Kill Team - Destroy the Ruins

Lord Inquisitor Drusilla Kyros has summoned her Deathwatch Kill Team to execute another mission for her, this time deep in the jungles of Xoxigar Tertium! The Inquisitor has obtained intelligence that a band of Aeldari have been operating in a area centered on an ancient ruin of some sort. the Kill Team has been tasked with demolishing one of the central edifices - to see if that dissuades the Aeldari from remaiing in the region, so close to where a regiment of the Astra Militarum are operating. 

Finnegan and I played another game of Kill Team last night - expanding on our campaign on Xoxigar Tertium. We rolled for a random scenario in the Octarius and tried to build a scenario around it. 

SCENARIO

The scenario we played was Mission 2.2: Saboteurs - our of the Octarius book. The attacker (Deathwatch) had to plant explosives on a "Vital Installation" - the Ancient Aeldari Arcane Ruins - Victory points for both sides were determined by how many damage points worth of bombs were planted during the game. No bombs planted meant 0VP for the attacker and 12VP for the defender, 1-3 Damage Points of bombs planted meant 4VP for the attacker and 8VP for the defender, 4-6 Damage Points of bombs planted meant 8VP for the attacker and 14VP for the defender, 7+ Damage Points of bombs planted meant 12VP for the attacker and 0VP for the defender. 

If bombs were planted on TOP of the thing it did two Damage Points, using Melta charges (special mission equipment available to be purchased) also caused more damage. 

Now experience (XP) in a campaign is gained from completing mission actions or through doing things that gain you VP. There was no indication how many XP were to be gained through for the defender. I mean, for the attacker it's clear - if you do the Plant Explosives action, you gain an XP... but the VP gained by the defender are just from preventing the enemy from doing the things...? Which is a little harder to quantify. We kind of just did the reverse - if the attacker gains 12VP - defender gets 0XP to distribute, if the attacker gains 8VP - defender gets 2XP to distribute, if the attacker gains 4VP - defender gets 5XP to distribute, if the attacker gains 0 - defender gets 7XP to distribute...? 

Also, only half of the defenders start on the table. The other half can dice at the beginning of the 2nd Turning Point to see if they arrive, any that don't arrive at the beginning of the third. 

FORCES

Kill Team Coranos - Deathwatch Kill Team

• Sergeant Laescos Coranos - Deathwatch Veteran Watch Sergeant - Xenophase Blade and Storm Shield 
• Brother Borealis Issolis - Deathwatch Veteran [Heavy Gunner] - Infernus Heavy Bolter 
• Brother Nasirdan Cannistus - Deathwatch Veteran [Warrior]- Stalker Pattern Bolt Gun
• Brother Icasos Scamedes - Deathwatch Veteran [Warrior] - Deathwatch Shotgun
• Brother Benatos Diodexious - Deathwatch Veteran [Gunner]- Combi-Plasma

Maesenir's Rangers

• Maesenir (Ranger - Leader - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Ylessar (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Aurelyc (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Klorandos (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Lechanna (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Kaedoreth (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Tallariel (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
• Jairyllian (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 

I decided the best chance to deal with this was just to harry and snipe at the Deathwatch as they tried to approach the ruins and leave the Dire Avengers in the Webway to rest and recuperate - as two had gained Battle Scars in their last action - and resting gives them a bonus to recovery rolls (to remove battle scars!) 

Though he'd played with the Kill Team before, Finnegan hadn't really filled out cards and a Data Slate and picked equipment or a Spec Ops campaign or Strategic Assets. He Spent his four requisition points on two supply drops (2 Suspensors - one for each of his Operative with Heavy Weapons - and 2 sets of Frag grenades) and two Strategic Assets (Med Bay and Tactical Uplink) 

I had to re-sort some of mine... I'd written down different things down in different places - on teh data slate itself, I had one Spec Ops written down... but had noted that I had completed objectives for a completely one...!?  I couldn't really remember what I'd been thinking or if I'd made a decision one way or another... so changed the Spec Op the Data Slate said I was working on to match what I said I'd accomplished. Narratively, none of the Spec Ops really fit what this team is up to... So I went with what they CAN do and selected the "Breakout" Spec Op...

