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I’ve been slowly building a Space Marine Army over the last month or so and I’m up to about 6-700pts but I really fancied a game to see how I liked the system itself. I decided to jump in with both feet and take a trip to Warhammer World to see if I could get an introductory game with one of the experienced gamers down there. I’d been on a club forum and a guy had offered me to lend me some marines to make up a 1500 point force so without further ado, here’s the action.
Forces
My Marines (Ferrus Fists) – Pedro Kantor and 7 man Sternguard in Drop Pod. 1 Dreadnought with Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer, 1 Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and Storm Bolter. 2 Tac Squads (Flamer, Missile Launcher & Power Fist) with Rhinos, 10 man Scout Sniper Squad with Camo Cloaks. 2 Land Speeders with Heavy Flamer and Multi-Meltas, 7 Assault Marines (1 Power Fist) – This is very close to the list I’m building except that I’ve got both Dreads in Drop Pods and a Predator, but no Assault Marines and 4 less scouts.
Imperial Guard – Command Squad in Transport, 3 Guard Units (1 in Transport), Mortars, Auto Cannons and Lascannon Squads, 2 Storm Troopers and 3 Leman Russes.
Deployment
We rolled Annihilation with Dawn of War deployment, my opponent, set up first placing a unit of guardsmen in cover in the centre my left flank, another unit in a transport in the centre of my left flank right on the forward edge of his zone and his command squad in another transport half way into his area and again on the left. He held his Storm Troopers in reserve.
I decided that I would attach Pedro to the Sternguard and put them in the drop pod so they would deploy in turn 1. A Tac Squad in their Rhino deployed far out on the right flank out of sight of anything and my Scouts infiltrated behind some terrain in the centre of the board. I held my Land Speeders in reserve.
I failed to steal the initiative so Guard went first.
Turn 1
Three Leman Russ Tanks rolled onto the board with clear lines of sight to my Rhino, uh-oh! I really hadn’t considered that. After a not inconsiderable barrage of fire I was rather pleased that they ended the turn only stunned. The Heavy Weapon squads moved into cover at the back table edge on my left flank and another unit of IG moved into cover in the centre, the squad in the transport disembarked so they could lend some extra firepower. Several rounds of firing reduced my Scout squad to 6 models and pinned them.
Pedro and the Sternies dropped next to the left most Guard unit in cover who stood firm in the face of some withering bolter fire. The rest of my units arrived on my left flank; on the extreme left was the second Tac Squad in their Rhino, then my Multi Melta/Heavy Flamer Dread, next was my Assault Cannon Dread and next to that was my Assault Squad. The dreadnoughts managed to shake the nearest transport but the Assault squad routed the Guards that had disembarked it last turn, unfortunately they did not manage to wipe them out so they were left as sitting ducks for the next turn.
Turn 2
The first Storm Trooper Squad appeared on the table and promptly destroyed the Rhino on my left flank thanks to some good melta gun fire. The unit and the marines inside lost one model a piece in the resulting explosion. The following assault was a win to the marines who routed the elites and ran them down. Bit of a result there! Combined heavy weapons fire managed to completely wipe out my Assault Squad and took out two of my Sternguard. Shooting from the central guard unit reduced my Scout squad to 2 models and the tanks on the right wrecked my remaining Rhino. This was starting to look bad but it’s like Poker I guess, all you need is a chip and a chair!
Neither of my Land Speeders arrived so I turned my attention to the carnage on the table. On my right the Tac Squad, now out of their wrecked Rhino, moved into the woods for cover, the last two scouts in the centre took pot shots at the unit opposite them killing one. The Assault Cannon Dread finished off the Guard Squad fleeing from the recently vaporised Assault Squad and the Melta Dread moved forward and wrecked their transport. The Tac squad on the extreme left moved forward and took a few unsuccessful pot-shots at the guard squad near Pedro and the Sterguard. The unfortunate guard squad were assaulted by Pedro and the Sternies and wiped out, consolidation was into cover.
Turn 3
The second Storm Trooper Squad arrived in the middle of my left flank and wrecked my Assault Cannon Dreadnought. The Tanks on the right started to whittle down the Tac Squad in cover. Concentrated heavy weapons fire killed my Sternguard squad, took a wound off Pedro and reduced my last Tac squad to 3 guys who hung in there. My 2 remaining scouts were wiped out in assault by a guard squad.
Not a lot left on the table for me and the game was getting on, right on cue both of my Land Speeders arrived and decided that a suicide mission to take out those damn tanks was in order. Two Multi Meltas on the rear armour of two tanks, result - 1 weapon destroyed. My rolling in this game had been terrible and that really put the icing on the cake there. I suspect there will be two dead Land Speeders in my imminent future! Pedro dashed into Close Combat to avoid further punishment from the heavy weapon volleys but managed to route and wipe out the unfortunate guardsmen, for the loss of a wound though. It didn’t look good for him next turn either. The remaining Dread wiped out the Storm Trooper Squad in a hail of flamer fire and Close Combat nastyness – consolidating into cover. And, just because they could, the remaining Tac marines on the right took a pot shot at on of the tanks with their Missile Launcher but didn’t even scratch it.
Turns 4 and 5
Boom! Boom! One Land Speeder destroyed and the other wrecked. Pedro fell under a hail of heavy weapons fire, the other tank finished off the tac squad on the right but somehow my last Dreadnought came out completely unscathed, this time, however, he was on his own. Not a lot of decisions for me to make my only unit, one resolute Dreadnought (fits quite nicely with the fluff though) with the command squad in sight. Flamer – assault – dead command squad and consolidation into cover. Turn over.
The game continued and my solitary Dreadnought came away from all the Guard’s firing missing an arm but still marching gamely on sadly without his Close Combat Weapon he didn’t do much in assault but he was still alive when the turn and game ended. Good Lad! The final result was a 9-12 loss for me on Kill Points
The aftermath
In review a great game with lots of lessons learnt, my deployment was poor, the Tac Squad on the right was a total waste of time, except that they did soak up three turns of tank fire which I suppose was pretty descent. The scouts were also in completely the wrong position and did only slightly more than the Tac Squad. I’m not sure I used the Sternguard to the best of their ability but they did at least kill some stuff, Pedro was not bad but not great, I don’t think I’d take him again and stupidly I didn’t use his Orbital Bombardment! Darn, would have been handy against the massed Guard ranks! I think I had a fair amount of bad luck, I rolled very few saves, if any at all, when it actually mattered and my Land Speeders would have done better but for very poor rolls. I think I was too hung up on getting cover, thinking about it afterwards I'd have been better off just charging up the field rather than trying to stick to cover so obsesively!
My hero of the piece was my Multi Melta/Heavy Flamer Dreadnought who hung in until the very end and killed well in excess of his value despite not even having been primered. He will receive a suitably grand paint job for that performance!
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