The battle for Phalona Reach continues! Though I forgot to take pictures again!!
The Ultramarines tried an armoured punch to break through into Phalona Prime. They were met by Phalonas own armoured might.
The battle started with a fast thrust from the Ultramarines down the centre of the board. Magneus Calgar lead a charge of blade guard into a squad of guardsman, predictably they were cut down but crucially they held up the marines. My ogryns swept in and uneashed a hail of fire before charging in. Ultramarines fell to the Ogryns leaving only Calgar and one other left but Calgar isnt the chapter master of the Ultramarines for nothing. He slaughtered the ogryns leaving just the Commisar leading them alive. Meanwhile the Cerastus knight Lancer that pushed forward alongside Calgar was my no 1 target. 3 Rogal Dorns targeted the knight and brought it down in one turn! Then it exploded! Causing 8 mortal wounds to the 2 Land Raiders .
This loss hit the Ultramarines hard, terminators teleported in and got out of the surviving Lamd Raider. My Gaunts ghosts aka Phalona team 1 were destroyed by the terminators after they took my opponents objective in deployment zone.
My infantry pushed forward along with reserves coming on . The one Rogal Dorn came face to face with the chapter master of the Ultramarines. Everything it had went Into Calgar and took him out (I love the oppressor camera). The 2 land raiders were took out as well cutting off the Ultramarines from using the transport for rapid changes of location.
After this my opponent conceded the game. His remaining forces would struggle to take objectives off me and I still had 3 Rogal Dorns that could pound him from range.
.it was a fun game, when I saw the knight and 2 Land Raiders being set up i had a deep sense of foreboding but the knight blowing up and stripping 8 wounds of each land raider was a huge stroke of luck!
Phalona Reach VP total for Victory: 1000
Phalona Reach Defence Forces: 372
Ultramarines :353
The hololithic display flickered as new data-streams bled into the projection, the ghostly blue light warping and reforming into a fresh vision of the battlefield. Icons shifted, some dimming, others vanishing entirely—extinguished like candles in a storm. The aftermath of the recent engagement was laid bare in cold, clinical detail. Roboute Guilliman stood unmoving for a long moment, one gauntleted hand hovering over the display. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he began to adjust the formations. Entire companies slid across the map at his command, their new positions forming a lattice of containment rather than conquest.
“The fault is mine.”
The words were quiet, but they carried the weight of a thunderclap. Canoness Angelica did not immediately respond. She watched as a cluster of icons—representing the armoured spearhead—flickered uncertainly.
“The engagement was lost the moment I permitted overextension,” Guilliman continued, his voice measured, but edged with iron. “I anticipated a faltering line. Instead, the enemy committed fully. I did not account for the resolve of the Phalonan regiments.”
His hand passed through the projection. A towering sigil—once denoting the proud engine of a Cerastus Knight—glitched, fractured, and then vanished entirely.
“The destruction of the Knight Lancer broke the cohesion of the advance. Its demise was… spectacular.”
For a fraction of a second, something almost human crossed his features—regret, sharpened into frustration.
“Chain-reaction damage crippled both Land Raiders. A single point of failure cascaded into systemic collapse. It is a flaw I should have foreseen.”
Angelica stepped forward slightly, her armour whispering against itself.
“My Lord, the Sisters who witnessed the detonation described it as apocalyptic. No mortal commander—”
“I am not a mortal commander.”
The interruption was not harsh—but absolute. Silence settled between them, filled only by the low hum of the ship and the distant echo of the Chant. Guilliman exhaled slowly, the sound controlled, deliberate.
“That is precisely why the error is unacceptable.”
He resumed his work, more quickly now. Surviving Ultramarine elements—proud warriors of the Ultramarines—were redrawn into tighter formations, forming interlocking fields of fire. Retreat vectors became defensive bastions. What had been a failed thrust was reshaped into a shield.
“The Phalonan Astra Militarum have overextended in their success,” Guilliman said, his tone cooling into pure strategy. “Victory breeds carelessness as often as defeat breeds hesitation.”
