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The Thunderhawk "Imperial Gladius" shuddered under the impact of a burst of bioplasma. Pedro Kantor looked through the reinforced window over the shoulder of the pilot.

"How long until we are at FB Arcturas?"

The pilot glanced at the auspex and at that same moment a swarm of gargoyles enveloped the Thunderhawk. Alarm claxons wailed as the winged tyranids' acidic blood began to eat through the window. There was a juddering explosion as the turbine engines on the wings sucked some of the creatures through them.

"Sir, you should return-" the window gave in to the pressure of the windstream whipping around the jet as it began to fall out of the sky.

-----------------------

Librarian Artiz snapped out of the trance. "There are survivors - mobilize for thier retrieval!"

-----------------------

I got in a game with Shep using the new Battle Missions. We were both a bit tired of the hard core batrepping and playtesting so just decided to play lists that we thought sounded interesting. Shep also wanted to go entirely proxy free for his Nids and I wanted to try out a Crimson Fists list that I have been thinking about. We wrote up our lists and they come up to 1740ish I think for both of them. We were going to take pics but the camera needed to be charged. Sorry about that.

Crimson Fists Rescue Force
Pedro Kantor
Librarian (Null Zone, Avenger)
5x Scouts
5x Scouts
10 Sternguard (2 Lascannons, 2 combiflamers, 2 combimeltas, Power Fist, Rhino)
10 Sternguard (2 Plasmacannons, 2 combiflamers, 2 combimeltas, Power Fist, Rhino)
6 Assault Terminators
Land Raider Crusader (Extra Armor, Multimelta)
Land Speeder with Heavy Flamer/MM

Hive Fleet Shep
Hive Tyrant
2 Tyrant Guard
15 Termagants
15 Termagants
10 Genestealers
2 Tervigons
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
2 Carnifexes
Trygon

Setup and Early Game
The retrieval team crested the rise and their spirits were raised when they saw blue armored forms moving around the still smoking wreckage of the Thunderhawk. This elation was short lived, however, as the voice of Tech Brother Moldaves cut across the commnet.

"Multiple contacts inbound. Contact imminent, I estimate we have 6 minutes max in order to salvage the survivors and the machine spirit of the Gladius."


We decided to try the suggested method for generating mission and ended up with the space marine mission All-Round Defence. Since the wrecked shuttle cockpit terrain piece happened to be in the neighborhood we just moved that to the center and called it the objective. We took it in turns deploying as per the rules, I combat squadded everything and put the lascannon and plasma cannons in the rhinos, the remaining stern combat squads surrounded the opbjecive and I put Pedro and the librarian along with the assault termies in the land raider, and infiltrated the scouts out a bit. The speeder was kept in reserve.

Shep deployed everything he was able to - the termagants 18" from the center of the table and everything else lined up behind them. The genestealers deployed a bit further back thanks to the presence of the land raider crusader.

The tyranids were pretty much enveloping me in a half circle on my left flank and won the roll to go first.

The game started off with the tervigon on the north flank rolling 3 1s for creating termagants. Everything else moved forward. The hiveguard wrecked the rhino with the lascannon squad in it and they deployed a screen for the troops surounding the shuttle (they passed their pinning check). The other rhino had its storm bolter blown off and was stunned.

The other tervigon created 13 termagants without getting doubles.

One of the larger units of termagants charged at the lascannon squad who were in Pedro's bubble and surprised the termagants with the ferocity of their defence causing 9 wounds (3 attacks each is pretty awesome for a shooty squad!) In return they dropped a single sternguard but the no retreat wounds wiped the tyranids out.

Static defence is as abhorrent to the Crimson Fists as are the tyranids themselves and they set about a vicious counter attack. The land raider crusader moved 6" and the terminators deployed behind the front wave of termagants to set up a charge on the still-fertile tervigon. The land raider crusader fired all of its guns on the wounded tervigon and knocked it down to its last couple of wounds which were cleared by the lascannon combat squad. The only termagant squad in range of its deaththroes was the unit of 3 which were unwounded.

