+ inload: September update +

+ A whole new boardgame +

+ Slow progress on painting and modelling, but I've been teaming up with Sinan to put together an event! +

+++

+ Third War in 3rd +

Themed around the Third War for Armageddon, sixteen (or eighteen) players will be be playing two linked games. I won't share too many details here just yet, but I've excited to see so much enthusiasm for what we assumed would be a pretty niche event.

The #3rdwarin3rd tag on Instagram is up for people to share their pics.

The event happily coincides with my main 40k-era enthusiasm at the mo, which is Armageddon. Regular inloaders will remember the work I've been doing on the Armageddon Prime [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] expansion for the old Battle for Armageddon board-wargame.

I've not been idle there, as you can see below, as I've been working on creating my own set of counters:

The plan is to get these printed up on covered greyboard and match the originals as closely as I can. How does this relate to the event? Well, the plan we're currently working on is to have a 'campaign map' to provide some immersion – players will get to see how their forces are doing on a strategic scale between the games, and they'll be able to take away some custom counters of their own forces as a keepsake.

Tickets, alas, are already sold out, but if it's a success I think we're both keen to try to run another.

+++

+ In other news +

I had the great good fortune to play the inimitable orks of Bob Hunk in a 1,500pt 2nd edition game recently (check out my list below), and – good gracious me – it was about as one-sided a game as I've ever played! My poor Steel Legion boys just couldn't catch a break, and the orks won a victory of something like 14VP to 1! 

There were some memorable events (I hesitate to call them highlights! :D) like the Shokk Attack gun bagging not one but both Leman Russ tanks, and my Command HQ getting bulls-eyed by a fight-bomma raid (strategy card) and wiped out in one fell swoop.

A well-deserved win to the greenskins; I was thoroughly outplayed from the start. I'd love to blame the dice – but in all honesty Bob Hunk used the terrain and clever positioning to advantage and boxed my troops in extremely well.

+++

The game spurred on some painting, which – between summer holidays, heat, work and general malaise – has been a bit spotty and intermittent. We therefore have more Steel Legion specialists nearly polished up for the 707th:

... and closer to events, my Squat killteam progresses for the PCRC campaign in just eight short weeks. I'm really enjoying these. Tempted to get some BattleBuilder nameplates for the gang – you can use my referral code and 'MournStarfall' to get 10% off, if you'd like to fancy up your forces too [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+].

And last but not least in this much-delayed update, I've also picked up some more Epic stuff. I think Epic: Legions Imperialis is in a much better place at the moment, so if you've been tempted to give it a go, I'd recommend it. More in a dedicated inload.

+++

 1,500pts Steel Legion 707th

HQ – 445pts

• Command HQ – 178pts
• Colonel (70)
• Carapace armour (5)
• Refractor field (15)
• Power weapon (10)
• Bolt pistol (3)
• Bionics (5)
• Standard Bearer (10)
• Regimental standard (20)
• Medic (10)
• Comm-link (15)
• Grenade launcher (15)
• Mortar squad – 95pts
• Anti-tank squad (35) – 115pts
• Missile launcher team (20)
• Lascannon team (30)
• Lascannon team (30)
• Commissar (40) – 57pts
• Carapace armour (5)
• Bolter (2)
• Power weapon (10)

Troops – 320pts

• Command section – 81pts
• Lieutenant (35)
• Power weapon (10)
• Bolt pistol (3)
• Carapace armour (5)
• Plasma gun (8)
• Missile launcher  (15)
• Comm-link (5)
• Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts
• Flamer (3)
• Missile launcher (15)
• Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts 
• Plasma gun (8)
• Heavy bolter (10) 
• Infantry Squad (60) – 83pts
• Melta gun (8)
• Missile launcher (15)

Troops – 320pts

• Command section – 81pts
• Lieutenant (35)
• Power weapon (10)
• Bolt pistol (3)
• Carapace armour (5)
• Plasma gun (8)
• Missile launcher  (15)
• Comm-link (5)
• Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts
• Flamer (3)
• Missile launcher (15)
• Infantry Squad (60) – 78pts 
• Plasma gun (8)
• Heavy bolter (10) 
• Infantry Squad (60) – 83pts
• Melta gun (8)
• Missile launcher (15)

