So this weekend I got a game in with
92acclude. We settled on 2000 points since we had the whole afternoon to burn. I brought my Valhallans to the table while he rolled his Imperial Fists. We're still both new to the edition, so a few rules got fudged (namely with flyers, their movement, and
BS while zooming) and looking at my list now I'm seeing I put 6 infantry squads in a platoon when I can only take 5. We also forgot Drop Pod Assault. These minor squibbles aside, we had a great game! Here's the lists:
Valhallan 32nd Rifles:
-
CCS with lascannon,
MoO, banner,
GL
Platoon 1
PCS with Al'Raheim, melta x4, Chimera with dozer blade
PIS with flamer, Chimera with heavy Stubber
PIS with flamer, Chimera with heavy Stubber
Platoon 2
PCS with flamer x4
30 man blob with melta x3, power sword, power axe, Commissar with power axe
30 man blob with melta x3, power sword, power axe, Commissar with power axe
SWS with sniper rifles
HWS with mortars
HWS with missile launchers
HWS with lascannons
-
LRBT squadron, hull lascannons
- Basilisk squadron, hull heavy bolters
Imperial Fists:
- Lysander (Warlord)
- Epistolary with Spontaneous Combustion, Fireshield
- Tactical squad with lascannon and plasma gun, Razorback with twin-linked lascannons
- Tactical squad with heavy bolter, flamer, Rhino
- Tactical squad with missile launcher, plasma gun, drop pod
- Scout squad with 5 sniper rifles, 4 bolters, heavy bolter
- Terminators x6, cyclone missile launcher
- Dreadnought, heavy flamer, multimelta, drop pod
- Thunderfire Cannon
- Stormtalon gunship, Skyhammer missiles
- Land Speeder, multimelta
Deployment looked like this:
We rolled up Hammer and Anvil deployment, something I'm obviously okay with, being a Guard army! The mission was The Emperor's Will, with one objective in each of our deployment zones. He won the roll off and put his up in the radar tower, while I hid mine behind the Ork building that I had turned into my command post. These objectives would be random, and we also determined the Space Marine statue to be Imperial Statuary (models close to it are Fearless), the forest to be mysterious woods, and the Ork rocket to be an archeotech device. We set up our armies. He combat squadded the scouts to have the bolters holding the objective and the snipers behind the barn. The razorback squad also split up, putting their lascannon on top of the tower and the plasma gun and sergeant in the tank. I rolled to seize the initiative and got a six! We rolled for nightfight and found the first turn to be nice and sunny. Warlord traits gave Lysander and his buddies
FNP when they're near an objective, and gave me the ability to reroll reserves.
Our objectives:
Colonel Petrovik found himself in a less than ideal situation. An Imperial Fists chapter serf, thought to be carrying a container of Space Marine geneseed, had found his way into their camp. He had managed to steal a support lighter from the chapter armory and pilot it out of their orbiting strike cruiser, Shield of Dorn. He had broadcast that he was willing to sell to the highest bidder when he was shot down and captured by the forces of the Valhallan 32nd. With the traitor in tow, the Valhallans vox the strike cruiser to turn him over, when...
++ Men of the Valhallan 32nd, you have been found guilty of harboring a traitor to both the Imperial Fists and the entirety of mankind. Repent, for today you die. ++
Thunderhawks landed, disgorging their cargo before taking off again. Flickers stood out in the daytime sky, as drop pods came hurtling towards the surface. In the moments before the Space Marines mobilized, the Valhallans set up their defensive perimeter, and prepare to fight for their lives.
Some pictures from the front lines:
TURN 1
I seized the initiative and was able to take the first turn. I moved up my
PCS and large blob on the north side, with the
PCS not quite getting out of the woods. I rolled on the mysterious woods and it turned out to be a carnivorous forest! 2 wounds were caused to my
PCS, but they made their armor saves. The home objective turned out to be a Firing Relay, letting me reroll any 1s I rolled to hit in shooting. The
CCS uses Bring it Down! on the Rhino, blowing off the stormbolter with their lascannon. The mortars drop shells on the sniper scouts, killing four of them. The Leman Russes lob shells at the radar tower, killing three Marines – including the lascannon! Finally, the Basilisks drop two shells on top of the Thunderfire Cannon, wrecking the gun but leaving the Techmarine alive. End of the turn looked like this:
Brother Helveticus looks over the battlefield...
He runs his Techmarine over to fix the Rhino, but can't quite make it. The Razorback moves up next to the archeotech (Orkeotech?) device and rolls on the table. Turns out it's boobytrapped! It blows up the Razorback, wounding nobody, but giving me First Blood!
The heavy bolter in the Rhino
tac squad shoots out the hatch, killing two Guardsmen from the north blob. End of the turn looked like this:
And a better shot of just his side:
TURN 2
I roll for Al'Raheim to come in and fail. I elect not to reroll, since I want to see where the Fists drop in before committing my mobile reserve. My
CCS issues the order to Bring it Down! on the Rhino and wrecks it. The
CCS lascannon takes aim at the Techmarine...
