Xenos Stranglers, an Insidious Evil & Camp Followers

More Gear Painted!

That's right some more models have moved from the unpainted part of my loft to the painted *bookcase. Following recent defeats anti armour is what my Imperial Guard army is lacking, so I have gone some way to alleviate that.

Xenos Stranglers

First up is my Cadian Heavy Bolter Squad. Heavy bolters are fairly cheap anti infantry guns that can harm vehicles too, not as good at it as Autocannons, but better that Mortars. One thing I will say for the designers (Perry twins I think) they know how to sculpt big scary hands. I imagine that the Heavy bolters buck like a traumatised Grox judging by the hugeness of the fists. They  must also come in handy when they're throttling Tau or the odd unsuspecting Grot. The models below are painted in my Krablokistan 47th colours. I like the feature of rolled up sleeves, it gives a certain I-don't-live-in-a-toxic-environment feel to the models.

Last years final of the Krablokistan Mental Trauma Caused by Xenos Interaction Imaginary Chimera Demolition Derby was a dead heat.

Ultramarines Pick On The Astra Militarum

Commander Woolstrop had for a while now been concerned about (sub)commander Bolshoy Bartlet. Nothing he could specifically put his finger on, but an oddness in his mannerisms. This 'oddness' had gotten worse since the Sisters Of Battle attacks some weeks ago, almost as if  their attacks had targeted him and his resulting survival had triggered a mental metamorphosis. Woolstrop had decided that after this patrol duty Bartlet would be sent to HQ for full mental, biological and chemical screening to get to the bottom of the strange behavior. But first, orders came in to meet a force of Ultramarines at a small inconsequential hab slum to go through a plan of attack over rebel held positions in the settlement a few clicks away. Just as long as Bartlet doesn't do anything to jeopardise the mission........

For those out there actually reading more than one of my batreps I've decided to try to forge a narrative. Farg Woolstrop and parts of the Krablokistan 47th has been stationed on Hemmerdale for some months now a routine patrol resulted in his force being attacked by Convent Of The Vengeful Scold a small Sisters Of Battle enclave on the planet. Having survived two attacks from them, there seemed to be relative peace and quiet until a force of Tau attacked them. The Tau were defeated but Commander Woolstrop was getting the feeling that these attacks were seemingly connected as in each case (sub)Commander Bolshoy Bartlet seemed to attract more than his fair share of attention. Woolstrop was returning to Hemmerdale's communications hub - Granada when he was rerouted to meet a force of Ultramarines to assist in an attack a force of suspected rebels. No sooner had the Imperial Guard arrived, the units under direct supervision of Bartlet opened fire. The Ultramarines returned fire and battle was joined. Again!

The Krablokistan 47th Strikes Again!

More Carnage

My enthusiasm for 40K continues apace (but Necromunda is looming on the horizon so who knows) so I'm trying to maintain momentum by playing as much as possible. This week was Aaron's turn to feel the sting of lasgun fire upon his armoured Tau warriors. My first game of the new 40K was against Aaron and that went pretty well so I was hoping for more of the same. We've both had a couple more games and presumably as the games didn't kill us, they made us stronger.

The Big Guns Never Tire - Or Do They?

We rolled  for a scenario and got Big Guns Never Tire  as I hadn't played it I was eager to have a lash. For the uninitiated this scenario has 4 objectives that are worth 1 VP for the most models nearest to them at the end of the game. A heavy support unit trumps any other unit so 3 mortar weapons teams would gain 1 VP even if there was 35 Ork boyz. Extra VPs were for first blood, killing the general, linebreaking and addition enemy heavy support units destroyed. A nice simple mission for my old brain.
Set up was pretty unimaginative for me. I clumped all my infantry around the left hand side of the table with only the Hellhound & Leman Russ over on the right. A unit of infantry were ensconced in the inn named Ye Olde Shielde although I may be giving it the unofficial moniker The Lazy Guardsman. I used a unit of Scions this game and they began the game up in the atmosphere of this planet. My mortar teams were in their usual place, hidden behind a hill. Aaron placed a couple of units of  battlesuits also in the skies but luckily neither unit met up there as it would be a nightmare to work out charge distances. His boots on the ground consisted of 2 units of Fire Warriors, a battlesuited Tau, Also my ratlings bundled in around the three unfinished craters near the centre of the table where an objective lay. My plan (if such could be said about the vague idea behind deployment) was advance on the left secure two objectives there. Using extreme prejudice destroy any xenos that got in the way. Minimising my own losses was if anything going against the plan.

The table before any turns were taken just after the ratlings appear (as if by magic) in front of the Tau soldiers (if you can call them that).