He isolated a region of the map. A small outpost pulsed faintly at the edge of the contested zone, its defensive perimeter thin, supply lines stretched and poorly supported.
“Their advance has created a void.”
His massive finger descended, enlarging the projection. The outpost expanded into sharp relief—bastion walls, ammunition depots, vox arrays—all suddenly vulnerable in their isolation. Angelica followed his gaze, her eyes narrowing as she assessed the target. She could already see it—the approach vectors, the angles of assault, the hymns that would be sung as her Sisters advanced through fire. Guilliman’s eyes lifted from the hololith and met hers across the table. For a moment, the vast chamber seemed to contract around that single point of focus—Primarch and Canoness, reason and faith, united in purpose.
“Here,” he said, his voice once more that of the Lord Commander, absolute and unyielding. “Is your next target, Canoness.”
The image of the outpost hovered between them, bathed in cold blue light—waiting. Angelica stepped forward, the glow reflecting in the polished surfaces of her armour. The names within the Tome of the Lost seemed to weigh heavier at her side, as if the fallen themselves bore witness to the moment. She brought her fist to her chest in a crisp, reverent salute.
“It shall be done, my Lord.”
The words rang with conviction—unyielding, unquestioning. And in the shifting light of the hololith, the next battle had already begun.
Phalona Reach
The static metallic tang held in the air, unreal energies from the Knights reactor explosion still lingered on the breeze. Commander Cowley stood in his Rogal Dorns turret surviving the battlefield through his amplivisor. Even in defeat the Ultramarines were dangerous. The stroke of luck was the knight exploding, shattering the main assault of the ultramarines.
They had surged forward like a tidal wave. The knight strode with purpose, a wicked looking spear held ready to impale any armour it got close to. A land raider accompanied the knight.
Commander Cowley remembered the frantic orders over the Vox and the disbelief when the knight exploded. The zealous requests to pursue the Ultramarines but he knew better than to try and run down space marines. He held the forces in check. Only Phalona team 1 disobeyed that order and they paid the price……
In the command centre several officers were slapping each other on the back at the victory they watched on their holo table. General Laricon stood off to one side,
“Fools…..” He muttered to himself. The officers were plotting a grand strategy to take to the governor. Laricon noticed a weak spot in the lines caused by the advance. A position left exposed. He scratched his beard, he took out a data slate and wrote orders to try and reinforce the post but it was a matter of timing. Would they get there to help or clear the bodies?
He left the officers to their grand schemes. He dealt with reality and she was a harsh mistress
As I have mentioned on an earlier post I have started collecting Adeptus Custodes. Over the past few months I have been collecting mostly second hand models and I have around 1000pts now.
I have
Trajann Valoris
I bought him already painted. I have added a few little touches but he's pretty much as is. Quite excited to have a proper epic heroes that can kill many things (I know there are many heroes like this for Space Marines but when you run your own chapter not so many unless you use another characters stats. Which I have done to be fair).
Next up is
Allarus Terminators
The pics have had a filter added to try and brighten the pic bur hopefully you can see the paint job. I have painted these, they came undercoated black so I had to use the slap chop method. I am quite happy how they have turned out.
Blade Champion
This guy was going to be my leader till I decided to buy Trajann. he will be the only chap in my army with swords. I know the Guardians and wardens can have swords but honestly the axes and spears are much cooler.
Custodian Wardens
These guys will accompanying Trajann around the battlefield. I love the axes!
Custodian Guard
These guys did not get the fancy filter treatment. I have this squad done and painted and a box of new ones that I need to make up this week.
Weird having so few miniatures for 1000pts, can you imagine how many tanks and infantry my guard can have for 1000pts. Painting them was a new experience as well, the easy answer is just paint them with gold spray. You would be amazed how many of these miniatures are on Troll trader and second hand sites undercoated that exact way! That put me off as I wouldn't know where to start from a metallic gold undercoat. So I started my usual white primed and went from there. I went with Glittering Loot from the Army painter speed paint metallic range as the main gold. i tried to pick out a few details like the red eyes and some silver pipe work on the armour. The models with capes and robes were slightly more easier to make something pop out. Then after the gold I covered them in Army painter Dark Shade. Which was then dabbed ( I quickly learned not to wipe!) off with a new piece of kit make up egg sponges!
