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Lieutenant Pavel Wolicz, 2nd Platoon commander of the 143rd Vostroyan First Born stood atop his fortified position and watched as the afternoon clouds rolled in. He glanced briefly at the bastions occupied by the 1st and 3rd platoons. The bastions were standard Imperial prefabs, their gray paint standing out over the chalky sandstone of the region like invaders. His company had been given garrison duty guarding the main pass into the mountain fortress-hive of Rios IV. He couldn't really imagine why someone would want this water-choked world but at least the days were warm without being hot and the nights were as clear as his father's homebrewed wodka if a bit cold.

Signs and augurs for the last fortnight had been grim. A flock of water birds had flown themselves over 500 miles to dash themselves to death against the walls of the city gates. Every baby born under the new moon was stillborn - nearly 3000 Imperial servants snuffed out before their first breath. The plumbing of the entire merchant's quarter had reversed itself spewing filthy water on the fine Riossian silks which accounted for the world's fame and fabulous wealth. It was said that every Warmaster since the days of Solon had required Riossian silk formal wear as well as field tents. Pavel himself was wearing a scarf of the diaphanous material.

A hot wind kicked up blowing that scarf across his face. Windstorms were common with the summer showers so Wolicz didn't think much of it until he looked back at the sky. The clouds were still gathering force. They were dark clouds pregnant with the summer storm but the layers of clouds seemed to fighting amongst themselves, crashing against each other in defiance of any sane wind patterns. He shivered despite the heat.

A bit of motion caught his peripheral vision and Wolicz looked across the pass at the solitary figure who seemed to have just appeared with the last wind gust. Robes billowed out in the wind and Wolicz pulled the field glasses to his eyes. The man was dark skinned like most Riossians and his mouth was toothless. He carried a long staff like the paca herders though the top of it seemed to glimmer with jewels. Wolicz turned to head back into his bastion to radio his counterpart in 3rd platoon to check it out when the first bolt of lightning daggered out of the sky. Wolicz senses reeled. Instead of a flash of light it was though all light in the area were sucked into the bolt. Likewise the thunder was a deafening absence of sound. He turned and saw more of the black lightning arcing downward drawn to the first bastion like a lightning rod. The storm moved quickly, the next bolts raining down on his commander's bastion. Wilocz dove into the cover of his own as the sky above turned black.


I was able to get in a game with Shep this weekend and we went for a 2000 point Planetstrike game. As Shep was hosting he was defender and set the table up.

2000 Daemons
HQ
Bliss Bringer (KoS) - Might, Musk, Pavane
Pain Kisser (KoS) - Might, Musk, Pavane
Bulemius (GUO) - Flies, Breath, Aura

Troops
15 Daemonettes
10 Daemonettes
14 Plaguebearer - Icon, Instrument

Fast
5 Screamers
5 Screamers

Heavy
Soulgrinder - Tongue
Soulgrinder - Tongue
Festus (Nurgle Prince) - Wings, Aura, Flies, Noxious Touch

2000 Imperial Guard
HQ
CCS x4 melta

Troops
2x pcs 4x flamer
3x pcs 4x flamer (one could only buy 3 flamers)
3x30 guardsmen with 3x meltas and a commissar

Heavy
(note that each is a single choice, no squadrons)
2x executioners with plasma sponsons
2x exterminators
2x punishers

Early Game
As per the Planetstrike rules Shep set up the table as he felt like. He created a pretty symmetrical board with three bastions cutting the table in half diagonally. Each of these was surrounded by a 30 man blob who were in turn protected by a pair of fortifications with half the troops on each side - basically ensuring that the squad would get a cover save vs the firestorm regardless of where it landed. The command sections were each inside a bastion with the CCS being in the center one (which had a command relay and the machine spirit stratagem for its lascannons. Each bastion also had a quad-autocannon on the roof). It is worth mentioning here that the new Planetstrike terrain is amazing. All of Shep's tanks were, unsurprisingly, held in reserve.



After Shep was done deploying I revealed my first stratagem - Forward Observer. This little beauty lets one reroll all scatter dice as long as the target is within its LOS. I rolled up 6 firestorm strikes and began to rain destruction down upon the poor beleaguered defenders. I put all of the templates on the bastions since armor 14 is a pain for me to deal with. Thanks to my forward observer rerolls I ended up shaking 2 bastions and destroying the third one. Whew, that meant no interceptor fire for my first wave.



Speaking of waves, I split my army in half as per daemonic assault rules and failed to get my preferred wave. Rolling for reserves on turn 1, however, helped as I ended up getting my entire army bar 1 unit of screamers, and the large daemonette squad.