THE GAME

Table and teams set up and ready to go... 

Unfortunately, as defender I had to set up first and had no idea where Finnegan would set up his guys. I wasn't sure where they would be. I tried to set up, hoping his guys would beeline for the objective and I could work on some Tac Ops to gain some bonus VP (and XP) before his guys got close to the Ruins, where I'd hoped to pick them off as they came out of hiding to plant explosives... there were a few problems with this plan.... 

Ehhhhh... whoopsie... I guess Aurelyc is not charging into THIS quarter to grab points any time soon! 

Other Deathwatch Marines all set up and ready to go. 

Ylessar hiding. Waiting. 

Other Rangers waiting. Silent. Patient. 

I figured I had it covered from both sides - any that approached would be caught in a crossfire. 

Aurelyc, the picket, passing on information to the others about the intruders dispositions and desperately calling for the others to return to the site! 

Wow, I took a lot of pictures of the set up... 

FIRST TURNING POINT

To start things off, I used revealed the Triangulate Tac Op (Operatives can take a "Triangulate" special action within 3" of a Kill Zone edge - if two edges are Triangulated they gain 1VP. If a third is Triangulated they gain an additional VP)

Deathwatch moved first. Brother Benatos Diodexious was the first to advance on the ruins. Though he tried to be sneaky, he wandered directly into Ylessar's sites... 

The shot came, seemingly, out of no where...  Benatos was advancing on the ruins, which seemed to be abandoned, then he was down and bleeding and in paint. 

The shot cause 8 wounds. Brother Benatos was seriously injured but the high wounds and Marine armour saved him from being taken out.

Shooting at Brother Benatos was a bit mistake on MY part. He had done his movement. He wasn't going anywhere. Ylessar could have taken his shot ANY time... what I SHOULD have done was activate Aurelyc! Triangulate and shoot... Triangulate and get out of the way... Shoot and get out of the way... ANYTHING!? 

Because not doing so meant they would not be used in the game! Brother Borealis Issolis, with his Engage Order, just marched out of cover to a place where Aurelyc DIDN'T have cover and blasted them out of the game with his Infernus Heavy Bolter.

Ah well, live and learn... or, in my case, live a life full of regrets and keep making the same damned mistakes because I CAN'T seem to remember these mistakes and learn from them!?

As a torrent of explosive bolter rounds came pouring into the trees where Auralyc thought they were secreted, shattering heavy trunks and kicking up a cloud of branches, leaves and splinters, they went to ground and ramined there for the rest of the action. letting the Marines pass them by hoping to catch them with a shot in the back. But after the marines had passed by, they realized that their long rifle had been damaged and were unable to take a shot. Being of no further use, they slunk away from the skirmish in despair. 

Maesenir took a long-ranged shot at Brother Nasirdan Cannistus - but cover and marine armour meant it did little harm - 3 wounds. Maesenir spent his other action Triangulating. 

Brother Scamedes and the Sergeant, hearing from the others that they were not alone in these woods, was a little more careful to remain in cover as he advanced. (and with a Conceal order, was thus not a viable target). 

Klorandos, not having any viable targets, and not wanting to rush out to a point where he could actually shoot at Marines - and dangerously expose himself. Patiently waited in cover and triangulated the area. 

Brother Cannistus rushed forward to join Brother Borealis

Because the aeldari Rangers started with fewer figures on the table, They actually got one turn of Overwatch fire - and Ylessar used it to take a second shot at Brother Benatos, finishing him off. His transhuman physiology would save him, but he was down for now, and out of the action. 

1 VP for me for Triangulating at two of the edges of the Kill Zone... 

SECOND TURNING POINT

Leachanna arrived on the scene. 

As did Jairyllian. 

Lechanna was able to Triangulate another edge of the Kill Zone (Which would score me a second VP from the Tac Op) and then shot Brother Borealis, dealing them 8 wounds! 

Brother Borealis charged Lechanna's position and damaged her slightly... but he was slowed by the wounds caused by the Ranger's shot and she was able to put him down with a few lightning fast moves, going for gaps in his armour... 

