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Part 1 - Background

I've been a dedicated Chaos devotee ever since I first started playing 40k, waaaay back in the early 90's. I've always had fun with them, and have never regretted my choice of army. However, I've recently been feeling a hankering for a bit of a change, and with the release of 6th edition I decided to take the plunge and start a Codex: Space Marines White Scars army as well. The general improvements to bikes and the three Ravenwing models in the Dark Vengeance box set were just what tipped me over the edge!

I've always loved the White Scars background. While many people just think of them as fast space marines, I've always been really attracted to the idea of a highly mobile guerrilla army, able to strike the enemy when and where they wish. This is epitomised by the White Scars actions in the Siege of Earth during the Horus Heresy - they didn't retreat to the Emperor's palace, but instead roved over the terrain outside at will, destroying traitor supply dumps, support facilities, and rear echelon units, always on their own terms. This culminated in the re-taking of the Lion's gate spaceport, thus depriving the heretics of vital supplies at the key moment of the battle.



With this in mind I started building my White Scars - almost everything will be fast and highly mobile, with the majority being comprised of bikes and landspeeders, plus a few scouts (they're not mobile, but fit the theme very nicely).

It was only a week of two after my first batch of models had arrived that an opportunity came to try them out for the first time - my local gaming group was running a 40k in 40 minutes mini tournament, the idea being to (a) give new players a chance to get to know other members of the group, and (b) give people an opportunity to experiment with the 6th edition rules.

A quick check of the GW release schedules showed me that the new Chaos Codex would be released... the week after the tournament! That was a little bit frustrating - and then a thought popped into my head - why not use the White Scars instead? After all, 400 points is the smallest 40k force you can field - surely you've got that many models ready to go?


Part 2 - My First White Scars List

So having decided to bring my brand-new army along, I had to figure out exactly what I could field! I'd be limited by two things - the rules restrictions, and the models I had assembled.

For those unfamiliar with the 40k in 40 mins rules, they are:

400 points
0-1 HQ
1+ troops
0-1 Elite
0-1 Fast Attack
0-1 Heavy support
No 3+ wound models (except swarms)
No 2+ save models
No vehicles with armour greater than 33 in total (front + side + rear)
No ordnance
Flying units are treated as fast skimmers

Note these are slightly modified to account for edition changes.

We'd be playing with standard 6th edition rules, except that:
1) With no mandatory HQ, the Warlord could be a unit leader / champion / sgt or equivalent
2) Only 'Purge the Alien,' 'The Emperor's Will,' and 'The Relic' battle missions would be available, due to the very low points values being used (the other standard missions would give us more objectives than units in most armies!)

The immediate consequence of these rules what that I couldn't take a SM captain on a bike - and therefore my bikes couldn't be a troops choice! Oops, perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all... However, there was one way out - I was still allowed one Fast Attack choice, so I could take a full bike squad in this slot, and combat squad them to still give me two units. This left a mandatory troops slot to be filled - the characterful scouts were the obvious choice for this. Overall this gave me:

5 x Scouts - 100 points
- missile launcher
- 4 sniper rifles (incl one on the sgt)
- camo cloaks

8 Space Marine bikers + 1 attack bike - 300 points
- Multi-melta (on the attack bike)
- 2 plasma guns
- Meltabombs (on the sgt)

That was 400 points dead on - not too bad. On the upside I had exceptional mobility, and the large number of bikes T5 jink-saving bikes gave me reasonable survivability. In addition with 2 plasma guns, a multi-melta and a missile launcher I thought I should be able to handle the lighter vehicles that might appear, while a frag missile, sniper rifles, and twin-linked bolters should be able to handle at least some hoard units OK.

However, there were also some significant weaknesses in my force. Firstly, I didn't have a single power weapon, which meant removing MEQs from an objective in close combat would be tricky. Secondly, I only had 14 models with 15 wounds - I could expect almost everyone to out-number me, though I was hoping my additional survivability would work to counter this. Lastly though was my most glaring weakness - I only had one scoring unit. It looked like my scouts would be doing a lot of work...

Of course, I didn't have 5 scouts at the time. One evening of clipping, gluing, spraying and painting later, and I'm ready to go!

Part 3 - Game 1 - Dancing with the Dark Eldar

My first opponent was Michael playing Dark Eldar. This was an army I knew almost nothing about, and he also had a lot of models as well - there was a large-ish warrior squad, some wracks, and two wych squads. The mission was 'The Emperor's Will' so we each had one objective in our own deployment zone.

