Twilight Imperium: How dim do the fires burn?

Picked up at GenCon, poor TI4 sat on my shelf for months. Waiting. Biding its time as I read the rules and tried to find the time to play it. Then it happened! We got it to the table, played a solid 7 hour four player game where I took the Yssaril Tribes to victory over the others.

This is not that game. As something of an ad hoc affair, I didn't take any pictures!

This is the second game, a three player outing this time around. In purple, I played the Embers of Muaat- and my plan was to use my War Sun to hopefully bully the other players long enough to keep my border safe. The L1Z1X in yellow started with a slightly less prosperous cluster of planets, and followed a plan involving rushing a special tech before drowning the rest of us in super dreadnoughts. Finally the Hacan Collective in green sitting in the richest cluster of sectors with the scoring quick objective points on the mind.

Only one can sit upon the throne!

The very start of the game- we have my Muaat on the left, L1Z1X farside,
and  the Hacan in green.

Turn 1 and 2 has the normal expansion that would be expected. My early
lack of carrier's really impede's my forward motion. Green scores a few
early objective points.

Just before I make it to Mecatol with my War Sun, the Hacan sweep right in
using the gravity well for extra movement, surviving and stealing the 1 vp
right from under my nose.

I eradicate them, but the damage is already done. My opponents do a good
job keeping the Imperial strategy from me.

The L1Z1X rushes up the right side of the galactic map, establishing a
forward foothold right on the edge of Hacan space.

To stop me from scoring an objective dealing with being adjacent to
anomalies (despite me being in dead last) the L1Z1X launch an incursion
into my sector of space, cutting Mecatol Rex off.

Despite loud claims that he will withdraw, I ready my forces to throw
the L1Z1X back.

Two War Suns against four dreadnoughts. Despite the sharp technological
superiority of the L1Z1X, the Muaat are victorious.  

It was a close fight, and as we fought the Hacan continued to accrue points,
taking a three point lead over the L1Z1X (four over the Muaat). The objective
cards were not doing me any favors!

The L1Z1X launches an attack- and I'm forced to help. With their lead,
the Hacan will win momentarily. So my fleet, fresh from my victory
over the L1Z1X and with another fleet threatening Mecatol Rex instead
take the gravity well...

Heavy gravity threatens to tear my small powerful fleet apart...

But no! The Embers make it through unscathed. 

Boxed in and facing four(!) War Suns, the Hacan forces are crushed and driven
back all the way to their home systems. 

While its always terrible when two players team up against
one, this was the state of affairs- it had to be done!

Sadly, that is where the pictures end. I noticed too late the the L1Z1X player was about to sweep a lot of objective points. I built a second fleet and was moving to attack- when they suddenly hit the win condition using the Imperial Strategy card to score a public objective early. On turn 7, the game came to and end.

Final Score:
L1Z1X- 10
Hacan- 9
Muaat- 7

Victory for the L1Z1X! A slow start on my part had me falling too far behind in the middle/end of the game. My fleets were practically undefeated, but in the end the heritors of the Lazax took their rightful place on the throne. We can only hope they will rule... mercifully.

FG/GA Dwarves!

I've had these Dwarves finished for some time now, I'm just looking for an excuse to actually get them to the table. They were bought and painted with the intention of playing them in Frostgrave, but really there isn't much of a reason why they wouldn't fit into Ghost Archipelago as well. The bases I thought might be a problem, but the way I did ice could be seen as water lapping against ruined stones- why not, right?

Agathal the Runecaster, an Enchanter (or... Storm Warden?)

Apprentice and Wroclaw the Captain (or Heritor).

A pair of Barbarian types.

The 'crossbows'.

Treasure Hunter's~

Thugs, or other generic type lads.

A bard and an eccentric drill Knight. More pudge more damage!

3000 pt Double-Headed Giant Tournament!

3000 points. Two players. Who will come out on top?

Our plan was to make our opponents pick between two terrible choices. Focus on the Astra Militarum? Get sliced up by Berzerkers. Focus on Chaos? Get blasted apart by the armored might of the Guard. Fight both? Don't do enough damage to defeat either, and get smacked around. Seemed like a pretty solid, if brutishly simple, plan.

What do you expect when World Eaters are added to the equation? Poor screaming bastards really can only handle the simplest of game plans. This was what we brought to the table:

Riders of Ruin -
Astra Militarum 5 command points
Supreme Command Detachment:
[Warlord] Company Commander Chainsword, Laspistol, Kurolov's Aquila (2pow) 30pts
Primaris Psyker Laspistol (Psychic Barrier, Nightshroud) (2pow) 28pts
Primaris Psyker Laspistol (Psychic Barrier, Nightshroud) (2pow) 28pts
Enginseer Omnissiah Axe(2pow) 30pts
Shadowsword Volcano Cannon, Hull Twin-Bolter, x2 Lascannon/TB Sponsons (26pow) 472pts

Spearhead Detachment:
Tank Commander [Punisher] Punisher Gatling cannon, Hull HB, x2 HB Sponsons, Trackguards (12pow) 221pts
Leman Russ, Battle Cannon, Hull HB (10pow) 152pts
Leman Russ  Battle Cannon, Hull HB (10pow) 152pts
Basilisk Earthshaker Cannon, Hull HB (7pow) 108pts
Manticore Stormstrike Missiles, Hull HB (8pow) 133pts
Sgt. Harker Heavy Bolter (3pow) 50pts
Infantry Squad- Laspistol/Chainsword Sgt, Flamer (3pow) 47pts
Infantry Squad- Laspistol/Chainsword Sgt, Flamer  (3pow) 47pts

Chaos 7 command points

World Eaters Battalion
Dark Apostle with the Brass Collar
Exalted Champion
Berzerkers x8 w/ Chainswords + Axes in a Rhino
Berzerkers x10 w/Chainswords + Axes in a Rhino
Berzerkers x10 w/Chainswords + Axes in a Rhino

Alpha Legion Outriders
Chaos Lord w/ Jump Pack + x2 Plasma Pistols
x5 Raptors w/ x2 Plasma Pistols on Champion + x2 Plasma Guns

x5 Raptors w/ x2 Plasma Pistols on Champion + x2 Plasma Guns

x3 Chaos Bikers
Helldrake w/ Baleflamer

Game 1

Riders of Ruin deployment- we bottled the Khorne Rhino's too close together
and paid for that tactical mistake in the opening rounds of shooting. 