I guess we're BOTH still learning. Close Combat is nasty and deadly. I pointed out, Finnegan would have probably been better off just moving to within 2" - where Lechanna would no longer benefit from being concealed in cover, and unloading with either of Brother Borealis' weapons. I think, for MOST of our Kill Teams, this is the best option. Unless they are warriors that are BUILT for close combat - Drukhari Witches, Genestealers, Assault Marines... better to just stand-off and shoot where they can't hit back! 

Ylessar dashed around to a corner where they could get Brother Cannistus in their sights and took a shot. Again the Marine's excellent armour saved them... 

Brother Cannistus rushed forward into the ambush until they could see who was shooting at them, firing as they advanced. Ylessar was obliged to retire and call it a day. 

Sergeant Coranos rushed up to the ruins and started planting demolition charges. 

Brother Scamedes followed and did the same. 

(in between these two activations, I simply had to pass... as there were no visible targets and no way to move that wouldn't dangerously expose my own troops....) 

And so we come to the OTHER problem with my initial plan, of picking off Marines as they came out of cover to plant bombs on the ruins... The Marines did not HAVE to take engage orders to plant bombs - they could remain concealed, AND there were lots of Obstructing bits of cover/terrain about that ruin... so even when they GOT to it, there were few angles that I could easily get a clear shot to one of them!? 

THIRD TURNING POINT

Tallariel and Kaedoreth finally turned up. 

Tallariel took a quick shot at Brother Cannistus - the third shot taken at the Marine - and STILL could not take him down. Realizing the shot had drawn his attention, Tallariel dashed completely out of view. 

Brother Cannistus ran the OTHER WAY around the clump of vegetation and caught Kaoreth just arriving and still trying to get her bearings and locate the intruders. Finnegan had used the Bolter Discipline Strategic Ploy, so Brother Cannistus was able to unload into Kaedoreth twice. She quickly retreated from the scene to regroup with Ylessar and Aurelyc. 

While Brother Cannistus was focused on blasting away at the trees hoping to kill the Aeldari hiding within, Jairyllian was able to sneak up behind and put a couple shots into the marines back- putting rounds through both the Power Armour's stabilizers and Marine's spine, dropping him to the ground in agony. 

FOUR shots to take him down. Wow... These were definitely NOT the Genestealer cultists they'd previously faced. 

Sergeant Coranos and Brother Scamedes planted more bombs on the edifice to the hated ancient Xenos.

Realizing there wasn't much they could so in the positions they were in, Maesenir and Klorando relocated

This was a move to try and score a few VP via the Overrun Tac Op - 1 VP if they had one Operative in each quarter of the Kill Zone and not within 3" of the center. They did score 1VP this way. If they could score a second, it would mean the game ended in a tie. The marines had planted four bombs - which meant they'd be scoring 8VP and the aeldari would score 4. There were only two of them left on the table which meant there was NO WAY they could plant three more - which would put them in the next bracket of 7+ bombs planted (for 12VP and ZERO for the Rangers). If the Rangers could score 4VP from Tac Ops and deny the Marines from scoring any more... the game could be tied up. 

I can't remember what my third Tac Op was... Mark Target...? I guess I forgot about that possibility!? I mostly just wanted to get everyone out of the way. 

FOURTH TURNING POINT

Realizing his shooting down of Brother Cannistus had drawn the attention of the two remaining Marines. Spotting a shadow of movement, Sergeant Coranos gave chase. Sergeant Coranos IS built for Close Combat and cut entire trees in half with his Xenophase sword in pursuit of the Ranger... the shear violence of his onslaught caused the Ranger to disappear into the jungle and trouble them no more! 

Brother Scamedes also went hunting and caught one of the Aeldari moving in the open. A few blasts of his shotgun encouraged the Ranger to vacate the scene. 

Masenir made one last act defiance before withdrawing from the skirmish. He leapt our from cover and peppered Scamedes with monofilament shuriken-like projectiles from his pistol. The marine was seriously injured and before he could respond, the lithe Aeldari had vanished.... Gone to check on the rest of the team - continuing this engagement would be fruitless as the damage had been done and the Marines themselves were ready to vacate the Kill Zone. 