We were playing Hammer and Anvil on the 4x4 board - I had a very large piece of ruin area terrain in my half, so big it almost reached the centre of the board, while there were several smaller pieces on Michael's side in his deployment zone. I set up my objective on the 1st floor (2nd floor for you Yanks ) of my ruin, while his went in one of his smaller ruins. My warlord was my biker Sgt, with no useful ability. His was the warrior's acothyst. with FNP if they were on an objective - very useful!

Looking at his force I knew I was seriously outnumbered, and what was worse I could only ever hold one objective, while he had 3 troops squads so could potentially hold them both. My advantages were superior mobility as he only had infantry, albeit Fleet of Foot ones, and much greater survivability.

Michael rolled well and chose to deploy first and get the first turn - his warrior squad went on his objective in the ruins on my right, one unit of wyches was in rhe other ruins on the left flank, and the last wych unit and Wracks were in the open in the centre. It was fairly obvious his warriors would hold the defensive position on the objective and cover an advance up the centre by his other three units. In response I deployed my two bike units directly behind my large ruin, protecting them during the first turn and hoping to rely on their mobility to get them where they needed to be in time. The scouts infiltrated into the ruin in my half where they could see all the DE, and one turn's movement towards my table edge would put them right on my objective.

The first turn went as expected, with the warriors staying put, while the wyches and wracks ran forward at their top speed. I'd mis-calculated the distance - if they could get a decent assault distance, the nearest wych squad would be in close combat with my scouts next turn - and they had fleet of foot! On the up-side his wych squad in the ruins on the left had poor rolls and didn't advance as far as expected - with any luck it would be a turn longer before they were a threat.

The warriors opened up on my scouts in the ruins and that's when I got another nasty surprise - I didn't realise a lot of the DE shooing was poisoned. Suddenly my bikes didn't look as tough as they were a moment ago... Although they lost two men, the scouts held their ground - I'd need their firepower soon! The bikes were unscathed though - my paranoia at putting them out of LoS had paid off.

In my turn I moved my bikers forward, the larger 5-man combat squad with plasma guns and Sgt going to my right (towards his warriors and wyches advancing on my scouts). The smaller unit with the attack bike went left. I knew I might me in trouble here - I was facing a numberically superior force, and could not threaten every one of his units with each of mine. I therefore adopted a very White Scars tactic - that of bringing my superior individual units to bear on the most threatening ones of his on a turn-by-turn basis.

To this end both my scouts and my right flank bikers opened up on the wyches directly in front of them. I knew I would be out of range to assault, and my bikes would be vulnerable to the warrior squad in rapid fire range, but if his wyches reached my scouts and killed them then I could not possibly hope to win the game anyway! My scouts' frag missile missed, but I did get one sniper rifle kill. The bikes' bolters (I decided I didn't need to risk the plasma guns) also killed a couple more - they were mostly at long range firing through the building corner so that was pretty much average. The wyches were still big enough to pose a threat though... On my right flank the smaller bike unit engaged his wracks. Again I only caused a couple of casualties, but I knew he could not ignore this unit! Now came the vital moment - the pinning test for the wyches hit by the snipers. Michael rolled the dice - and failed the roll! My scouts would be safe for at least one more turn.

I has slowed the threat, but it was by no means neutralised. The Dark Eldar wanted slaves...

As expected Michael moved his wyches and wracks to threaten my left flank bikers. My scouts were safe for now - but the warriors had a very juicy target: my larger bike squad, in long range rapid-fire range. This was going to hurt... and it did. I lost two of the bikers to the warrior's fire, and on the other flank I also lost one of the bikes there to pistol fire from the wyches. The larger bike squad held their ground, but with the smaller squad I decided to take a risk, and used combat tactics to auto-fail my break test. They fled through the ruins and out of assault range, but lost another member to the dangerous ground doing it! I was down almost half my force already...

I figured this was the turn that would make or break me - I had to deal with the three units in the centre threatening my scouts and their objective, even if it cost my my entire remaining bike force! I needed to get into close combat, and away from the withering fire of the warriors...

The attack bike and his sole remaining squadmate auto-rallied due to ATSKNF on the left flank, and I took a risk moving up through the ruins again - luckily this time it paid off, and no-one failed their dangerous terrain test. On my right flank the three remaining bikers (incl the sgt) moved up to assault the now un-pinned wyches.

