Bolt Action and Star Fleet A Call to Arms

The game store I very occasionally make it down to has people playing a wide variety of games.  Two of the most popular right now are Bolt Action and A Call to Arms: Star Fleet .  I managed to pick up both rule-book this week, one through trade on BGG and the other as a gift.  I've finished reading Bolt Action and have started reading Star Fleet and so far like the look of both systems.  I probably won't start up armies/fleets for both systems right now, so I'm trying to decide what I would enjoy the most.  For Bolt Action I'm leaning towards British Commonwealth focusing on an airborne section.  For Star Fleet I'm not sure which fleet I would lean towards, as I would eventually want to pick up two so that I could play with the wife.  I will probably try a game or two out using the Star Trek Fleet Captains ships that I have painted up and if I really like it could eventually pick some of the ships up.

Death Company with Jump Packs

Finished up the jump packs for the first five death company.  Really happy with how they turned out.  Will offer a nice contrast to the yellow of the rest of the army.  Still need to finish up the should pads and paint up normal backpacks to have them completely finished.

New Primer

Here in Seattle we have a lot of rainy days.  Makes it really hard to prime models during the wet season (October-June).  I recently picked up some Vallejo Surface Primer which can be put through the airbrush to see if that would work.  Tried it out tonight and it's absolutely fantastic!  I did have to up my air-pressure a little bit to spray it without blocking the airbrush up, but it goes on super thin and smooth.  The best part is that it comes in a variety of colors to make painting easier.  There is almost zero smell so the wife won't be bothered by the freshly sprayed models either.  Highly recommend.

White Primer at The Warstore

Lamenters versus Tyranids

Michael and I played an 1850 point game today that was a lot of fun.  We played the Relic Mission and Dawn of War deployment.   Michael had first turn and hid everything behind ruins (which with his Warlod trait gave him 3+ saves) and infiltrated the genestealers.  I put my Land Raider center and flanked it with predators with all my marines hiding behind.

First turn we had a bit of wait and see as neither of us wanted to be stuck in the center giving the other player easy charge lanes.  We both moved up a little and positioned.  I did kill a couple hormaguants with the Vindicator, but FNP genestealers from pyschic powers and also 5+ invuls prevented too much damage on the first turn.

Second turn both mawlocs deepstruck, destroyed the Vindicator and killed a couple marines.  His Tyrant dropped down to try and bust the land raider.  He did pen, but only managed to shake it.  My turn I unload everything in the mawlocs behind my line and manage with the charge to kill both.  I also brought the Tyrant down to 1 wound and charged the hormagaunts that were approaching the relic with the death company.   50 re-roll to hit and wound attacks later they were gone.  I also flamed and assaulted the genestealers on my flank Though FNP saved them big time.  In the end we both killed about half our units there.

My warlord had possession of the Relic (thanks to his Warlord trait making him Scoring, but the unit had a Trygon on one side and 12 Genestealers on the other.  The 10 death company were wiped out, but the Reclusiarch in a challenge with the Brood lord stayed up thanks to his invul save.  They were finished off by the Trygon but managed to thin a couple out on their way.

The rest of the game was a big scrum in the middle.  I still had a few shooting vehicles with nothing interesting to shoot, and I poored all my infantry into the middle to try and keep his troops from picking up the relic.  In the end all my troops were wiped out, he had 3 genestealers left on  a flank, too far away to get the relic, but giving him linebreaker.  We both killed each others warlords, but he had first blood.  So the Tyranids won 3-2.  The game was a blast and really close.  We each had fun moments and it was a particularly bloody match.  One of the best games we've played together and we both had a lot of fun.

Lamenters:
Reclusiarch
10x Death Company
1x Land Raider Crusader
10x Assault Marines (PF, Plasma guns)
10x Assault Marines (PS, Flamers)
5x Sanguinary Guard with banner
1x Priest with Jump Pack
1x Vindicator
1x Predator w/ HB
1x Baal Predator w/ Flamestorm
3x Bikes with plasma guns

Tyranids:
Hive Tyrant w/ Wings and Lash Whip
12x Genestealers Broodlord and Toxin Sacs
12x Genestealers Broodlord and Toxin Sacs
20x Hormagaunts w/ Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands
3x Hive Guard
1x Zoanthrope
1x Zoanthrope
1x Mawloc
1x Mawloc
1x Trygon Prime

Death Company WIP

First five of my Death Company.  Still need to finish some details and paint up the backpacks.  I have magnetized their backs so they can be run with jump packs or on foot.  I've painted them up white rather than the traditional black to differentiate the odd past of the Lamenters and the black rage.