Heavy support – 

• Leman Russ Vanquisher (175) – 190pts
• Hull-mounted lascannon (15)
• Leman Russ battle tank (140) – 145pts
• Hull-mounted heavy bolter (5)

+ inload: Alternative weapons for Steel Legion +

+ Resupply! Alternative sculpts for Steel Legion +

Lucky me, I have lovely friends – and a care parcel translated through the warp yesterday containing some fantastic alternative sculpts for Steel Legion from warmtamale. As you can see above, they match the originals well for size and style.

Perhaps more importantly, they add some much-needed variety to an awesome but very limited range. 

For more on the Imperial Guard ranges in this period, feel free to inload this: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]

+++

+ What's new? +

Specialists! Figures like these now turn up as part of command squads, but were scanty or absent for most of the regiments of the period – particularly the Steel Legion, which didn't have the follow-up second wave of the earlier forces. (I had to ask my older brother – who could be trusted with a pin vice and hacksaw – to convert a banner for my Catachans.)

Vox-casters, banner bearers and medics add a lot of character to things, and also increase the variety available. The sculpts above appear to be conversions based on the existing sculpts. Both the vox-caster/comm-link chap on the left and the banner bearer are based on the sergeant with the ork head (once reviled, and now hard to get hold of!); the vox-caster having their arms replaced with those from the Death Korps of Krieg plastic set. The medic's based on the other sergeant; again with what looks like DKoK bits.

I'm looking forward to painting these up – a comm-link in each command squad and a banner for the Command HQ will help to make those units feel a bit more special.

+++

The missing special weapon options are likewise conversions. One meltagunner is based on a lasgun trooper sculpt and what looks like an Elysian 'Accatran-pattern' meltagun; the other on the grenade launcher sculpt with a Space Marine melta.

The flamers are likewise mixed; one a take on the 2nd edition flamer (very fitting!), and the other on a more modern Space Marine-inspired one, with a back-mounted fueltank. Both models are based on lasgun trooper sculpts.

The variety is welcome – it'll be nice to have some variety in my squads, and to swap out some of the grenade launchers that currently predominate. As for the variety of in-universe weapon patterns, that strikes me as very fitting for the 7th Army Group: they're having to make do with what they're given!

+++

And the most precious of all – variant lasgun sculpts! The leftmost one is based on a standard lasgun trooper sculpt, but with a knife added and a head with goggles up; the middle one marries up an aiming lasgunner top with kneeling legs taken from one of the various weapon crews; and the third is our good ol' grenade launcher sculpt, now bearing a lasgun. 

I've popped one of my finished Steel Legionaries next to them to give you a sense of size – and I think it's looking promising that they'll be all but indistinguishable once-painted, unless you look very closely and have read a long and fernickety article about tiny metal space soldiers(!)

+++

... and last but not least, a mortar team, adding a vital weapon to the limited range. Now apparently much-feared on the tabletop, for many editions mortars were pretty much useless unless you ran into a lightly-armoured enemy with low T and LD. 

Nevertheless, they're a welcome addition here – particularly since they've solved the biggest bugbear I had with the original sculpt by hollowing out the mortar barrel!

+++
 

+ inload: Basing musings and heavy weapons +

+ Imperial Guard heavy weapons +

+ Lasguns can achieve a lot, but every Guardsman appreciates a big gun at their back. +

'Imperial Guard heavy weapons are crewed by a team of two men. Generally speaking, one crewman carries and fires the weapon whilst the other carries and loads ammunition. [...] This arrangement is unique to the Imperial Guard.'

+ Codex Imperial Guard +

So says the venerable first ever Codex the Imperial Guard got – unwittingly making basing and rebasing a source of low-level psychic angst for Guard players the subsequent decades.