As I placed my first model, Shep revealed another of his Stratagems - krak mines! He dealt a wound to one of the Keepers, blowing off a claw, apparently - the model broke en route. Once more the forward observer proved its worth as a 2 point stratagem by stopping a couple of mishaps and ensuring that pretty much everything was in charge range.



At this point I decided to reveal my diabolical genius by using pavane to pull a tarpit out of the way so I could finally get a charge in with a unit of screamers before they were shot off the table. Of course the KoS missed. Damn it. At least the other keeper was able to pull the unit surrounding the destroyed bastion into charge range of the GUO - if he got a good charge move on his slow and fat roll. The soulgrinder missed the huge bastion with his tongue.

With that, I charged in everything that could - the soulgrinder, one of the keepers, and big fatty actually got a 6 for his charge on that unit. The daemonettes and the nurgle prince charged the unit around the bastion the soulgrinder had shot at. I messed up with my other keeper of secrets and thought I was charging in with the plaguebearers to the big unit surrounding the bastion - instead he just charged the platoon command squad while the plaguebearers charged the big blob. Not surprisingly I the keeper shredded the pcs and his consolidate was a measly 1". I won both of the other combats handily but the stern gaze of the commissars kept everyone in line.



The defenders had sent out a desperate call for help when the black lightning began and it was answered by an armored patrol on maneuvers nearby. Shep got all of his reserves except for an executioner and an exterminator. One of them came on the table within 6" of my forward observer causing him to vanish. At this point I (erroneously) used my last stratagem - Darken the Skies - we found out later it should have happened in my shooting phase, not his, but the game is new and Shep is gracious, besides, my shooting was pretty inconsequential. The end results wouldn't have been a whole lot different.

There were only 3 viable shooting targets at this point - the soulgrinder, a unit of screamers and one of the keepers of secrets. The punisher fired first blasting the keeper back to the warp to the echoes of, "really? 20 dice? ouch..." The plasma tank took out the screamers and Shep revealed his final Stratagem - an escape hatch! The CCS popped out of the hatch and fired their meltas into the rear of the soulgrinder with predictable results. At least he took 2 of them with him back to the warp as he exploded.



The soulgrinder still in close combat continued to reap souls for the forge. The keeper of secrets suffered a wound though she had slain a full 5 of Vostroya's finest. Big fatty as he is affectionately known even accounted for his full complement of attacks. The keeper hit and ran toward the punisher tank which had killed her twin. On the other side of the table the daemon prince and the daemonettes cut down more vostroyans but they held firm as well.

The final, least interesting battle, between our two tarpit units resulted in a draw. Remembering that I had an instrument (which both of us had mocked mercilessly pre-battle) gave me the win by 1. The darkened skies made it a check at -2! Or would have, had they not been stubborn. Still, the first test was failed and the commissar turned his bolt pistol on the sergeant but even the harsh discipline could not calm the men and they broke! This was insanely huge as the plaguebearers got a 5" consolidate toward the access hatch of the center bastion - the one that the CCS had apparently forgot to lock before sneaking out the back to kill the soulgrinder! A decent slow and purposeful and I would claim that bastion for my own... Whew.

Okay, a quick editorial comment here - so, basically this was the end of the first turn. WOW! A lot of carnage had happened on both sides. We had been playing for well over an hour already but it didn't feel slow - instead it felt like the first 2-3 turns of a normal game had passed. It is very interesting how the subtle changes to the rules that the authors had introduced really gets you into the thick of the game right away.

Midgame to Endgame
Festus looked down at the guardsmen swarming around him. One of them ducked in under a sweeping blow from his rusted sickle and jammed a bayonet up into his arm pit, piercing his lung. He unfurled his rotting wings and gave them a beat casting infectious dander and rotting feathers twirling into the guardsmen. Three of them were unlucky enough to inhale this dander and fall to their knees coughing up blood from the ulcers growing virulently from within their lungs where the dander lodged. Festus howled his praise to the lord of plagues as ripped the bayonet from the trooper tearing his left arm from his body.

I get my final two units and place the screamers between the two tanks on one of the short edges - they get a drift toward the front of the remaining punisher but land safely and in charge range (finally!) The daemonettes arrive off of the plaguebearers icon and within charge range of the CCS (hopefully). The plaguebearers get a 6" move for their slow and purposeful and take up residence in the vacant bastion.

I don't have a whole lot of shooting but the two nurgle MCs both used their aura and killed a couple of guardsmen each. The keeper of secrets charges the punisher off the long table edge and destroys it. The screamers charge the other punisher and destroy it.

