Here we have my "almost a week late" summary of the noble (:P) forces of Everblight (me), vs the Steamrolling army of Khador (Wenchkilla), and the fanatical minions of Methoth (LGS guy). This was a straight battle box err.. battle. All the photos take place at the end of each turn. I apologize, some of this might be a little bit off since my memory is terrible.
Setup: LGS Guy: Bottom right Me: bottom left Wenchkilla: top middle
First Turn
Rather uneventful. I cast Spiny Growth on my carnivean, Wenchkilla casts fog of war on his stuff, and we all move toward the centre.
Second Turn LGS Guy: Moves his heavy Warjack (Crusader?) towards me. And his two lighter Warjacks (Repenter & Revenger) towards Wenchkilla. Me: I slowly consolidate my forces hoping that one of the other two players will get entangled with one another. I sneak up along the side of the cliff, hoping to stay out of range of the Khador Destroyer. My warlock dings LGS Guy's Crusader with an arrow but doesn't do much meaningful damage. Wenchkilla: Gets his juggernaut up close and personal with the revenger and does a fair deal of damage to it. Amazingly enough the thing survives and the Juggernaut is knocked back 1" because of the revenger's shield. Dings one of my shredders using the gun on his Destroyer.
Third Turn LGS Guy: Gets his Crusader into hand to hand combat with one of my Shredders and tears it a new one. Unfortunately since they're small there's not enough room and the thing dies. He attempts to slam the Juggernaut into Sorcha to no avail. Manages to do some damage but nothing that will stop the jack from continuing on. Me: Wanting to avenge the loss of my shredder, my Carnivean charges into hand to hand combat spraying the the Crusader with his dragon breath and unleasing all his fury into the blasted thing. I manage to take out three systems with some very lucky dice rolls and the thing deactivates. Wenchkilla:The Juggernaut throws one of LGS Guy's light Warjacks into the other. Unfortunately because of scatter they're both still in melee range. Both warjacks are in rough shape but still operating. Sorcha takes a shot at LGS Guy's commander but doesn't do anything.
Fourth Turn LGS Guy: Pops his feat and knock all our stuff down. He continues wailing on the Juggernaut and takes out its right arm. Me: Spend my turn getting up. *yawn* Wenchkilla: Stands Sorcha up and is just within range to shoot at LGS Guy's hero. Kills him. I know, we were surprised too.
Fifth Turn Me: Start moving my Carnivean towards Wenchkilla's Destroyer. I move Lylyth on top of the hill and ding the destroyer a couple of times for very little damage. Wenchkilla: Moves his battered but not beaten Juggernaut and Sorcha Towards me. Backs his destroyer away.
Sixth Turn Me: I shoot once a the Destoryer and Once at the Juggernaut with Lylyth. I do a little bit of damage to each and just barely miss taking out the juggernaut's crucial third system. I move a shredders in to no avail (only one could reach and he didn't do any damage). My Carnvivean finished off the job and the Juggernaut is finally disabled. Unfortunately.... Wenchkilla: Uses windrush on Sorcha, covers a lot of ground, pops his feat, freezes Lylyth and proceeds to punch her in the kidneys until she dies from it.
All in all, awesome game. I thought I had it right up until the very end. Take aways from this game is not to leave Lylyth alone. She works best with stuff between her and the enemy at all times. Here's hoping for some sweet double revenge in game 3.
Great job on the battle report! The pictures at key moments really liven it up
Some interesting personal notes from this game:
The juggernaut was on fire for 3 or 4 turns, and it failed to do any real damage. Hilarious.
If I ever face Sorscha myself: Do not put any warcasters within 14" LOS of her before she pops her feat unless you are willing to let them go.
Focused firepower = dead menoth casters
I look forward to the game this Wednesday! Going to field the Butcher, which should be interesting. He is a melee monster, (he can do 24+5d6 dmg on charge & feat turn first attack), but his spell support does leave something to be desired. He does have some nice upkeep spells though.
Just played my very first fantasy game versus a friend. Here's a brief battle report. If you find something that doesn't sound rigth it probably isn't we only skimmed the rules before we began.
Tomb king army
Heroes
Tomb prince (General) 100 pts
- Ligth armor + 2 pts
- Great weapon +4
Total cost 106 pts
Liche Priest (Hierophant) 115 pts
- Skeleton steed +8 pts
Total 123 pts
The battlefield was a standard small field with a pyramid about 6 inches out of my deployment zone or so (top) and to the center rigth of the board and with a small forest about in the middle and to the left of the board.
I started out deploying first and hid my Warriors with the prince in them behind the pyramid and the ligth cav with the hierophant in the middle of the board.
The empire player set up his swordsmen just to the left of the pyramid (on his side of the board of course) with a unit of handgunners on either side. His knigths with the captain were placed on the far left.
Turn 1
He got first turn and seeing as he was out of shooting range marched everything up the board.
I responded by hiding my skeletons just above the pyramid and the rotating them with an incantation while the ligth cav tried to hide behind the forrest, also with an incantation.
Turn 2
Quite a few of the handgunners still have line of sigth to the ligth cav (oops) and shoot, killing one. The other ones try to go for a better position behind the swordsmen who marches up to the side of the pyramid. The knigths meanwhile march up to the forrest and wheel around a bit further to the left.
I abuse incantations of movement (we didn't realise that he actually had dispel dice untill quite late, but he still only dispelled 1 incantation) and bring my warriors out from behind the pyramid, wheel them and charge his swordsmen head first.
Meanwhile my ligth cav see the gap between the knigths and his swordsmen and use incantations and their free reforms to get a nice flank charge in.
Unfortunantly the swordsmen flee before there is any killing done. They run straigth through a unit of handgunners who also flee down towards the rigth corner.
My skeletons pursue to just about an inch from the swordsmen while my cav unfortunantly has to pursue straigth ahead and therefore goes to the rigth. Being free of combat I reform them instead and they take a shot at the handgunners who are fleeing, killing 1 (yay? It's the only kill from shooting they)
Turn 3
Swordsmen rally while his handgunners wheel around again. His knigths are stuck and reforms to be able to get a flank charge in on my skeletons.
I naturally charge his swordsmen head on, using the incantation of smiting for a few extra hits. They don't flee from the fear. My fast cav goes straigth down, uses an incantation of movement and charges the swordsmen in the back. They loose badly to CR and run straigth into the cav.
Turn 4
Knigths charge but suprisingly only kill a few skeltons and I even kill a knigth. I still loose to CR but only 1 skeleton thanks to the banner and outnumbering.
The left group of handgunners find themselves starring into a melee and instead choose to form a line between the knigths flank and the ligth cav seeing as they won't be able to shoot anyway. The do point themselves towards the ligth cav.
His other group of handgunners rally and line up to shoot.
On my turn the prince challanges Sir Robin since he doesn't have a lance to back him up anymore. He declines. The knigths take two more casulties, kill quite a few skeletons (I think I've lost almost half of them or so by now, but I still have rank bonuses), fail their CR and run.
My fast cav decides that they can take on the rigth group of handgunners and charge. The handgunners stand and shoot, gunning down three horses. I raise two but the loss of their charge bonus hurts me and I actually loose the combat quite bad. My hierophant finds himself alone facing 7 pissed off handgunners.
Turn 5
Sir Robin galantly leads his knigths of the board. The three handgunners in BtB contact with the priest gives him 1 wound but he lives. The handgunners now facing the warriors gives them a volley, killing quite a few skeletons.
My hierophant tries to raise some help but we have rememberd the dispell dice since turn 4 and this is the single incantation that the empire player actually manages to get off. My priest then takes another wound and dies. I charge the handgunners who dies a bit and then flee, but they take quite a few skeletons with them. I don't manage to pursue that much.
I fear my army crumbeling to dust but the only unit left is with my prince. LD 9 = thx.
Turn 6.
Far rigth handgunners wheel a bit I think. The handgunners whom I try to chase of the board reforms.
Don't remember exactly what happend in the ensuing combat but when it's finished there's 5 handgunners left and a prince and his small, small retinue of surviving skeletons.
Outcome:
386 VP for the Empire player, 100 of those for holding the far rigth table edge (which we didn't even know you could get points for ) Out of my forces my tomb prince and 4 of his skeletons are still alive, but he hasn't taken a single wound.
380 VP for me. Half a group of soon to be dead handgunners and 7 quite live ones on the other side of the map.
Conclusion: I totally outmanouverd him in the early game with my incantations. That and the fact that his army composition sucked (the handgunners did very little, and most of what they did was in melee) got me a draw. I just feel that he had a lot more, and a lot better units than I had.
I probably shouldn't have charged with just my ligth cav though because they really had no reedeming futures once they were in melee.
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waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaow - Felicia, SPFT2:T
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
edited September 2007
1500: Gamma Cleanse
(North is always towards my opponent’s side of the table. Rolled a 6 for mission choice, Marines rather inevitably won the strategy roll, Marine player chose Gamma Cleanse. Salamanders won roll for starting quarter.)
Salamanders
Master: Power weapon. Started off standing behind tac marines alpha Techmarine: w/servo arm. In cover behind the arch Dreadnought: NE corner behind the Vindicator Tactical Squad Alpha: x10 Behind the hill, near the edge of the table. Tactical Squad Beta: x5 w/Rhino. Behind the arch terrain the Tech marine was lurking in. Scouts Alpha: x5. In cover behind the Vindicator. Scouts Beta: x7. Behind the dreadnought. Landspeeder Squadron: 2 speeders. Assault cannon-multi-melta/heavy flamer-multi-melta. Tucked away behind the Predator. Vindicator: East side of the hill. Predator: Past the arch, near the east edge of the table. Terminators: x5. In orbit somewhere.