These new weapon teams stood aside from the older Imperial Army models, where individual soldiers had their own (generally shoulder-mounted) gun. The new models were more akin to the field artillery  pieces from Rogue Trader, like ork Hop-Splat guns and Squat Mole Mortars, with separate models for the gun and the crew. At the time of release, this was a fun way to let you play with the cool 'gun team' models the GW were releasing for the metal Regiments then being rolled out.

The lascannon and mortar were unbased models, with the crew on separate 25mm bases; while the autocannon and heavy bolters had seats for the gunners and the loaders separate. The Catachan and Cadian missile launcher gunners were on cavalry bases of all things, while the other Regiments had both team members on 25mm. Quite a mix, and typical of the 'model first' approach of the period. Lots of players opted to put the guns on bases of various sizes, or otherwise adapt to what looked best to them. The Codex went on to give a few suggestions of how this all worked in practice, and we all happily bumped along.

Spool on a few more years, and new heavy teams were released in plastic. Whatever the weapon, all the teams were now consolidated/abstracted into a single 60mm base (flat rather than raised and bevelled, for some reason) containing the gun and two crew members. As tournament-style competitive gaming became more important, this was codified, so lots of players moved their old weapon teams onto 60mm bases for a few more editions 'til now, when the current 40k rules call for 50mm bases... I've got a certain recalcitrance to rebase purely to suit a new edition. Part of that's laziness, part of it's a sense that I don't want to mess around with models I'm happy with, and part of it's that I tend to edition hop, so it's all a bit academic: I'd be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

In all truth I've never been particularly fussed about sticking to the letter of the rules on basing anyway – the look of the models has usually driven any decisions I make on things like this. My Lamb's World Guard heavy weapons, for example, have been on 50mm bases for years because they're particularly delicate models and so looked lost on bigger bases. Likewise when I originally built these Steel Legion for the Aldebaran 18th [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I only had one heavy bolter, which I wanted to include in an infantry squad and so popped them team on an oval to fit with the squad better.

That's not a standard issue base!

However, blast markers, movement, range... all these things can (in theory) be affected by the shape and size of the base, so at gaming events where I've been playing pick-up games against new people, I've always made clear what's 'correct' and what's a change for the sake of visuals. Happily, in twenty-odd years of such gaming, I've never met anyone who's voiced any complaints, but there's part of me that does feel a little conflicted when models aren't on 'current, official' bases – I know I'd feel like a plum complaining about something so minor, so perhaps everyone's been keeping quiet out of politeness!

+++

+ Basing the Steel Legion +

All of which is really a long preamble into the topic of today's inload, in which I agonise about which bases to use for my heavy weapons teams.

Pictured here are some Steel Legion heavy weapon teams; some old, some new, and hopefully you can sympathise with my dilemma. From left to right we have a heavy bolter team on a 120 x 92mm oval; a heavy bolter team (just about balancing!) on a 50mm base; a lascannon team on a 60mm base and a lascannon mounted on a 40mm base together with two crew members.

Steel Legion missile launchers are much smaller models and so, unlike the other weapon teams, were provided with 25mm bases:

+ Consistency versus pragmatism +

To me, the oval works best for the heavy bolter: the 50mm is too small to support the gun and gunner together, while they'd be lost on a 60mm base. Conversely, the lascannon fits quite nicely on a 60mm base; and is substantial enough to sit on its own 40mm base, with the crew separate. That's much more convenient for storage and transport, but leaves the heavy bolter crew as the only ones on a combined base.

So let's try some other options for the lascannons. Here's one on a similar oval to the heavy bolter (though set at a different angle). Cool, but only possible because I've converted the crew...

Here's an example of the same team moved to a 50mm base, and here I think this works quite well. The team doesn't look so lost as the set on the 60mm base, and I suspect this'll be more practical for both storage and gaming.

However, it'd definitely agitate the brain worms to have one team on an oval and one on a 60mm round... argh!

After consulting my (very patient and indulgent) friends in the PCRC, I think I've decided on keeping the missiles on individual 25mm bases; the heavy bolters on ovals; and have lascannons on 50mm bases. But what are your thoughts – and how do you base your heavy weapon teams?

