Musings-2009:What a Year!

It has come to that, the end times (for the year, at least) and I fondly recall the memories of 2009. So, what happened in 2009?

The greatest moment for me this year was when my little princess was born in February. After 3 and half years of waiting,, my wife and I finally got our first bundle of Joy!

I also started blogging in 2009, insignificantly of course, though I hope to improve on my content and delivery in time.

Through Legio and Wargaming, I met more friendly folks sharing the same passion. At the same time, I finally got to finish my Ork army the way i wanted to. This was no mean feat for me as I was quite restricted in terms of resources and time. Of course, closing on the dateline for SPORE '09' certainly helped in motivating me to pick up the brush and start painting. Alas, it was not meant to be, and real life issues had to take precedence and I had to wave bye-bye to SPORE.

Despite that, the furious activity up to that point certainly aided in preparing the Madz Mob for the Legio League and upcoming RTT.

The Mob took part in Azlan's Arenxis Minoris Campaign, where it remained undefeated, despite being outnumbered at times. It participated in both League Season 2 and 3, where it crushed all comers (most of the times)and ended up winning me 2 Purity Seals, sweet! Of course, having one's arch nemesis absent is a Godsend LoL.

At the Legio RTT, "The Inquisition Wars", the Mob did well enough, losing one battle to World Eaters of AK, and winning the other 2 matches convincingly. Although I'm a bit sad for losing to AK, but the utter carnage we had was a salve to my ego. Truth to tell, it has been a long time since I had that kind of carnage that lasted as it did!LoL. Truly awesome! Multiple units engaged with heroes strutting their stuff, all in one big melee. The lessons learned here is that: never let yourself be charged by multiple units of WE :)

Having the Mob with me all year round, I found out that they're good enough to carry the day, against any opponent, unless of course, lady luck really deserts me. So, for 2010, I'll put them in semi-retirement (pull out in case of emergency) and try to finish my SCARS project.

SCARS is actually a dream I had when I first started IG few years back. With the unveiling of Valkyries, the vision gets better, as are the options. So, 2010 is the year I put my efforts to bring the SCARS into being, and by so doing, pay homage to my fellow camrades/instructors/recruits that I had the privilege of knowing during my stint in the Territorial Army or Wataniah. This time around, I plan to put more effort on the hobby side of things while building the army, taking particular pains to clean the models good before painting them. As for painting, I intend to beg some instruction on the use of airbrush for the valkyries and vehicles and I do intend to bring my painting level up a notch.

Workwise, things seems to go alright wiith me qualifying for my RFP affliate title (that's several moore modules for full RFP title) and with new stuff coming out next year, the insurance industry looks quite promising indeed, at least for me.

Hobby-wise, I've taken the initiative to start a small campaign in Comic's Mart Midvalley. It's called Nimphora VII Campaign and I have 8 players in it (I'm the Organizer, so, not playing). In 2010, I might take a hand in organizing a Mighty Empires campaign in Legio or perhaps a small warhammer fantasy league? Who knows, maybe we'll have another Warhammer Fantasy Tournament too!

Maybe 2010 will get me to play Flames of War again. Previously, my interest for it simply waned as there's not enough people playing, and you do get tired after some time. Another major reason I think is because the Late war era seems to be too chalenging for a German player. some of the historical scenarios are really cool but in a simple pick-up games, it's a very steep uphill battle for my germans, it's just not worth it. Jeff mentioned running Market Garden in 2010. So, I hope that'll kick start some fresh interest in FoW for me.

So, that's it for my ramblings. To all who know me, I wish you well and may the coming year bring betterment to you and yours.

Nimphora VII Campaign-Turn 2: Tremors Underneath

Turn 2 started quietly enough with only 1 battle being fought (that I know of) on Sunday. It was a 1750 game pitting Zaki's Nids vs Mark's IG. The fight ended with the IG forces victorious (barely) with no serious damage on both sides.

I expect the action to pick up during the New Year.

Even as Nimphora VII is showing signs of deterioration, battle rages on to find the means to escape the dying planet.

Musings-Legio 3rd Season League Finals

The finals were held on the 19th December 2009 at Legio Malaysia. 4 people qualified for the showdown. Me and Da Madz Mob, Khairul's Saim-Hann, Faizal's IG and a last minute finalist, Igbal and his Alpha Legion.