The large daemonettes squad made short work of the 3 survivors of the CCS and got a 6 for their sweeping advance. They were in the shadow of the executioner and we had about 10 minutes worth of laughs discussing how much daemonettes could spread with 6".




Both of the other close combats were similarly resolved though in both cases it was due to the noble sacrifice of the commissars in the unit. At this point things were looking very grim for the defenders. The survivors of the wrecked bastion were facing down a soulgrinder and a great unclean one and the plaguebearers in the bastion were snug as a (flu) bug in a rug and untouchable. One of the tanks moved forward and covered the screamers with a heavy flamer causing 5 wounds. I failed all 5 saves and back to the warp they went.

Shep gave it one last desperate shot thinking if he could immobilize the soulgrinder in its current position a couple of inches away from the bastion he could focus the rest of his fire on the GUO and pull a draw. Unfortunately the possessed hull was proof against the plasma and Shep conceded.



After Action Review
Wow, crazy fun game and in the mix right away. Daemons being able to charge when they appear are pretty brutal. Lackluster troops like daemonettes actually get to do something. That being said, it will take a couple more games before I declare them broken. If Shep had taken, say, 5 bastions daemons would be in a lot of trouble - maybe I could have busted more with the firestorm but frankly I got lucky popping the one I did.

It is interesting to build the list knowing the mission to be played and the alternate force org charts. This was my first Planetstrike but it absolutely will not be my last - if you have been on the fence about this supplement I don't hesitate in recommending you give it a drive and kick the tires. I am already dying to give the Crimson Fists a spin both as defender and attacker.

Commendations
Forward observer is an amazingly good stratagem. I know that I will have to force myself to take some of the others just to try them out. Also, fear the plaguebearers and their sonorous musician.

Condemnation
Screamers. Even in their perfect environment they basically sucked. At least I don't have to buy any more as I was worried I might.

Wolicz ran. The member of his command squad were with him though Ivogik was lagging behind. He was unable to catch his breath and kept stopping to cough, spattering the ground drops of blood from the infections ravaging his body. Wolicz wanted to stop but his body was reacting with pure instinct. To stay on the battlefield was to die - it was that simple. At least, Wolicz thought grimly, the unit's commissariat had been killed to a man. The best he could hope for was assignment to a penal battalion but were that to happen in would mean his soul was safe from the warp. Even the bullet of a commissar would free his soul which was better than the bondage his men would suffer for the rest of eternity.

Nice batrep. Hopefully I'll be picking up a bunch of planet strike stuff this weekend.

Did you charge the screamers into the blob when you couldn't reach the bastion or just leave them in the open?

So the 160 points you spent on screamers killed a punisher that costs 180, I'm not seeing the problem here .

I really think Slaanesh and Nurgle lists will be great fun for planet strike it removes some of their weaknesses from regular games of 40k.

Have you thought about giving someone boon to get rid of those pesky commissars?

I thought Som was going to highlight the turning point a bit more. But it appears he kindly left that to me.

In another post talking about deep strikers getting to charge when they land i said it wasn't that much of a hinderance to a good defender, and i stand by that. From my perspective as the game was going on turn by turn, this was my reaction.

Firestorm- I would have liked to have had a couple interceptor guns unshaken here. It would have hurt Som a bit. If I was running a 6 bastion set up, I don't think his 3 more firestorms would have been able to shake all of them. Other than that, I wasn't concerned with the destruction of the corner bastion.

Turn 1 attacker- His drops were insanely accurate thanks to the observer, I was still completely calm and was expecting nothing short of this. All I needed was for him to have a couple units per turn out in the open for my reserves to shred. Even if he gets his entire army into CC on the drop, I can pull a commissar from one of the units and wipe out whatever group was in combat against them with my 6 'anti-demon' reserves. It went even better for me as one of the KOS charged a 5 man PCS squad, and the screamers (who would have been a legal target anyway had they charged a bastion) didn't even make a charge. I was sitting pretty despite getting charged by 7 out of 9 units without firing a shot.

Turn 1 defender- the game went absolutely flawless for me, right up until the final combat. Almost all my tanks came in. 3+ reserve with a re-roll you can hope for all. I got 5 out of 6. But Som ret-conned his 'darken the skies' so i had to go back and adjust where I put my tanks. I had to line up my executioner and one of my punishers danger close to the KOS locked in combat near the destroyed bastion. Which i wouldn't have done had it not been night fight. Regardless, my first two spotlight attempts hit the two units I wanted to shoot at, and I had firepower to spare after removing them. My CCS left the center objective confident that there wasn't any enemy infantry models even remotely near the door to the bastion, and dropped the soul grinder. I had decided early in the game that whatever bastion the GUO went for he could have, I'll take the other two and the win. I loved seeing Somnicide choose the destroyed bastion for the GUO. I had my plan for next turn lined up, Kill the second KOS once he hit and ran, kill the dwindling demonettes and kill off the demon prince, which was easily within my firepower capabilities. Then my 30 man infantry squad just holds off 7 plaguebearers for a couple turns and i walk away with a textbook win. Som could see it as clearly as I could see it... but then IT happened.