After the dabbing I added a dry brush of a Stormhost Silver from the Citadel colours range. I was going to go with a lighter gold but my cousin Adam whose painting skills are ridiculous! suggested a light silver.
After that just the bases and all done! The terminators are on different bases to my usual style because I forgot to base them........yep so I used some Strickland Mud paint from Citadel colours to texture the base. After that i added some flock.
What's next?
Well I need a cheap unit to hold the back field so my Custodes can go kill many many things. so some Sister of Silence seem like a good idea. We shall see what the second hand market offers up in the next few months.
I have heard about this for a long time to be fair but last year I went to a warganing show called Wargamer (Check out my blog post here ). Great little show and I need to be more organised with work to try and go each year. Well there I got to play BattleTech thanks to the awesome Nat. He ran me and my son through a game of Alpha Strike and we loved it. Big mechs fighting will always be awesome. So christmas came, Alpha Strike and a beginner box appeared from santa. Gonna be fun digging into the game both the shortened Alpha Strike version and the classic
Beginners Box
All the stuff inside looks really nice! Haven't had a proper dig through this one yet but the quality is lovely.
This is the more indepth version of Battle Tech I believe. Where you track damage on your mech by seeing whee on the mech has took the hit. So you can lose an arm but carry on fighting. There are sheets that keep track of armour points on various different parts of the mech.
Alpha Strike
Next up is Alpha Strike, this is the slimmed down version. It allows you to bring 5 or 6 mechs a side and play a battle with them. This box is packed with stuff!
Quick start rules, a small novel and a primer to get you started on the lore
Scenery!
Handy cheat sheet
Mechs!
I love the dice you get with the set but I have a feeling im going to need more than 2. So will.have to dig through my dice collection see what colours I have.
Been a bit of a gap between our Phalona Reach Campaign. Don't worry we haven't forgot and the fate of Phalona Reach all be decided. We have played a couple of 40k games using the mission deck (don't ask me which one ha ha ha I'm pretty sure it's the basic one) and seem to have got the hang of it. So we will use these for a good chunk of the games. I really enjoyed my missions and ideas for the victory points but they need more testing and ideas. There definitely still will be some home made missions but might chuck the GW secondary missions as another way of scoring VP. If each game can net us between 50 to 70 pts that should keep the overall total ticking along nicely.
To this end Matt has written a short story as a certain character of his just recently got a promotion and his own campaign. I have added a short story from the Phalonians perspective. I have the Matts story in this post but I would urge you to visit his page and have a look at the plethora of stories he has written! Check it out here.
The Weight of the War
The ramp of the Ecclesiastical lander hissed open, releasing a cloud of pressurized steam that swirled into the cavernous hangar of the Ultramarines' Battle Barge. Canoness Angelica stepped onto the deck plating, her every footfall ringing with the weight of her power armour. Behind her, two initiate attendants followed in a rhythmic, practiced cadence. The first carried her golden battle helm, a scarred relic recovered from the smouldering ruins of her Order’s Monastery. The second bore The Sacred Tome of the Lost, an immense, gold-chased volume whose vellum pages held the names of every Sister of the Adepta Sororitas martyred in the gruelling war on Phalona
The air aboard the vessel was a suffocating, holy miasma, a "soup" of cloying incense, melting candle wax, acrid promethium exhaust, and the sharp, metallic tang of sacred machine oils. It was the scent of a crusade. The soundscape was equally overwhelming, the Roar. Sub-orbital craft and heavy ground transports thundered across the deck, their engines vibrating in Angelica’s chest. The Chant, the rhythmic, binary-heavy canticles of a hundred Tech-Priests rose in a constant drone, attempting to soothe the machine spirits of the war-engines. Angelica felt a flicker of unease. The war on the surface had ground into a bloody stalemate, with both the Imperial forces and the Rebel insurgents pulling back to lick their wounds. With Lieutenant Titus, the stalwart bridge between their forces, unexpectedly recalled to Macragge by the Primarch’s decree, she found herself navigating a political and tactical vacuum.