Splinter Fleet Rasen Hive Tyrant: 2x scything talons, flesh hooks, wings. He was supposed to squeeze in amongst the hormogaunts, but I misjudged the space between them and the edge of the deployment zone, so he got crammed into the cemetery as far forward as possible. Broodlord/Retinue: x9. Extended Carapace, Flesh Hooks. Out of sight behind the hill, toeing the 12†line from the enemy. Hormagaunts: x14 flesh hooks. Crammed into the space between the cemetery and the rocky hillside so that they could scamper off without worrying about terrain checks. Fleshborer Gaunts: x10. On the eastern edge of my deployment zone, to go scurrying off into the SE corner and hopefully drawing some fire. Spinegaunts: x10. Hugging the 6+ save of the rocky hillside, ready to go charging forward and fire pointy things into marines ASAP. Elite Carnifex Alpha: Devilfex configuration(Enhanced Sense, dual Twin-linked) Devourers. East of the Cemetery. Elite Carnifex Beta: Devilfex configuration. Perched on the western cemetery wall. Heavy Carnifex Alpha: all the trimmings, with Venom Cannon and Barbed Strangler. On the rocky hill on the western edge of the table. Heavy Carnifex Beta: also stuffed full of biomorphs, with VC and BS. Cemetery, east side. Zoanthrope: Warp Blast/Synapse. Right of Carnifex Beta. Gargoyles: x8. Off eating small animals and large house pets somewhere else.
I win roll for 1st turn.
Turn One – Tyranids
Movement: Everything goes scurrying forward. I roll well on my difficult terrain rolls for everything save Hfex Alpha, who has a particularly ridiculous fear of walking over loose pebbles, and moves 1 inch.
Shooting: The Zoanthrope attempts to kill Scouts Alpha with the power of its brain, and fails. Hfex Beta manages to shake the Vindicator 3 times with its venom cannon, and while the thrashing vines of the Barbed Strangler scrabbled ineffectively across the surface of the Vindicator, they did manage to catch one of the nearby Scouts, crushing him against the side of the tank. Hfex Alpha, still mincing about amidst the treacherous gravel fields, fails to make an impression upon the ranks of Tac A, who, lead by their Master, point and laugh. Efex Beta shuts them up, 8 twin-linked, wound re-rolling shots leaving three marines with helmets full of brain eating worms, and little else.
Assault: Having crested the hill and seen the bounty of targets laying beyond, the Broodlord & buddies charged down the far side, smashing against the side armor of the Vindicator. The mighty Broodlord himself did nothing but score the paint in parallel lines, but the accompanying Genestealers ripped the vehicle apart with such fury that the shells inside spontaneously detonated, resulting a fireball that scythed down three Scouts, and left one ‘stealer nothing more than a smoking carapace. So violent was it that several members of Tac Alpha were blown off their feet, although they all got back up again.
Turn 1 - Marines
Movement: The Rhino blasts forward into the SE quadrant at max speed, throwing a track as it bounces over a piece of wreckage, marines spilling out the side hatch and taking up defensive positions. The Landspeeders screamed by overhead close enough to clip the antennae, swerving to face the still distant Fgaunt brood. Tac Alpha and Master move towards the Flyrant, intent on avenging their exploderated brothers. The dreadnought stomped towards the Broodlord, with similar intent.
Shooting: Massed bolter fire put one wound of the Flyrant. The Dreadnought frapped two stealers with it’s Assault Cannon, cooked one with it’s heavy flamer. Scouts Beta lines up their sniper rifles on the Fgaunts, and dropped two. The Razorback vaporized the Zoanthrope in a single barrage, collapsing synapse coverage on the east side of the board.
Assault: Maddened beyond all sense, the sole survivor of Scout Alpha ran through the flaming wreckage of the Vindicator, leaping from the top of the hulk to land in the midst of the chitinous horde, and was torn apart almost before his feet touched the ground.
Turn Two – Tyranids
Movement: I forget my reserve roll for the Gargoyles. Once more, the horde advances. All my out of synapse units pass their leadership checks (which at this point included Hfex Alpha and the Spinegaunts), and the Fgaunts and Efex Alpha go east into the SE quadrant. Hfex Alpha managed to stumble just far enough to ensure that he’d have to make another roll next turn attempt to escape the hell of accursed tiny rocks.
Shooting: The Fgaunts take one wound off the Techmarine (who’d been forgotten previously), and Efex Beta finished the job. Hfex Beta managed to blow the Multi-melta off of one Landspeeders, and the Barbed Strangler pod ripped the Assault Cannon off the other.
Assault: I was so eager to get the Genestealers into the thick of things that I forget to fire with either of the Alpha fexes. I also forget to charge Tac Alpha. Broodloard & co charge the Dreadnought, which obligingly goes ‘boom!’ killing a ‘stealer.
Turn 2 – Marines
Movement: Terminators teleport in, appearing in the space between the rocky hillside and the cemetery that used to be filled with gaunts. Speeders moved in close enough to the Fgaunts for their short-ranged weapons to hit.
Shooting: The Heavy Flamer on the Speeder was just out of range, but the other Multi-melta slagged one gaunt. Between the lascannon and their bolters, tac squad Beta managed to inflict two wounds on Efex Beta, with the Predator adding one more. The many sniper rifles protruding from Scout Beta’s position left it with a neat set of holes where its face used to be. My armor saves against those four wounds? 1-1-1-2. Deadfex is dead.
Assault: zen zen arimasen.
Turn 3 – Tyranids
Movement: Gargoyles deep strike in. I aimed for the spot that will let them shoot at the back of the Predator, but scatter dropped them square between the Predator and Scouts Beta. Hormagaunts piled onto Tac Alpha, and the Broodlord directed his minions to move up in support of the Gargoyles. I’m distracted by something shiney, and the Spinegaunts move towards Tac Alpha, which they are much too far from to do anything useful, instead of turning around to run at the Terminators, who would’ve been in shooting range. The Fgaunts go leaping through scattered wreckage to get the Speeders in range of their weapon symbiotes.
Shooting:
The Fgaunts manage to immobilize one of the Land Speeders. Hfex Beta killed 4 Scouts, while the Gargoyles did nothing. Two marines drop to Efex Alpha’s devourers. Hfex Alpha opens up on the terminators, managing to kill one.
Assault: Tac Alpha is charged by Efex Alpha, the Hormagaunts, and the Flyrant, four marines fatally pierced by the multitude of stabbing talons.
Turn 3 - Space Marines
Movement: The Immobilized Speeder is left to its fate, as the other races 24†away to try and get some distance from the horde. The Terminators stomp implacably forward to engage Hfex Alpha in powerfist-to-fang combat.
Shooting: Tac Beta drops three Fleshborer gaunts, and a barrage of stormbolter fire puts one wound on Hfex Alpha.
Assault: Hfex Alpha bit the head and associated torso off of one terminator, before the powerfists of the other four tore it into fexburgers. The Gargoyles killed three Scouts, the Scouts killed two Gargoyles, failed their leadership check, and bolted off the nearby table edge. In the clusterfuck surrounding the Master, one tac marine, and one gaunt fell.
Turn 4 – Tyranids
Movement: The Gargoyles draped themselves around the rear of the predator and got ready to start chewing. The Spinegaunts turned around and prepared to interrupt the termie’s BBQ. The Fgaunts barreled towards Tac Beta. Hfex Beta ducked behind the arch to shield it from the Predator. Broodlord & buddies went scampering towards its flank.
Shooting: The hail of spikes from the Spinegaunts perforated two sets of Tactical Dreadnought armor. The remaining Heavy ‘fex was out of range of everything. The Gargoyles were too weak to hurt the Predator.
Assault: The gargoyles bathed the Predator in enough bioplasma to stun it. The Spinegaunts failed to do any wound to the remaining terminator, took one in return. The rest of Tac Alpha fell to the Hormagaunts, and Efex Beta instant killed the Master by eating his face. The Flyrant consolidated towards the Predator, Efex Beta headed after the last pesky Landspeeder, and the Hormagaunts piled towards the Terminator, just in case their buddies needed a hand.
Turn 4 – Marines
Movement: Not much left to move at this point.
Shooting: Tac Beta obliterated the remaining Fleshborer Gaunts.
Assault: The terminator sergeant killed one Spinegaunt in HtH, but they managed to hold.
Turn 5 – Tyranids
Movement: Broodlord and Flyrant headed towards the Predator.
Shooting: Efex Beta blows the pants off the Landspeeder (figuratively speaking).
Assault: Once again, the Spinegaunts failed to inflict a single wound. They took one in return, failed their Leadership check since all my Synpase nodes were on the other side of the board, fled from combat, and all ten are ‘run’ down by the terminator sarge and skished. Broodlord and ‘stealers were barely out of charge range of the Predator.
Turn 5 – Marines
Movement: Really nothing left to move. Tac Beta had LoS to Nothing, and its good buddy Zilch.
Shooting: The Terminator managed to drop one Hormagaunt with his stormbolter.
Assault: nashi
Turn 6 - Tyranid
Movement: The Broodlord and his underlings toe the 1†from the side of the Predator and sharpen their talons. The Flyrant’s wings propeled it right at Tac Beta, and the wave of Hormies was within crashing distance of the terminator sergeant.
Shooting: Nyet.
Assault: The Predator was gutted like a chocolate piñata at fat camp. The Flyrant did the same to Tac Beta x4, leaving just lascannon man standing. The Hormagaunts charged the sarge, enough crowding around him to attack 33 times, inflict 3 wounds, and watch him fail one armor save. Sayounara Sarge, good to see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.
Turn 6 – Marines
Movement: The Rhino repaired, attempted to drive off the wreckage, via way of the Flyrant’s face, and got sliced in half down the middle (seems to be a common fate of Rhinos in my games).
Shooting: One marine left on the board, and he was too busy fighting for his life to shoot.
Assault: The last surviving marine bent over, mooned the Hive Tyrant, and suffered the inevitable resultant fate.
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
edited September 2007
500: Alpha Cleanse
(I won the roll for first turn, however my opponent won choice of deployment zone)
Tau: Shas’el: Smart man. In the back. Firewarriors Alpha: x10 + marker drone.Started 6†from the center of the board, behind the middle building. Firewarriors Beta: x10 + marker drone. To the NW of Alpha, behind the wall. Kroot: x10 + 5 Kroot hounds. To the NW of the central building. Stealthsuits: x3. West of the Kroot, in a good spot to jump out and shoot at the west flank of my force.
