Played two games with my Drukhari recently, one a Boarding Actions game using the new set of terrain for that I painted up, and the other the first of a series of games I’m going to tie together this year where my goal is to kill a Commander of every faction in the game before I’m done for the year. Two great games, and the battle reports for both are below.

Into the Dark

This was a Boarding Actions clash between my Boarding Patrol led by a Haemonculus versus Zack’s Space Wolves. It used all the Arks of Omen boarding rules both in force composition and gameplay.

Haemonculus Oribraq cackled to himself as the last quiet whine of the cutting devices died down. They were into the ship. It was a bold plan. A daring plan. A master stroke that would surely cement his worth within the Coven’s hierarchy, and maybe impress his Archon if he was lucky as well. Slipping onto a Space Wolves escort ship on deep patrol in the system of Fenris using a drive-silenced slip, Oribraq had a fantastic objective: the geneseed storage system of the ship. This ship had seen action recently–an Ork cruiser from a neighboring system had tried to land forces on an outlying exoplanet. There were sure to be a few losses, and the ship had not yet returned home. The possibility of both the mon’keigh’s rudimentary cloning system data and their super-engineered clone stem cells whet Oribraq’s lips with possibility. So many variations to craft from flesh, and the knowledge and seeds there could help immensely.

His force of Wracks stormed onto the ship from the hole they had cut thru the hull, and at first their surprise attack was devastating. Early casualties fell amongst the Space Wolves that responded, and while there was some resistance–particularly from the terminator-armored amongst them–initially Oribraq’s silent, slavering creations covered varied decks with their furious assault.

Even a modified Clawed Fiend from the arena pits was unleashed into the hold, but it was torn down by the hail of bullets coming from some of the Space Wolves’ modified suits. Where the Drukhari could get into combat they slew their foes, but the hail of firepower whittled down even the sturdy frames of Oribraq’s Wrack creations.

The small squad of silent Incubi that Archon Yraleath had dispatched to “oversee” the mission (Oribraq rankled at their presence, but if it got him his target it was fine) moved off to a different area of the ship, where they cut down a squad of the Wolves who were trapped in a small service shunt. However, their destructive power being aimed at a corner of the board rather than helping clear a pathway to the Geneseed repository proved to be a problem.

Two Space Wolves heroes fought side-by-side in the corridors, repelling every Drukhari that tried to make their way past to get to the precious geneseed. Despite the weight of numbers, Oribraq’s forces came up just short of controlling enough of the decks to snatch their prize. Seeing that the numbers were bound to fail, Oribraq decided on discretion rather than valor, and turned his attention to taking some captives from the servile classes that worked upon the ship. The Space Wolves could perhaps be duped that his goal was not their geneseed, but simply an ill-advising capture raid in the void of space. That way, he could return in the future. His agents would watch and wait from their hidden routes of the webway, and keep him appraised of the next time there might be a bounty of Space Marine stem cells to be purloined.

All-in-all a fun game that ended up being pretty close in the results. The Space Wolves were able to be a bit more durable in the key phases of the game, so while they were wiped out except for characters the lead on points became insurmountable for the Drukhari to quick close the door on. A great game: awesome painted models clashing on cool terrain vs an awesome opponent.

A (First) Head Hunted

This was a regular game of 40k where my Realspace Raid took on Dave’s Ultramarines, looking for the trophy kill of his Commander.

Archon Yraleath the Calcimineer had paced the corridors of his mansion for the three hundred fourteenth time when he finally decided. He was an artist, a bon vivant, a profligate sensualist… and his walls lacked the décor they deserved. Yraleath painted with the blood of foes, and had done canvas after canvas with the blood of all manner of creatures from the galaxy. But his best work, the best of inspirations, came from the blood of the very greatest of foes. And he realized–it was time for a massive multi-section mural on the wall of the east wing, just before the doors that opened out onto the terrace and the cold perpetual twilight of Commorragh. One detailed with the blood of leaders of every faction and race that strode the stars. It was time to begin the most ambitious hunt of his long, long life. A collector’s hunt. A trophy hunt. A heads-hunting endeavor of sorts. A painting of the agonies of each foe, with pigments mixed out of their own blood. A worthy décor for him.