Now it was my turn to release devastating firepower. The scouts killed another wrack with a sniper rifle, though once again the frag missed. Perhaps I needed to have a word with the chapter Techmarines about the guidance systems? The bikes on the left added their firepower and killed another couple, and were now in a perfect position to assault the few survivors, as much to hold them up as anything else. On my right flank the sgt and his friend did the same to the wyches, and were similarly in a perfect assault position. Both enemy squads passed their break tests - then I charged.

The bikers fighting the wyches near my scouts did well - Hammer of Wrath on unarmoured T3 targets is great! I managed to break and destroy the wyches without taking a single casualty - no poison for these guys in CC - and used the consolidation move to get as far away from the warriors as possible, towards the left flank and the combat there. This also gave me my first VP due to First Blood. The wracks were a tougher proposition for my other bike squad though. Although I won the combat and killed all but one, he held his ground after killing one of my bikers in return.

At this point the game still hung in the balance. If Michael could kill my bikes it would probably be a draw or close win to one or the other of us, with each of us on one objective.

There was less for him to do this turn - the wyches on the left flank moved up to support the sole remaining wrack, while the warriors stayed put. Their long range firepower on the larger bike squad caused another casualty, but again I passed my Ld test. His other wych squad then charged the attack bike causing a wound for no return. Once again I decided to use combat tactics and fled the combat, knowing I could rally and come back next turn.

My turn was simple - the remaining bikers moved up to shoot and assault the wyches, the attack bike did the same with the last wrack (passing his dangerous terrain test), and the scouts shot the warriors, luckily causing casualties and pinning them. Close combat saw both the wyches and the last wrack killed for no loss - now the ball was firmly in my court and Michael was in trouble!

Being pinned reduced his firepower significantly and he failed to cause a casualty, allowing my scouts to move onto the objective, and my three remaining bikers to move into assault range. One turn of rapid fire followed by an assault was enough to finish off the the warriors - albeit for the loss of my attack bike - eliminating his last unit and ending the game.

The final result was 6-0 VPs to me - I had held one objective, and scored all 3 secondaries.

The game was a lot closer than the final result indicated - I had lost a lot of very expensive bikers, and with one or two luckier rolls it could have easily gone Michael's way. The initial failed pinning test was the most obvious one - if he had passed and charged my scouts I could have lost very easily!

Just follow the Tau philosophy, that can't capture the objective if their dead!

Part 4 - Game 2 - Chaos Calls...

Next up was Ben, using some very familiar Black Legion Chaos space marines... oh, that's right, they're my own models! Ben was a new player to the area and didn't have his own army around, so he borrowed some CSMs from my main force. He had chosen a take-all-comers list, with a 10 man Chaos Space Marine squad with flamers, Icon of Chaos glory, and a power weapon, a possessed rhino with a havoc launcher, and a havoc squad with an autocannon and missile launcher.

The dice rolls decreed we were on the same table with the same sides, except this time he had first turn. The mission was 'The Relic' with a single mobile objective in the centre of the board. Neither of us had a useful warlord trait.

One again the first turn went to my opponent - Ben deployed the rhino on my right flank (with the havoc launcher it had a fair amount of firepower), his large CSM squad was foot-slogging across the centre, and his havocs were in the ruins on my left. He used the terrain to his advantage - the Havocs were on the first floor, where not only did they have a great LoS across the whole field, but my bikes couldn't assault them! This was something I had been worried about from the start - luckily they weren't protecting an objective at the same time.

My bikes chose to deploy shielded behind the right side of the ruins, although his wider deployment with longer range weapons meant I would inevitably be shot by either the Havocs or the rhino - I chose the rhino. The ace up my sleeve though were the scouts - I could infiltrate right next to the objective thanks to the building in my half of the board that reached almost to the centre of the field. With a little luck I could jump, out, grab the relic, and be back in cover before the Chaos Marines got a shot...

Ben's first turn saw his CSMs standing still and taking long range shots at the scouts. With only single shots and a 3+ cover save he failed to do any damage. The rhino also didn't manage to kill anything, but his Havocs killed a bike - 9 bikers were simply too big to hide and he had a shot despite my attempts to hide them.

This was Ben's first game of 6th edition 40k. I should have realised he didn't know he could move and still fire his CSM's boltguns at long range - this was entirely my fault and I owe him an apology for not realising this!