+++

Things like this are silly considerations in the grand scheme of things, but nothing halts work and kills enthusiasm for me like analysis paralysis. Having a plan in mind is useful – but for those instances where I just can't make up my mind, I sometimes find it helpful to press ahead with stuff I am sure about – in this instance, how I'm painting the coats on the infantry.

One big batch later – as noted in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I'm aiming for a balance between effect and speed rather than a highly-polished display result – I've got the coats of all of the original figures in the army completed, so the next stage will be revisiting the guns and greys.

After that, I'll turn my attention to the goggles, faces and leathers; leaving just the Army Group symbol (white lightning bolt on green field) to finish.

... but to finish today's inload, here's the hero of the hour, our currently nameless Primaris Psyker, who's taken on quite a character and become a favourite after the few 2nd edition games we've had.

+ inload: Armageddon Steel Legion release history +

 + Resupply: Seventh Army Group +

+ A patrol from the 7th Army Group take on a mob of Goffs. +

+ Known by those fighting it simply as 'The War', what would later be titled in Imperial histories as the Second War for Armageddon involved millions of Imperial Guardsmen and a colossal amount of kit. Some was imported from off-world, but for the most part, Armageddon's production capabilities were equal to the task. +

+ Today's inload looks at some extra equipment I've mananged to lay my hands on for my Steel Legion force. +

+++

+ History of the Steel Legion +

The Steel Legion release was a bit of a peculiarity, as was much to do with the Codex Armageddon supplement to 3rd edition 40k. The Codex was an interesting experiment from GW: rather than being focussed on a single army, it included extra units and rules allowing you to create Salamanders or Black Templars Space Marines forces; a Speed Freek specific list for the orks; and the mounted Steel Legion Regiment for Imperial Guard. In addition, it had lots of maps and background and ideas for fighting in the battlefields of this specific warzone. In many ways, it was the precursor to today's 'War Zone' campaign books.

The models were also a bit unusual, as they marked a transition between the metals of 2nd edition 40k and the plastics of 3rd edition. The full range – such as it is – can be seen here, on the Collecting Citadel Miniatures wiki [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. When compared with the earlier metal ranges for the Guard (Valhallans, Catachans etc.), you'll spot the available Steel Legion are a bit thin on the ground. Sculpted by the Perry Twins, the models we did get are wonderfully characterful, as this typical lasgun sculpt shows. 

In many ways the Steel Legion release was a bit of a last gasp of the metals. Unlike the previous Regiments, which were the de facto official kit for Imperial Guard, the Steel Legion were released after the plastic Catachan sprue and just a couple of years before the plastic Cadian sprue, and the way the wind was blowing, I think most contemporary gamers were beginning to see plastics as the future; so the Steel Legion always had a whiff of a stop-gap special release; a fun addition to the upcoming Cadians who would become 'the basic Guard'.

This feeling is emphasised by the small range. The earlier Regiments were (generally speaking) each released in two loose waves – an initial infantry box and officer followed up a couple of months later by a few alternative lasgun, special and heavy weapon sculpts, plus another sergeant and officer sculpt. The Steel Legion never received reinforcements of this kind, instead having a slightly larger single wave that included a couple of variant officers, a single extra special weapon and two heavy weapon teams.

In the weapons and equipment we can see this transition more clearly. The preceding metals all shared some universal equipment. The lasguns, water bottles, grenades and special/heavy weapons were shared universally across all the various ranges, from Mordian to Tallarn, as the examples of Catachan and Cadian lasguns below illustrates:

Catachan comm-link

 

The lasgun here was universal for Guard across the range.

A shot of various bits from the Cadian range – note the identical lasguns on the left; and examples of the universal  plasma, flamer, melta gun and bolt pistol models, too.

The Steel Legion (and much later, Vostroyans), differed here. They had a new unique pattern of lasrifle, which was clearly based on the then-current plastic Catachan lasgun. It had the same casing and slimmer, less cartoony barrel; but with less of the barrel exposed, and with a folding stock instead of a solid one:

The water bottle and other equipment had much the same signature as the older Perry sculpts, but were unique to the range. Little details like this make them stand out from the older Regiments, and presage what would come – though they remain a niche range. With just six lasgun sculpts, repetition is quick across an army.