It was a VERY close game ending with the Marines winning 10-9. 

POST GAME
Going through the Post Game Sequence... 

Casualty Checks

Among the Death Watch, Brother Borealis Issolis, Brother Benatos Diodexious, and Brother Nasirdan Cannistus had been taken out of action. Checking to see if any of it was serious, they FAILED TWO casualty checks. One was able to be re-rolled (thanks to the Medbay) but Brother Nasirdan Cannistus ended up with a Critical Impairment of some sort - which means he will not be able to perform Dash actions or increase his APL. 

The Aeldari all passed their Casualty checks, their wounds were minor and easily dealt with back in their webway retreat. 

Update Experience

We did add in the Experience the Deathwatch Kill Team would have earned from their first game against the Harlequins. With the XP gained in this game, both Sergeant Coranos and Brother Scamedes made it to 6XP and, thus, Veteran status. Finnegan said he'd look through the options for the various Specialisms and the skill they can gain later. 

The Aeldari gained very few XP... but Ylessar did gain one and that brought him to six and made him a Veteran. I haven't decided what to do with him... don't just want to give EVER YONE the same things... 

Take Recovery Tests

The Death Watch didn't have any Battle Scars, but the Aeldari sure did! Talariel did not recover from their Sapped Strength - but who could expect them to, running around in the bush instead of resting. The two Dire Avengers, having sat this one out, got a bonus to their rolls. The Bonus helped Naermenyl recover from her Lingering Ailment - some rest was just the thing to help her body adjust to the regrown leg! Zelanys is still suffering from her Sapped Strength. 

Complete Operations (Spec Ops) 

The Aeldari did gain VP from both Triangulate and Overrun - two of the Tac Ops that need to be completed in a game to move forwards in their Spec Op.

The Deathwatch did not succeed in any of their Tac Ops. 

Neither Team gained anything from the Mission's Spec Ops Campaign Bonuses. 

Strangely, only the Missions in the Octarius book have Spec Ops Campaign bonuses - bonuses if you happen to be doing certain Spec Ops campaigns AND achieve a certain objectives. 

For this one there was  bonus requisition point if the attacker scored 3 or more VP from Infiltration Tac Ops or the Defender scored 3+ VP from Security Tac Ops AND/OR a team could reduce the number of games required for their respective Spec Op if the defender was currently undertaking either Honourbound or Secure District Spec ops and NO DAMAGE was done to the Vital installation or if the attacker was currently undertaking the Demolition or Infiltrate Spec Ops and the installation suffered 7+ damage. 

None of these applied to either of our Kill Teams... 

After a few games into a couple campaigns... I've had some thoughts about the campaign system - and miniature skirmish campaign systems in general... but I think I'll save those for another post... 

40K - Biel-Tymm Combat Patrol Force

Finnegan actually suggested, in addition to a Kill Team campaign, we could organize forces for a parallel Warhammer 40,000 (9th Edition) Crusade Campaign - for when we wanted to play slightly larger actions. As the new Kill Team focuses more on using regular squads (or PARTS of regular squads) from regular 40K (and less take whatever you want!?) it should be easy to integrate a Kill Team into a force for a Crusade Campaign in 40K9E.

I have slowly been rebasing all of my 40K stuff - most of which were originally based on metal washers. At the time they were originally based, I liked the slimmer bases, but for many and varied reasons I've decided to rebase everything onto the standard plastic bases they were originally meant to be based on. Some of these reasons include weight (the metal minis plus metal bases mean a LOT of weight in those plastic drawers in my storage system!) and naming (with a thicker base, i can paint the names of each warrior on the sides of their base - for easier identification) and just a chance to do something more fun that the generic dirt and green and/or yellow/brown/dried tufts of grass, etc. 