He's in our sights!
And kills him!
The north blob keeps moving up and runs a puny two inches. The
PCS tries to keep up and gets partially out of the woods, but then the carnivorous trees kill two grenade launchers, causing them to fall back into the woods again!
Lieutenant Mikhov tried to lead his command squad out of the voracious woods. Tree limbs and branches snapped and hissed at him as he cut through the underbrush with his chainsword, only to finally find his way out! The screams from his men caused him to turn around, just in time to see the spiny tendrils lashing out at him from the woods, pulling him and his men back in...
The Basilisks unload on the tactical squad that was forcibly disembarked from the Rhino, killing five. Mortars kill one from the razorback squad. Leman Russes and lascannons don't have great line of sight, so their few shots are blocked by cover. The south side blob wraps around the command post to keep it a little safer from deep strikers. End of the turn looked like this:
The Land Speeder, drop pod Marines, and Terminators all drop in. My opponent makes some gutsy deep strikes, behind my Basilisks:
Behind my lascannons:
And on the edge of my line:
The speeder whiffs its multimelta shot at the Basilisk, the Marines waste the lascannon squad, and the Terminators kills no fewer than twelve men from the blob, including the Commissar!
The drop pod also snipes a lasgun out of the sniper squad. The north is almost as bloody, with the Librarian exploding one of my dudes and burning two more, while another ten are gunned down by bolter fire:
Morale tests are made and everyone holds, including the south blob after a reroll from the company standard. End of the turn looked like this:
There was no mistaking it now. The Imperial Fists had arrived in force and were holding nothing back. Petrovik knew any chance for negotiation was over; he and his men would have to fight dearly if they wanted to see the day's end.
TURN 3
Al'Raheim's mechanized platoon drives on, outflanking all around Lysander and his boys:
The missile launchers are ordered to bring the land speeder down, and they wreck it!
Al'Raheim orders the remainder of the blob to
FRFSRF on the Terminators, while the three Chimeras shoot heavy flamers, snapfiring multilasers, embarked flamers and lasguns, and Al'Raheim's own meltas and plasma pistol into the Terminators. Four go down, and Lysander takes a wound! The cyclone is sniped by Al'Raheim with a lucky dieroll. The
LRBT squadron turns their guns on the drop pod, exploding it and killing 8 Marines with a little help from the snipers. The Basilisks and mortars miss stuff. I get excited and completely forget the north blob – I guess there's the peril of playing a horde army! End of the turn looked like this:
The Dreadnought drops next to the Leman Russes and the Stormtalon zooms in on my armored column:
Shooting sees the Dreadnought fire its multimelta at the Leman Russ squadron, missing completely. This will continue to be a theme! It does fire its flamer past the tank though, and kills the other two grenade launchers from the
PCS, leaving just Lieutenant Mikhov. The butchered tactical squad goes after the command squad, and in preparation for a squad throw a grenade. Unfortunately this particular Marine throws the pin and not the grenade and drops it at his feet:
Nobody's hurt though, so it's okay! The lascannon takes a bolt pistol wound. The Stormtalon performs a brutal strafing run, wrecking the lead Chimera and pinning the squad that disembarks. The Librarian tries casting Spontaneous Combustion on the north blob, but the Witch is Denied! Shooting still sees the Commissar and three more Guardsmen gunned down in the open, but their morale holds. Both the wounded Marines and Terminators in my deployment zone charge their respective targets, taking no wounds from Overwatch. The Marines finish off the lascannon team, and cause two wounds to my commander! I cause no wounds back, but hold. Lysander and his buddies kill 6 of my Guardsmen, but lose one of their own and once again morale holds – oh yeah, leadership 8 with negative modifiers! End of the turn would look like something but I forgot to take a picture.
TURN 4
I remember to move my north blob (more of a gaggle at this point really) and prep them to charge the four-man
tac squad. The snipers and Mikhov come to the
CCS' rescue, prepping to charge. The Russes have an unprecedented moment of failure, as both their shots at the Librarian and his
tac squad scatter off twelve inches in the same direction – towards absolutely nothing! I don't even know the chances of rolling two pairs of sixes in a row, but welp there ya go. The Basilisks kill one Marine from the squad as Flame Shield (which he has been casting every turn) protects him from shooting. The missile launchers fire at the dreadnought, taking two hullpoints off. Assault sees Mikhov and the snipers to the rescue!
And the remnants of the north blob get stuck in!