This season, I entered the League with a sort of lackadaisy attitude of "been there, done that" kind of. Not a winning attitude I know but that's what happened. Maybe having won a purity seal from the previous league made me a little jaded, perhaps?

We gathered at Legio early that day and by 0945, all was present, including Arzmi, who came to watch. The first game started at 1000 with me pairing off with Khairul on a black table and Faizal with Iqbal on a green table.

In my match with Khairul, we played 3 objectives with Pitch Battle deployment. For the first three turns, the eldar were doing fine, whittling bit by bit my orks and making me work hard for the objectives. The lootas, Snikrot and the deffkoptas were dead by then and he had only lost a falcon and some dire avengers.

The battle turned when the nobz took down Eldrad's wave serpent and pinned him! Khairul had to divert his Farseer council to rescue Eldrad and the dire avenger squad he's with from being mauled by the nobz. This took out some significant heat off the 'ard boyz who was securing one of the objectives. The seer council bravely charged the nobz and paid dearly for it. A wave serpent tried to contest one of the objectives but was less than an inch short.

We rolled for another turn but the game ended at the end of turn 5 with the orks holding 2 objectives and the Eldar none.

After a 15 minute break, I faced Faizal's IG army on the snow table. It was fully mechanized with veterans and command squad in 4 chimeras, 3 leman russ and a valkyrie plus 2 squads of stormtroopers. We played a Kill Points Mission with Pitch attle deployment. He had first turn and began to reduce the 'ard boyz. The boyz continued to take casualties as they close on the IG lines. The nbz then led the way, crashing into the IG lines, blowing up 3 tanks in a turn of assault. Snikrot was on a roll that day, blowing up a valkyrie and saw off 2 squads of stormtroopers and parts of a veteran squad.

The IG forces fought valiantly but died where they stood, save for one guy who fled off table. In the end, the orks won for the loss of the deffkoptas. The 'ard boyz were severely cut down to less than 10 boyz.

So, that ends the Madz Mob rampage in the league. Everyone was so much fun to play against and the whole hobby experience has improved tremendously.

What I find funny was that my potential opponents really did their homework and worked hard to defeat me. That's not without mentioning all the "advice" they got from "experts" on how to beat the Mob. Arzmi struck me as peculiar (or is it me?) when he was quite delighted to see me throw out some good-natured taunts at his brother during our game.

Here's hoping that the next season will be as much fun as this season.

Nimphora VII-New Forces On Planet

New forces are on planet!

The rumored Space Wolves force remains a rumor, and in their stead, another IG force under Commander Mark and dubbed the jungle Boys has made Planet Fall.

Black templars astartes too has made their appearance, landing their forces in the still neutral territories on Nimphora VII.

Battles continue to rage across the planet even as the planet itself begins to crumble...

The Killing Begins-First Day On Planet

I know I'm supposed to post only at the start of next turn, but the events on Sunday was really exciting and furious that I just had to post. To my knowledge, 5 battles were reported to have taken place. If there's more that I'm yet unaware of, please let me know.

The tyrannids under Hive Mind Zaki crushed all opposition after its brush of defeat with the Black Legion of Lexiss. Against IG commander YeeHow, the tyrannids came bursting out of the ground and took over the foundry in Ilim's Fields.

Elsewhere, Leexiss's Black Legion continue to consolidate in the south, expanding their control in the areas surrounding Icebridge Vale with control of Rock Arbor and Icefloe Shores.

Commander Nahri consolidated his victory against rival IG commander YeeHow by setting up a defensive line in The Bones.

The inquisition suffered badly this round. Losing several land raiders and several squads of precious Grey Knights. They even lost contact with the small force in Icefloe Shores as it was overrun by chaos forces under Warmaster Lexiss.

Deep in their defensive network, the ultramarines observed the battles raging around, biding their time to strike, even as two more chapters, those of the Black Templars and Space Wolves has yet to exit the warp.

NIMPHORA VII CAMPAIGN-TURN 1: PLANET FALL!

Hi folks! Last Sunday was awesome. Although I did not stay to see all the games being played, I heard that more than 5 games were played, cool! Until I know how to fix my pics, I'm afraid my posts will be without them for a while.