More obviously, the Steel Legion got entirely new heavy and special weapons, which – to my eyes at least – were light years ahead of the clunkier old ones, and gave the Regiment a slightly more 'modern warfare' feel than the older equivalents.

The plastic Cadian range came out just three years later in 2003, and while the metals remained on sale, the Cadians quickly came to dominate. The Steel Legion therefore became a bit of a footnote in collecting history, but – as I hope you'll agree – the models are still lovely.

+++

+ What's new? +

Finding second-hand Steel Legion is now a challenge. Not only were they around for less time than the older metal Regiments, but their slim range of just two special weapons (grenade launcher and plasma gun) and three heavy weapons (missile launcher, lascannon and heavy bolter) was not evenly distributed – missile launchers and grenade launchers are very common, as they were packaged with the infantry squad; but the others are much rarer – and hence unfortunately tend to be prohibitively expensive.

You can still pick up some bargains, if you don't mind a bit of conversion work. The lascannon below was missing its crew, but a separate lucky find gave me one of them, and I converted a spare missile launcher gunner to act as a second member of the crew (at the back here) – a simple matter of cutting at the shoulder and wrist to have him holding a remote trigger while scanning the horizon.

The autosavant is trying to reconcile the non-standard crew – the body language says it all!

Alongside these I managed to pick up a couple of plasma gunners and a spare heavy bolter gunner. He received the leftover missile launcher arm from the conversion above – a neat way to kill two birds with one stone, creating some visual variety in the limited poses available and also making use of spare parts.

You'll spot a second standard heavy bolter team and some plasma gunners, too; alongside some 40k weirdos (old Inquisition models) that I thought fitted the vibe of the force.

The PCRC are planning an old-fashioned event, where I'm hoping to get to field some or all of my Steel Legion, so I'll get to painting. If time, budget and skill allows, I'd like to have a go at creating some Steel Legion Rough Riders to go with the army, as a nod to those from the Battle For Armageddon boardgame.

... and apropos of nothing other than I liked them, I indulged in some Steel Legion-themed dice to go with the army, and some 'sustained fire' dice for our continuing 2nd edition games.

+++

+ inload: 2nd edition 40k thoughts +

+ Hard Luck at Hemlock Bank +

Rutger's rebreather gave a protesting click. He was too tired to be nervous about the filter – all he wanted was for the interminable waiting to be over. The High-and-Dries had been encamped in the Hemlock valley for more than a week now, the orks sending occasional probing attacks along the line – not enough to warrant a decisive response, but more than sufficient to keep the whole line at ready status. 

Why weren't they attacking?

Little more than ten minutes later, Rutger would regret asking.

+++

A very fun little classic 40k game of Orks versus Imperial Guard, Bob Hunk fielded Og Throatchoppa's Blood Axes against my Steel Legion 707th. Commanded by General 'Asbach' Grünhold, the 707th fielded a reinforced platoon of around fifty Guardsman supported by a squad of Ogryn auxiliaries, a Leman Russ battle tank, and a Demolisher.

Besides the good General, a junior officer, two psykers and a commissar were also present.

Facing them was an intimidating sea of green – around three-score orks plus three looted Rhinos, one of which bore the infamous Og Throatchoppa and his retinue. 

A Shokk attack gun had been laboriously carried up an escarpment, and a number of shock troops, in the form of a mob of boarboyz and a dreadnought, were noted by Imperial observers.

The game was very enjoyable, with the Guard putting up a bit more resistance than last time! The line had been stiffened by swapping out the Griffon (Manticore) for a Demolisher and the addition of some Ogryns and Stormtroopers. 

The game started well for the Steel Legion, with early shots sending a mob of orks scampering for cover, and some lucky hits on the advancing Rhinos slowing the advance. The Boarboys overcame the Stormtroopers in the shuttle wreck, but a Demolisher shell completed the exchange.