My turn saw my larger plasma-armed bike squad move up from their cover and get into long range of his CSMs - this would have been short range if he had known he could move up! The attack bike squad had lost a man, but realised there was a target worthy of this devastating anti armour weapon, getting into long range of the rhino. Most importantly, the scouts popped out of cover and grabbed the objective - they were 3 inches from safety. Either they would make their run move and get back to the safety of the ruin - or they would not go far enough and be slaughtered by the firepower pointed their way!

My shooting failed to kill it the rhino, but I did blow off the Havoc launcher, rendering it far less dangerous. The plasma bike squad also had decent targets for their weapons (I hadn't fired them against the DE at all, the bolters were actually better and less riskier), and killed several of the large CSM squad. Then came probably the key roll of the game - 4 inches! My scouts were safe in cover, and I knew the battle was probably mine now.

Ben wasn't going to let me go without a fight though - he opened up with everything he had on my bikes. The larger squad was subject of boltgun fire form the CSMs, while the attack bike squad was targeted by the Havocs and the rhino's combi-bolter, as it moved towards the ruins. I was a couple of more bikes down, but at this stage the bikes were effectively expendable, as long as they held up his forces and kept my scouts safe.

With break tests passed it was my turn again, and time to see what I could do about the CSMs and rhino. The attack biker and his sole remaining ba\ttle brother moved up to behind the APC, while the bikers prepared for a shoot-and-charge on the CSMs.

By using my bikes high mobility I was able to target the CSM's champion and kill him with one of the plasma rounds, thus eliminating the main threat to those bikers as a tarpit unit - they also killed another couple of CSMs, reducing the squad to about half strength. In addition that gave me the 'Slay the Warlord' VP - a nice bonus in the circumstances. The other squad's multi-melta and krak grenade were less successful, thus proving that a lone rhino is more survivable than a land raider...

The close combat went as expected - I caused a couple of casualties and took one in return, but with no further power weapon attacks or Hammer of Wrath hits the chances were neither side would be able to get a decisive advantage. Continuing the trend, the attack bike and friend failed to kill the rhino with krak grenades on close combat, although it did now only have one hull point left.

Ben was obviously not the giving-up type - the reason for the rhino's movement became clear as he rolled it into my deployment zone and peeked round the edge of the ruin, its mobility giving it the LoS on the scouts that had been denied to his Havocs! If he caused two casualties with his combi-bolter he might just force a break test, resulting in my dropping the objective! A poor run roll and an early game end could still force an almost draw...

Alas, it was not to be. He came close, killing one scout, but that wasn't enough to force a break test and my initiates were still holding the precious relic. The Havocs did better, killing the attack bike's escort and reducing it to one wound. In the middle the close combat was totally ineffectual - my low number of attacks didn't threaten him, and my higher toughness meant he didn't hurt me. This was fine for me, as it kept the CSMs busy. Now, if I could only deal with that rhino...

My multi-melta finally came through, blowing the rhino sky-high, granting me 'first blood' and effectively ending the game. Now he had nothing to threaten my scouts, and the combat in the centre proved to be as expected for the rest of the game, with neither side getting the upper hand.

The final result was 5-0 VPs to me - I had held the only objective, and scored 2 secondaries.

Ben knew what he was doing tactically - unfortunately my infiltrating scouts, aided by the terrain, meant he never really threatened the objective. I doubt that his CSM squad would have been a bigger threat another 6 inches further forward, but it's still my fault that he didn't realise he could move and fire - for that I definitely own him a rematch! I think the one thing he might have done better was to use his rhino as a transport rather than as a a mini-predator - it would have been riskier, but the extra movement might have put him on the objective before my scouts.

these are great reads! Keep 'em coming!

Part 5 - Game 3 - Ride for the Sound of the Guns!

My third game was against Lee, also using a Codex Space Marine list, but very different to mine. He had a full 10-man tactical squad with flamer and lascannon (split into combat squads), a landspeeder with multi-melta, and a 5-man devastator squad with 4 missile launchers. Yes, that's right, he had managed to fit 6 long range heavy weapons, 15 space marines, and a speeder into 400 points!

This was played on a different board - there was one large hill on the left of my deployment zone, another smaller one in the centre towards his side of the battlefield, and a small one on the left in Lee's deployment zone. On the centre right was an ork fort, outside both our deployment areas. Lee got the first turn, but the 'Purge the Alien' mission favoured me - no need to worry about grabbing objectives! Once again the warlord traits played no significant part in the battle.

Lee made use of the hill on the left to give his devastators the best possible view, while his two tactical combat squads took the centre, with the speeder as support. I knew if I showed myself without any protection I could easily lose a lot of my force in one go, so I deployed all my bikes out of LoS behind the large hill in my deployment zone, with the scouts above them looking over the top of the hill.

