Background
I haven't written a report in a while (my
40k friends are off to school about 5 hours away...), so I decided to pack up my camera, head down to
GW and then see what happened. Turns out that there was an Imperial Guard player with a lovely Vostroyan army who was looking for a game. I have a fair bit of experience versus Guard – and none of it good!
They're my most consistently difficult opponent to face, so it wasn't going to be easy. To top it off, I was fighting some units/formations I hadn't had the... er... pleasure to face yet...
ANDILUS GREATSWORD'S GREAT COMPANY
Wolf Lord Andilus Greatsword (Terminator Armour, Frost Blade, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Saga of the Bear) – 220pts
Rune Priest (Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane) – 100pts
9x Grey Hunters (Power Weapon, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen) – 170pts
Wolf Guard (Combi-melta, Powerfist) – 43pts
Land Raider Redeemer (Multi-melta) – 260pts
9x Grey Hunters (Power Weapon, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen) – 170pts
Wolf Guard (Combi-melta, Powerfist) – 43pts
Rhino – 35pts
9x Grey Hunters (Power Weapon, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen) – 170pts
Wolf Guard (Combi-melta, Power Weapon) – 33pts
Rhino – 35pts
Lone Wolf (Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, 1x Fenrisian Wolf) – 90pts
5x Wolf Scouts (Meltagun, Meltabombs) – 110pts
6x Long Fangs (5x Missile Launcher) – 140pts
6x Long Fangs (3x Missile Launcher, 2x Lascannon) – 170pts
3x Long Fangs (2x Missile Launcher) – 65pts
TOTAL: 1854pts
I think I made a mistake here – I took the Land Raider Redeemer as a dedicated transport for the Wolf Guard, and then split them off into the Grey Hunter squads. So I'm not sure if it could ride in it at the start of the game, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time... really though, it was a minor mistake.
VOSTROYANS!
(Approximates)
Company Command Squad
Colonel Iron-Hand Straken – 95pts
Master of Ordnance – 30pts
Officer of the Fleet – 30pts
5x Veterans (Vox-caster, Plasmagun)
Chimera – 55pts
Infantry Platoon
Platoon Command Squad (4x Heavy Flamers, Plasma Pistol)
Chimera – 55pts
Commissar
Infantry Squad
Infantry Squad
Heavy Weapons Squad (Lascannons)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Heavy Bolters)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Heavy Bolters)
Heavy Weapons Squad (Mortars)
Special Weapons Squad (Snipers)
Veteran Squad (2x Meltagun, Heavy Flamer)
Chimera – 55pts
Veteran Squad (2x Meltagun, Heavy Flamer)
Chimera (Heavy Flamer) – 55pts
Basilisk – 125pts
Basilisk – 125pts
Manticore – 160pts
TOTAL: ~1850pts
DEPLOYMENT
We rolled the game type and got Seize Ground and Pitched Battle. We then rolled to see who would get to deploy first, and the Guard won it. There were 5 objectives – he placed 2 near his lines, 1 near the middle, and I put mine close to my end and in line of sight blocking terrain. He then set up his Guardsmen 3 distinct sections – on his left flank, the Basilisks and mortars. In the middle, a Chimera parking lot. On the right, an infantry blob guarding the Manticore. In turn, I set up with the Land Raider in the center, preparing to go assault the parking lot. The Rhinos would guard the objectives and the Long Fangs would try to blow up the armour, supported by the Rune Priest. The Lone Wolf would... well... I dunno, kill stuff. Yeah, I didn't have the best plan for him. Meanwhile, the Wolf Scouts went into reserves to outflank the Basilisks.
With that I rolled to seize the initiative and avoid the alpha strike... and succeeded!! Woo hoo!
Uh by the way, he was proxying a heavy weapons squad with a Daemon Prince.
TURN 1 – SPACE WOLVES
THANK GOD, I don't have to weather a Guard alpha strike! I run my Land Raider straight towards the Chimera parking lot. My Lone Wolf also moves towards the powerblob. Finally, I inch my Rhinos forwards, so if they get wrecked then my Marines will fall back onto the objective. In the Shooting Phase my Long Fangs fail to do anything, but the assault cannon on the Land Raider wrecks one of the Veteran Chimeras.
TURN 1 – IMPERIALS
The 2 surviving Chimeras and disembarked Veterans moved forward to attack the Land Raider with their meltaguns. In the Shooting Phase, they managed to immobilize it by ordering the Master of the Fleet to “Bring it down!” before dropping his orbital bombardment on it. The Basilisks also managed to destroy the Land Raider's multimelta. In addition, the Lone Wolf's Fenrisian Wolf was killed by Heavy Bolters, and 3 Long Fangs were shelled by a Basilisk. Luckily, the Manticore missed it's shot – the Guardsmen were shooting rather poorly this turn.
TURN 2 – SPACE WOLVES
With the Land Raider immobilized, I disembarked my squad right in front of the Chimeras – the plan being that I'd assault whoever disembarked that turn, or shoot at any remaining Chimeras. This was kind of a stupidly thought-out idea, but it's what I did. My Lone Wolf also charged forward, wanting to test his odds against the huge powerblob.
The Shooting Phase was fairly eventful – the Land Raider wrecked another Chimera, and the Long Fangs with the Rune Priest blew up the Manticore (phew!). Unfortunately no one else did any major damage, so I decided to assault the last Chimera with my Grey Hunters and Wolf Lord. Unfortunately, they whiffed on their attacks.