I do have a lot more Aeldari forces - like enough to field armies of many thousands of points. A lot of them aren't painted yet. Those that are painted, but not nescessarily rebased and considered for organization in the starting Combat Patrol  for the campaign can be seen on the 40K - Aeldari page:

Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 40K - Aeldari Page

A Patrol Detachment is made up of 25 Power Level worth of Troops and must include one HQ element and one Troops element. It CAN include a second HQ Element, up to two more (three, total) Troop elements, and up to two Elite elements, up to two Fast Attack, Up to two Heavy Support, up to two fliers and up to one Transport PER Infantry element included in the Detachment. 

I had lots of options to chose from, but can only start with 25 Power Level - additional forces can be added to the force, for more options and tactical flexibility - even while playing Combat Patrol level games. 

Starting Force

Headquarters

• Farseer Thymiltelyir - Shuriken Pistol and Witch Blade - 6 Power Level 
• Warlock Conclave (Adryllewi and Broelwyn) - Shuriken Pistol and Witch Blade - 4 Power Level 

Troops

• Rangers (5 - Maesenir, et al) - Shuriken Pistol and Ranger Long Rifle - 3 Power Level 
• Rangers (5 - More of Maesenir's Rangers) - Shuriken Pistol and Ranger Long Rifle - 3 Power Level 
• Dire Avengers (5 - Shrine of the Fading Night) - Avenger Shuriken Catapult and Plasma Grenades plus Exarch with Shuriken Pistol and Diresword - 2 Power Level

Heavy Support

• Wraith Lord (1 - Kloethades) - Two Shuriken Catapults, Wraithbone fists, Aeldari Missile Launcher  - 7 Power Level 

The Troops Element of this force is, essentially, Maesenir's Rangers Kill Team. The Patrol Detachment could basically be seen as representing The Big Boss - Farseer Thymiltelyir - and his two attendant Warlocks showing up with a Wraithlord to deal with something a little too big for Maesenir and his lot to handle on their own! 

The Whole Force

Farseer Thymiltelyir

Warlock Conclave  (Adryllewi and Broelwyn) 

Maesenir's Rangers

Exarch Bylizek and the Dire Avengers of the Shrine of the Fading Night (who often operate in conjunction with Maesenir's Rangers) 

Wraith Lord (Kloethades) 

I originally considered adding a Squad of Dark Reapers

Loesenyth, Naerthyn, Dysenira, and Vielnivar of the Srhine of the Sunset Bouquet (it makes more sense in the original Aeldari...). only three will be fielded for the time being as they are fielded as three for 5 Power Level or five for 9 Power Level - I need one more to field a unit of five (or TWO more to simply field two units of three...). To bring these as a part of a Patrol Detachment I'd have to lose the Wraithlord and add in something worth 2 Power Level... 

Other stuff I have painted that could be added as options (when I get to rebasing them):

• 5-10 Warp Spiders
• 10 more Scouts
• 10 more Dire Avengers
• 2 more Wraithlords
• 5 Wraithguard
• 5 Howling Banshees

At This point, playing at Combat Patrol level engagements, only one or two could really be added and would pretty much always mean leaving the Wraithlord back on the ship - or leaving some of Maesenir's Rangers behind... which... I GUESS is a possibility. I could just take the ONE Ranger unit of five - THAT could represent Farseer Thymiltelyir bringing out the BIG GUNS of the more hard hitting Aspect Warrior Shirnes to deal with a bigger problem and Maesenir is just along to guide them to the target that he has discovered...? 

Of course I have PILES of other stuff I could finish painting up to add to and Asuryani force:

• 3 MORE Warlocks 
• 15 MORE Rangers
• 30+ Guardians and weapons platforms
• 9 Swooping Hawks (need one more to make even 10!) 
• 9 Fire Dragons (ALSO need one more to make even 10!) 
• 11 Striking Scorpions (willing to trade spare Scorpion for Swooping Hawk or Fire Dragon!) 
• 5 MORE Howling Banshees
• 10 More Warp Spiders 

not sure how many of these I'll get to painting while we're just playing with Combat Patrol level forces. I doubt our Crusade Campaign will grow beyond Combat Patrols any time soon. I think I'd like to concentrate on getting ALL of my own factions up to Combat Patrol readiness first.  MOST of Finnegans 40K forces (Genestealer Cults, Orks, T'au, and Deathwatch) could be fielded as a Combat Patrol... but probably not Strike Forces... yet... (Maybe the Orks... MAYBE). Hopefully playing Kill Team and Crusade campaigns over the fall and winter, with a few of the different forces available to us will get him excited about enough about ONE of those factions he has to expand to the next level!