To say that the timing of the failed leadership was perfect for Som is an understatement. I failed a re-rollable leadership 9 test, that was only caused because he had a musician (we actually tied the combat). I was then run-down, with even initiatives, they got a 5" consolidate towards the door of the bastion, and it was the ONE turn of the game that my CCS was going to be outside the bastion. And it happened on my own turn.

Had the combat broken any other time, it still puts a unit of plaguebearers in base contact with my bastion, but I'm sure over the course of the game my reserves could have neutralized them. (bear in mind I had 2 executioners with plasma sponsons)

So I was walking in a textbook win and then, a dice roll later, the plaguebearers were occupying my own bastion and my last meltagun unit was dead. The bastion with the GUO would be firmly in his possession unless something amazing happened. And my lone bastion, although unassailable, would not be enough.

I loved it!

Things like this are what make these games fun. We're playing planetstrike. Two buddies, with nothing but bragging rights on the line. It was such a fun game, I was totally rattled, but in a good natured way (I hope)

And my stuff about "being in control" and having the game "locked up". Thats not me being cocky. I just want to make sure that before it even starts, any false panicking about demons being able to charge after deep striking is silenced. You all can ask Somnicide how he felt his chances were on bottom of one when my tanks showed up.

And on screamers... Som was proxying corn-dogs for them, and as he placed them, I was actually a bunch more scared, then when he reminded me that they were actually screamers. The screamers can't get past tarpits physically blocking bastions, and had he charged me, I would have directed at least 18 attacks per turn on them (that was the side most concentrated with sergeants). The unit of screamers that killed a leman russ charged it after deep striking, I had taken out his forward observer, so he had to suicide drop them and hope for luck. A unit of fiends can land around 13" away and still have a legal charge, they are likely to kill or cause permanent damage on the charge, they can hit and run and they would be great against a tarpit as well. Even pleasure seekers have rending and can get to rear armor 10 and 11.

I keep harping on screamers. I just need to see them do SOMETHING before I can get on board. And not just something that another unit could have done, while being more flexible.


I'll be adding two or three more bastions and two more melta CCS to my list. I'd like to try and fit one or two 10 man units to eat charges and break away so that I could have the luxury of a FRFSRF against turn 1 deep strikers. It won't do much, but every little bit helps. I may be dropping the meltaguns on the tarpits too. I'll be adding vanquishers instead of extrerminators (they were only exterminators because i didnt have the turrets yet for vanqs)

As to Som. i think his demon collection can and should grow.

Him using troops at all is pretty outlandish.

3 railgrinders
3 KOS
6x6 fiends

Now that is a scary attacker. With everything except the grinders having hit and run, my tarpits can get pushed and pulled, then circumnavigated at the end game. He won't need to burn 2 points on forward observer with fleet on his entire army, not to mention that half the units have a 12" charge. Everything in the army can at least glance a bastion too.

But who owns 36 fiends?

Uhg, this brings to life my fear.
Ever since picking up Planet Strike, I've thought daemons would be a bit OP. Especially vs my guard.
After reading this, I really don't know how to beat them.

Jamora wrote:Uhg, this brings to life my fear.
Ever since picking up Planet Strike, I've thought daemons would be a bit OP. Especially vs my guard.
After reading this, I really don't know how to beat them.

Are you screwing with me?

Did you read the part where they needed a perfect storm of unluck on the part of the IG player to win?

I am on a crusade to calm people down about the deep strike charging.

feed them an easily killed unit, they charge it, consolidate into the open. Feed them a tarpit with commissar, allocate a power weapon wound to the commissar the moment right before you are ready to shoot at them.

Having 30 man tarpit units at each bastion is like have a freeze ray for demons. Basically all game i said "You 7 units hold it right here and do nothing. Once I have killed some of your friends, I'll release you from the tarpits, but only one at a time, so I can kill you off at my leisure." I don't need my tarpits to live. Against demons if they did live i did something wrong. i want the tarpits to protect my reserve units, and my bastions, until I wipe out the demons that are nearest to the bastions I've chosen to defend (you have to let the attacker have something)

If the plaguebearers hadn't broken free of combat right at the moment before their own turn, they don't get into the bastion, and with strength 4, they can't kill the bastion, so I have a minimum of 4 turns to kill them off. To break me from combat I've got to fail a re-rollable LD9. Odds of that happening are about 2%. Odds of it happening on the one turn of that game that he needed it to are a third of one percent.