Splinter Fleet Rasen: Hive Tyrant: Wings and Flesh hooks. Hormagaunts: x10. Flesh hooks. Hugging the edge of the SE woods. Spinegaunts: x8. West of the Hormagaunts. Ravenors Alpha: x3. Rending claws. Close in on the Tyrant’s right. Ravenors Beta: x3. Rending claws. Riding the western edge of my deployment zone. They were supposed to the cut around to the west of the center building and cause problems on the Tau’s west flank.
Bad math on my part meant that I was 30 points over for my list.
Turn 1 – Tyranids
Movement: In a stunningly unexpected and brilliant display of tactical acumen, everything went running towards the Tau side of the table as fast as it could. The Hormagaunts cut to the east, Ravenor’s Beta went up the hill, taking what cover they could from the stone wall at the top, and the Spinegaunts and Ravenors Alpha followed in the Flyrant’s wake.
Shooting: The Hormagaunts fleeted into the ruins to the NE (that I don’t think it ever made it into a picture). The spinegaunts sought refuge behind the Flyrant.
Assault: Unfortunately, not this time.
Turn 1 – Tau
Movement: The Stealthsuits jetted forward, seeking a firing solution on the Flyrant. Everything else fell back towards the NW, trying to put as much distance between itself and the ravaging horde as possible.
Shooting: The Stealthsuits opened up on Ravenors Beta, and somehow, despite the existence of an impregnable waist-high wall between them, took two wounds, killing one of the Ravenors. The Shas’el, using something large and annoyingly shootey, put a wound on Ravenors Alpha.
Assault: The stealthsuits fired up their jetpacks, and flitted as far away from the one dead and two angry Ravonrs on the hill as possible.
Turn 2 – Tyranids
Movement: Once more, I ignored centuries of tactical wisdom, and threw the entire horde headfirst at the enemy.
Shooting: The hormagaunts and Spinegaunts both got a 1 for their Fleet roll.
Assault: My opponent, forgetting about the 12†charge range of beasts, thought he was safe from the Ravenors and Hormagaunts. Ravenors Beta charged the Kroot, killed three Kroothounds and two kroot, taking three wounds in the hounds’ counter attack, which killed one, and left the surviving Ravenor with a single wound remaining. It then immediately received six wounds from the kroot themselves. The victorious Kroot consolidated into ass-kicking range of the Spinegaunts. Ravenors Beta, the Hormagaunts, and the Flyrant charged Firewarriors Alpha, wiping them out in a single round of fighting.
Ravenors Alpha consolidated into the Kroot, while the Flyrant and Hormagaunts stumbled forward two and one inch respectively, leaving them standing in front of Fire Warriors Beta, dead in the middle of the ‘hey buddy, fuck you!’ zone.
Turn 2 – Tau
Movement: The Stealthsuits jet forward into hosing range of the Spinegaunts. The Shas’el falls back further. Firewarriors Beta fell back hoping a little bit more range would save their asses (it won’t).
Shooting: The Shas’el unlimbered his big gun, leveled it at the Flyrant, and missed with every shot. Massed pulse rifles from the Fire Warriors inflicted a single wound on it. The Stealth suits tried to make awesome sauce, extra chunky style, but since they only used four Spinegaunts in it, their sauce was barely ‘ok.’ Ravenor’s Alpha killed the last two kroothounds, along with two kroot warriors, the remainder strapping on their Nikes and sprinting 10†towards the western board edge.
Assault: The Stealthsuits minced around a bit, seeing no where safe to go.
Turn 3 - Tyranid
Movement: Spinegaunts pursued the stealthsuits. The Flyrant ignored the Fire Warriors, hurling itself into the air and coming down almost face to maw with the Shas’el. He figured that since everyone else was crapping their pants, no one would notice him doing so as well. The Ravenors, deciding that when it comes to Kroot, you can never eat just one, run the fleeing unit down.
Shooting: Spinegaunts shot at the Stealthsuits. Stealthsuits wondered where the pleasantly gentle rain came from.
Assault: Spinegaunts gnashed their teeth menacingly as they run down the Stealthsuits, but forget to actually bite. The screaming wave of Hormagaunts crashed over the Firewarriors, slicing three of them to ribbons. In their flailing panic, the Firewarriors managed to sissy-slap two gaunts to death.
The Shas’el managed to ankle kick the Flyrant hard enough to inflict one wound, took two from the retaliatory, talon driven bitch-slap, decided that now was the time to find religion, told the Flyrant that he had a meeting with Jesus, ‘somewhere over there,’ and was sliced into cold cuts before he made it two steps (he got a 1 on his flee from combat roll, the Flyrant got a 5). Ravenors Alpha killed three more Kroot, who told their feet, ‘don’t fail me now!’ as they broke from combat again. Their feet failed them, horribly. Crunch. Their craving for crunch ignited, the Ravenors consolidated into the Stealthsuits. The Hive Tyrant consolidated just far enough to not engage the Firewarriors.
Turn 3 – Tau
Movement: Meet my good friend Nothing, and his good friend-
Shooting: -Zilch.
Assault: The Stealthsuits flailed wildly at the Spinegaunts, failing to achieve the same feat of physical prowess that FW Beta did. They suffered one wound and ran flailing from combat. The Spinegaunts, who’d dozed off, forgetting they were even in combat, were awoken by the shrill, sea-cucumber-esque screams, and stumbled after them, getting a 1 on their pursuit roll. The Ravenors, being promotion material, are on the ball, turn the Stealthsuits into attractive hors d’oeuvres. The Hormagaunts killed one Fire Warrior and suffered no casualties in return. The Fire Warriors were so shocked and awed by the inexplicable failure of their bent-wrist-open-palm technique that they turned and ran, immediately being transformed into decorative talon covers by the pursuing Hormagaunts, leaving the board suddenly clear of happy-go-lucky space-hippies.
Awesome reports, Gabe! But in your first game versus the Salamanders: remember, models with Terminator armor may not pursue fleeing enemies, so his Terminator Sgt should not have been able to massacre those gaunts with his pursuit, after winning combat.
Edit: Not that it was entirely necessary in that game, just sayin' for reference.
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
edited September 2007
That's what I thought at the time, but frankly with the ass-kicking he was taking, I wasn't inclined to stop and look it up and was willing to sacrifice the gaunts so that his side of the game had at least a couple bright spots.
Also, he couldn't have tank-shocked the Tyrant, since it was in HtH, but I neither of us stopped to think about that at the time.
The Big ‘Uns!
1 flying tyrant with warpfield, 2x scything talons
3 carnifex with 2 x twin-linked devourerers
2 carnifex with 2+ save, 5W and regenerate, barbed strangler and venom cannon
The Little ‘Uns!
3 x 10 gaunts with spinefists
2 x 10 genestealer broods, with 4+ saves, one with scuttlers
2 x 3 raveners
My Army List:
Orks (Gen'rul Skrag Bad Grimtuff's Freebootin' Facebeatas)
Da Gen'rul (Warboss) 3+/5+, PK, Choppa, Iron Gob
Big Mek w/Choppa and KFF
20 Sluggas with 3 Big Shootas, Nob with PK, Choppa, Boss Pole, Iron Gob
20 Sluggas with 3 rokkit launchas, Nob as above
19 shootas with 3 Big Shootas, nob with choppa, Iron Gob, Big Shoota, Boss Pole
10 tankbustas, 3 rokkit launchas, nob with choppa, rokkit launcha, Iron Gob
10 Burnas boyz, 4 burnas, mek with KFF
6 buggies with twin linked rokkits, spikes 'n blades, armor plates, grot riggers, red paint jobs
5 bikes
Looted Russ with 3 heavy bolters, armor plates, grot riggers
t3h Mission: Breakout! Page 213 of your BGB.
Okay, I was going into this very depressed. There were a number of things for me to worry about. 1) The guy I was playing against was the person who won our local ‘Ard Boyz tourney, and qualified for the next round of battles. He’s a very good player with dead ‘ard lists. Fortunately he wasn’t playing the 3rd edition Emperor’s Children list that he had won the tourney with. 2) Lots of Big Bugz. And half of them had devourers. I hate devourers. One of those bastards can wipe out a third of a squad of slugga boyz in a single round of shooting, no problem. 3) For those of you who looked up the mission, I have to split my forces in twain. Now… my army works by having units work closely together to counter charge and to combine multiple squads of shooting at single targets to eliminate them asap. I had to choose which units to place in which group (either group one or group two, to deploy next to the relevant short board edge) before my opponent deployed anything, which leaves me only semi-able to react to his deployment. 4) I’ve got some fast fragile stuff, but I’ve also got a lot of slow resilient stuff. I have no choice but to split my slow resilient stuff in half or he’ll waltz right off one board edge and I’ll never have a chance. That also means I can’t bring my numbers to bear on him as half of my forces will be doing nothing but playing catch-up.
Now the thing about breakthrough is this: his objective is to get 7 of his 13 scoring units off one of the short board edges, and he has a 12†wide deployment zone in the middle of the table. So basically he gets to have his entire army run headlong at half of mine. However, there are no Victory Points to be played for in this mission. If I wipe out 7 of his units, he can’t achieve victory. If he gets 7 off, I lose. No middle ground here, and units must be completely eliminated – even if 1 man in a squad makes it out, that’s a unit off the table.
I split my forces up like so: Group da furst:
Warboss, 20 man Slugga Squad with 3 Big Shootas and PK Nob, 20 Man Slugga Squad with 3 Rokkit Launchas and PK Nob, Burna Mob with Mek & Kustom Force Field, 3 Buggies with Rokkit Launchas.
Group da secund:
Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, Shoota Boyz with 3 Big Shootas and Nob with Big Shoota, Tankbustas with Nob with Rokkits, 3 Buggies like the other group, 5 warbikes and my Leman Russ.