The Resilient Heart
A chapter serf, clad in the pristine white and cobalt robes of the Sons of Guilliman, bowed low and began to lead them into the ship's guts. They moved past the bustling Stratagium, where she had once seen Titus hunched over tactical displays, and ascended into the command tiers. Here, the industrial roar faded into a heavy, oppressive silence. The architecture shifted from military utility to Gothic splendour—vaulted ceilings draped in tattered battle standards and marble pillars inscribed with the Codex Astartes. They finally reached a set of towering golden doors, guarded by the Victrix Guard. These elite warriors, statuesque in their ornate plate, offered a silent, respectful nod to the Canoness as the massive locks released with a series of rhythmic, hydraulic clacks.
The doors swung wide to reveal a grand observation chamber dominated by a massive hololithic projection of the Phalona system. In the centre stood a figure that defied the natural order. Roboute Guilliman, the Lord Commander of the Imperium, stood over the table. His towering form, encased in the Armour of Fate, made the Primaris Marines nearby look like children. As the doors closed, the Primarch turned. His movements were a paradoxical blend of ancient authority and cultured refinement, carrying across the room with effortless power. The heavy boots of the Victrix Guard remained motionless as Angelica passed, their presence like statues carved from cobalt and gold. As the massive doors hissed shut behind her the low, rhythmic thrum of the Battle Barge’s warp drive and the frantic clicking of data-slates were replaced by low muttering voices of strategy and logistics.
The chamber was vast, a cathedral of logic and logistics. Shafts of pale light filtered through stained-glass viewports, casting long, multi-coloured shadows across the marble floor. In the centre of the room, the hololithic projection cast a ghostly blue glow upward, illuminating the face of the Avenging Son. Roboute Guilliman did not look up immediately. He moved a massive, armoured hand through the flickering light of the hololith, shifting troop icons with the grace of a musician. Even without his helm, he radiated an aura of such sheer, crushing authority that Angelica felt the breath hitch in her throat.
"Canoness, welcome, you find the air of my ship a bit thick?" Guilliman asked, his voice a deep baritone that seemed to vibrate in the very marrow of her bones. He finally turned, his eyes, ancient and weary, yet burning with an intellect that moved faster than any mortal mind, settling on her.
"It is the scent of duty, Lord Commander," Angelica replied, her voice steadying as she found her resolve. "It is not unlike the incense of the Cloister, merely... more industrial."
Now I had to make a short story from my side, just be warned my writing skills are much less than Matts.
“Are these confirmed” Governor Xavier Snarpe waved his hand over 2 data slates he had just read.
“Not 100 % Governor, Vox intercepts can be unreliable but the tech priests say the degree of certainty is within acceptable limits. “ his aide said as he picked up the data slates clearing the holo map projector.
Snarpe lost in thought noticed the movement and snapped back to reality, he activated the holo map. The reds and blues showing enemy forces and friendly forces looked the most stable they had been in a long time. Both sides had stopped and pulled back from fighting to reorganise and re-arm. He smirked, they had not expected this from just one planet. Phalona Reach had given the Imperium a bloody nose at the very least.
“Gather the commanders please”
The room was filled with generals and other officers all scanning copies of the data slates he had been reading minutes before . Their faces expressionless as they digested the new information. Some carried injuries sustained in Phalona Reach's struggle for independence but all knew what they had signed onto before this whole thing had started. Not much would surprise them.
“Governor, this is not ideal, “ General Laricon said. His grim features showed a young man aged by what he had seen not by any natural process.
Snarpe snorted a laugh down at the General's dry response,
“No General, it's far from ideal. I feel we should take it as a compliment. Our little planet has caused such a nuisance that the Commander of the Imperium has stopped by to put us in our place. “
That drew a laugh from the assembled officers. The slates contained intercepted vox traffic saying Roboute Gulliman Primarch of the Ultramarines and Commander of the Imperium had arrived in System.