The two sternguard assault combat squads spread out from the shuttle wreckage, each setting their sites on the termagant squads approaching. The combination of flamer and bolter was too much for the unit approaching from the south and they were all but wiped out. The squad in the north was only in range of one flamer and they were knocked down to 3 as well.

The terminators charged the remaining tervigon and destroyed the beast for no loss of thier own as their storm shields proved they were up to the challenge of the monstrous creature.

Mid - End Game
The space marines were feeling confident following on the heels of their counterattack, but a mighty roar broke through the din of the battlefield as well as in each of their minds as the hive tyrant entered the field from the south.

The neophyte space marines who had been searching for survivors along the crash path quickly took up position among the wreckage and tried to calm their nerves against this inhuman nightmare.

From the north at almost the same instant a monstrous wormlike organism burst from the ground and drew the noose tighter around the space marines.

Pedro didn't want to believe the xenos were capable of such a devious strategy, but it seemed that he had been used as bait for a trap."

The newly-arrived trygon joined in a combined charge with the genestealers on the northern combat squad, and wiped them out for no loss. Critically, the genestealers only had a 1" massacre move. The hiveguard fired at the assault termies and killed 2 of them! At least they passed their morale check. The other hiveguard fired at the plasmacannon squad still in rhino and popped it and they failed their pinning check.

The snipers continued their lousy shooting (all game, I only had one missile hit and something like 5 sniper rifle hits, though I did get a couple of sniper rends out of it - I will not be mentioning them again until they are ripped apart in close combat).

In return the speeder arrives and the land raider does a little bit of a tank shock to bunch the genestealers up even more - when all is said and done there are only a few genestealers left. The crusader then shot all of its weaponry at the hiveguard and killed 2 of them but the survivor made his morale check. The terminators were eager for vengeance and charged the other hiveguard, killing 2 but losing another of their number! The survivor broke from combat and fell off the table and the terminators consolidated into the woods heading back toward the land raider crusader.

The lascannons squad put a couple of wounds on the tyrant and his guard before being afflicted with paroxysm and then slaughtered.

The plasma squad, when they were finally able to fire, BOTH overheated (they were apparently damaged when the vehicle exploded) and one of the gunners died from his weapon's malfunction.

The carnifexes showed up behind the speeder and destroyed it. The monstrous creatures then focused on wiping out everything on foot while Pedro and the Librarian debarked from the land raider crusader and split up after different undersized units while the lrc's hurricane bolters finished off the genestealers as the assault cannon/multimelta finished off the wounded trygon.

The end of the game had Pedro call down some fire support on the big bugs but just wounded one carnie. The game ended on turn 5 with the roll of two resulting in a draw!

After Action Review
Wow, what a bloody game! It is hard to tell from this quick writeup but the Sternguard special ammo was the star of the match. Wounding the big bugs on 2s was huge - I just kept forcing Shep to roll saves and he would miss them every now and again.

As to the mission itself, it really made me think "wow, they are right on top of me!" before the first dice were rolled. It was a really cool cinematic type mission and was a whole lot of fun to play. In retrospect, I probably should have had a unit of scouts to dump in the land raider after the termies left it just to act as a scoring unit upgrade but how was I to know that they hadn't actually completed sniper training after all. Where was Telion?

The mission felt pretty balanced and next time I play it I will definitely do things a bit differently. Overall my first impression of Battle Missions is a very positive one!

Pedro Kantor looked on with disgust as the dust settled following a lance strike from his Battle Barge in low orbit. The smaller beasts were all dead but the Tyrant roared his defiance and a challenge to the Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists.

The fire in his blood rose and he made to give the order to charge the tyranid monstrous creatures but then caught himself. This war was far from over. They gathered what wounded they could into the Land Raider and fell back toward their base camp.