Next up should be LAST week's game(s) with Orion... 

Kill Team - Maesenir's Rangers - REINFORCED!

After their first game, it became pretty clear that the Asuryani Rangers were DEADLY... when they can just hid in the shadows and pick away at the enemy... But it was also clear how very soft and squishy and easily killed when any enemy could get eyes on... and thus it would be very hard for them to succeed at scenarios that involved stepping out of the shadows and seizing objectives! 

It was always my plan to add some Dire Avengers to the Maesenir's Rangers Kill Team... but you have to start with just a basic Kill Team and I decided to start with all rangers and add the Dire Avengers later. 

That "later" turned out to be NOW!

In addition to the initial warriors, all Kill Teams start with four Requisition Points. These can be used to add strategic assets to your Base of Operations or Equipment to your Stash or new Operatives to your Kill Team. After each game you gain one additional Requisition Point. 

So, after that first game, I spent all the Requisition Points they had to add four Dire Avengers to the Roster (and some equipment to the Stash!).

Maesenir is still just a Ranger - one that walks the path of the Outcast - with only a loose association with they Biel-Tymm fleet. The Dire Avengers represent elements from Shrine of the Fading Night, hosted aboard the ships of the fleet, that have been tasked with aiding Maesenir is his mission to monitor the situation on Flonesimus (the Old Aeldari name for Xoxigar Tertium) and as custodian of the ancient ruins and the forgotten vaults and arcane artifacts held within! 

New additions... Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers (from left to right); Daenemdrys, Zaelanys, Peryldil, and Naermenyl

The Whole (Current) Kill Team - Maesenir's Rangers (and friends) 

I also finished up a few more Dire Avengers and Rangers. They COULD eventually be added to the Kill Team (Kill Teams can have up to twenty on their roster - "Data Slate"). But unless they suffered losses of terrible Battle Scars that would necessitate not showing up for action for a long time, I can't see much reason to add them any time soon - there are Assets and Equipment I'll be adding before adding more members to the team. 

I mostly did them to fill out complete squads of five - as they are fielded in regular 40K9E. The plan is to, eventually, expand all the Kill Teams into Combat Patrols for a parallel 40K9E Narrative Crusade Campaign.... for when we want to play some slightly BIGGER battles! 

Bylizek, Exarch of the Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avengers and Klofaryl and Zynesimyl to fill out three squads of five. 

Five more, to-be-named, Dire Avengers which could bring the Shrine of the Fading Night Dire Avenger Squad up to ten - and bring the Kill Team up to a full 20.

This is what the FULL roster of 20 would look like... Though, for any given mission, there would only ever be eight fielded - either eight Rangers or eight Dire Avengers, or four of each. 

I have no intention to add Guardians to the Kill Team - they just don't seem the type to be used in the special missions that Kill Teams are put together for. At least not Guardians from the Biel-Tymm fleet. The Biel-Tymm fleet does not squander it's regular citizen crew in battle unless the situation is dire! The professional warriors of the Aspect Warrior Shrines are there for a reason. Guardian Defenders are just for that - defending the ships, should they, somehow, ever be boarded.

Up next should be what the Combat Patrol version of this force will look like! 

Kill Team - Maesenir's Rangers

Despite a table full of Imperial Guard... the first Kill Team I have ready for the imminent release of the New Kill Team are Aeldari Rangers!?  

From what I've seen on reviews, a Craftworld (Asuryani) Kill Team consists of two fire teams. The fire teams can be selected, in any combination, from; Guardian Defender Fire Team, Storm Guardian Fire Team, Ranger Fire Team, Dire Avenger Fire Team. The Guardian teams have five members, the Rangers and Dire Avengers have four. 