The foes. Three layers of Poxwalkers, with a crunchy Alpha Legion
Center. And OH so many characters- Typhus and Two Daemon Princes
to say the least. 

What's this? Khorne Berzerker's with the Alpha Legion trait to appear right
next to my hapless renegades? With all of the Khorne in our list, its no wonder
how they managed to get so close. 

Butchered to a man- anyone surprised? 

Across the field we have the Helldrake flying forwards to roast so Nurgle while
everyone not trapped in burning Rhino's moves forwards. 

Without a lot of other targets the Shadowsword utterly evaporates a Bloat Drone
(with something like 20+ wounds) and smashes the remaining Alpha Legion Berzerkers.
You might also notice a squad of deepstriking Alpha Legion Obliterators materializing
in the building above my gunline.  

The entire guard force opens fire, killing a few handfuls of the opponent and
reducing the Obliterators to one- who drops my Manticore to 3 health by himself
in the following shooting phase. 

A better view of their lines, pox walkers moving forwards with a blob
of cultists holding off our Deepstrike in the rear. 

The Helldrake (very damaged by shooting) and the Bloatdrone (likewise) have
a pointless slap fight. CAW!

Far more pivotal is the scrum that takes place between the World Eaters and
the combined enemy forces in the direct middle of the table- made all the worse
by a Relic held by a nurgle character nullifying all charge bonuses. 

After a combat phase, the numbers are greatly diminished. The Berzerkers
have taken heavy casualties but killed a pair of characters a a handful of pox walkers-
clearing the way for the guard's guns.

The Berzerkers are even worse off as the second Daemon Prince flys in, leaving
just the Khornite characters and a single mad Berzerker holding up both a Prince and
Typhus- luckily for us. 

The Helldrake, after tearing apart one of the Bloat Drones, finds itself
pulled out of the sky by cultists and pox walkers... somehow.

The Shadowsword fires and annihilates a Daemon Prince, while the Leman
Russes blow apart two other characters left open by the Berzerker's charge-
giving our side a narrow victory!

Game 2:

The second game starts out rocky as the Nurgle/SoB team rockets over the center of the
table supported by Celestine to surround and beat up on the World Eater Rhino's.

Our deployment. In the distance you can  see two or three large units of
pox walkers completely covering the enemy deployment zone.

Here the SoB player teaches me a new trick about how 'ending closer to
an enemy' for pile ins and consolidation can be used to 'dance' around vehicles
so as to surround them- a bit of a gross interpretation, but tis the way it goes.

Celestine jumps behind my lines in an attempt to assassinate my little
character posse, killing the Primaris Psyker. 

With the first ranks of sister's mostly dealt with, the Berzerkers smack
head first into an unmangled Death Guard second wave.

Death Cult Assasins likewise join the fight.

There is quite the whirlwind of violence, and in the end one Berzerker remains
standing, coated in blood and gore.

To save Harker and the Tech Priest, the Shadowsword rumbles to life,
grinding Celestine beneath its treads.

Not that Celestine stays dead for long. Bye bye guardsmen. 

The Deathguard, finally finished they're long slow walk across the board,
burst through the terrain...

And the guardsmen are forced to withdraw. Victory to the Nurglite forces!

Game 3:

Third and final game against a Blood Angels/Raven Guard army.

Black armored Space Marines take up cover on the flanks.

You can see the Librarian Dreadnaught in the center acting as the warlord, and
some scouts holding an objective at deployment with their tasty 2+ saves.

Some scout bikes with a Rhino next to a building full of plasma
Hellblaster fury. 

Our first move has two units of raptors packed with plasma supported
by a lord jumping in and executing the poor Librarian with overcharging
shots.

The poor Raptors are destined to eat most of our opponents fire on
the next turn- serving us in death as well as in life.

Our first two turns are pretty devastating, rolling forwards with everything
and killing unit after unit despite the shadows protecting the Ravenguard
at range.

The Shadowsword blasts apart a thunder hammer wielding
Captain through a window- probably taking the entire
building down with it.

Lightning claw wielding assault marines try one final last ditch attack,
tearing apart a Berzerker squad- but they are quickly put down next turn-
giving us a second, and very solid, victory!

In the end, our team ended up getting second place! Huzzah, not a bad days work. The final fight pushed us over the end in margin of victory but it was a good day overall for the Rider's of Ruin. Every game the Khorne Party Bus ended mangled and all but wiped out- as we suspected!

The Shadowsword was a mixed bag. It was scary and impressive, but sadly none of the opponents we faced had the heavy tank/super heavy presence to justify its expense. There was three or four Knights kicking around the world, just none crossed our path. Next time I field it I might try out a brawling Hell Hammer or even a 'normal' Baneblade.

It was a ton of fun, and I can't wait to try out my next list- it involves Valkyries!