+ inload: Post-event enthusiasm +

+ Gaming at The Corsair Gambit part II +

+ A company of Salamanders Predators sweep in on the attack. +

+ Last inload concerned polishing off a Legio Maximal Reaver Titan for a Legions Imperialis event run by Maximal Fire down at Entoyment in Poole. Very pleased to report that it was a lot of fun! Alex and Johnny who were running things had clearly put a lot of effort into making sure things ran smoohtly, and that was eased along by everyone being a really nice, friendly bunch of players. I'd thoroughly recommend further events down here – Entoyment is a real Aladdin's cave of gaming, and one of my few regrets was the schedule being so packed that I didn't get more chance to explore. +

+++

+ The background for this event was built on the results of the previous Corsair Gambit event earlier in the year, in which the forces of the Warmaster managed to establish a foothold on Nabed-Paleae, Forgethrone of Legio Maximal. As a Salamanders loyalist player, I was part of the taskforce sent to reclaim this critical world. +

+ I won't go into great depth about the games, but suffice to say they were all very fun, and it was a treat to come to a gaming event where everyone was so friendly. +

+ Game 1 +

+ A planetstrike against a defending Sons of Horus army. Highlights included the Kratos tanks that just would not die, the treacherous Reaver Moderatus (I missed all three of its – 2+ to hit – Volcano Cannon shots!), and an absolutely spectacular Sons of Horus army belonging to a great chap called Gary. +

+ I managed a narrow win on objectives here – my strategic skills rather flattered by the fact he had to deploy his army to defend the whole board, while I could pick and choose which parts to contest. +

+ If nothing else, these shots go to show just how cool Legions Imperialis looks on the boards Maximal Fire brought down – and bear in mind that this was one of ten or so, so they'd really put the effort in on terrain. +

+ Green on green. Playing against such a beautiful Sons of Horus army was a real highlight of the weekend. Helps that it was against such a sporting opponent and remained close all the way through. +

+ A shot from the viewpoint of Profugon Iratus. +

+++

+ Game 2 +

+ This game was an ambush scenario, with the Salamanders defending a central ridge against Night Lords attackers, led by a cunning commander whose name – alas – evades my leaking mem-banks. Apologies! +

+ A very different army to face. Rather than tanks with infantry and air support, here I was facing a mass of infantry, Dreadnoughts and jetbikes, largely deployed via Drop Pods. Quite the contrast, and a nice change of pace. At the last event, very little had been released, so most lists were pretty samey – not so here; a very diverse set of lists. +

+ Another very fun game against a lovely opponent who was very patient with explaining the intricacies of drop pods and transports to me. These events are always learning experiences for me; however well-prepared I try to be! +

+ A second close victory here – despite Profugon Iratus being surrounded and brought low by the swift and vicious Night Lords legion. Again, the result could esily have gone either way, and I benefitted from some event special rules that affected morale. The Salamanders' special rules are not quite a hard counter to the Night Lords', but I think were important in how a few close fights fell out. +

+ I had been warned that Titans were a bit pillow-fisted and ineffectual in Legions Imperialis, and I'm sorry to say that was my experience, too. On the plus side, I think having a lot of points tied up in one activation did help my games to go slightly quicker – and of course it was great to be able to field a campaign-specific Legio to lean into the theme of the event. +

+++

+ Game 3 +

+ The day closed with a short sharp shock of a game with the awesome Jon [+IGident: @jonlukedesign +] from Battle Bling – he had designed a lot of the bits in my army, in fact; from the Thunderhawk upgrades to the objective markers. +

+ I had faced his World Eaters at the previous event, and lost in a fairly close tussle across a dense city – but his beautiful army has clearly have been polishing their skills, as they took my army apart in two turns across the salt desert, with minimal casualties! +

+ I'd love to blame tiredness for the number of tactical blunders I made early on, leading to isolated picket forces being bypassed and troops being trapped in their transports, but full credit to him, he kept the pressure up and finished the job in a fittingly brutal World Eater style! +

+ Victories are lovely, but you learn a heck of a lot more from defeats – and when they're in such a friendly, collegiate atmosphere with such a nice gang, there's really nothing to mope about. A third very fun game. +

+++

+ Closing calculations – on Legions Imperialis +

+ I don't think I'm saying anything too contentious to say that Legions Imperialis is a flawed system. It is also, however, a lot of fun. Events like this demonstrate to me that you do get spectacular thematic games, and beneath all the needlessly complex chrome, bells and whistles it retains a good underlying engine that looks great on the table. +

+ You do, however, need to play with the right spirit of cooperation. It would be very easy to abuse the army-building, and if you're looking for the 'best' options in-game, there's rarely even much consideration. With this borne in mind, I was really pleased to see the sheer variety of armies and unit types that people had brought – these were a group of people who clearly love both the setting and the scale, and valued playing the game first and foremost. I'm very grateful to have been playing in this sort of environment. +

+ I hate to say it, but as it stands I'd hesitate to recommend Legions Imperialis to new players until there's a substantial FAQ or revision. I hope that in a year or two the army list, agonisingly incompletely and broken up across multiple expensive expansions, is collected into a single volume. +

+ Of course, when you do get these ingredients together – sportsmanship, beautiful armies, great tables – it's a heady combo, and the game is really very fun. Things largely do what you'd expect them to, and you get the sense of a 'grand sweep of battle'. I just hope GW can get their act together to make Legions Imperialis the success it could be. +

+++

+ Closing calculations – on the Corsair Gambit +

+ On the event itself, I have no real criticisms. Very nicely run, and some flavourful additions that added to the theme. Three games at 2,000pts did feel a little crammed, but we were asked midway through the first whether we'd prefer to cut things to two games. We ended up pressing ahead for three, which I think was the right decision, but for future events – particularly if they're at larger points limits – I think I'd prefer a two-game per day approach. +

+ Personally, I'd have loved this to be done over the course of a weekend; it was nice to meet and catch up with people from last time, but it would have been even better to have less time pressure, and some more time to socialise. +

+ We also got to see a sneak preview of, and free sample from, Battlebuilder – a very snazzy-looking nameplate service that's a collaboration between Maximal Fire, Battle Bling and some others. I hope to do a proper look at that in the near future, but the thing that made it jump out to me is that you can design things 'live' on the website itself. +

 

+ Glittering prizes +

+ I was also delighted to receive the Best Painted trophy, which you can see nuzzled between the free objectives pack we were given, and a flyer for Entoyment's Beachhead 2025 event next year. Winning this was very unexpected, given the quality of armies on display. Turns out that I can thoroughly recommend painting a Titan from the organiser's Legion to score some brownie points with the judges! +

+++

+ The true test of an event is whether you come away filled with enthusiasm, and I'm happy to say that I'm already planning for a potential third event in the Corsair Stars – you can see some additional Land Raider reinforcements above, and as you'll see below, I've also got started on an Iron Skulls maniple for Adeptus Titanicus, too. More on this shortly... +