While I could field any/all of those, part of my re-org has included rebasing of miniatures. Many of the metal miniatures I have are still based on washers and, partly for consistency, and partly so I can write their names on the backs of their bases (to remind me of who is whom), I have been rebasing the older 40K minis I'm going to be using for Kill Team onto plastic bases. 

While i was at it, I thought I'd jazz up the bases to look like some alien world - as, there are a MILLION systems in the Imperium alone, and they're not all going to look like Holy Terra's brown dirt with green grass! 

I also wanted to get as many ready as possible, so I just did the two fire teams of Rangers... partly I did Rangers because they seemed the sort that would be involved in the sort of small scale special ops Kill Team battles are supposed to represent. Also, I just really dig their camo cloaks... 

I think, for campaign purposes, You can have up to twenty fighters on your Roster and Teams are drawn from these. If so, I could easily have a team of each. What I'll probably have is the two Ranger Fire Teams, a Dire avenger Fire Team and a Guardian Defender Fire Team - as I don't actually OWN any Storm Guardians. Or, quite possibly, I could just have three Ranger Fire Teams and two Dire Avenger teams...? 

I'd planned to come up with some "fluff" for each of these Kill Teams... but between RPGaDay and ALL THE KILL TEAMS I'm trying to get ready... I'm a little burnt out and just don't have the time. It was an effort just to come up with names for some of them... 

I can say, as with all Rangers, they walk the Path of the Outcast. All of Maesenir's Rangers hail from the Biel-Tymm fleet - an independent fleet that once was part of the Biel-Tan craft world, but has been off on it's own for many centuries, pursuing it's own agenda. The rangers do tend to wander where they will, but do report back to the fleet and are willing to sometime take direction or eve orders from the fleet. 

Maesenir's Rangers

The full Kill Team ready for action. 

Ylessar (on the left - of the picture), Aurelyc (in the back), Maesenir (up front), and Klorandos (on the right)

Lechanna (on the left - of the picture), Kaedoreth (in the back), Tallariel (up front), and Jairyllian (on the right).

What's next? Hard to say. I have. LOT of Kill Teams I'm organizing and touching up. Will I do posts for each of them? Maybe. Currently on the workbench are Harlequins, Drukhari, Valhallans, Tallarn, Guiacans, Armageddon Steel Legion, Necromundans... (is that enough Imperial Guard...? Because by tomorrow I'll also have the Death Korps of Kreig to add to them!?). I also have Space Marine Scouts and a Forge World Kill Team and Orks and Daemons and Traitor Marines and Grey Knights, and probably others I'm forgetting... Some will need touching up, others (like the Grey Knights) are ready to go with names on their bases and everything! And then Finnegan has Orks and Death Watch Space Marines and Tyranids and Genestealer Cult.... We have no shortage of options. 

I also have a bunch of terrain to paint up - some of the Sector Mechanicus and Sector Imperialis stuff I picked up when the PREVIOUS Kill Team cam out (that I STILL haven't gotten around to painting!?) and I'll have all the Orky scrap fort terrain that's coming in this new one... 

Should keep my busy and out of trouble.... 

Asuryani Force for Epic Apocalypse

I was going to include this in my previous painting update post, but it ended up being so much that I felt it deserved a whole post of its own.

I've been toying with the idea of using the new Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse rules with my "Epic Scale" 40K stuff. Recently I was looking at what I had and took stock and tried to form them into detachments to see how big of a game (in terms of number of units and power level - the minis are really very small...) I could put on the table and what, if anything I'd need to paint to play reasonable sized battle. I found for both Eldar and Space Marines I had in the neighbourhood of 300-400 Power Level. I may paint up a few more items for both forces before I actually get these on the table... I'm shooting for about 400 Power Level on each side.

To start with... The Eldar

ASURYANI FORCE for EPIC APOCALYPSE



The entire force (so far!). This comes to about 400 Power Level

These were previously organized for Future War Commander - where an element is an element and the number of figures on each stand wasn't really important, so I wasn't really fussed about having the correct number of itty-bitty warriors on each stand. Consequently, a number of these elements have less than the basic number of models that should be on a stand - in these cases I assume that it represents the basic/minimum number that would be in a squad - for example,  you can field Warp Spiders in squads of five or ten, my stands have only three on each of them (because I only had ten of them and I wanted more than just two squads and needed something I could use as a CO/HQ element - so I did three stands of three plus a smaller stand of just one - which would represent the HQ element.

