Finally a win...

Its been quiet on the painting front this last week and a bit. I have progressed some plebe Marines but I have generally been doing stuff around the house. Many of the painting skills learned with mini's are fairly transferrable when you upscale to house sized projects. I have been helping my mate prep a house for sale. Its all about preparation and patience - something my mate lacks, but I make up for so we are a fairly good working team.

As the title of this post suggests, I have gotten some games in and actually scored a win. I am not ashamed to admit that my non-gamer mate Jay (although how many games does it take to make someone a gamer?) has a win loss ratio significantly in his favour - 3 wins, 2 draws and a loss. I have mentioned before how much I enjoy playing Jay for the uynique perspective he brings to the game. A relative noob, no prior contact with any aspect of the hobby, but utterly devouring the rule set and codices.

He brought over a Blood Angel list last weekend and dominated me with it. His list was a bit bloated in that he spent points where he didn't need to (Plasma Pistols for a Devastator Sergeant come to mind), but he owned me with it thanks to some quality tactical choices and his ability to make 'feel no pain' roles.

He brought around a new list on Friday night and we sat down and went through each unit, why he had chosen it and the wargear and what he wanted it to do. Aside from his excel skullduggery miscalculating and giving him a 115 point bonus, we managed to trim his list down a bit further, and bring in some new options.

We then gamed with this list with a minor addition on Saturday night. That minor addition was the introduction of the Baneblade to my list, bumping the game to 2,000 points (not optimal for Apoc but funny as all hell in games terms), and the provision of a Termie unitand Redeemer for him.

I had tweaked my Guard list to get in more tanks and my Valkyrie (held together with blue tac and rubber bands).

Game commenced and by the end of turn 1 I was regretting bringing the Baneblade as it loked like it was going to be quite one sided. But then the world turned on its head and hilarity ensued (with a little coaching and prodding from me and some truely terrible dice rolls).

Turns 2 and 3 were some of the best gaming I've had. My Blade was assaulted by his Termies and duely blown apart. I judiciously nudged a dice roll to bring on an Apocalyptical explosion which Jay managed to get to 16 inches, taking out a significant portion of both forces (more so mine). My Valkyrie rocked up, deployed my glory boys (Storm Troopers) who failed to wound a single Marine, and then proceded to kill half the Stormies with a back scattering multiple rocket strike. A lone Sergeant managed to rout a significant portion of my Infantry strength, stun a tank with a well placed Melta Bomb and then claim my objective - ducking and weaving passed around 50 rapid firing las weapons, plasma bursts and battle cannon shots.

The game ended at turn 5. Jay owned both objectives, and I was reduced to a turretless Russ surrounded by Anti tank units. We played out turn 6 to see if I could have rescued the game and secured a draw but with his first shot, Jay destroyed the tank - killing his last Sangy Guard (or squeal unit as he calls them as a result of their ability to own anything they so much as look at) in the process.

Happy times for all. It's games like this why I take part in this hobby. A couple of guys hanging out, having FUN. Simple as that.

We set up a second game using my AoBR Orks and a small Marine list and it was this game that gave me my win. I wasn't feeling so educational this time round so gun lined him to death. Inglorious? Yes. Satisfactory? Yes Yes. I finally got a run on the board.

I plan on sitting down and getting some painting in (mini's wise) this week so should have some pics up by next weekend.

Happy gaming all,

Cheers,

Pom