Terrain was, again, fairly evenly dispersed with a few 4+ ruins, a few level one hills, and a few level three hills spattered about.
All descriptions will be from the perspective of my Orks.
My opponent had deployed his forces such that most of them were bordering the right edge of his deployment zone – so I deployed Group Da Furst along the right-hand short board edge, to try and put as many bodies between him and the board edge as possible.
Most of my mobile elements were in the first group, as well as my long ranged Russ, so they went on the left-hand short board edge. They would at least have a chance to play catch-up, and they were very poor in close combat comparatively speaking, so yeah.
Turns 1-2:
He advances all of his forces east towards my First Batul Group to try and get off the board ASAP. Combined rokkit fire from the sluggas and Buggies downs one of the Devourer Fexes and wound another, and those same fexes wipe out 2/3rds of the rokkit sluggas in shooting.
His raveners get shot up by my bikes and then proceed to charge my buggies, losing half a brood to bike shooting and a whole broods worth of wounds impaling themselves on my spikes and blades, while doing no damage to the buggies. These gits are then charged by my Warboss and the remnants of my Rokkit Sluggas and get stomped into da durt.
My Leman Russ scatters away from a humongous group of stealers/gaunts, doing almost no damage, and I swear silently as my russ gets it’s battlecannon blown off by a Venom Cannon at the bottom of the first turn. Fortunately the blighter doesn’t beak down all game.
His spinegaunts advance cautiously beside the Monstrous Creatures: I assume he’s waiting for most of my Boyz to get destroyed by the ‘Fexes and stealers before he assaults my boyz, slingshotting his gaunts nearer to the right board edge, and victory.
A spattering of shooting from my tankbustas, Russ, and Shoota Boyz managed to kill a fair number of gaunts from two of the broods.
So far I’ve killed: 2 broods of Raveners and One Devourer Fex. 3 Unit down, 4 to go.
Turns 3-4:
In the north half of the board, his Tyrant jumps up to assault my Big Shoota slugga boyz, supported by a brood of genestealers. I leave my burna boyz mob behind these slugga boyz, so that when they’re either wiped out or stuck in (probably wiped out!), I’ll be able to run my power weapons up and assist, or flamer the crap out of some genestealers.
The stealers and tyrant assault and wipe out most of the Big Shoota sluggas, who run and then mob up with the burnas - my PK was rended to death before he got the chance to smack the Hive Tyrant around, but my burna boyz were far enough behind not to get consolidated into. The burnas then proceeded to step up, turn the nozzles clear open, and roast the hell out of some genestealers, wiping out all but 4 of the brood assisting the Tyrant. The burnas then charged in and wiped out the remaining 4 ‘Stealers. They still ended up being wiped out to some ‘Fex Devourers shooting, and a combined charge from a full group of 10 gaunts and his Hive Tyrant. Gud Job Ladz, ur sacrifice wuz not in vain! [/salute]
In the south half of the board, my Warboss and his Slugga boyz get assaulted by some genestealers, and all but the warboss is caught and annihilated by the stealers. The Boss then charges the stealers, takes a single wound, and kills three of the buggers with his PowerKlaw! Waaaaaagh! Although, of course, he is ingloriously rended to death in the following assault phase, but alas, thus is the way of the Waaaagh! He did, however, managed to keep those stealers from getting off the board, or assisting the Hive Tyrant w/gaunts / Burna boyz combat to the north.
Shooting from my shoota boyz, wiped out the 4 remaining gaunts from the previously wounded brood, and my Russ’s 3 Heavy Bolters brought another brood down to only 2 gaunts.
A few of my buggies and all of my bikes get scrapped by the Cannon / Strangler Fexes firing at them, killing 2 buggies from one squad and 1 buggy from another.
Those same buggies in return manage to put 3 out of 4 wounds on one of his Devourer Fexes.
By the top of the fourth I had removed the following units from the board:
1 Devourer Fex
2 x 3 Ravener Broods
1 x 10 Genestealer Broods
1 x 10 Gaunt Broods
It’s down to the wire now. If I can wipe out the last 2 gaunts from the seriously mangled brood, and put the last wound on the Devourer ‘Fex, I’ll have wiped out over half of his broods, and I win. If not – the only forces I have near the right-hand short board edge are a 3 buggies which will get promptly stomped on by his Big Ol’ Fexes, while everything else waltzes unmolested off the board edge.
Well, my boyz step up to the plate, grim determination in their eyes and their shootas set for Full Auto.
The Big Shootas from the shoota boyz down the remaining 2 gaunts, and combined fire from the 3 buggies manage to take down the last Devourer Fex!
Woo! Victory to Da Gen’rul!
It was a very close game, and my opponent was an exceptional opponent. The game was short but tense – every shot counted, and time was certainly a limiting factor for me – after turn 4 there is no way I could have kept him from getting off of the board. So I basically had four turns to completely wipe out half of his scoring units, leaving no survivors in any of them!
I think I can mostly attribute this victory to my dice not turning south on me at crucial moments in the game – I never rolled especially well, but I never rolled horribly either, which definitely helps to keep a battle plan intact throughout the game. That, combined with a modicum of disciplined rokkit and big shoota fire, and my boyz doing a good job of holding up the majority of a close ranged shooty / close combat nastiness bug army for 3 and a half turns, makes me very happy with the outcome. A big congratulations and ‘Good Game’ to my opponent, he was a very good sport, there were no significant rules disputes, and his list was water-tight.
I rather enjoy playing the Scenarios from the back of the book – they’re far more challenging, I believe, and force commanders to adapt their armies to unusual situations. That, and you can only cleanse an area so many times before it gets really dull!
I’ve gotta thank my opponent again for suggesting we do a mission from the back – the one we chose was randomly rolled for and the missions in the back are not meant to be balanced for any kind of army – which is something I rather enjoy :P.
Again, thank you for reading, I enjoyed telling you the tale! Any comments or critiques are more than welcome, as well as any questions – let me know what you think!
This if the first time I've attempted to write up a battle, its Space marines VS Khorne Bezerkers 950pt.
It was 950pt because the game was at my house, and I can't do more than 1000 without borrowing stuff. He didn't bring anything that could make it up to 1000 exactly without bumping up the squad sizes, which he refused to do (something about khorne and the number 8 ) so I dropped the rhino from my list.
We played meat grinder, because we never ever play meat grinder (none of us has horde armies), and it seemed a good idea at the time.
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 50 Pts)
1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 50 Pts
Heavy Bolter (x1)
Total Roster Cost: 948
His list (approximate):
-2x 8 bezerkers with icons
-8 lesser demons
-1 greater demon
-1 daemon prince with axe of silly attacks
-1 defiler
(Pictures don't rigidly follow the turns, as I took them whenever I remembered, so I won't either)
Opponent lets me deploy the terrain, so I randomize it all apart from the bunkers, barbed wire and minefields, which I place defensively. I deploy my space marines in and on the centre bunker, scouts in the side bunkers, and the dreadnought and terminators out of sight behind the middle bunker. The idea was to space everything out, and move the dread and termies into position as needed. He deploys everything together on one flank (I presume to avoid the minefields and help restrict my firing options, but maybe the dark gods just told him to).
First turn and the filthy denizens of chaos advance, while the moving defiler fires a battlecannon round at the marine command squad on top of the bunker, scoring a direct hit, obliterating three of them and breaching the bunker. The emperors finest return fire, and chip away at the incoming horde, while I begin to regret making the central bunker such a juicy target.
The bezerkers continue to advance, and the defiler continues to score direct hits and make a mess of everything in and on the central bunker, wiping out the command squad, and reducing the tac squad to 3 pinned members. The greater demon also shows up. In response the scouts shoot the greater demon into itty bits, while the dreadnought advances and opens up with the assault cannon. The lone captain backs out of sight, and the land speeder endeavours to make a nuisance out of itself as always.
Lesser demons show up. Bezerkers shoot the scouts in the bunker, causing them to fall back. Defiler shoots the dreadnought in the face with the battlecannon, and it explodes spectacularly killing another marine. This leaves just the Multimelta and plasma gun in the bunker, who return the favour by hitting the defiler at long range and making it too explode in a most satisfactory fashion. Lots of traitors and demons die in the blast.
Demons assault the bunker and breach it, the remains of one bezerker squad heads after the scouts, the rest start running towards the remaining marines. I err.. Tactically withdraw the terminators and captain to a safe distance, and keep shooting.
Scouts die, Demons and Bezerkers advance, Demon prince assaults the remnants of the tactical squad and causes a wound on himself before slaughtering them. I continue to stress the importance of investigating the corner to the captain and terminators, who dutifully follow orders. The end of turn 6 arrives, and the dice brings things to an early close. Victory to the Imperium!
To indulge our curiosity, we ran the impending combat between the demon prince and the terminators. Demon prince got a face full of thunder hammer.
With reflection, bezerkers aren't that well suited to meat grinder, as never falling back eliminates any options as far as recycling units goes. Although by the end he was close to wiped out, I never actually wiped out any troops choices, so nothing got recycled. We had a bit of a discussion at the start about what happens when a lesser demon unit gets recycled and decided to allow him to deep strike them in via an icon again, so I was very careful not to wipe them out. Does anyone know if this is the right way to play it?
I also suspect I got a bit too much of an advantage off putting bits of terrain where I wanted, and that we probably should have followed the rulebook more strictly in that regard. Oh well, it was good fun anyway, even if my new terminators didn't see much action.
Let me know what was good, what could be improved etc. and I might have another go sometime and see if I can do better pictures.
Posts
Setup:
LGS Guy: Bottom right
Me: bottom left
Wenchkilla: top middle
First Turn
Rather uneventful. I cast Spiny Growth on my carnivean, Wenchkilla casts fog of war on his stuff, and we all move toward the centre.
Second Turn
LGS Guy: Moves his heavy Warjack (Crusader?) towards me. And his two lighter Warjacks (Repenter & Revenger) towards Wenchkilla.