Supreme Command Detachment



Headquarters
Farseer (1) - 4PL
Farseer (1) - 4PL
Farseer (1) - 4PL

Lord of War
WraithKnight (1) - 21 PL

Total: 33 Power Level

Outrider Detachment



Headquarters
Warlock (1) on Skyrunner 6PL

Fast Attack
4x Windriders(3) @ 5PL = 20PL
2x Vypers (2) @10PL = 20 PL

Total: 46 Power Level

Spearhead Detachment #1



Headquarters
Warlock (1) on Skyrunner 6PL

Heavy Support
4x Falcon Grav Tank (1) @10 - 40 PL

Total: 46 Power Level


Spearhead Detachment #2 



Headquarters
Warlock (1) on Skyrunner 6PL

Heavy Support
4x Falcon Grav Tank (1)@10 - 40 PL

Total: 46 Power Level


Spearhead Detachment #3



Headquarters
Warlock (1) on Skyrunner 6PL

Heavy Support
4x Falcon Grav Tank (1)@10 - 40 PL

Total: 46 Power Level

Eventually all these "spearhead" detachements above will be converted to "Battalion" detachments as I finish up some Dire Avenger elements that will be able to ride around in them, making them more of a mechanized assault force than a fast, light tank force. Much like these two Vanguard Detachments below with other Aspect Warriors (Fire Dragons and Striking Scorepions):

Vanguard Detachment #1



Headquarters
Warlock (1) on Skyrunner 6PL

Elite
4x Fire Dragon (5) @5 = 20 PL

Heavy Support
4x Falcon Grav Tank (1)@10 = 40PL

Total: 66 Power Level

Vanguard Detachment #2



Headquarters
Warlock (1) on Skyrunner 6PL

Elite
6x Striking Scorpions @7 = 42 PL

Heavy Support
4x Falcon Grav Tank (1) @10 = 40PL

Total: 88 Power Level

Outrider Detachment #2 



Headquarters
Autarch with Warpjump Generator 7PL

Fast Attack
3x Warp Spiders(5) @7 =21 PL

Total: 28 Power Level


With all of these I am at 399 Power Level...

I do have one more detachment I could possibly add...

Allied Harlequin Battalion Detachment?



Headquarters
1x Troupe Master (1) - 4PL (not shown)

Troops
3x harlequin Troupe (5) = 15 PL

Fast Attack

Void Weaver (1) - 9PL
(Not shown, but painted - It's actually just an Eldar Vyper model all painted up in motley)

Total: 28 Power LeveL

I'm not sure about using all these Warlock on Skyrunner Jetbikes as Detachment Commanders... but it's what I got. I do have a few other command stands that could be warlocks on foot or Autarchs. They could easily be mounted up in a spare Falcon... I guess we'll see about how well they do roaring around on Jet bikes and how easily they are picked off!

I do have loads more to paint - THREE Phantom titans! Loads more Falcon tanks, piles and piles of Guardian Defenders, Support Weapons, a couple of Revenant Titans (unfortunately later models - that don't really match the ones that I have for regular scale 40k...), more aspect warriors (Swooping Hawks, Howling Banshees, Dire Avengers, etc). I also have one old tempest heavy grab tank - and a second that's missing its turret (if anyone out there HAS a spare Tempest Turret...?)

Haven't costed it all out, but considering the Phantom Titans are all 130+ EACH - I could easily have 1000 Power Level of forces, should they ever all get painted!!!

I also have loads of Marines, and Imperial Guard, and Squats (which, I guess, could be fielded as MORE Guard), a pile of Chaos and Ork stuff as well...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

later this weekend there should be a game-a-day update for the third week of September and hopefully some Necromunda game reports!

Also I'll probably do a post about the Epic Space Marines for Apocalypse, at some point in the not-too-distant future...