Som's batrep was a little short and quick... but captured both the spirit of the game, and how the game was different than normal.

So, what I know some people here are going to be watching closely is how balanced the misisons truly are. Check the first page of the book, and check the author credits. These missions are intended to be balanced, and have been playtested prior to publishing...

From a 'game' perspective I couldn't break this mission in one try. For every dangerous loophole from the standard missions, there is a check in there.

The pros for marines... they got to deploy their entire force if they wanted, and had the option for deep strikers and fast attacks to be in reserve.

They started the game in sole control of the only objective.

The cons for marines. They are surrounded, they only have a 6" deployment zone no-man's land. They have to be the first to deploy a unit.

The pro's for me... I got to attempt to deploy in a circle around the marines.

I got to deploy my units after the marines were dropping their units (got to react with each drop rather than telegraph my plan)

I got to deploy close!

the cons. Critically, and I am betting for good reason, my heavy support and my HQ were forced to start in reserve. this meant that i couldn't just instantly run over him with MCs on turn 1.


Ok, here are some of the 'checks' I was talking about. I contemplated deploying my tervigons 6" away from all of his stuff, but since in this mission you roll to see who goes first and its 50/50... I wasn't guaranteed a shot at first turn, and therefore needed to screen him from terminator charges.

The marine player was able to use the 12" radius deployment circle to keep some of his models from being surrounded. Both Som and I were active players during 3rd and 4th edition, so we are both versed in the "i drop one, you drop one" deployment. He was dropping things to try and get me to deploy against them, and then dropping his more vulnerable things further away from my initial drops. Also, infiltrators worked here, so he was able to deploy scouts outside of the death bubble.

From a tyranid perspective, I had huge advantages in being able to be so close from the start, but as my normal deployment was broken up (heavies and HQ in reserve) that meant that my tervigons were not going to be getting a cover save. So I had to take the good with the bad.

Ultimately, in deployment, while playing, and at the end of the game. It just felt balanced. I certainly had a chance to win it, right up until the bottom of turn 5. And Som was doing quite well also. I got a crucial 5" run on my trygon which set him up for a 'charge on arrival'. he also just couldn't get the missile launcher and sniper hits on the trygon that he needed until after they had killed that one last combat squad.

I had no real answer to the terminators until my hive tyrant showed up, but decided instead to just lure them away from the objective with my hive guard.

The end of the battle was actually quite comical. I had 2 unwounded fexes in a unit and the hive tyrant and two guard. they all just finished up eating the last two troop units in soms army, and then spun around to glare at the marines. The librarian and pedro along with the terminators all re-embarked into the LRC, and they revved their engines. One of us could still win by tabling the other, and both of us still had PLENTY of gas to be able to table the other guy, the tumbleweed rolled between the raider and the pack of nid MCs, and then unfortunately, we got a 5.

I had an absolute blast with the mission, and I highly recommend the battle missions book to casual players and especially hard core players. The objectives are either kill points or physical objectives to claim, but the special deployments and special rules just end up putting your units in non-standard places, at weird times. Its just a great mental exercise on figuring out where the advantage is for you on the mission you are playing, whether its your own armies mission or you are playing the part of "enemy".

Yeah, definitely. It also bears mentioning that you don't build for the mission - it is still random and is designed around all-comers lists which I think helps counteract any gaminess in building for the mission.

Thanks for sharing the game, I have been curious how the Battle Missions would shape up and they seem like some fun scenarios to play out. I think it is time to order a book...

I need to direct my friend to this batrep, he read the all round defense scenario when the book came out on saturday and started complaining about how space marines wouldn't stand a chance in that scenario. i think he failed to take into account the deployment options, as well as the fact that the enemy must keep hq and heavy in reserve.

good report, thanks for posting!

That was pretty awesome right there. I really liked the story as well, gives a true sense of the feelings of fighting godless killing machines.