We chatted afterwards and noted that it was nice that Orks and Guard weren't nearly as distinct as in later editions. The differences boil down to one better T for orks, and one better I for Guard; which meant that orks could exchange fire effectively, and Guard weren't hopelessly outclassed in every combat.

On an individual basis, Orks versus Guard is not nearly as predictable across the different phases of the game, which meant for closer exchanges and more nail-biting dice rolls.

There was plenty of fun stuff to laugh at too, with surviving tank crew frantically trying to man the right guns for the turn, and the poor ork boy pictured above being flung back and forth by the Primaris Psyker before finally making it into combat!

Lessons learned from more modern editions don't really follow – we'd forgotten quite how dead 'ard vehicles are, and as you can see from the brawl above, ork dreadnoughts versus ogryns isn't quite the death trap it later became.

Don't get me wrong, the rules are initially complex, but once you're over the learning curve, that's it. The complexity of the rules is built in and created through the decision you make on the table, so – with the notable exception of the Strategy cards and Psychic phase – there's not a great deal more that is added. As a result, it feels quite clean and clear once you're going. There aren't lots of exceptions and breaks and things to bear in mind, so there's less mental load than a lot of more modern games.

That's both a good and a bad thing. Epic: Armageddon and Adeptus Titanicus (my favourite tabletop games) both require constant engagement, which makes them very involving; while the turn-based 2nd edition 40k gives you more mental space, which is a different sort of fun.

Overall, a very enjoyable game – and it's stoked the desire to play more 2nd edition, so it's clearly doing something right!

+ inload: 2nd edition gaming – Genestealer Cult versus Steel Legion on Armageddon +

+ Turbulent Priests +

+ 2nd edition Warhammer 40,000 battle report +

+ 'To arms!' A Clamavos of the Church of Cosmic Wisdom broadcasts an emergency address by the Cult Magus to the faithful of a particular diocese. +

... Nor were the back lines of Armageddon, far from the greenskin threat, reliably safe. Ghazghkull's invasion had thrown law and order into disarray, and the planet's criminals, terrorists and heretics emerged to make good on the disruption. Stemming this inner corruption fell largely to the Defence Forces of the individual Hives and Mega-factories – though where more severe or grave threats emerged, elements of the Steel Legion were deputised.

Such was the case with the Church of the Cosmic Wisdom, a previously innocuous sect of seeming anchorites centred upon a spire of Hive Acheron. During the ork invasion, their true nature as a powerful Genestealer cult emerged, forcing their hand.

Their aim was eventually revealed to be the capture one of the hive's spaceports and ensure the Patriarch and as much of the cult as possible could make good its escape in the chaos of war. With the ports locked down by the Armageddon military, this led to inevitable conflict.

– The Later Histories of Armageddon: Hidden Conflicts

+++

+ Today's inload involves a few notes on a fun evening of gaming with Bob Hunk. We'd arranged to meet up to play a 1,500pt game of 2nd edition 40k after dipping our toes in again at Stuntwedge's house a few weeks back with a game of Tyranids versus Space Marines. +

+ With some more points on the table, we decided to swap over to Genestealer Cults against Imperial Guard. +

+++

+ General thoughts +

I confess to not taking any notes, so the 'report', such as it is, is more a collection of scattered thoughts – but I hope the pictures (a combination of my own and Bob Hunk's) at least offer something nice to look at! 

This isn't a general review of the second edition 40k, but I did want to highlight what a lot of fun we had with this battle! It felt refreshing to have the complexity baked in to the core rules, rather than layered onto a very stripped-back system, and I'd forgotten how immersive it feels, and just how many odd (and amusing) things can happen in second edition. Bob Hunk commented on how it felt good to just know what the result was once you rolled the dice – no re-rolls, no surprise cards or stacking rules – and I agree completely. It feels intuitive in a way that a lot of modern games don't; the older simulation approach being largely replaced with more abstract, speedier rules.

