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Not really a battle report, to be honest, so a mod might want to move this to 40K General Discussion, but this does seem more appropriate.

This Thread tells you the details. Ketara organised the day, and full credit to him, everything ran very smoothly.

It is a two-day event, and I can't make it tomorrow, so I was only planning to watch, not play. I took along an army anyway though, and although it wasn't painted, Ketara let me play. I was rather letting the side down, as there were some outstanding armies there. Some Knights made out of Defilers, Psykers made out of ghouls, Rebel Grots, Steampunk Guard, etc etc...

I'll just report on what I was involved in, and let others post about their own experiences.

Battle One

Battle One was a straight up Annihilation mission, setting up using standard deployment at 12" from the half-way line.

This was Vanilla Marines, generalled by Bradley/<Boardname Unknown> versus my half-painted Lamenters, running as a Blood Angel List.

Both of us were running Captains in Power Armour, 2 Tac Squads, 1 Rhino, 1 Terminator Squad. He backed that up with a Vindicator and a Dreadnought. I also had scouts and a Classic Predator.

1) The first thing that happened was my Predator blew up his Vindicator. Good Start!
2) My scouts and tac marines did very little...
3) Later in the game "The-Little-Rhino-Who-Could" Tank shocked his way through a Terminator, plowed in to the back of the enemy Rhino, wrecking it...
4) Next turn, "The-Little-Rhino-Who-Could" tank shocked the stationary Dreadnought, breaking his last weapon and leaving him all but helpless.
5) My 5 man Combat Squad landed up surrounded...
6) ...but one of them hung on and survived to the end.

What did I learn from this game? Baal pattern Rhinos rule. Tank shocking is fun.

Model of the match: "The-Little-Rhino-Who-Could"

Bradley won this one, and apart from the loss of his Vindicator in turn one, never really looked in a huge amount of danger. Only my predator really looked dangerous all game, with some valiant contributions from "The-Little-Rhino-Who-Could".

Battle Two

Battle Two was one of Ketara's missions. 6 moveable beacons were located around the board, and could be picked up and carried by infantry. Set up was Dawn of War on table halves.

I was playing against Tom, who was running Mech Guard. A couple of Veteran Squads, each with dedicated Chmiera, a command squad, also with Chimera, some Ratlings, a Medusa, a Basilisk, a Leman Russ Punisher, and I think that was it...

I set up my scouts as infiltrating on the central rock, hoping to grab one of the two beacons set up there, and defend the other from his guys. A Combat squad set up in shelter to look after one beacon in my deployment zone. Tom used his Mech Vets to try and hold on to the two beacons in his deployment zone.

At the beginning to turn one, Tom's tanks came on, and his Punisher started shooting up my scouts in the middle of the board. The plucky chaps only took two casualties however. Tom's Ratlings moved to protect one of his beacons. His command squad made a bold charge up the middle of the table in their chimera. My guys came on, and my 5-man combat squad came on to go after the central beacons near my scouts and meet his command squad. My 10-man squad in its Baal Rhino charged past the objectives in my own table-half, leaving it completely unclaimed...

Next turn, my combat squad defending the beacon in my deployment started to set a trend it followed all game... passing extremely large numbers of armour and cover saves, and just refusing to die. The other half of the squad, plus my Captain, moved to engage the Command Squad. My 10-man squad kept on heading for the beacon at the back. My scouts were eradiacted by the Punisher... My Predator did... not a lot. My terminator squad failed to deploy by deep strike...

Moving on, in turn three, my pair of combat squads just got on with it, but spectacularly failed to crack open the Command Squad's Chimera. My Predator did... not a lot. My terminator squad failed to deploy by deep strike...My 10-man squad arrived to start killing Mech Vets, and did a damn good job; they wiped out the Mech Vets and stole the beacon, giving me a 2-1 lead... but they only rolled "1" for their consolidate move, leaving them out of cover, with a Medusa ready to fire...

This proved to be a bad thing, as in turn four, the Medusa promptly dropped a pie-plate with perfect accuracy and killed 7 of them... My combat squad and Captain finally cracked open the Chimera, but it took everything they had, and they had nothing left to deal with the squad inside. However, they were surrounded, and things did not look good. Once again, my Terminators failed to deploy by deep strike...