“I believe the end game is closing. It seems we have made to much of a nuisance of ourselves. I was hoping for a defence against an imperial General and after a bloody nose they leave us alone to avoid anyone knowing their shame. Rotten luck to have Astartes in the area at the start. The Adeptus Sororitas have been a constant needle and Marshall Drevals obsession did nothing to help our
cause.
I will try and draw the battle to here Phalona Prime . I believe that is what Roboute will ask of the Adeptus Sororitas and Ultramarines. Cut the head and the snake will die. “ Snarpe looked round the room and swelled with pride. Non of his commanders looked frightened just determined.
“The defence of Phalona Prime will be priority. Start to move your forces into the city. They want the head of the snake well they will have to work for it”
murmurs of ascent rumbled through the assembled officers.
“Right get to it. Send Dutch and Lt Dimitriv in please as you go out”
Snarpe sat down in his chair as the generals filed out talking strategy. Barging through the last few officers leaving a burly man in combat gear and smoking a cigar .
“You requested my presence . “ Dutch said a permanent look of boredom on his face.
“You have a prisoner from a skirmish on the city limits. “ Snarpe enquired
“Yes she was awaiting meeting your esteemed self. “ Dutch followed this with a small fake bow
“Quite. I need you to take her to the edge of our lines and release her. “
Dutch looked shocked
Snarpe pleased he had managed to break the soldiers wall of indifference.
“Yes, I am not full of vengeance like Marshall Dreval was and I have no need of her. There will be no negotiations for which a hostage would be useful. “
Dutch saluted, “Your wish is my command” he walked out the door as loudly as possible it seemed.
In comparison a smaller man marched in and stood at attention.
“Lt Dimitriv reporting for duty!”
“Ah Lieutenant, I was reading a report about how you held your ground against the enemy with honour and skill.”
The Lieutenant looked shocked that a commander had actually read a report of bis.
“I have a special mission for you. In sector 23 there is a column of vehicles assembling. They will need you and your unit to lead them to these coordinates.” Snarpe slid a data slate over the Lt Dimitriv. “Where you will hand over the cargo to our mysterious allies the Lion Warriors. After the cargo has been transferred you're free to return here and aid the defence or form a guerilla unit and disappear somewhere to strike at the enemies rear.”
Lt Dimitriv started to stammer out words before visibly taking a large breath to calm him self.
“Yes cpmmander . I will do as you ask” he saluted and took the data slate . He marched out the room.
Snarpe leaned back, he could feel the command level start to pulse with activity, he had been distance from the fighting for to long. Now he would lead his people.
Already blue dots on the holo map started to move back towards Phalona Prime. Snarpe nodded with satisfaction.
A few hours later,
2 figures marched through a wooded area. One a tall male smoking a cigar the other a woman of smaller statue but burning with a defence that could not be tamed. Ropes held her wrists securely as they walked. She scowled at the man as he lead her .
“Why didn't you just shoot me here or back in the city in front of the rest of the heretics?” the prisoner asked her words dripped with hate.
A deep chuckle came from Dutch
“Oh we have a special surprise planned for you.”
After ten more minutes Dutch stopped, the prisoner looked around, a hint of nervousness passed over her face. She was clearly struggling to read Dutch and his intentions.
Dutch unsheathed his combat blade and approached the sister of battle. She did not shy back, her eyes burned with hatred.
“I am not afraid to die, I go to the emperor with a song in my heart knowing you heretics will burn .”
Dutch brandished the blade in front of the sisters face, a flicker of fear sparked inside her, before he moved inhumanly fast and slicing her bindings.
“Well you won't be meeting the Emperor just yet. You wanna be heading that way” he pointed out into the woods away from the city they had walked from.
“Now shoo “ he gave her a gentle push in the direction he had pointed and then walked away disappearing into the woods without a trace.
The Adeptus Sororitas stood for a few minutes unsure of what to do before starting to walk the way she had been shown.