You'll be fine

Great report Som.

Looking forward to getting some PS games in.

Yeah what Shep said. I was looking at the table with his reserves coming and was seriously close to asking him if we could just reset and start over.

As should have been evidenced by the report - charging on the turn I arrived didn't give me the game. It only let me charge the units Shep wanted me to charge and the only reason I took them was because it was better than just standing there to be shot. What won the game for me was that bucket of chicken that I voodoo-sacrificed before getting to Shep's house that made him fail a stubborn ld9 with reroll at the only place and the only time that it mattered.

It looked to both of us like it would be a 2-1 victory for the guard and I was already planning changes to my list to make it a bit more competitive. I would love to claim that it was some master stroke of genius on my part, but really, it was me getting lucky with a unit that I shouldn't have even brought. I call that laughter of the dark gods.

In fact, I will go this one further and say that Planetstrike has me pulling back out my Crimson Fists in hope of being a bit more competitive. Daemons are fun and they can win, but the options for my Space Marines and the mental movies it would make are just too awesome to resist.

My last couple posts have been a bit lambasting of demons as attackers. I wanna put my shout outs to the units that were really quite good.

Keeper of Secrets. This guy just screams planetstrike. With fleet of foot to charge when he lands, Pavane to pull tarpits away from objectives, hit and run to break free of sticky assaults, monstrous creature status for bashing in the walls of a bastion, his resume is very impressive.

Soul grinders. A great flexible unit. One of his grinders landed, ran and charged, one landed and shot. In a planetstrike set up they seem great for having a good 'thing to do' regardless of your scatter result. Landed super close to a unit? Go ahead and charge it or flame/harvest. Landed too far to charge anything? Tongue or phlegm something. Landed just out of 6" Try for a decent run roll.

The demonettes were good not great. If there was some interaction with troops in planetstrike they seem to me like an excellent choice. But since they are essentially underpowered pleasure seekers, I don't see why I'd pick them over the other. And since I like fiends even more than either of those units, well those gorgeous models may go unpainted for some time

Demon princes. I also liked them. Unfortunately, I was able to put wounds on them with infantry models and quad-cannons. i think they could be a decent stand in for grinders. but its harder for them to threaten bastions.

GUOs. His prince and GUO both had aura of decay, which caused a couple of wounds to my tarpits, which is good, but it wasn't spectacular. I think a blender type model would be better. They are so depressingly slow that once they dedicate themselves to an objective there is no going back. Speedy units definitely gave me more pause, the KOS hit and run, move, run charge halfway across the table, took away one of my precious punishers, and i even saw it coming. With that kind of movement (even reliant on hit and run) His KOS had to die, they could bounce from a tarpit to a reserve or bastion, take some swings at it, then move to another area with impunity.

I think its really fun to defend against demons, and most of the reason the game didn't make me sweat was due to Som's 'battleforce' army. This was his first game, and he wanted to try a couple different things at once (slow and hard to kill nurgle... fast and blendery slaanesh) i think if he leaned one way and had more focus, then he would have gotten through my pits faster and stressed my reserves ability to kill off models. thats why i suggested the fiend spam KOS grinder list.

Either way... demons don't auto-win as attackers, and IG doesn't auto-win as defenders. which is kickass

Very nice battle report. I can't wait to see some pictures!

I'm a little hesitant about playing Planet Strike at the LGS. The entire store thinks that you can shoot units inside buildings, embark mutilple units into a building, and even assault into buildings.

Out of curiosity, does the Bastion come with a detachable top?

Nice batte report

@Rustyknight - I just sent Shep a text to upload those pics. If you refer the store the the main rulebook the building rules are pretty clear - treat them like a permanently immobile vehicle. One unit at a time, can't touch them until the vehicle is popped. There are a few others.

Oh and yes, the bastion you can build it by levels you don't have to glue them in at all - when they were destroyed shep just pulled off all the levels but the ground one.

Awesome report guys.
I'm playing my first planet strike this saturday, and i'm soo freakin' stoked!!

Great Bat Rep. That perfect storm of events that let plague-bearers walk into a bastion is going to be bandied around the gaming table for years.

Looking forward to getting involved in a planetstrike game against one of you two myself...

I like how you make your BR into stories somnicide.

Thanks, Vaako - that is my just about my favorite part of this hobby is imagining the game play out like a movie.

Who knows there may even be a movie......

um vostroyans? feth yes? feth yes.

Who says there can't be a film of it?