At this point I was leading 2-1, with a fairly good chance, though not certain of keeping the two beacons I had, though even if I dropped them, it was unlikely Tom could grab them, a decent chance of getting one of the central beacons, and a Terminator Squad about to deploy...

However, at this point we ran out of time and the game ended, giving me a 2-1 win.

For those who were worried, "The-Little-Rhino-Who-Could" (TLRWC) survived. Once again, those Lucifer engines in the Baal Rhino proved invaluable in getting troops to where they needed to be nice and quick. Marines proved their worth over even Veteran Guardsmen in combat, and in shooting. I really enjoyed this scenario - lots of beacons gave choice about which ones to go for. I think my key decisions were to ignore the beacon on my own zone to go after one in Tom's. I knew he could not reach mine anyway, and by going full pelt forwards, I both grabbed his, and denied it to him. My scouts starting in the middle of the board meant they got shot up, but they distracted the Punisher for a long time. Had I deployed them back in my own deployment zone to get the becaon I missed, they probably would have held it, but I'd have had to weather a lot more Punisher shots elsewhere and it may have made a big difference. My scouts were little more than decoys in game one and two, but this proved a valuable function both times.

Looks like a great time so far, and im just pissed i couldnt make it

Im guessing you will be taking a few rhino's next time?


Also, kudos to Ketara for setting it all up.

Battle Three

This was against RinkyDink's marines. He was fielding a Dreadnought, a pair of tac squads, two razorbacks, a predator and two land speeders.

The game was table quarters, seize objectives. This looked like a drawfest from the the off, but we both made a determined effort to reach the other objectives...

He set up a Dread and a pair of missile launcher combat squads to defend his objective. He formed an armoured column fronted by a his Pred and followed by two Razorbacks with troops, including a librarian and (techmarine?) inside. His landspeeders swung around the opposite flank.

I held my Terminators in reserve, ready to deepstrike in by his objective. I knew they could not fail to deploy for two games in a row... I sent a full Tac squad in "The-Little-Rhino-Who-Could" up the flank down which his landspeeders were coming. Even Astartes were eyeing those landspeeders, with the multi-meltas and heavy flamers, very warily. I held a pair of combat squads and my Captain back to defend my own objective and positioned my Predator on the flank to try and disrupt his armoured column. My scouts deployed in front of his Land Speeders, with little confidence of hurting them, but knowing they could help buy time for other people. They died to the pair of Land Speeders on turn one, IIRC, but at least bought TLRWC some respite from the Land Speeders.

Miraculously, TLRWC made it almost the whole length of the board. In turn one, he shrugged off a few shots heavy weapons, although eh was left unable to fire his storm bolters next turn...

On turn two, my terminators failed to deploy by deepstrike... In the photo below, you can see TLRWC surrounded by everything that shot at him on turn two. I may get the order wrong, but he was shot at by... A krak missile from one of the tac squads, a krak missile from the dread, the dread's assault cannon, a krak missile from the other combat squad. A multi-melta shot a the back from the Land Speeder, the heavy flamer. Nothing did anything more than prevent it from firing its weapons (storm bolters) the following turn. TLRWC had not only delivered his troops, but had absorbed the heavy weapons fire of half an army. Finally, one remaining lascannon from a Razorback took a potshot and managed to destroy the plucky little fella, and he exploded leaving a huge crater. However, the courageous little fella's machine spirit even guided his exploding parts, and not a single passenger was injured. And they were just where they needed to be to attack the combat squad in front of them... In the meantime, my Pred and defensive squad managed to slightly slow down the advancing armoured column. Unassailed by heavy weapons fire due to everything being thrown at TLRWC, they were more or less unharmed still...

On turn three, my terminators failed to deploy by deepstrike... My Tac squad took out the combat squad behind the wall, but in response were pretty badly mauled by a Land Speeder heavy flamer. They were even too few in number to seize the objective, but they could still contest it. My other squads were looking good, but I was worried about one of those Land Speeders coming round the back of my lines... One of the Razorbacks was immobilized by my Pred.