The scout deployment immediately proved to be a mistake, as 4 frag missiles and a lascannon, denied juicier targets, killed all but the missile launcher. The last man standing had the true fortitude of a space marine though, and stayed where he was, ready to exact vengeance on the enemy.

My turn was fast, in more than once sense of the word. The missile launcher missed (that Techmarine definitely needs a seeing to), while both of my bike squads turbo-boosted towards the enemy - the larger plasma-armed squad towards the very scary devastators, and the smaller attack-bike squad towards the more numerous but less well-armed tactical squads, using the central hill as a LoS blocker from them. Lee's reaction was worth it - "Holy crap, they're close!"

For my opponent what had been a damaged army at a comfortably long range was suddenly a significant number of T5, 4+ cover save units in easy assault range next turn. The devastators shot at the bikers close to them with krak missiles, killing two but leaving three (the 2 plasma gunners and the Sgt) for next turn. His tactical squads couldn't even see any bikes, so one shot their single lascannon at long range at my remaining scout, missing by a mile, while the other moved towards the hill hiding my attack bike squad in the hope of shielding their battle brothers. The landspeeder moved into the fort area but failed to kill any of the attack bike squad with it's multimelta.

Now it was my turn again, and this time I was close enough to really make it hurt! Both bike squads moved up to within very comfortable assault range, and opened fire. My attack bike squad had enough mobility to target the lascannon squad, despite the attempt to shield them with the other unit.

The plasma-bikers fired four plasma shots and 2 TL bolter shots at the 5 marines before them, and killed 3 straight out. On the other flank 4 TL bolters and a multi-melta killed 2 of the tactical marines. Once again, the missile launcher misfired... at this point Lee decided to take a chance. Looking back at it, it's a reasonable choice to make, but in this case it failed miserably - he decided to use combat tactics for the two squads who had been shot. Unfortunately for him, and unlike my own biker units, he had not advanced at all throughout the game. The devastator squad was 11 inches from the board edge - and Lee rolled an 11 for their fallback move. The tactical squad was 8 inches from their board edge - and rolled an 8 for their fallback move. Ouch! It was a stunning display of bad luck, made even more ironic by the exact numbers rolled on each set of dice...

At this point he was down 10 space marines, including 5 of his 6 heavy weapons - only one tactical combat squad and one speeder faced me. He did the only thing possible, and shot my attack bike squad with both units as a precursor to assaulting them ith the tacticals. He killed one bike, thus forcing a break test. Or rather allowing me to use my combat tactics to auto-fail my break test. Unlike Lee, I was nowhere near my board edge, and I fell back 3d6 inches, pushing me back over the hill.

Lee's plan was in tatters. He was still just in potential assault range, but the dice did not favour him, and he failed to make it. However, failing a charge doesn't prevent the charged unit from using overwatch - which I did, promptly rolling a whole pile of 6's (twin-linking really helps here). Another two dead tactical marines later Lee was back where had started. Cinematically I imagine this as the bikes feigning a retreat, then stopping just beyond the hill crest and then ambushing the pursuing for as they skyline themselves, forcing them back with significant casualties - a really cool image!

At this point Lee decided to surrender. I still had 6 bikers and a scout left, to his three space marines and one land speeder - he had no realistic chance of surviving, and conceeded me all the remaining game points.

The final result was 8-0 VPs to me - I had destroyed 4 units, and got all 3 secondary objectives, one of which was worth 2 VPs in this mission.

I really do feel sorry for Lee here - he'd obviously thought long and hard about the best army to take - unfortunately my force was almost the perfect counter to it, able to cross the killing ground very quickly with a decent level of protection. In addition his dice rolls were abysmal! I think his best counter to me would have been to keep his units closer together, in mutually supporting range - that way once I was in combat he could counter-charge and tie me up in a low close combat effectiveness stalemate.



Part 6 - Interlude

So there I was, three games under my belt with a brand new army, and three no-reply wins up!

It was certainly unexpected - I was expecting to get horribly beaten at least once or twice, due to my army's weaknesses and my lack of experience playing them.

Can my winning streak continue? Will the dice gods favour me? Can I find an opponent worthy of the children of Khan?

More reports to follow via Astropath soon!

Really enjoying these reps. I love combat patrol and actually dont mind there not being any pics since you describe the action very well. Looking forward to more!

The second game must have been painful, to see your own models turn against you. I know how it feels.