Me: I slowly consolidate my forces hoping that one of the other two players will get entangled with one another. I sneak up along the side of the cliff, hoping to stay out of range of the Khador Destroyer. My warlock dings LGS Guy's Crusader with an arrow but doesn't do much meaningful damage.
Wenchkilla: Gets his juggernaut up close and personal with the revenger and does a fair deal of damage to it. Amazingly enough the thing survives and the Juggernaut is knocked back 1" because of the revenger's shield. Dings one of my shredders using the gun on his Destroyer.
Third Turn
LGS Guy: Gets his Crusader into hand to hand combat with one of my Shredders and tears it a new one. Unfortunately since they're small there's not enough room and the thing dies. He attempts to slam the Juggernaut into Sorcha to no avail. Manages to do some damage but nothing that will stop the jack from continuing on.
Me: Wanting to avenge the loss of my shredder, my Carnivean charges into hand to hand combat spraying the the Crusader with his dragon breath and unleasing all his fury into the blasted thing. I manage to take out three systems with some very lucky dice rolls and the thing deactivates.
Wenchkilla:The Juggernaut throws one of LGS Guy's light Warjacks into the other. Unfortunately because of scatter they're both still in melee range. Both warjacks are in rough shape but still operating. Sorcha takes a shot at LGS Guy's commander but doesn't do anything.
Fourth Turn
LGS Guy: Pops his feat and knock all our stuff down. He continues wailing on the Juggernaut and takes out its right arm.
Me: Spend my turn getting up. *yawn*
Wenchkilla: Stands Sorcha up and is just within range to shoot at LGS Guy's hero. Kills him. I know, we were surprised too.
Fifth Turn
Me: Start moving my Carnivean towards Wenchkilla's Destroyer. I move Lylyth on top of the hill and ding the destroyer a couple of times for very little damage.
Wenchkilla: Moves his battered but not beaten Juggernaut and Sorcha Towards me. Backs his destroyer away.
Sixth Turn
Me: I shoot once a the Destoryer and Once at the Juggernaut with Lylyth. I do a little bit of damage to each and just barely miss taking out the juggernaut's crucial third system. I move a shredders in to no avail (only one could reach and he didn't do any damage). My Carnvivean finished off the job and the Juggernaut is finally disabled. Unfortunately....
Wenchkilla: Uses windrush on Sorcha, covers a lot of ground, pops his feat, freezes Lylyth and proceeds to punch her in the kidneys until she dies from it.
All in all, awesome game. I thought I had it right up until the very end. Take aways from this game is not to leave Lylyth alone. She works best with stuff between her and the enemy at all times. Here's hoping for some sweet double revenge in game 3.
Some interesting personal notes from this game:
The juggernaut was on fire for 3 or 4 turns, and it failed to do any real damage. Hilarious.
If I ever face Sorscha myself: Do not put any warcasters within 14" LOS of her before she pops her feat unless you are willing to let them go.
Focused firepower = dead menoth casters
I look forward to the game this Wednesday! Going to field the Butcher, which should be interesting. He is a melee monster, (he can do 24+5d6 dmg on charge & feat turn first attack), but his spell support does leave something to be desired. He does have some nice upkeep spells though.
PSN/XBL: dragoniemx
Just played my very first fantasy game versus a friend. Here's a brief battle report. If you find something that doesn't sound rigth it probably isn't we only skimmed the rules before we began.
Tomb king army
Tomb prince (General) 100 pts
- Ligth armor + 2 pts
- Great weapon +4
Total cost 106 pts
Liche Priest (Hierophant) 115 pts
- Skeleton steed +8 pts
Total 123 pts
Core
Skeleton Warriors 8 pts (x19)
- Ligth armor 1 pt/model +19 pts
- Standard bearer + 10 pots
- Muscian + 5 pts
Total cost 186
Skeleton light horsemen 14 pts/model (x6)
Total cost 70
Empire army list
Captain 50 pts
War horse with barding 14 pts
Ligth armor 2 pts
Lance 4 pts
Total 70 pts
Core:
Swordsmen 7pts/model (x20)
Musician 5 pts
Standard bearer 10 pts
155
Handgunners 8 pts/model (x10)
80
Handgunners 8 pts/model (x10)
80
Knigthly orders 23 pts/model (x5)
115
The battlefield was a standard small field with a pyramid about 6 inches out of my deployment zone or so (top) and to the center rigth of the board and with a small forest about in the middle and to the left of the board.
I started out deploying first and hid my Warriors with the prince in them behind the pyramid and the ligth cav with the hierophant in the middle of the board.
The empire player set up his swordsmen just to the left of the pyramid (on his side of the board of course) with a unit of handgunners on either side. His knigths with the captain were placed on the far left.
Turn 1
He got first turn and seeing as he was out of shooting range marched everything up the board.
I responded by hiding my skeletons just above the pyramid and the rotating them with an incantation while the ligth cav tried to hide behind the forrest, also with an incantation.
Turn 2
Quite a few of the handgunners still have line of sigth to the ligth cav (oops) and shoot, killing one. The other ones try to go for a better position behind the swordsmen who marches up to the side of the pyramid. The knigths meanwhile march up to the forrest and wheel around a bit further to the left.
I abuse incantations of movement (we didn't realise that he actually had dispel dice untill quite late, but he still only dispelled 1 incantation) and bring my warriors out from behind the pyramid, wheel them and charge his swordsmen head first.
Meanwhile my ligth cav see the gap between the knigths and his swordsmen and use incantations and their free reforms to get a nice flank charge in.
Unfortunantly the swordsmen flee before there is any killing done. They run straigth through a unit of handgunners who also flee down towards the rigth corner.
My skeletons pursue to just about an inch from the swordsmen while my cav unfortunantly has to pursue straigth ahead and therefore goes to the rigth. Being free of combat I reform them instead and they take a shot at the handgunners who are fleeing, killing 1 (yay? It's the only kill from shooting they)
Turn 3
Swordsmen rally while his handgunners wheel around again. His knigths are stuck and reforms to be able to get a flank charge in on my skeletons.
I naturally charge his swordsmen head on, using the incantation of smiting for a few extra hits. They don't flee from the fear. My fast cav goes straigth down, uses an incantation of movement and charges the swordsmen in the back. They loose badly to CR and run straigth into the cav.
Turn 4
Knigths charge but suprisingly only kill a few skeltons and I even kill a knigth. I still loose to CR but only 1 skeleton thanks to the banner and outnumbering.
The left group of handgunners find themselves starring into a melee and instead choose to form a line between the knigths flank and the ligth cav seeing as they won't be able to shoot anyway. The do point themselves towards the ligth cav.
His other group of handgunners rally and line up to shoot.
On my turn the prince challanges Sir Robin since he doesn't have a lance to back him up anymore. He declines. The knigths take two more casulties, kill quite a few skeletons (I think I've lost almost half of them or so by now, but I still have rank bonuses), fail their CR and run.
My fast cav decides that they can take on the rigth group of handgunners and charge. The handgunners stand and shoot, gunning down three horses. I raise two but the loss of their charge bonus hurts me and I actually loose the combat quite bad. My hierophant finds himself alone facing 7 pissed off handgunners.
Turn 5
Sir Robin galantly leads his knigths of the board. The three handgunners in BtB contact with the priest gives him 1 wound but he lives. The handgunners now facing the warriors gives them a volley, killing quite a few skeletons.
My hierophant tries to raise some help but we have rememberd the dispell dice since turn 4 and this is the single incantation that the empire player actually manages to get off. My priest then takes another wound and dies. I charge the handgunners who dies a bit and then flee, but they take quite a few skeletons with them. I don't manage to pursue that much.
I fear my army crumbeling to dust but the only unit left is with my prince. LD 9 = thx.
Turn 6.
Far rigth handgunners wheel a bit I think. The handgunners whom I try to chase of the board reforms.
Don't remember exactly what happend in the ensuing combat but when it's finished there's 5 handgunners left and a prince and his small, small retinue of surviving skeletons.
Outcome:
386 VP for the Empire player, 100 of those for holding the far rigth table edge (which we didn't even know you could get points for
380 VP for me. Half a group of soon to be dead handgunners and 7 quite live ones on the other side of the map.
Conclusion: I totally outmanouverd him in the early game with my incantations. That and the fact that his army composition sucked (the handgunners did very little, and most of what they did was in melee) got me a draw. I just feel that he had a lot more, and a lot better units than I had.
I probably shouldn't have charged with just my ligth cav though because they really had no reedeming futures once they were in melee.
(North is always towards my opponent’s side of the table. Rolled a 6 for mission choice, Marines rather inevitably won the strategy roll, Marine player chose Gamma Cleanse. Salamanders won roll for starting quarter.)
Salamanders
Master: Power weapon. Started off standing behind tac marines alpha
Techmarine: w/servo arm. In cover behind the arch
Dreadnought: NE corner behind the Vindicator
Tactical Squad Alpha: x10 Behind the hill, near the edge of the table.
Tactical Squad Beta: x5 w/Rhino. Behind the arch terrain the Tech marine was lurking in.
Scouts Alpha: x5. In cover behind the Vindicator.
Scouts Beta: x7. Behind the dreadnought.
Landspeeder Squadron: 2 speeders. Assault cannon-multi-melta/heavy flamer-multi-melta. Tucked away behind the Predator.
Vindicator: East side of the hill.
Predator: Past the arch, near the east edge of the table.
Terminators: x5. In orbit somewhere.
Splinter Fleet Rasen
Hive Tyrant: 2x scything talons, flesh hooks, wings. He was supposed to squeeze in amongst the hormogaunts, but I misjudged the space between them and the edge of the deployment zone, so he got crammed into the cemetery as far forward as possible.
Broodlord/Retinue: x9. Extended Carapace, Flesh Hooks. Out of sight behind the hill, toeing the 12†line from the enemy.
Hormagaunts: x14 flesh hooks. Crammed into the space between the cemetery and the rocky hillside so that they could scamper off without worrying about terrain checks.
Fleshborer Gaunts: x10. On the eastern edge of my deployment zone, to go scurrying off into the SE corner and hopefully drawing some fire.