Another one I hear you say! Well yes, to add to my guard and space marines. It's mainly due to one animation I saw while scrolling through FB (Cheeky FB page plug here). It's from a warhammer TV show called Tithes I believe. The clip I watched portrays a Adeptus Custodes absolutely mulching some Tryanids. Their Guardian Spears are just awesome.
Now I know it's another Imperium force but hear me out .
I looked at Chaos and I have never been that bothered by them but I thought Death Guard might be cool but I don't have an awful lot of room left so a small deadly elite force that can fit in one box is preferred. Also have you seen the models, the details? I don't have the skill for all that detail and would end up hating them. Tau again don't have the room for all those battlesuits! Tryanids and Orks are both horde and I absolutely have no more room for another horde army. If I did i would be an Ork player in a heart beat.
The plan is to fill one easy plastic storage box A4 sized with the force. I reckon I could get just over a 1000pts in one box though GW not helping recently dropping the cost of a Custodes squad. Yeah won't be any vehicles in that but its mainly the infantry i like the look of.
Yes these sound like famous last words but I'm gonna try!
So far I have 4 custodian guard. 3 terminators and a shield champion. All second hand sound need a touch of work. Christmas is fast approaching so highly unlikely to have them painted soon.
*Update*
Got some wardens as well ! All built ans sand on the bases just awaiting an undercoat
Well thats the year done! Another year of wargaming, mostly 40k as we got really into the narrative campaign I came up with. We have played some good varieties of games and it had encouraged ys to get models painted. Yes its been a bit rough eound the edges and some things haven't worked and somethings have. We have had a blast doing it so thats the main thing. The campaign is still on going, that 1000VP total is awhile off yet. Then gotta work on another campaign to try ha ha ha.
I know in the new year me and Matt wanna try some new games to break up the 40k. For this I wanna try:
Star Wars Xenos Rampant.
I have the legion models so I am currently writing up lists for us to try. For those that don't know Xenos Rampant is a generic rule set that you use to tailor any force you want in a sci fi setting. It's based off the fantasy rule set Dragon Rampant which is based off the rules for Lion Rampant and historical rule set. Want to see the Klingins go against Orks ? You can with Xenos Rampant.
Next up is
BattleTech
I have a good idea I an getting BattleTech Alpha Strike and the Beginner Box for Christmas (Joy of people just saying send me the link don't explain it ha ha ha). Me and my son had great fun playing this so can't wait to show it to other people.
And lastly
Specifically 3rd Edition as I have not tried it yet and really want to. I have a large British force and I know Matt is itching to get his Soviets back out.
These will be the main three games I try other than 40k. Still have all my other games that I own to try if anyone wants to try something new.
I recently got the Black Ops rulebook after playing it at the Wargamer. I still wanna make a project for this so far in my notes I have SAS raid in a fictional country. Found on Etsy some SAS 20mm models so might buy some.to see the quality.
I have plans for a super elite 40k Army so watch this space for more models.
Speaking of models, I worked out i painted a huge 78 models! That's quite impressive for me. I still need to slow down my painting and not rush paint jobs.
My favourite model I painted this year? I think it easily is the a Wookie model one in particular.
Its a really cool model to start with anyway but I am super happy with how it came out.
That's it for the year!
Happy New Year to all my readers thank you for perusing my rambles .
Wow! What a mile stone for my little blog, its been running 10 years and at the time of reading this has a total of 319620 views. I know many will be repeat rea
ders and I thank you so much for continuing to support my ramblings about wargaming. I love wargaming and the blog is a lovely way of getting my excitement across.
I have played quite a few different games over the years. It has been a bit more 40k recently but that's the most popular game at the club I go to so thats what we tend to play. Also the narrative campaign has got me and Matt quite hooked as well so we have leant to playing that.
My painting and modelling skills have absolutely improved. You can tell from the models in my first post to the models iam painting now is immense. Well I think so
When I started
Present day!
I love the fact I have covered and played quite a variety of games . Across the Dead Earth will always have a special place in my heart as the game that got me back into wargaming, the silliness that is Rumble slam and complicated ruleset of Fallout Wasteland Warfare.
Anyway thank you for reading my posts! And here's to 500 more blog posts!
