Saturday, March 26, 2011

Project: Reaver Titan (5) -&- The Reclamation of Galimimus IV

Project Reaver Part 5: Body assembly complete
All that remains now are the weapons and decorative bits such as pistons and plates... oh, and painting of course


With the torso added I can see for the first time the full size of this beast

Towering over the kitchen bench!


Size comparison: 40k Forgeworld Reaver beside vintage Epic Citadel Reaver


Size Comparison: The little epic Reaver is smaller than the footprint of the 40k version!


The Reclamation of Galimimus IV

Last night my garage hosted a 4000 point Apocalypse battle which saw Marc (Orks) and Justin (Chaos Marines) vs Matthew (Deathwing) and Troy (me! Imperial Guard).

As host I set the table up with a ruined Imperial city on one edge and an abandoned Feral Ork village on the other. In the center was the last remaining forest of Galimimus IV (once a world covered in woodland)... a tiny clump of trees.

{Click on images for larger versions}

Setup: The empty Imperial city (West table edge)


Setup: The empty Feral Ork village (East table edge)


Deployment: Matthew claims the Feral Ork village with his Imperial Guard auxiliaries.


Marc and Justin continuously choose to deploy zero units each turn, allowing Matthew and I to put models on the table wherever we like. Our suspicion that they have both chosen Flank March assets seems to be confirmed.


At the start of our third turn we are forced to deploy whatever we have left in reserve. We reveal that we have both chosen Flank March and place the Reaver and Baneblade wherever we like... but our enemies have yet to reach their third turn and so still have nothing on the table!


The forces of Disorder finally deploy onto the table in turn three, as suspected they too have both chosen Flank March! A Stompa appears beside my Reaver close enough to ignore the void shields and manages to remove a structure point and damage the titan's drive. Marc's other Stompa appears on the other side of the table and peels a few void shields off my Reaver, allowing Justin's Chaos Reaver to continue applying fire. I make an accounting error whilst adjusting my remaining structure points and attempt to correct the mistake but Justin is having none of it an insists the damage is correct. Sensing an argument growing I yield and wear my mistake - in future we will not be using dice to record shields/damage!


My heavily damaged Reaver concentrates on Justin's Chaos Reaver, managing to do some damage and wreck its drive. Again there is dice/damage confusion but we push on.


One of my Vendettas zooms across the table to ping the Chaos Reaver from point-blank range, close enough to ignore the void shields although no damage is caused. It is however ready to land and help contest the nearby objective. Meanwhile the Deathwing continue to quietly claim and hold objectives while the Reavers and Stompas blast away at each other. My Reaver takes a destroyer hit while his void shields are down and loses his last structure point. Matthew's Baneblade also goes up in a mushroom cloud.


Vendettas take a few shots at big targets and prepare to land near objectives to unload passengers.

The game ends next turn with Matthew and I on every objective while Marc and Justin are contesting two.

Deathwing/Guard: Four Objectives (Victory)
Orks/Chaos: Zero Objectives

Notes: As mentioned above we must stop using dice to indicate damage effects, remaining shields and remaining structure points as this is causing confusion and arguments. I will be making sets of tokens which clearly indicate "Structure" and "Shield" with values. Also, explicitly stated damage effects will also be required. Gone are the days of "just put a dice on it" - fishing out the correct token may be slower than putting a dice down but the clarity gained will be worth the wait...
Notes: Reviewing the rulebook, we cannot take the same Strategic Asset twice on the same team - so no more double Flank Marches!