With that said, I didn't miss the constant back-and-forth to the rulebook to find odd outlying cases – and while I like the more discursive, conversational tone of the 2nd edition rulebook over the 'legal manual' framework that is most modern GW game rules, it was a pain in the backside to actually find answers to things, and we ended up glossing over quite a bit in the name of getting on with the game, or stumbling over the answer to something while looking up something else.

Fundamentally, of course, that's an inevitable result of coming back to a game we last played anything like regularly nearly thirty years ago. It felt simultaneously very familiar and very strange – and happily ended with both of us keen to do some more 2nd edition gaming.

+++

+ The Armies +

Having played a 1,000pt game, we thought we'd go to 1,500pts this time, and bring in some more unusual or specialist units. 

+ Steel Legion 7th Army, 707th Regiment +

‘General Grünhold came to command the ‘High-and-Dry’ 7th Army Group, taking the reins from General Marlen as Commander Dante’s reforms were enacted and the Steel Legion as a whole prepared for the ambitious counter-offensive envisioned by the Astartes.

‘Known as ‘Asbach’ – though not within earshot – the General’s nickname stemmed from his supposed similarity to the old Helsreach distillate: short, bitter, fiery, and best faced as swiftly as possible.’

– The Later Histories of Armageddon: Heroes and Villains of the War

+ Grünhold and aides-de-camp, addressing selected Regiments of the 7th Army Group prior to them being cycled out of the front line to recuperate in Acheron. +

Characters (up to 750pts)

• Imperial Guard General 'Asbach' Grünhold – 65pts + Wargear card: Bionic Eye (5), Bionic Arm (5) and Bionic Leg (3) (He's been in the wars!)
• Tech-priest Engineer – 30pts
• Commissar – 40pts + Power sword (6)
• Command Section – 75pts + power sword (6) and bolt pistol (2)
• Command Section – 75pts + power sword (6) and bolt pistol (2)

Squads (at least 375pts)

• Tactical squad – 100pts + Veteran sergeant (10) + Heavy bolter – (10) + Plasma gun – (6)
• Tactical squad – 100pts + Missile Launcher (30) + Grenade Launcher (10)
• Tactical squad – 100pts + Missile Launcher (30) + Grenade Launcher (10)
• Tactical squad – 100pts + Missile Launcher (30) + Grenade Launcher (10)

Support (up to 750pts)

• Space Marine Captain – 90pts + Boltgun (3)
• Space Marine Tactical Squad – 300pts
• Leman Russ Battle Tank – 205pts

+++

+ Church of Cosmic Wisdom +

The Cult Magus makes his presence known.

Characters

• Patriarch (72) + Hypnotic Gaze (20) + Catalyst (40) [132]
• Cult Magus (107) + Displacer Field (20) + Force Staff (10) [137]
• Cult Icon Bearer (45) + Sword (1) + Mesh Armour (3) [49]
• Neophyte Leader (10) + Needle Pistol (5) + Power Sword (6) + Carapace Armour (7) + Frenzon (5) [34]
• Acolyte Leader (9)  + Psychic Mastery Level 1 (25) + Scanner (1) [35]

Broods

• 12 Purestrain Genestealers [336]
• 10 Neophyte Hybrids (90) + 2 Hand Flamer (12) + 6 Swords (6) + 4 Power Fists (40) [148]
• 10 Acolyte Hybrids (80) + 1 Power Maul (6) + 9 Autoguns (9) [95]
• 10 Acolyte Hybrids (80) + 1 Chainsword (2) + 9 Shotguns (18) [100]
• 5 Acolyte Hybrids (40) + 2 Heavy Stubbers (20) + 2 Grenade Launchers (20) [80]

Support

• Leman Russ [205]
• Goliath Truck (counts as Chimera) [140]

+++

+ The battlefield and deployment +

We got into the swing of the game itself nice and quickly, with mission determined through cards. The Steel Legion ended up with Dawn Raid, which meant I had to get an above half strength squad into the Church's deployment zone; while the Genestealers got The Assassins, meaning they'd have to decapitate (literally and figuratively) General Grünhold ...