On turn four, my terminators failed to deploy by deepstrike... My Tac squad going after the other objective managed to destroy the Land Speeder that was threatening them, but three men held out little hope of dislodging a combat squad and a Dreadnought... My Predator retreated from the approaching Librarian and combat squad who had jumped out of the Razorback. The remaining Landspeeder approached my objective, but after others had missed, my Captain took a shot and managed to take out its Heavy Flamer, leaving just the Multi-melta. My Tac squad called out their thanks to the Captain for the marksmanship that had saved them from a bath or Promethium Death.

On turn five, my terminators deployed, but unfortunately landed too far from the objective to contest it. MyTac Squad failed to destroy the Land Speeder threatening my objective, but fortunately, my Baal Predator had reversed up, and being FAST was able to unload its full complement of weaponry and take out the only thing that could have taken away the draw.

Time expired, and the game ended in a draw. I was left cursing the vagaries of my Terminators teleporters, swearing that teleportation was not a tactic I would be using in the next game.

TLRWC was once again my vehicle of the match. It delivered its occupants to exactly where they needed to be, and before it died shrugged off an entre army's-worth of heavy weapon fire over two turns.

What did I learn?

I loved RinkyDink's armoured column. Using the Pred to cover the Razorbacks behind it seemed like a great idea. I am glad I have some Razorbacks on the way, and I am especially glad I have a Fast army.

Once again, being Fast made my Rhino a legend. Having paid for an extra storm bolter and extra-armour was also a wise investment. I might not have gotten as far as I did without the Storm-Bolter to soak up "weapon-destroyed" results instead of immobilised, nor have been able to keep moving without the extra armour. DON'T SKIMP ON VEHICLE UPGRADES shall be forever imprinted on my tactical choices section of my brain.

Battle Four

This battle was a hoot.

Four portals dotted around the board acted as teleporters. Each was numbered 2-5. You rolled a dice to see which one you emerged from. If you rolled your own number, you could choose any to emerge from, if you rolled a 1, you were lost to the warp. If you rolled a 6 you deep-struck anywhere. Deployment was DoW.

Ketara had 4 Steampunk Chimeras. Two had Vet Mechs in, another had psykers in, and another had a command squad. There were more Vets in his Zeppelin/Valkyrie.

I deployed a Tac squad plus my Captain amongst a large cargo dump on the left of the board to guard one portal. Another squad deployed next to them in TLRWC. My Terminators decided against Deep Striking and came in from the table edge with my scouts and my Pred.

My Pred entered the board on my table edge on right flank on turn 1 but soon got blown up. I looked around in panic at what the hell I had left to pop open his Steam Engines, and realised I had nothing. My Terminators came on nearby moved damnably slowly and quickly realised why they normally deep strike. My scouts hid near an objective, also on the right flank. My Tac squad in the cargo dump admirably shrugged off most of the Psychic attacks being thrown at them. The Tac Squad in TLRWC swept up the left flank and quickly engaged the Vets I found there.

The Chimeras and Valkyrie advanced up the board. Realising my Terminators would be dead before they got anywhere, I decided to take a chance on teleportation after all, and finally came up trumps when they teleported to exactly where I needed them. Sadly, before they did much they were popped open by melta-fire. Elsewhere, the Vets on the opposite flank decided discretion was the better part of valour and fled through a portal. They were clearly terrified by the marines emerging from TLRWC. They also got exactly the roll they needed, and popped out next to my scouts, who they soundly whalloped in combat.

At this point, Ben and I each held two objectives. My brave Captain jumped through a portal, and once again, the die smiled and he landed just where he wanted to be. He gained revenge for the brutal slaughter of the scouts and sent the guardsmen packing. Sadly, he in turn was killed almost immediately after. Still, he died a heroes death.

It all hinged on whether the Command Squad plus Inquisitor, or the Psykers could contest the objective in the cargo dump. The Tac Squad there put up a brave fight, and did just enough to kill the Command Squad off and keep the Psykers just far enough away.

The game ended with 2 objectives each, though I have to admit I would have struggled to hold on to both of my objectives if the game had continued. Still, with TLRWC still on the table, who could say?

What did I learn from this game? Terminators need a Land Raider, or good Deep Strike rolls. Preferably a Land Raider. Foot slogging is not an option, even if it seems like a good way to secure your own objective. They need to be hidden from view until it is time to do something.

All four of my battle reports now up.

What a fun day.

Thanks Ketara and everyone else involved.

Well sir, looks like you were playing La-Mentors.

Seriously, nice reports tho.