Thanks for the comments! There are another two battles still to go as well...


Part 7 - Game 4 - For every one who falls, ten more will take his place!

My fourth game was against Stormwell (also a Dakka member) playing Imperial Guard. He was a little unfortunate as the event had caught him with a large number of guardsmen - but almost no heavy or special weapons. As a result, I found myself facing off against an infantry platoon with 3 infantry squads, and a squad of stormtroopers - but the biggest guns in the army had were grenade launchers and one heavy stubber...

In addition the mission was 'Purge the Alien' again (a little ironic it had been against the two human armies?), although Stormwell got first turn. Terrain-wise there were two large wooded areas on the left and right flank of my deployment zone, while I was facing a bunker and defensive walls on my left, and a wood and some rocks on the right.

Stormwell decided to place his infantry HQ and 2 platoons on my left, using the walls as cover. The last infantry squad in the centre, and the storm-troopers went on the right, using the rocks as cover. His squads were in perfect rank-and-file formation, obviously ready to face any Zulus who might appear over the next hill! I responded by placing both my bike units behind the larger wood on my, and my scouts then infiltrated into the wood on the right, giving them a view across most of the field.

Stormwell's first turn was limited - he couldn't see my bikers at all, and his units on my left were also out of range of the scouts. Only the centre squad and stormtroopers moved up and took some long range shots, killing two of the scouts, who held their ground.

In my turn my bikers were able to use their speed to move around the wood and get range on the closest of the infantry squads on the left flank. The combined firepower of the bikes and my scouts killed around half of them, and also caused a sniper rifle pinning test which they failed. Not too bad for me, although there were a lot more guardsmen where they came from...

Stormwell knew he couldn't let me keep the initiative if he could possibly help it, and so pressed my one unit he could hope to catch - the scouts. Continuing to use the rock formation as cover, he moved his stormtroopers up with the hope of getting a charge next turn. The rest of his infantry (apart from the pinned squad) moved up to get some flashlight, ahem, lasgun fire on my bikes. In truth he would have a really hard time taking down anything significant, as everything except the grenade launchers needed 6's to wound, and I would still get my armour saves against the krak grenades.

Sure enough the dice rolls went as expected, and I only took two casualties - one bike and one scout - but both units held their ground. Although the stormtroopers were close enough to try a charge, the odds were against them (especially having to charge through cover) and they didn't make it.

I was feeling pretty confident at this point - as long as I could take care of the stormtroopers I should then have the upper hand, with nothing really presenting a threat to my bikers or scouts. My larger bike squad moved up to take care of the job, and most of the stormtroopers disappeared in a hail of bolter and plasma fire - although one of my own men also disappeared in fireball too, the first self-inflicted casualty of the day so far. My smaller bike squad and the scouts opened up on the centre infantry squad at long range, causing a couple of casualties and pinning them.

In close combat I charged the remaining stormtroopers with my Sgt's squad - Hammer of Wrath took care of them before they got a chance to strike back, and I consolidated back towards the left flank, ready to take on the rest of the infantry...

It was at this point that Stormwell spotted an opportunity, as my overconfidence had caused to make a mistake... After consolidating away from the slaughtered stormtroopers, I had foolishly placed my Sgt at the front of the advance. He was obviously so eager to get into combat that he was leading from the front - but it also meant Stormwell's krak grenades could possibly score a 'Slay the Warlord' victory point!

The fate of my commander lay in the hands of the dice gods - and they were with the enemy! In a hail of fire, the remaining guard squads took down not only my Sgt, but also another one of his squad, leaving a sole survivor to ride around the bodies of his fallen brothers.

My Warlord was down, but I still had over half my bikes - and the remaining enemy squads were now within charge range. The White Scars' finest, enraged by the death of their commander, drove straight towards the enemy, bolters spitting fire, and the next guard squad broke and ran rather than face the Wrath of Khan!

Their remaining comrades were obviously shaken by the imminent death bearing down upon them, and in Stormwell's turn failed to cause any casualties, even with the command platoon's frantic shouts for close fire drill.

At this point it was simply a matter of mopping up the remaining command platoon and infantry squad. The White Scars did this in short order, and without taking any further casualties - there were simply too few of the lightly armoured guardsmen to threaten the remaining bikers.

The final result was 9-1 VPs to me: I had killed 5 units, and also got all three secondary objectives - but Stormwell had also scored the first point against me by killing my Warlord.