I'm glad the book is well put together, After the sadnes that was planet strike. There was smething oddly refreshing about this report. It good old school brawl.

This book ist completly broken. No fun in there.
One side gets all the advantages and the other one is the poor guy who only suffers...

You have to take reallly "fun" armies, and choose your armychoices together with your opponent and vice versa.
But then you could also make your own mission with custom rules>> no need of a book...
What I want to say is, that the book is crap for competitive play, and if you are a fun player the book and its rules are not deep enough.
Ive already played 4 Missions. No fun...

Hive2003 wrote:This book ist completly broken. No fun in there.
One side gets all the advantages and the other one is the poor guy who only suffers...

You have to take reallly "fun" armies, and choose your armychoices together with your opponent and vice versa.
But then you could also make your own mission with custom rules>> no need of a book...
What I want to say is, that the book is crap for competitive play, and if you are a fun player the book and its rules are not deep enough.
Ive already played 4 Missions. No fun...

I strongly disagree. Both sides are given advantages, its just usually the enemies advantages are not as flashy, and harder to spot. No offense, but you've got to be pretty observant to see what advantage you gain.

For example, my friend was complaining about an eldar scenario where every unit in the eldar army can outflank and they just get to choose the outflank side they come on from. He swore up and down that there was no advantage given to the enemy player, and that is was a bogus 'fluff' mission...

So I took a look at it. The enemy player gets the table half with two obejctives, while the eldar players table half has only one. Furthermore, not a single objective is closer than 24" away from a short table edge. And 5 out of 6 times, the enemy will have the last turn to grab said objectives.

Just because the enemy didn't have any special rules that directly benefit them, doesn't mean that the eldar aren't starting at a major disadvantge... If you had experience with heavy outflanking armies, you would know that you always endeavor to place your objectives as close as possible to the short edges. Also, if you played a lot of 'seize ground' you would know that going last is generally better than first, except in the case of gunlie versus gunline. If the eldar player is going to actually hold units in reserve to use his outflank advantage, then first turn is even worse for them.

You need to look closer at the missions... look for the advantages that the enemy has. They are there...

I also disagree with Hive. The idea of these missions is to mix things up and force you to play differently. Sure, if you play using the same tactics that you use in every other game of 5th edition you have been playing you will lose and will probably deserve to lose.

While it is not drastic, to my mind it feels similar to the shift from 4th Edition to 5th Edition. The people who embraced the new tactics did well, those who still tried to play 5th edition with a 4th edition mentality hated it (and many still do).

Sorry i dont get your points. Where are the advantages? There arent any...
Sure if you play well, but if the other player is playing good as well, one side ist heavily handicapped.

One of the missions i played was the second imp mission. No space between the armies??? Yeah, thats really fun...
This book ist superficial.
My advise save your money and create better "fun" mission by yourself, otherwise you will be very disappointed.

Yeah, that was definitely proven by the batreps you posted with your clear analysis as to why and what was bad. thanks for posting the batreps to support your position. oh wait, that is right, you didn't.

Somnicide wrote:Yeah, that was definitely proven by the batreps you posted with your clear analysis as to why and what was bad. thanks for posting the batreps to support your position. oh wait, that is right, you didn't.

Plz dont cry...
I know you and a handfull of other Gamers here are the heavy posters of dakkadakka, but thats no reason to think you were better or more experienced than others.
Why do i have to post batraps? No oppinions allowed without batraps? Are batraps the dakkdakka currency? And btw you can read my batraps here: http://www.tabletopwelt.de/forum/showthread.php?t=86012&page=13

But in the end i know most of the gamers will ignore this codex.

Hive2003, by simply saying "You're wrong" to Shep and Somnicide without providing any sort of evidence (especially after they provided evidence of their point), you are trolling. This is against the Dakka rules.

Further violations will result in disciplinary actions.