The board looked like this, and with the higher strategy rating, I could look forward to deploying second and (probably) going first. As it happened, I had a strategy card (Forced March) that allowed me to deploy units 18in onto the table – very useful for my mission, though the wisdom of advancing towards Purestrain genestealers is perhaps questionable...

Units deployed this way had to be set up before the opponent, so I used it to get a squad into a good firing position on each flank, and a combat squad of Salamanders in the centre. The Church then deployed as shown below, and with their positions now clear, I got to set up the rest of my army:

The opening turn saw the Goliath and broods in the centre advance on the Salamanders. Space Marines aren't quite as superhuman in 2nd as they later became, so the Salamanders quickly grew to appreciate the cover they were skulking in as the Leman Russ (the 'Lovely Girl') opened up on them. Fortunately, poor maintenance meant two of the heavy bolters fired fitfully, then jammed; and the battle cannon missed

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Over on the right, the Steel Legion advanced on a large building held by the Cult. I wanted to comment on this flank of the battlefield, because it's a good example of what I mean by the game feeling more 'realistic' – we had soldiers advancing into scant cover on an otherwise exposed position, then laying down fire on a dug-in enemy. 

The cover from the building meant that the small unit of Genestealer cultists was able to hold off twice their number of infantry – and it was only the presence of a Leman Russ battle tank that enabled a squad to flank the building in the closing stages of the game.

... of course, realism only goes so far... the highlight for both of us was the Magus' Displacer Field successfully saving him from a lucky shot – only for it to bring him back into reality outside the building, leading to a long plummet to the cold hard ground: ouch!

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These mid-game shot of the battlefield shows how the genestealers overwhelmed the Space Marines in the centre. This skirmish threw up lots of cool twists – a lucky shot from a missile launcher (just out of shot at the top) killed the crew of the Goliath as the Space Marines advanced, sending it slewing into the Salamanders and crushing one... after which the dazed cultists hopped out and hosed down the Marines with autopistols, downing one (the shame!), before the hand flamers opened up, sending the remaining three stumbling around on fire!

+ 'No resistance to flamers in this edition, Imperial lap-dog!' +

The lone survivor, still burning, was eviscerated by the Patriarch's brood as they redeployed from the north into the centre. 

The Imperials were thoroughly outmatched, outnumbered and outclassed here, and the Command HQ and surviving Space Marines raced to get into position to anchor the centre and prevent the battle turning. 

With the brood realising the threat, the cultists turned their fire on the surviving Salamanders, but as the heavy stubbers jammed, only one fell – who was swiftly patched-up and returned to battle by the Command HQ's medic (who had clearly paid attention at the 'administering first aid to allied superhumans' session).

+ The 707th Command HQ advance behind Lieutenant Nomix Nor'Jagan and a combat squad of  his 2nd Company Salamanders +

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This shot shows the state of play at the end of the third turn (I think), with honours largely even. The Steel Legion had pulled ahead slightly in VP, though I think this was rather a quirk of the number of single-wound characters present in the Genestealer list than any reflection of my tactical ability.

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With time pressing on, the final turn saw the Imperial Guard advance reach the deployment zone, securing their victory – although as you can see, the prospects for an extended fight did not look to be in the Steel Legion's favour!

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+ Aftermath +

All in all, a great deal of fun – and the flexibility and granularity of the army-building was fun to see. I never saw hand flamers or needle pistols or so forth fielded in the 90s, so to use these rules alongside a mix of classic and modern models (and notably Bob Hunk's always beautiful armies) to get the best of both worlds  – was a treat.

The game has already got me thinking about more battles and ideas, as it just lends itself so beautifully to narrative gaming. Will Grünhold and his allies report the infestation, or attempt to suppress it themselves? Where will the Cult strike next?

You could bring in an Inquisitor whose carefully-laid research has been upended; the local Arbites demanding to know what all the gunfire is; or perhaps some ork-genestealer hybrids to tie into the broader Armageddon campaign?

...and that's just this particular setting. One of the great joys of playing this now, rather than 30 years ago, is that we've both got access to loads of different armies, so we can hop around the astrography and history of Antona Australis as we please.

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