Spinegaunts: x10. Hugging the 6+ save of the rocky hillside, ready to go charging forward and fire pointy things into marines ASAP.
Elite Carnifex Alpha: Devilfex configuration(Enhanced Sense, dual Twin-linked) Devourers. East of the Cemetery.
Elite Carnifex Beta: Devilfex configuration. Perched on the western cemetery wall.
Heavy Carnifex Alpha: all the trimmings, with Venom Cannon and Barbed Strangler. On the rocky hill on the western edge of the table.
Heavy Carnifex Beta: also stuffed full of biomorphs, with VC and BS. Cemetery, east side.
Zoanthrope: Warp Blast/Synapse. Right of Carnifex Beta.
Gargoyles: x8. Off eating small animals and large house pets somewhere else.
I win roll for 1st turn.
Turn One – Tyranids
Movement: Everything goes scurrying forward. I roll well on my difficult terrain rolls for everything save Hfex Alpha, who has a particularly ridiculous fear of walking over loose pebbles, and moves 1 inch.
Shooting: The Zoanthrope attempts to kill Scouts Alpha with the power of its brain, and fails. Hfex Beta manages to shake the Vindicator 3 times with its venom cannon, and while the thrashing vines of the Barbed Strangler scrabbled ineffectively across the surface of the Vindicator, they did manage to catch one of the nearby Scouts, crushing him against the side of the tank. Hfex Alpha, still mincing about amidst the treacherous gravel fields, fails to make an impression upon the ranks of Tac A, who, lead by their Master, point and laugh. Efex Beta shuts them up, 8 twin-linked, wound re-rolling shots leaving three marines with helmets full of brain eating worms, and little else.
Assault: Having crested the hill and seen the bounty of targets laying beyond, the Broodlord & buddies charged down the far side, smashing against the side armor of the Vindicator. The mighty Broodlord himself did nothing but score the paint in parallel lines, but the accompanying Genestealers ripped the vehicle apart with such fury that the shells inside spontaneously detonated, resulting a fireball that scythed down three Scouts, and left one ‘stealer nothing more than a smoking carapace. So violent was it that several members of Tac Alpha were blown off their feet, although they all got back up again.
Turn 1 - Marines
Movement: The Rhino blasts forward into the SE quadrant at max speed, throwing a track as it bounces over a piece of wreckage, marines spilling out the side hatch and taking up defensive positions. The Landspeeders screamed by overhead close enough to clip the antennae, swerving to face the still distant Fgaunt brood. Tac Alpha and Master move towards the Flyrant, intent on avenging their exploderated brothers. The dreadnought stomped towards the Broodlord, with similar intent.
Shooting: Massed bolter fire put one wound of the Flyrant. The Dreadnought frapped two stealers with it’s Assault Cannon, cooked one with it’s heavy flamer. Scouts Beta lines up their sniper rifles on the Fgaunts, and dropped two. The Razorback vaporized the Zoanthrope in a single barrage, collapsing synapse coverage on the east side of the board.
Assault: Maddened beyond all sense, the sole survivor of Scout Alpha ran through the flaming wreckage of the Vindicator, leaping from the top of the hulk to land in the midst of the chitinous horde, and was torn apart almost before his feet touched the ground.
Turn Two – Tyranids
Movement: I forget my reserve roll for the Gargoyles. Once more, the horde advances. All my out of synapse units pass their leadership checks (which at this point included Hfex Alpha and the Spinegaunts), and the Fgaunts and Efex Alpha go east into the SE quadrant. Hfex Alpha managed to stumble just far enough to ensure that he’d have to make another roll next turn attempt to escape the hell of accursed tiny rocks.
Shooting: The Fgaunts take one wound off the Techmarine (who’d been forgotten previously), and Efex Beta finished the job. Hfex Beta managed to blow the Multi-melta off of one Landspeeders, and the Barbed Strangler pod ripped the Assault Cannon off the other.
Assault: I was so eager to get the Genestealers into the thick of things that I forget to fire with either of the Alpha fexes. I also forget to charge Tac Alpha. Broodloard & co charge the Dreadnought, which obligingly goes ‘boom!’ killing a ‘stealer.
Turn 2 – Marines
Movement: Terminators teleport in, appearing in the space between the rocky hillside and the cemetery that used to be filled with gaunts. Speeders moved in close enough to the Fgaunts for their short-ranged weapons to hit.
Shooting: The Heavy Flamer on the Speeder was just out of range, but the other Multi-melta slagged one gaunt. Between the lascannon and their bolters, tac squad Beta managed to inflict two wounds on Efex Beta, with the Predator adding one more. The many sniper rifles protruding from Scout Beta’s position left it with a neat set of holes where its face used to be. My armor saves against those four wounds? 1-1-1-2. Deadfex is dead.
Assault: zen zen arimasen.
Turn 3 – Tyranids
Movement: Gargoyles deep strike in. I aimed for the spot that will let them shoot at the back of the Predator, but scatter dropped them square between the Predator and Scouts Beta. Hormagaunts piled onto Tac Alpha, and the Broodlord directed his minions to move up in support of the Gargoyles. I’m distracted by something shiney, and the Spinegaunts move towards Tac Alpha, which they are much too far from to do anything useful, instead of turning around to run at the Terminators, who would’ve been in shooting range. The Fgaunts go leaping through scattered wreckage to get the Speeders in range of their weapon symbiotes.
Shooting:
The Fgaunts manage to immobilize one of the Land Speeders. Hfex Beta killed 4 Scouts, while the Gargoyles did nothing. Two marines drop to Efex Alpha’s devourers. Hfex Alpha opens up on the terminators, managing to kill one.
Assault: Tac Alpha is charged by Efex Alpha, the Hormagaunts, and the Flyrant, four marines fatally pierced by the multitude of stabbing talons.
Turn 3 - Space Marines
Movement: The Immobilized Speeder is left to its fate, as the other races 24†away to try and get some distance from the horde. The Terminators stomp implacably forward to engage Hfex Alpha in powerfist-to-fang combat.
Shooting: Tac Beta drops three Fleshborer gaunts, and a barrage of stormbolter fire puts one wound on Hfex Alpha.
Assault: Hfex Alpha bit the head and associated torso off of one terminator, before the powerfists of the other four tore it into fexburgers. The Gargoyles killed three Scouts, the Scouts killed two Gargoyles, failed their leadership check, and bolted off the nearby table edge. In the clusterfuck surrounding the Master, one tac marine, and one gaunt fell.
Turn 4 – Tyranids
Movement: The Gargoyles draped themselves around the rear of the predator and got ready to start chewing. The Spinegaunts turned around and prepared to interrupt the termie’s BBQ. The Fgaunts barreled towards Tac Beta. Hfex Beta ducked behind the arch to shield it from the Predator. Broodlord & buddies went scampering towards its flank.
Shooting: The hail of spikes from the Spinegaunts perforated two sets of Tactical Dreadnought armor. The remaining Heavy ‘fex was out of range of everything. The Gargoyles were too weak to hurt the Predator.
Assault: The gargoyles bathed the Predator in enough bioplasma to stun it. The Spinegaunts failed to do any wound to the remaining terminator, took one in return. The rest of Tac Alpha fell to the Hormagaunts, and Efex Beta instant killed the Master by eating his face. The Flyrant consolidated towards the Predator, Efex Beta headed after the last pesky Landspeeder, and the Hormagaunts piled towards the Terminator, just in case their buddies needed a hand.
Turn 4 – Marines
Movement: Not much left to move at this point.
Shooting: Tac Beta obliterated the remaining Fleshborer Gaunts.
Assault: The terminator sergeant killed one Spinegaunt in HtH, but they managed to hold.
Turn 5 – Tyranids
Movement: Broodlord and Flyrant headed towards the Predator.
Shooting: Efex Beta blows the pants off the Landspeeder (figuratively speaking).
Assault: Once again, the Spinegaunts failed to inflict a single wound. They took one in return, failed their Leadership check since all my Synpase nodes were on the other side of the board, fled from combat, and all ten are ‘run’ down by the terminator sarge and skished. Broodlord and ‘stealers were barely out of charge range of the Predator.
Turn 5 – Marines
Movement: Really nothing left to move. Tac Beta had LoS to Nothing, and its good buddy Zilch.
Shooting: The Terminator managed to drop one Hormagaunt with his stormbolter.
Assault: nashi
Turn 6 - Tyranid
Movement: The Broodlord and his underlings toe the 1†from the side of the Predator and sharpen their talons. The Flyrant’s wings propeled it right at Tac Beta, and the wave of Hormies was within crashing distance of the terminator sergeant.
Shooting: Nyet.
Assault: The Predator was gutted like a chocolate piñata at fat camp. The Flyrant did the same to Tac Beta x4, leaving just lascannon man standing. The Hormagaunts charged the sarge, enough crowding around him to attack 33 times, inflict 3 wounds, and watch him fail one armor save. Sayounara Sarge, good to see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.
Turn 6 – Marines
Movement: The Rhino repaired, attempted to drive off the wreckage, via way of the Flyrant’s face, and got sliced in half down the middle (seems to be a common fate of Rhinos in my games).
Shooting: One marine left on the board, and he was too busy fighting for his life to shoot.
Assault: The last surviving marine bent over, mooned the Hive Tyrant, and suffered the inevitable resultant fate.
(I won the roll for first turn, however my opponent won choice of deployment zone)
Tau:
Shas’el: Smart man. In the back.
Firewarriors Alpha: x10 + marker drone.Started 6†from the center of the board, behind the middle building.
Firewarriors Beta: x10 + marker drone. To the NW of Alpha, behind the wall.
Kroot: x10 + 5 Kroot hounds. To the NW of the central building.
Stealthsuits: x3. West of the Kroot, in a good spot to jump out and shoot at the west flank of my force.
Splinter Fleet Rasen:
Hive Tyrant: Wings and Flesh hooks.
Hormagaunts: x10. Flesh hooks. Hugging the edge of the SE woods.