The north blob waste the Marines while the fight with my
CCS is brought to a 1-1 tie. A scrub sergeant with a chainsword challenges Lysander and eats it while the rest of his buddies dogpile the other Terminator into submission. Lysander crushes the sergeant, but not before eating a chainsword wound. End of the turn looks like this:
The Stormtalon zooms over to my Basilisks and takes aim at their side armor:
The Dreadnought goes after the
LRBT squadron again and levels its multimelta at the side of the tanks. It fires, and once again misses. The Stormtalon wrecks one of the artillery pieces. The Librarian and his buddies kill 5 dudes from the north blob, forcing a morale test, which the Guardsmen promptly fail for a fall back move. Assault sees the Dreadnought barrel in on the Leman Russes, failing to hit with all three of its attacks! The
CCS finishes off their lone Marine attacker, and Lysander issues a challenge:
Sergeant Kobylov ducked under the massive warrior's hammer, lashing out with his axe. The weapon was hefty and unwieldy, but he was downright nimble compared to the yellow-clad leviathan in front of him. The cheers of his squadmates pushed him onward as he swung his axe behind the monster's leg. He felt the joint give as his axe buried itself behind his attacker's knee. Kobylov jumped back from a hammer blow from his enemy. He heard a clap of thunder as the hammer swung and hit the ground, then a second as stormclouds rolled in. The sky went dark and rain began to fall.
This time, my power axe sergeant steps up to the plate, and with the moral support of his squadmembers is able to put a wound in on Lysander! Lysander swings at the same time and misses with all three of his attacks! End of the turn looked like this:
TURN 5
We rolled for nightfight and got it. One of my Chimeras still has a squad in it and it peels off for the Space Marine deployment zone for Linebreaker. The Leman Russes move up, ignoring the Dreadnought and pouring fire into the Marines, which does nothing. The Basilisk gets a hit on the Dreadnought, but the cover of darkness saves it. Even with
BiD, the meltas, missiles, plasma and multilasers of my command post units were only able to plink one hullpoint off the Stormtalon.
Finally, assault sees Lysander issue another challenge:
The monstrous Space Marine stood before Sergeant Kobylov, bathed in the glow of its own weapons. It raised its hammer towards him in wordless challenge, recognizing the prowess of the lowly sergeant. “Sergeants Never Die” was an old Imperial Guard adage, and Kobylov knew if he took on the warlord's challenge, whether he emerged victoriously or not, his legend would live on in the regiment forever. He hefted his axe in both hands and ran at his challenger. They swung their weapons at each other and they met in the middle, the clashing weapons causing a corona of sparks that temporarily blinded the Guardsmen about. There was another thunderclap as Kobylov's axe exploded in his hands and he was thrown back onto the ground. He raised himself up to see his opponent gone, nothing in his place but shards of broken armor and puddles of blood. He lapsed into unconsciousness, a smile on his face.
The challenge saw both the sergeant and Lysander finishing each other off! The squad consolidated towards the Stormtalon and my objective. End of the turn looked like this:
The Dreadnought comes up behind the Leman Russes, catching both rear armor arcs in its heavy flamer. The melta and flamer all roll ones. The Stormtalon enters hover mode and guns down two of the missile launcher teams and causes the third to run back. The Dreadnought and Librarian's tactical squad charge the Russes, and the Dread is finally able to kill one! End of the turn looked like this:
We roll to continue and we do!
TURN 6
The Chimera heading East goes a bit further before the squad inside disembarks into the Imperial Fist deployment zone:
The Chimera guns down one scout from the tower. Meltas from the blob bring down the Stormtalon and the remaining Leman Russ kills the last sniper scout and one of the Librarian's tactical Marine buddies. Mortars and the Basilisk don't do anything. End of the turn looks like this:
The Dread just barely blows up the Leman Russ with a penetrating hit of 11 on the rear armor. Scouts gun down one of the Guardsmen in the East under cover of night. End of the turn looked like this:
We roll to continue and it goes for one more turn!
TURN 7
The eastbound Guardsmen get east...er. I move my Basilisk up but it's too close to shoot the Dreadnought directly now! It can't shoot indirect on the move, so it just shoots its heavy bolter at the Marines and misses them. Mortars do nothing, but the Chimera to the east kills one more scout.
He moves his Dreadnought towards my Basilisk and takes a potshot, but fails to penetrate the armor. Scouts miss my Guardsmen. End of the game looked like this:
We totaled up victory points:
Imperial Fists: 4 (objective, linebreaker)
Valhallans: 6 (objective, linebreaker, slay the warlord, first blood)
Valhallan victory!
Despite the occasional botched rules, some horrific luck on both our parts (namely my double box cars scatter and his continuous multimelta missing) and me flat out forgetting to use entire segments of my army, that was a really fun game! It was my first time using Al'Raheim and his outflanking mech platoon, and while I wish I could have used them in a more offensive manner, they served well! It was smart to keep them in the wings another turn, since I really don't know how I'd have dealt with the Terminators without them. My wounded blob was able to take the Termies on, but I can't imagine how much harder it would have been with four more Terminators to worry about. Shooting down flyers is really hard; I think I should start taking a quad-gun and an aegis line. I could've used the cover around my command post to be honest. I was really lucky to ace the Thunderfire cannon on turn 1 though; that thing could eat through my blobs, instagib my heavy weapon squads, and even threaten my armor to a degree.
Special thanks to
92acclude for providing some extra photography of the game! I'm looking forward to another game on his awesome terrain, and maybe even one where we get the rules right!
Beautiful army either way!
Shas'O J'Osh 
10000 Pts 30k and 40k
2500