Overall it was always going to be a difficult game for Stormwell - with the limited model selection he had he didn't really have anything to kill space marines, let along fast-moving T5 bikers. Given this he did a very good job, causing significant casualties, and he was also very smart to take the chance of killing my Warlord when it came up, so well done!

Great reports so far , love the descriptions of the battles

Awesome reports! Great level of detail and description.

Any interest in rules feedback?

 Mannahnin wrote:
Awesome reports! Great level of detail and description.

Any interest in rules feedback?

Definitely, I know there are still things for 6th ed that we are missing... for example we forgot at least a couple of overwatch opportunities.

Part 8 - Game 5 - The Great Devourer

My final game was against Cactus and a load of gribbly nids! He had two zoanthropes - one with default powers, and another with the Telekine Dome Telekinesis power - this was also his Warlord. There were also a pair of biovores with a bunch of floating spore-mines, and finally a 20-strong brood of upgraded hormagaunts.

The terrain on this table was fairly mixed. There was a large sealed building on the left of my deployment zone, and a ruin in the right. The centre left of the board had a wooded area, with a large hill in the centre. On the far side there was a barricade in the centre, and another sealed building on the right.

Once again I was lucky to have the mission favour me with another Purge the Alien - my third in five games! However, for the fifth time in five games I was going second... This time though I got the Warlord trait I had been hoping for from the start - The Dust of a Thousand Worlds. Now as long as my warlord was within 12", I wouldn't have to worry about difficult terrain tests on my bikes - score!

Cactus deployed his hormagaunts right in the middle of his deployment zone, as far forward as possible - these would need to get into combat ASAP. His biovores went behind the building on my right for cover, with the synapse zoanthropes in between them for maximum morale protection. In addition a cluster of spore mines landed in my deployment zone, directly between the building and the ruins - Cactus was obviously trying to restrict my movement as I would trigger a mine if my fast-moving bikes came too close...

I knew that apart from the biovores nothing in the enemy force could hit me on turn one, and so I chose to deploy in the open, dispersed as much as possible to deny too many hits with the biovores' spore mines. Looking at the terrain, I figured that the woods on the left would restrict my lines of sight and let the hormagaunts move up on me, so I denied that flank, and both bike squads went on the right instead, between the ruins and the board edge. My scouts deployed on the first floor of the ruins, where I would have a decent view of the whole battlefield - it would also incidentally protect them from the floating spore mines nearby, as they were on a different level to the blast if they did go off.

I failed to seize the initiative, and so Cactus ran his hormagaunts forward as fast as possible, with the zoanthrops also moving up to get me within range next turn. The biovores fired at my bikes, but the first shot scattered off the edge of the board - almost any other scatter and he would have hit something, as a bike's footprint it pretty large! The zonthropes didn't run, instead using the Telekine Dome to protect the hormagaunts, anticipating casualties in my shooting phase.

Cactus was right to worry about my guns, but, unknown to both of us at the time, was worrying about the wrong unit...

My turn saw my bikes move up a little, enough to range on the 'gaunts, but not so far forward I was in their charge range. The central hill meant that I could only see a few of them anyway, and I figured I would have at least another turn's worth of firepower to whittle them down before they threatened my scouts or bikes. The shooting phase started out as expected, with four 'gaunts down to the bikes - their cover save helped prevent more casualties very nicely. Then my scouts scoped on the zoanthropes - I knew these were a significant threat to me, and hoped to take one out it I was lucky. Instead, the missile launcher and three of the four snipers hit and wounded in a stunning display of marksmanship! I was then further surprised when all four shots proceeded to wound the monsters too - the enemy would have to rely on their 3+ invulnerable saves now, but the odds were still with him. Unfortunately, the odds don't always play out - one zoanthrope failed its save, and died to an instant death causing krak missile. The other took three sniper rifle shots tot he head - and immediately failed two of them, killing it as well!

Things were not going according to plan for Cactus - he had been relying on his zoanthropes to do some damage to my bikes, and now they were gone, giving me both first Blood and Slay the Warlord at the same time. He had to hope his biovores could whittle me down and let his 'gaunts get into combat. The 'gaunts moved over the hill and directly towards my bikes - they were still too far away for an assault this turn though.

The biovores fired, getting a two direct hits on the bunched scouts in the ruins - the 'nids had obviously decided they were the main threat after their stunning round of shooting! Their camo cloaks helped keep some of them alive, but I was still two men down, although they held their ground - Cactus had scored his first casualties.