Spinegaunts: x8. West of the Hormagaunts.
Ravenors Alpha: x3. Rending claws. Close in on the Tyrant’s right.
Ravenors Beta: x3. Rending claws. Riding the western edge of my deployment zone. They were supposed to the cut around to the west of the center building and cause problems on the Tau’s west flank.
Bad math on my part meant that I was 30 points over for my list.
Turn 1 – Tyranids
Movement: In a stunningly unexpected and brilliant display of tactical acumen, everything went running towards the Tau side of the table as fast as it could. The Hormagaunts cut to the east, Ravenor’s Beta went up the hill, taking what cover they could from the stone wall at the top, and the Spinegaunts and Ravenors Alpha followed in the Flyrant’s wake.
Shooting: The Hormagaunts fleeted into the ruins to the NE (that I don’t think it ever made it into a picture). The spinegaunts sought refuge behind the Flyrant.
Assault: Unfortunately, not this time.
Turn 1 – Tau
Movement: The Stealthsuits jetted forward, seeking a firing solution on the Flyrant. Everything else fell back towards the NW, trying to put as much distance between itself and the ravaging horde as possible.
Shooting: The Stealthsuits opened up on Ravenors Beta, and somehow, despite the existence of an impregnable waist-high wall between them, took two wounds, killing one of the Ravenors. The Shas’el, using something large and annoyingly shootey, put a wound on Ravenors Alpha.
Assault: The stealthsuits fired up their jetpacks, and flitted as far away from the one dead and two angry Ravonrs on the hill as possible.
Turn 2 – Tyranids
Movement: Once more, I ignored centuries of tactical wisdom, and threw the entire horde headfirst at the enemy.
Shooting: The hormagaunts and Spinegaunts both got a 1 for their Fleet roll.
Assault: My opponent, forgetting about the 12†charge range of beasts, thought he was safe from the Ravenors and Hormagaunts. Ravenors Beta charged the Kroot, killed three Kroothounds and two kroot, taking three wounds in the hounds’ counter attack, which killed one, and left the surviving Ravenor with a single wound remaining. It then immediately received six wounds from the kroot themselves. The victorious Kroot consolidated into ass-kicking range of the Spinegaunts. Ravenors Beta, the Hormagaunts, and the Flyrant charged Firewarriors Alpha, wiping them out in a single round of fighting.
Ravenors Alpha consolidated into the Kroot, while the Flyrant and Hormagaunts stumbled forward two and one inch respectively, leaving them standing in front of Fire Warriors Beta, dead in the middle of the ‘hey buddy, fuck you!’ zone.
Turn 2 – Tau
Movement: The Stealthsuits jet forward into hosing range of the Spinegaunts. The Shas’el falls back further. Firewarriors Beta fell back hoping a little bit more range would save their asses (it won’t).
Shooting: The Shas’el unlimbered his big gun, leveled it at the Flyrant, and missed with every shot. Massed pulse rifles from the Fire Warriors inflicted a single wound on it. The Stealth suits tried to make awesome sauce, extra chunky style, but since they only used four Spinegaunts in it, their sauce was barely ‘ok.’ Ravenor’s Alpha killed the last two kroothounds, along with two kroot warriors, the remainder strapping on their Nikes and sprinting 10†towards the western board edge.
Assault: The Stealthsuits minced around a bit, seeing no where safe to go.
Turn 3 - Tyranid
Movement: Spinegaunts pursued the stealthsuits. The Flyrant ignored the Fire Warriors, hurling itself into the air and coming down almost face to maw with the Shas’el. He figured that since everyone else was crapping their pants, no one would notice him doing so as well. The Ravenors, deciding that when it comes to Kroot, you can never eat just one, run the fleeing unit down.
Shooting: Spinegaunts shot at the Stealthsuits. Stealthsuits wondered where the pleasantly gentle rain came from.
Assault: Spinegaunts gnashed their teeth menacingly as they run down the Stealthsuits, but forget to actually bite. The screaming wave of Hormagaunts crashed over the Firewarriors, slicing three of them to ribbons. In their flailing panic, the Firewarriors managed to sissy-slap two gaunts to death.
The Shas’el managed to ankle kick the Flyrant hard enough to inflict one wound, took two from the retaliatory, talon driven bitch-slap, decided that now was the time to find religion, told the Flyrant that he had a meeting with Jesus, ‘somewhere over there,’ and was sliced into cold cuts before he made it two steps (he got a 1 on his flee from combat roll, the Flyrant got a 5). Ravenors Alpha killed three more Kroot, who told their feet, ‘don’t fail me now!’ as they broke from combat again. Their feet failed them, horribly. Crunch. Their craving for crunch ignited, the Ravenors consolidated into the Stealthsuits. The Hive Tyrant consolidated just far enough to not engage the Firewarriors.
Turn 3 – Tau
Movement: Meet my good friend Nothing, and his good friend-
Shooting: -Zilch.
Assault: The Stealthsuits flailed wildly at the Spinegaunts, failing to achieve the same feat of physical prowess that FW Beta did. They suffered one wound and ran flailing from combat. The Spinegaunts, who’d dozed off, forgetting they were even in combat, were awoken by the shrill, sea-cucumber-esque screams, and stumbled after them, getting a 1 on their pursuit roll. The Ravenors, being promotion material, are on the ball, turn the Stealthsuits into attractive hors d’oeuvres. The Hormagaunts killed one Fire Warrior and suffered no casualties in return. The Fire Warriors were so shocked and awed by the inexplicable failure of their bent-wrist-open-palm technique that they turned and ran, immediately being transformed into decorative talon covers by the pursuing Hormagaunts, leaving the board suddenly clear of happy-go-lucky space-hippies.
Edit: Not that it was entirely necessary in that game, just sayin' for reference.
Also, he couldn't have tank-shocked the Tyrant, since it was in HtH, but I neither of us stopped to think about that at the time.
The Big ‘Uns!
1 flying tyrant with warpfield, 2x scything talons
3 carnifex with 2 x twin-linked devourerers
2 carnifex with 2+ save, 5W and regenerate, barbed strangler and venom cannon
The Little ‘Uns!
3 x 10 gaunts with spinefists
2 x 10 genestealer broods, with 4+ saves, one with scuttlers
2 x 3 raveners
My Army List:
Orks (Gen'rul Skrag Bad Grimtuff's Freebootin' Facebeatas)
Da Gen'rul (Warboss) 3+/5+, PK, Choppa, Iron Gob
Big Mek w/Choppa and KFF
20 Sluggas with 3 Big Shootas, Nob with PK, Choppa, Boss Pole, Iron Gob
20 Sluggas with 3 rokkit launchas, Nob as above
19 shootas with 3 Big Shootas, nob with choppa, Iron Gob, Big Shoota, Boss Pole
10 tankbustas, 3 rokkit launchas, nob with choppa, rokkit launcha, Iron Gob
10 Burnas boyz, 4 burnas, mek with KFF
6 buggies with twin linked rokkits, spikes 'n blades, armor plates, grot riggers, red paint jobs
5 bikes
Looted Russ with 3 heavy bolters, armor plates, grot riggers
t3h Mission: Breakout! Page 213 of your BGB.
Okay, I was going into this very depressed. There were a number of things for me to worry about.
1) The guy I was playing against was the person who won our local ‘Ard Boyz tourney, and qualified for the next round of battles. He’s a very good player with dead ‘ard lists. Fortunately he wasn’t playing the 3rd edition Emperor’s Children list that he had won the tourney with.
2) Lots of Big Bugz. And half of them had devourers. I hate devourers. One of those bastards can wipe out a third of a squad of slugga boyz in a single round of shooting, no problem.
3) For those of you who looked up the mission, I have to split my forces in twain. Now… my army works by having units work closely together to counter charge and to combine multiple squads of shooting at single targets to eliminate them asap. I had to choose which units to place in which group (either group one or group two, to deploy next to the relevant short board edge) before my opponent deployed anything, which leaves me only semi-able to react to his deployment.
4) I’ve got some fast fragile stuff, but I’ve also got a lot of slow resilient stuff. I have no choice but to split my slow resilient stuff in half or he’ll waltz right off one board edge and I’ll never have a chance. That also means I can’t bring my numbers to bear on him as half of my forces will be doing nothing but playing catch-up.
Now the thing about breakthrough is this: his objective is to get 7 of his 13 scoring units off one of the short board edges, and he has a 12†wide deployment zone in the middle of the table. So basically he gets to have his entire army run headlong at half of mine. However, there are no Victory Points to be played for in this mission. If I wipe out 7 of his units, he can’t achieve victory. If he gets 7 off, I lose. No middle ground here, and units must be completely eliminated – even if 1 man in a squad makes it out, that’s a unit off the table.
I split my forces up like so:
Group da furst:
Warboss, 20 man Slugga Squad with 3 Big Shootas and PK Nob, 20 Man Slugga Squad with 3 Rokkit Launchas and PK Nob, Burna Mob with Mek & Kustom Force Field, 3 Buggies with Rokkit Launchas.
Group da secund:
Big Mek with Kustom Force Field, Shoota Boyz with 3 Big Shootas and Nob with Big Shoota, Tankbustas with Nob with Rokkits, 3 Buggies like the other group, 5 warbikes and my Leman Russ.
Terrain was, again, fairly evenly dispersed with a few 4+ ruins, a few level one hills, and a few level three hills spattered about.
All descriptions will be from the perspective of my Orks.
My opponent had deployed his forces such that most of them were bordering the right edge of his deployment zone – so I deployed Group Da Furst along the right-hand short board edge, to try and put as many bodies between him and the board edge as possible.
Most of my mobile elements were in the first group, as well as my long ranged Russ, so they went on the left-hand short board edge. They would at least have a chance to play catch-up, and they were very poor in close combat comparatively speaking, so yeah.
Turns 1-2:
He advances all of his forces east towards my First Batul Group to try and get off the board ASAP. Combined rokkit fire from the sluggas and Buggies downs one of the Devourer Fexes and wound another, and those same fexes wipe out 2/3rds of the rokkit sluggas in shooting.