Situation

With the roiling clouds fast enclosing the planet, the shipwrecked survivors of the various flotillas gathered their wits, and surveyed their new refuge. With hindsight, many commanders did not panic in their haste to abandon their vessels and guided their troops to safety and strategic positions on the ground.

The northern part of Nimphora VII saw the tight formations of Ultramarines drop ships making their landings in the mountain ranges, securing for themselves a strong defensive line from which they could strike out. They hold Moonlight Ridge (Command Module), Roofspine Mountains (Shield Generator), Heaven's Spine, Tolinaru and East Coriy.

Tyrranid Broods could be made out making planet fall on Gars Vinolin (Communications Relay) and West Coriy (Command Module)in the north as well as in the central Plains of Omen (Shield Generator) and Jerdeh. A last brood was seen landing on Crystal Isle in the south.

Grey Knights transports too made a tight landing, this time in the central mountains of Ingra Mobis (Automated Foundry) and Lakehome(Communications Relay) as well as its low lying plains of Bloodfields (Shield Generator) and Coldarath (Automated Foundry). A small group was also seen heading for the Icefloe Shores.

A Warband of Black Legionaires consolidated in the southern part of Nimphora VII. Staking out positions in the wintry Icebridge Vale (Shield Generator), Crag Mountains and the Central Tundra (Command Module). Encroaching the central plains, they hold Renanbrau (Automated Foundry) and Stonethrow Flats (Communications Relay).

Two Imperial Guard Regiments was amongst those making planet fall. commanded by rival commanders, one landed his survivors on the central plains, holding terrain in Tobrau (Automated Foundry), Hargona's Reach, Tahiri's Throat (Command Module), Mead Valley (Communications Relay) and Jendras Baxo (Automated Foundry).

The other Commander split his forces, half landing in the south, holding to the Polar Waste and Western Glacier (Communications Relay) while the other half struck North, landing in Sunken Swamps, Ilim's Fields (Automated Foundry) and the Flood Plains of Beslan.

The last force destined to arrived on Nimphora VII's final days has yet to exit the warp but rumors has it that the templars is in ill mood of their "diverted" passage.

Another group that has yet to make an appearance was believed to be astartes of the Space Wolf Chapter. NO one knows how they will fare and how they will deal with their enemies.

And so, that is how the survivors fare on their first day on planet. Scouts and recon groups strike out to learn the lay of the land, and in their course, meet and engage other hostile forces.

NOTE: I will post 1 post per turn. Whatever happened in turn 1, I will post at the start of turn 2, and so on. So, you guys are welcome to issue challenges, comment and boast of your exploits in such posts as this one.

WARNING!: Nimphora VII is a dying planet. It is deteriorating and slowly consumed by the warp energy that surrounds it. Expect the coming Turns to be more challenging with new "suprises" coming your way.

I hope everyone will have a good time.

Nimphora VII has a corner!

Well, the meeting with Mr. William Phang (Owner of Comics Mart, MIdvalley) went very well. After explaining our campaign requirement, he graciously pointed me to the corner next to the warhammer shelves. It is a bit out of the way but just what we needed. He suggested that it's better to have it there, since people coming and going in the shop might 'accidentally' brush by the stuff had we put it somewhere more 'open'.

I'm quite happy about it and the space is just nice to fit an A3 size piece of map for the Nimphora VII campaign. I will have to talk to him (William) some more on the placement of strategy cards and markers in his shop and I foresee no problem with that as Jinn is part of the store.

Time really flies and the campaign is due to start this Sunday. I hope all the players are excited about this as I am.

Kitting out Bravo squad

This squad will take part in Iron Painter, so, once I've assembled them, I'll just spray paint them black and leave it at that. They will also feature in the upc0ming Kindred LHT run by brothers Khairul and Arzmi. However, in both these events, the wargear loadout for the squad will be different.

Iron Painter Configuration
Harker
6 veterans with lasgun
1 veteran with flamer
2 veterans with grenade launcher

Kindred Configuration
Harker
4 veterans with lasgun
2 veterans forming a missile launcher team
1 veteran with meltagun
2 veteran with grenade launcher

I'm going for the LRJP look where the squad carry backpacks and various items. They'll also sport painted skins to better blend in the jungle/wood environs. I guess my palette for this one is limited mostly to shades of green. No bright, contrasting colors and only a bit of boltgun metal on the weapons.

