their control of an IW take and hold objective, falling back to a position safe from the Ravager titan.

The CSM Retinue sustain fires on the Death Company, but does no damage.

A Blood Angel Thunderhawk lays down a blast marker on the IW Ravager, hoping to make his activation more difficult.

The Ravager lumbers over to protect the Blitz objective.

But that’s check mate.  The Blood Angel assault formation captures the second take and hold objective, and with no activations left, there are no unbroken Iron Warrior formations on the Blood Angel half of the table.  The Blood Angels win on Take and Hold and They Shall Not Pass victory conditions.

Game End

Post Game Breakdown

After getting tabled by Volrath running this exact same list in our last engagement, this solid Blood Angel victory was refreshing and encouraging.  The Predator Annihilators were able to break two Iron Warrior armored formations, and probably caused Volrath to overreact in his efforts to destroy them.  For the first time I was able to destroy armor without having to assault, and it adds a tactical dimension to the army and really makes them feel competitive. I definitely think this was a step in the right direction and I am very happy with the change.

Yes, this was a resounding Blood Angel victory, however, before we start thinking that the list is too powerful now, let’s look at things a little more closely.  First, I think I played a pretty solid game, while Volrath played a real stinker.  Numerous times he retained the initiative when it wasn’t really necessary, and often to attack formations of mine that had already acted – they weren’t going anywhere.  Leaving his retinue exposed and unsupported like that in Turn 1 was a gift to me.  He forgot to bring his Terminators in at the top of Turn 2.  His target selection was not optimal throughout the course of the game.  And in the third turn, had he moved his surviving retinue into my table half or moved to contest a Take and Hold objective, he could have forced a turn 4, and hopefully some of his units could have rallied. Volrath is usually a very good player, but tonight he was off.

I also had pretty good luck this game, particularly in winning the initiative roll all three turns. That was extremely helpful in dictating the pace of the match. As of right now, I am happy with where the Blood Angel list is.  It’s my opinion that the Iron Warriors list is quite powerful (indeed, Volrath has a winning record in our league), and now I think the Blood Angel list may be able to hold its own with the toughest lists out there.  All that seems to be left now is to playtest the Sanguinary Guard, and hopefully we can make the push for final approval.