Thanks for your batreps, I look forward to reading them. I don't at all think that because I have more posts than you that my experiences are more valid. I DO think that since I am posting on games that I have actually played rather than looking at the mission and saying oh that looks way unbalanced that my experiences are more valid.

What? Thats a joke right?
Cause i dont have the same oppinion like them Im trolling? Thats really sad...
Sorry dont know that[i] dakkadakka rule...

And btw they have all the rights liking the codex, but i have all the rights disliking it. And its ok that they are having fun with it. Or is there any rule which states something like "if shep and som likes something, everyone have to like it, if not he or she is trolling and deserves a ban!"
I said that I dont like that book, cause the missions are unblananced and no fun to play...

Somnicide wrote: I DO think that since I am posting on games that I have actually played rather than looking at the mission and saying oh that looks way unbalanced that my experiences are more valid.

Yep I understand you, and you are right that in direct comparison your arguments are more viable.
But to say you have to post batraps to be allowed to post here is a little bit harsh. I respect you and everybody else here. And my post seems a little bit aggressive I think. But nontheless thats my oppinion based on 4 games a played with the new book. And I really have no fun, nor my gaming partners.
And i think different oppinions are needed in forums like this.

Okay, just checked out your reports but they were so short that they didn't really give the flow of the game or even the lists really.

I am curious how you guys play over there - do your lists tend to be well balanced or do you build knowing who you are going to play and key on that?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And, I think the point is to maybe calm down a bit? I see that English may not be your native tongue and maybe you are not realizing how condescending and douchy your posts are. I am willing to bet that it not intentional.

The problem is Som and Shep provided some feedback based on a game they played for the book. You are simply stating that they are not fun or unbalanced without really providing specific experience.

I am sure you have some valid game experiences or anecdotal evidence to suggest why this is so. As someone who just ordered the book, I would love to hear it so I can hawk it on E-Bay if I have to

Somnicide wrote:Okay, just checked out your reports but they were so short that they didn't really give the flow of the game or even the lists really.

I am curious how you guys play over there - do your lists tend to be well balanced or do you build knowing who you are going to play and key on that?

I am willing to bet that it not intentional.

See my edit!

Yeah the reports were so short cause it was a team tourny based on the new book. 4 Games. You will say play the missions with the correct armies and no teams... And i think you are right. But everybody at that tourny felt like me and dont want to play such mission in a tourny again, so there are definitely to sides.
Your second point ist really interesting regarding the different play styles here in germany compared to the US. Space wolves, imps are exactly the same lists, but Marines und especially Nids are different.
Nids are successfull here when you play a shock all you can army. Tyrannos which shep liked for a long time, were a no go form day one...
We have a highly competitive tourny scene and every year a world cup, where the best national teams will battle against the best of the other countries. Germany is always one of the favourites.

Interesting. I am very curious to see if you played them as single opponent games rather than doubles if your experience would be different.

Using the Battle Missions in tournaments is IMO a very wrong decision to begin with.

Yeah i will give it another try. But my hopes are low.

Steelmage99 wrote:Using the Battle Missions in tournaments is IMO a very wrong decision to begin with.

Yep thats right. It was a test, ...which failed.

Hive2003 wrote:What? Thats a joke right?
Cause i dont have the same oppinion like them Im trolling? Thats really sad...
Sorry dont know that[i] dakkadakka rule...

You're new to Dakka, aren't you? If you've been reading Dakka for a while, you'd know that there are MANY people here with differing opinions. That's part of what makes Dakka great. Problems arise when people start arguing for no apparent reason and with nothing to back up their arguments. That's what you did here. And it's no joke. If you provide even a bit of support for your position (which you have finally started to do in this thread), then there's no problem.

If your hopes are low the I'll bet you'll come to the conclusion you expected beforehand.

If, on the other hand, you actually give it a chance.....

Pictures or it didn't happen . Thanks for the batrep, I've been looking forward to the mission's book, so hopefully I'll like it as well.

HA! Hey, are you coming out for the Slaughter In Space 2?