I hope to be able to post some pictures of the ongoing works (when I get to upload from my camera's memory card, Grr...)

Starting on the SCARS

Assembled some models and earmarked which models/parts go to which squads. Since I've given each member of the squadron identities, I hope to convey that personality to the models (ambitious).

I should post pics,I know. Anyways, started to scrape the wing and skull off the scouts breastplate. I'm also getting rid of all Imperial eagles on the lasguns and helmets. This is in accordance to the Karaxian fluff whereby they regard the emperor as the supreme leader of man's dominion in the galaxy yet fall short of venerating him as a "divine/godlike" being, much to the chagrin of the ecclesiarchy, who wanted nothing better than to wipe them out, lest they infect others with their mindset. If not for the fact that the Karaxian stands as a stalwart defender in their sector of space and for a piece of pre-heresy parchment signed by the emperor himself (and confirmed by the tech-magi of Mars as authentic)giving the Karaxian a bit of leeway in how they do things, as long as they remain loyal to the Imperium.

Anyway, I'm planning to start with the command squad and work my way squad by squad.

Forming up the SCARS

work really took their toll on me last couple of weeks. now, i have a little breathing space, so, back to wargaming :)

I think i wrote sometime ago that my IG stuff is here, so now I'm beginning to start them up. This time around, I aim to improve on my hobby side of thing for this army. (here's hoping)

Right, the army is basically an elite unit, hence the colorful acronym SCARS that stands for Special Combat And Rescue Squadron. Fluff wise, these guys are the best of the elites (without becoming space marines) for humans. They are part of the Karaxian Special Operations Group and are tasked for quick, lightning raids against high value targets deep behind enemy lines.

SCARS 1, 201ST SOG, RGKD

HQ
Company Command Squad Alpha w/count as Straken Colonel
Astropath
Officer of the fleet
2 Bodyguards

Primaris Psyker

ELITES
Delta Squad-5 man stormtrooper
Halo Squad-5 man stormtrooper

TROOPS
Nova Squad-veteran squad led by count as Bastonne
chimera
Echo Squad-veteran squad
Zulu Squad-veteran squad
Bravo squad-veteran squad led by count as Harker

FAST ATTACK
Ghost 6-Valkyrie
Vyper 8-Vendetta
Vyper 3-Vendetta

Its a 1750 points list. all the squads are equipped with carapace armor, except for Bravo, which acts as a recon/pathfinder team and equipped with camo cloaks. Nova is a fire support unit, Echo an all rounder unit, while Zulu is dedicated assault unit. The 3 Valkyrie/Vendettas will act as gun platform/fire support as well as transport for the troops.

Elements of this force will be seen in the Iron Painter Event at Legio and in the Doubles tourney. I plan to finish them , if possible before SPORE, but will not rush things if it cannot be done.

I'm using SM scout bodies for most of them and will use catachan models for Bravo squad. A few items are still en route but the bulk of the force is with me, awaiting assembly. I even managed to get 2 sets of Vendetta conversion kits from Forge World.

How this army will perform on the battlefield, I have no idea. But this kind of list I've dreamed of building since 3rd Ed. So, I hope everything work out well for me.

NIMPHORA VII CAMPAIGN

I just posted the rules for this wh40k campaign I running at CM starting on the 20th Dec 2009. It should be fun and slightly bigger in scope compared to previous campaigns. So far, 10 players have signed up. I'll be running the thing as Campaign Organizer (CO) and won't play in it.

Basically, it is a race against time to escape a dying planet. The players will have to fight each other to gather resources and find the means of escape. There's a mix of Space marines, Chaos, Nids, IG, and the inquisition. Sadly,, no Orks, Eldar, De or Tau.

Slow times

time has really been dragging this couple of weeks (hobbywise). the only good thing that happened was the arrival of my IG stuff via Alvin. Now, that was nice, opening up all them boxes and checking stuff.

I had to work the nite them boys had the battle of Dunkyrck at Legio as finale for Arenxis Minoris campaign, and so, project "Bluebyte' was left hanging.

I also missed out on the marksman honor mini-tourney yesterday, where the Saim-Hann eldar led by Khairul won the day. Thankfully, i have a lot to look forward to in 2010.

Soon, I'll begin on my new IG army.