His raveners get shot up by my bikes and then proceed to charge my buggies, losing half a brood to bike shooting and a whole broods worth of wounds impaling themselves on my spikes and blades, while doing no damage to the buggies. These gits are then charged by my Warboss and the remnants of my Rokkit Sluggas and get stomped into da durt.
My Leman Russ scatters away from a humongous group of stealers/gaunts, doing almost no damage, and I swear silently as my russ gets it’s battlecannon blown off by a Venom Cannon at the bottom of the first turn. Fortunately the blighter doesn’t beak down all game.
His spinegaunts advance cautiously beside the Monstrous Creatures: I assume he’s waiting for most of my Boyz to get destroyed by the ‘Fexes and stealers before he assaults my boyz, slingshotting his gaunts nearer to the right board edge, and victory.
A spattering of shooting from my tankbustas, Russ, and Shoota Boyz managed to kill a fair number of gaunts from two of the broods.
So far I’ve killed: 2 broods of Raveners and One Devourer Fex. 3 Unit down, 4 to go.
Turns 3-4:
In the north half of the board, his Tyrant jumps up to assault my Big Shoota slugga boyz, supported by a brood of genestealers. I leave my burna boyz mob behind these slugga boyz, so that when they’re either wiped out or stuck in (probably wiped out!), I’ll be able to run my power weapons up and assist, or flamer the crap out of some genestealers.
The stealers and tyrant assault and wipe out most of the Big Shoota sluggas, who run and then mob up with the burnas - my PK was rended to death before he got the chance to smack the Hive Tyrant around, but my burna boyz were far enough behind not to get consolidated into. The burnas then proceeded to step up, turn the nozzles clear open, and roast the hell out of some genestealers, wiping out all but 4 of the brood assisting the Tyrant. The burnas then charged in and wiped out the remaining 4 ‘Stealers. They still ended up being wiped out to some ‘Fex Devourers shooting, and a combined charge from a full group of 10 gaunts and his Hive Tyrant. Gud Job Ladz, ur sacrifice wuz not in vain! [/salute]
In the south half of the board, my Warboss and his Slugga boyz get assaulted by some genestealers, and all but the warboss is caught and annihilated by the stealers. The Boss then charges the stealers, takes a single wound, and kills three of the buggers with his PowerKlaw! Waaaaaagh! Although, of course, he is ingloriously rended to death in the following assault phase, but alas, thus is the way of the Waaaagh! He did, however, managed to keep those stealers from getting off the board, or assisting the Hive Tyrant w/gaunts / Burna boyz combat to the north.
Shooting from my shoota boyz, wiped out the 4 remaining gaunts from the previously wounded brood, and my Russ’s 3 Heavy Bolters brought another brood down to only 2 gaunts.
A few of my buggies and all of my bikes get scrapped by the Cannon / Strangler Fexes firing at them, killing 2 buggies from one squad and 1 buggy from another.
Those same buggies in return manage to put 3 out of 4 wounds on one of his Devourer Fexes.
By the top of the fourth I had removed the following units from the board:
1 Devourer Fex
2 x 3 Ravener Broods
1 x 10 Genestealer Broods
1 x 10 Gaunt Broods
It’s down to the wire now. If I can wipe out the last 2 gaunts from the seriously mangled brood, and put the last wound on the Devourer ‘Fex, I’ll have wiped out over half of his broods, and I win. If not – the only forces I have near the right-hand short board edge are a 3 buggies which will get promptly stomped on by his Big Ol’ Fexes, while everything else waltzes unmolested off the board edge.
Well, my boyz step up to the plate, grim determination in their eyes and their shootas set for Full Auto.
The Big Shootas from the shoota boyz down the remaining 2 gaunts, and combined fire from the 3 buggies manage to take down the last Devourer Fex!
Woo! Victory to Da Gen’rul!
It was a very close game, and my opponent was an exceptional opponent. The game was short but tense – every shot counted, and time was certainly a limiting factor for me – after turn 4 there is no way I could have kept him from getting off of the board. So I basically had four turns to completely wipe out half of his scoring units, leaving no survivors in any of them!
I think I can mostly attribute this victory to my dice not turning south on me at crucial moments in the game – I never rolled especially well, but I never rolled horribly either, which definitely helps to keep a battle plan intact throughout the game. That, combined with a modicum of disciplined rokkit and big shoota fire, and my boyz doing a good job of holding up the majority of a close ranged shooty / close combat nastiness bug army for 3 and a half turns, makes me very happy with the outcome. A big congratulations and ‘Good Game’ to my opponent, he was a very good sport, there were no significant rules disputes, and his list was water-tight.
I rather enjoy playing the Scenarios from the back of the book – they’re far more challenging, I believe, and force commanders to adapt their armies to unusual situations. That, and you can only cleanse an area so many times before it gets really dull!
I’ve gotta thank my opponent again for suggesting we do a mission from the back – the one we chose was randomly rolled for and the missions in the back are not meant to be balanced for any kind of army – which is something I rather enjoy :P.
Again, thank you for reading, I enjoyed telling you the tale! Any comments or critiques are more than welcome, as well as any questions – let me know what you think!
Waaaaagh! Orks!
It was 950pt because the game was at my house, and I can't do more than 1000 without borrowing stuff. He didn't bring anything that could make it up to 1000 exactly without bumping up the squad sizes, which he refused to do (something about khorne and the number 8
We played meat grinder, because we never ever play meat grinder (none of us has horde armies), and it seemed a good idea at the time.
My List:
1 Captain @ 217 Pts
Power Fist (x1); Bolter; Command Squad
6 Command Squad @ [131] Pts
Bolter (x4); Flamer (x1); Missile Launcher (x1)
1 Sergeant @ [15] Pts
Bolter
Troops: Tactical Squad (8#, 180 Pts)
7 Tactical Squad @ 180 Pts
Bolter (x5); Plasmagun (x1); Multi-Melta (x1)
1 Apothecary @ [55] Pts
Upgrade to Apothecary; Bolter; Terminator Honors
1 Narthecium @ [0] Pts
1 Reductor @ [0] Pts
Troops: Scout Squad (5#, 98 Pts)
4 Scout Squad @ 98 Pts
Bolt Pistol & CCW (x4)
1 Sergeant @ [46] Pts
Bolt Pistol (x1); Lightning Claw (x1); Terminator Honors
1 Bionics @ [5] Pts
Troops: Scout Squad (5#, 85 Pts)
4 Scout Squad @ 85 Pts
Sniper Rifle (x3); Heavy Bolter (x1)
1 Sergeant @ [13] Pts
Bolter
Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 118 Pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 118 Pts
Dreadnought CCW; Heavy Flamer; Assault Cannon; Smoke Launchers
Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (5#, 200 Pts)
4 Terminator Assault Squad @ 200 Pts
Lightning Claws (pair) (x2); Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield (x2)
1 Sergeant @ [40] Pts
Lightning Claws (pair)
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 50 Pts)
1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 50 Pts
Heavy Bolter (x1)
Total Roster Cost: 948
-8 lesser demons
-1 greater demon
-1 daemon prince with axe of silly attacks
-1 defiler
(Pictures don't rigidly follow the turns, as I took them whenever I remembered, so I won't either)
Opponent lets me deploy the terrain, so I randomize it all apart from the bunkers, barbed wire and minefields, which I place defensively. I deploy my space marines in and on the centre bunker, scouts in the side bunkers, and the dreadnought and terminators out of sight behind the middle bunker. The idea was to space everything out, and move the dread and termies into position as needed. He deploys everything together on one flank (I presume to avoid the minefields and help restrict my firing options, but maybe the dark gods just told him to).
First turn and the filthy denizens of chaos advance, while the moving defiler fires a battlecannon round at the marine command squad on top of the bunker, scoring a direct hit, obliterating three of them and breaching the bunker. The emperors finest return fire, and chip away at the incoming horde, while I begin to regret making the central bunker such a juicy target.
The bezerkers continue to advance, and the defiler continues to score direct hits and make a mess of everything in and on the central bunker, wiping out the command squad, and reducing the tac squad to 3 pinned members. The greater demon also shows up. In response the scouts shoot the greater demon into itty bits, while the dreadnought advances and opens up with the assault cannon. The lone captain backs out of sight, and the land speeder endeavours to make a nuisance out of itself as always.
Lesser demons show up. Bezerkers shoot the scouts in the bunker, causing them to fall back. Defiler shoots the dreadnought in the face with the battlecannon, and it explodes spectacularly killing another marine. This leaves just the Multimelta and plasma gun in the bunker, who return the favour by hitting the defiler at long range and making it too explode in a most satisfactory fashion. Lots of traitors and demons die in the blast.
Demons assault the bunker and breach it, the remains of one bezerker squad heads after the scouts, the rest start running towards the remaining marines. I err.. Tactically withdraw the terminators and captain to a safe distance, and keep shooting.
Scouts die, Demons and Bezerkers advance, Demon prince assaults the remnants of the tactical squad and causes a wound on himself before slaughtering them. I continue to stress the importance of investigating the corner to the captain and terminators, who dutifully follow orders. The end of turn 6 arrives, and the dice brings things to an early close. Victory to the Imperium!
To indulge our curiosity, we ran the impending combat between the demon prince and the terminators. Demon prince got a face full of thunder hammer.
With reflection, bezerkers aren't that well suited to meat grinder, as never falling back eliminates any options as far as recycling units goes. Although by the end he was close to wiped out, I never actually wiped out any troops choices, so nothing got recycled. We had a bit of a discussion at the start about what happens when a lesser demon unit gets recycled and decided to allow him to deep strike them in via an icon again, so I was very careful not to wipe them out. Does anyone know if this is the right way to play it?
I also suspect I got a bit too much of an advantage off putting bits of terrain where I wanted, and that we probably should have followed the rulebook more strictly in that regard. Oh well, it was good fun anyway, even if my new terminators didn't see much action.
Let me know what was good, what could be improved etc. and I might have another go sometime and see if I can do better pictures.