Why not start with the most ubiquitous of foes–the most dreadfully hum-drum and straight-laced amongst the mon’keigh’s super soldiers, the so-called Ultramarines. It took his agents mere days to locate a force of Ultramarines in a sector with a webway exit. And judging from his handling of some other threats, their commander was indeed a delightfully fierce opponent. “Perfect” thought Yraleath, “It will be his blood and visage I start with.

Yraleath’s haemonculus advisor Oribraq had returned from a recent raid with a new batch of experiments, so it was time to give him a bit of a knock-back-down-to-size. Yraleath landed his forces on the planet, using the haemonculi’s Coven to provide a distraction on the ground while the two Venoms laiden with Yraleath’s elite shrieked toward their target. The Ultramarines used tactics and technology blended to surround the ground forces, and savaged the assembled Wracks that Oribraq had lugged along on the strike.

Yraleath’s Ravagers had their sights full with the Imperial Knight that supported the Ultramarines, doing some damage but ultimately falling to the firepower of it and one of the Ultramarines’ ancients encased in dreadnaught battle armor. However, an ambitious young Succubus that Yraleath had recruited was not deterred. Even while the squad of hypex-drugged Wyches she led were gunned down by the lumbering titan upon approach, she herself laid into it with an asburd fury. The slicing fever of her Tryptich Whip landed mortal blow after mortal blow on the massive warsuit–and while there was a good amount of luck that was included in her success, her nasty precision with her swirling strikes and deadly weapon was sufficient to just barely down what remained of the titan. Yraleath made a note to watch her in the future–as an ally and as a threat both. Maybe he should give her an impossible task… hmm.

With many of the Ultramarines and their allies cleared from the field, Yraleath himself closed upon the Captain of the enemy forces. Using hidden speed he struck, managing to injure the Captain severely in the first strike. However, it was just not enough to take out the Captain, who had some manner of force projector that protected him from the most lethal of the blows–in addition to the full suit of powerful armor. In turn, his own Shadowfield failed after the second strike of the Captain, leading to Yraleath losing a leg and an arm in the wink of an eye. Bloodied and tumbling backward, the Archon shouted with his last mortal breaths for his haemonculus. Yraleath treated Oribraq quite well (especially considering his forces played decoy today), and he was confident that the blackmail he had on the twisted flesh-crafter was sufficient for him to trust the re-vivification process ahead. She Who Thirsts would not get his soul this day. Yraleath’s last command before he slumped into unconsciousness was to his Incubi. “Bring me… his head… it will aid my own convalescence to do some art.” He blacked out as the cruel blades of the Incubi sliced into the Captain from all angles. He’d need to be more careful ahead, to ensure he gets the full joy of the kill.

Again, a fun game. I managed to win the game and defeat my foe. Dave is a great opponent, and I had a blast facing such a beautifully painted army. So here’s my head-hunting tally, which I’ll update as I go and defeat more leaders/HQ/Warlords.

Painting Progress

Finished up a group of five Hellions–the first of many (many). These are fun to paint, and I’m glad that I had the practice of doing my Beastmaster on Skyboard conversion and my units of Wyches before tackling these.

They took me longer than expected, but now that I’ve got down the reminder of how to do them (as it was a while since I last painted those Wyches)

I’m also really proud of the Into the Dark boarding action terrain set I painted up (in the first pictures above, and a few detail examples below). Took a lot of my painting time of late but was entirely worth the labor.

Army Painted Totals

40k Aeldari (Primarily Drukhari but also Asuryani, Ynnari, and Harlequins): 133 PL

Aeronautica Imperialis Aeldari: 373 points

• Warhammer 40k