In my turn I knew that I had to deal with the most immediate threat - the 'gaunts were close, and so the biovores would just have to wait. However I had the perfect tool to do the job - eight space marine bikes and an attack bike. Moving up to point-blank range, I unleashed a storm of fire - eighteen Tl bolters and a multi-melta, as well as two sniper rifles and a frag missile from the scouts. the smoke finally cleared - to reveal a single lone hormagaunt, surrounded by the blasted corpses of his fifteen brood-siblings. Unsurprisingly it didn't like hang around to find out what the bikers could do in close combat, immediately breaking and heading for the board edge.

The game was undoubtedly mine - all Cactus could hope for was to get some vengeance on my force before my bikes swooped on his remaining two biovores. Alas it was not to be - the spore mines fired at the scouts failed to hit their target.

My turn saw the bikes move up and finish off the two biovores in a combination of shooting and hand-to-hand, leaving me in charge of the field.

The final result was 7-1 to me - I had wiped out all three enemy units, and scored all the secondary objectives, including one worth two VPs.

In all honesty I was not expecting to do as well as I did, and a large part of that was down to luck. Cactus was a great sport when everything went right for me, and just as wrong for him - I know I'm nearly as calm when I get annihilated! What really did it was the single awesome turn of shooting from the scouts - it was the first krak missile I'd fired rather than frag, and so it looks like it was just the frags that were duds! Cactus was then spectacularly unlucky to fail three of four armour saves, exactly enough to lost both his zoanthropes in one go... Tactically I don't think he did a thing wrong, and it was simply my difficult army build to deal with, combined with the whims of the dice gods, that let me get away with only two dead scouts for the entire enemy force down.

So, just in case I haven't been following well enough...are you undefeated?

Apparently so - certainly not the result I was expecting!

I'll put up some post-tournament analysis and thoughts at some point as well, but I think some of it can be put down to luck, and some to the force I put together. Certainly I think I wouldn't do as well in larger games against some of these players, when they have access to heavier units!

Congrats!

Some rules and tactical thoughts & questions:

First game:
Were you taking your armor saves against failed Dangerous Terrain, as you're now allowed?

Game 2:
Remember you can't run while carrying the Relic. There are actually several restrictions on picking it up and moving with it, undoubtedly to make it harder to grab and escape with quickly like you did. It's worth reviewing the mission, because they don't lay out the restrictions in bullet points.

Tactically I agree with you that he should have driven those CSMs up to fight your scouts directly and take the objective away.

Game 3:
Tactically, after he killed the scouts down to 1 guy, why didn't you hide him? One model away from giving up two VPs (including First Blood) is not a good spot to leave yourself. Even if the missile had a juicy shot on the speeder, the risk is not worth the possible reward.

Game 4:
You said your bikes were deployed out of LOS, behind a wood? Did it have a lot of really thick trees? You know woods don't block LOS anymore, right (last time they did was 4th ed)? Unless there are so many/sufficiently thick trees that they actually physically hide the models.

Game 5:
Brutal! Was there nowhere he could advance though Hormies to get cover saves when you cut loose on them?

Great reports, got any pictures of your army? It's really nice to see a fellow White Scars player doing well.

Thanks for the comments Mannahnin!

I did know about the armour save vs. dangerous terrain tests, that's one of the many improvements bikes got that made me start a White Scars force with 6th ed (alongside Jink, Hammer of Wrath, base T5, and deciding whether to turbo-boost in the shooting phase). Add in landspeeders being able to fire two weapons, and it's perfect for the white Scars! Even so, it's still not completely without risks, and in this case I did lose a man.

Regarding the relic, it looks like I owe my opponent an apology and a rematch! I did spot the bit about not being able to move it more than 6" in any one phase - I just didn't keep going to find out more! I'll know in future, and apologise the next time I see him.

You're 100% right about hiding the scout - I just didn't think of it myself I think I'm often a little too focused on achieving my own objectives, and sometimes forget about stopping others from getting theirs - this will be a good thing for me to keep an eye on in the future!

Regarding the wood's LoS, I've got an admission to make - we don't have as many trees as we'd like It was about 6" deep, and our gaming group generally agrees that they block LoS through them, and otherwise provide a cover save. On my home board I've actually got trees, and they do generally block LoS as they're nice and thick.

Phantommaster, I'm afraid my force is still in the initial stages and besides, I'm an awful painter :(

Reading these reports has made me want to bring my White Scars back for a game or many. I haven't used them in ages.

Very Cool Details, Those battles must have been really fun!