TURN 2 – IMPERIALS
The Chimera disengaged from the Grey Hunters, moving a little over to the left, and then disembarked the Platoon Command Squad inside with... 4 Heavy Flamers? WHAT?! Oh
this is going to hurt. The Grey Hunters were surrounded by 3 squads with tons of heavy weapons. To top it off, the powerblob moved towards the Lone Wolf to go shoot him to death.
The Shooting Phase was predictably disastrous – the Grey Hunters were wiped out after a hail of bullets, flames, meltas, etc, and Andilus was left with 2 wounds remaining. The Lone Wolf also took a wound from the powerblob's shooting. Finally, the basilisks shot at the left Rhino, immobilizing it and blowing its storm bolter off.
TURN 3 – SPACE WOLVES
Ok, it was time to try to turn this around. My Lone Wolf was wounded, but now he was basically forced to go attack a powerblob all by himself...
Meanwhile, Andilus was in serious trouble – he was pretty much guaranteed to wipe out one of the 3 infantry squads in front of him in assault, and then would get shot up in the next turn. I decided that my best chance to save him was to send my Rhino parked on the right objective out to save him – I'd be risking being able to only hold 1 objective, but I needed to go on the offensive or I was going to lose this game anyway.
When Shooting rolled along, my Land Raider torched one of the squads of Guardsmen, leaving 2 survivors which failed their morale check and ran. The Long Fangs opened fire on Straken's Chimera, wrecking it. In the Assault phase, Andilus decided to attack the Platoon Command Squad, landing all 5 of his attacks, and wiping the unit out. Meanwhile, the Lone Wolf charged the powerblob and was (predictably) slaughtered. Eh, it was worth a shot.
TURN 3 – IMPERIALS
The Imperials began to move towards their objectives. The powerblob spread out near their objective, pretty much guaranteeing that one for the Imperials. Meanwhile, the standing Guard squad hopping in the last Chimera and got into position to shoot Andilus.
In the Shooting Phase, the Basilisks fired at the advancing Rhino, blowing it to smithereens. If that wasn't bad enough, the 2nd Basilisk's shell hit as well, flattening the squad and reducing them to a third of their number. And to top it off, they get pinned. The mortars took aim at the Long Fangs in the tall building, scoring an impressive number of hits. The Squad Leader was killed, and the Rune Priest took a wound, but the unit made it out largely intact. Finally, everyone who could opened up on Andilus. He
almost survived, until the last shooter, a heavy bolter, wounded with 1 shot, which downed the Wolf Lord.
TURN 4 – SPACE WOLVES
Things were looking very grim indeed. Luckily, my Wolf Scouts came out this turn, and they arrived behind enemy lines. They arrived behind the Basilisks and prepared to do their business...
In the Shooting Phase, my Long Fangs began to open fire on the powerblob – if I wanted to have any chance of winning, I needed to inflict severe casualties on it. Meanwhile, the Scouts fired a meltagun, blowing one of the Basilisks up (I didn't think that there would be sufficient room for me to multi-assault them, they were spaced pretty well).
TURN 4 – IMPERIALS
The Guard continued their dominance – Straken ordered the fleeing Veterans to “Get back in the fight!” and they obeyed, moving towards the nearest objective. Meanwhile, the Chimera headed to the center objective and parked on it. In the Shooting Phase, the lascannons and snipers in the powerblob focused their fire on the last Rhino, and blew it up. The Basilisk then opened fire on them, but they went to ground and only suffered 3 casualties as a result (and got pinned, of course). The mortars fired at the Scouts, killing all but 1, and pinning him as well! The melta-vets also opened fire on the Land Raider, and blew its assault cannon off. Finally, the heavy bolters shot at the depleted Long Fang squad, killing 2 and leaving 1 missile launcher.
TURN 5 – SPACE WOLVES
By this point, I knew I was pretty much screwed, but I
might be able to pull a draw if everything went my way. First, the newly-unpinned Grey Hunters hurried towards the Imperial Guard objective, hoping to assault them off the objective. Then, in the Shooting Phase, my lone Long Fang shot at the last Chimera, wrecking it. The occupants piled out, but one was torched by the Land Raider's flamestorm cannon. The other Long Fangs then fired at the powerblob, but they (amazingly) made all of their cover saves. Also, the Rune Priest (who I detached from the Long Fangs) tried to cast Murderous Hurricane on the melta-vets, but all 10 shots missed!!! I then tried to run the Grey Hunters to their objective, but I rolled a
-
!!!
TURN 5 – IMPERIALS
Time to clean up – Straken decided to punch the Land Raider to death. Y'know, just for fun. Everyone else fired at the contesting Grey Hunters, destroying them. In the Assault Phase, Straken actually succeeded in punching the Land Raider to death (although the Master of Ordnance and a couple bodyguards died in the explosion, but who cares about them?).
With a commanding 3 objectives to my 1, the Imperial Guard won the game.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
Gotta say, this battle was lost mainly because of my Bone 'eaded generalship. I made some really dumb mistakes (especially revolving around Andilus and his Grey Hunter unit) which cost me the game early on. On the plus side, my Long Fangs cleaned up, and now I've got some experience versus Mech Guard (which will obviously be invaluable when I go off to Game Summit this February). All-in-all, it was a learning experience – next time I'm sure I'll do better!
Also, if you enjoyed this, then be sure to check out my other battle reports:
