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2011/04/16 18:56:33
Subject: University of St. Andrews Wargaming Society SABRE Apocalypse Battle (26,500 points)
Hello all from the University of St. Andrews up here in Scotland! This weekend is our very own Wargaming Society's 'SABRE' event, where we get together for a full weekend of gaming craziness. Right now, we are in the middle of our Apocalypse Battle. The battle was randomly divided, so there is unfortunately no real fluff behind it...simply ran out of planning time.
ARMIES Team 1 Imperial Guard- 6000 pts
Necrons- 4000 pts
Green Space Marines- 2000 pts
Team Two's Models, minus the Tau who have yet to arrive.
Deployment Imperial Guard heavy armor deploys in the relatively open second half of the field, facing down the Tau, Ork Stompa and elements of the Grey Knight Force.
A wider angle view of the armor deployment. The Crisis suit visible is an objective.
The Imperial Guard infantry face down elements of the Grey Knights, Space Marines, and Ultramarines.
I will note that Team 2 is going first, and doesn'thave a lot of models on the board thanks to bidding a mere 5 minutes for their deployment.
A gunline of Space Marines, Grey Knights and their seconded Guard brace against the coming charge, while a formation of Dark ELdar jetbikes make ready for battle.
Imperial Guard and Necrons prepare for battle, while the mighty Warhound Titan Ausblickdrachen thunders into battle.
Team 2, Turn 1 Summary Turn 1 had a damaging start for Team 2, as their first Hammerblow strategic asset backfired and struck their own Stompa, destroying both of its primary weapons. However, the other two shots were more lucky and struck an Imperial Baneblade and the Warhound Titan. The Baneblade was knocked down to 1 structure point and crippled tracks, while the Warhound's shields flickered and died under the fury of the bombardment. Thankfully, the shields weakened the barrage so the shots that got through only stunned the crew of the Titan.
In other shooting the Dark Eldar killed the Nightbringer with hail upon hail of splinter fire, while Vendettas and other vehicles began inflicting casualties upon the massed infantry. A Grey Knights Strike Squad teleported, and managed to engage an Imperial Guard autocannon blob in close combat, while a Land Raider delivers a Terminator Squad into close combat with the Warhound, tying both up in close combat.
On the left side of the board, things did not go well for the massed Guard armor. Shots from the remaining guns on the Stompa, combined with Tau railguns, and Valkyrie lascannons managed to take the turrets off of several IG tanks, including the one undamaged Baneblade.
At the end of Team 2s first turn, they'd manage to inflict damage on the forces opposing them, however all 3 superheavies remained in play, and the vast majority of models remained on the table. However, both players had massive reserves, and the battle was still young (though the day was not!)
The battle begins!
The unholy alliance prepares to open fire against onrushing Imperial Guard armor.
The Grey Knights Land Raider advances, unleahing a Terminator Squad against the Warhound Titan (off screen)
An Imperial Guard tank charge rushes across the open ground towards the Tau gunline.
Shots begin to fly, as Team 2 attempts to thin out the horder of infantry facing them. At the end of their shooting phase, the Nightbringer had been killed by a barrage of Dark Eldar poisoned weaponry, while the Vendettas took down the Banewolf leading the formation, and immobilizing its off screen companion .
Imperial Guard armor post Turn 1 shooting.
The Warhound remains tied up, unable to kill the Terminators assaulting its foot.
Team 1, Turn 1 Summary Team 1 began its first turn with an all out advance on all fronts, tanks crept forward, infantry began to charge, and the battle begins to pick up its tempo as old assaults are continued, and new firefights break out.
Shooting begins with a rather humorous situation, as an infiltrating Ratling squad had apparently gone unnoticed by a Team 2 Inquisitor, who had left cover to advance. The Ratlings took advantage of the situation, and attempted to bring him down. Unfortunately, they failed, delivering only one wound, but the look on the face of the Inquisitor's owner when the Ratlings firing was announced made it all worth it.
Necron Monoliths take advantage of Team 2s relatively unguarded backfield to deepstrike in, while Imperial artllery opens fire, bringing down a few crisis suits, and a squad of Grey Knights with long ranged Basilisk fire, while a lucky missile shot costs the Stompa another structure point. In Teams 2s rear, an outflanking squad of Space Marine Scouts ambush the Tau's Broadsides that had given the tanks no shortage of grief the previous turn, and manage to silence most of trhe railguns. The surviving tanks open fire, but only the severely damaged Baneblade does real damage, with its main cannon taking out a squad of Crisis suits and a squad of Grey Knights.
In assault, two squads of Imperial Guard ROugh Riders and a 30 man powerblob charged the Grey Knights who had used their teleport attacks, while the Grey Knights managed to beat off most of the attacks, they were left locked in assault with more than 50 Guardsmen, including several power weapon Sergeants and Commissars. The fate of the Grey Knights did not look good. Meanwhile, the Titan continued trying to step on the Terminators assaulting it to no avail. The Terminators failed to scratch its armor, leaving the battle once again at a stale mate.
At the end of turn 1 for Team 1, the battle seemed to remain in the balnce. Most of Team 1 reserves had been committed, and while the enemie deepstrikers had been mostly dealt with, and our own Monolith phlanax had pinned down the enemies rear guard, the right half of the table seemed to be progressing well. However, the loss of firepower on the left side tank battle was being keenly felt.
I see you! Imperial Guard ratling snipers open up on an unsuspecting Inquisitor.
The Baneblade Xenos Bane, while heavily damaged, still manages to throw its firepower into the fray.
Despite losses, the Imperial armor advances on, attempting to smash through Tau lines.
The Stompa disagrees with them though...
More pictures of charging tanks, from Team 1's side this time.
Team 1's Deepstriking Monolith Phalanx caused no end of grief for the Space Marine players that found it at their back.
As Space Marines and Dark Eldar advance, the Imperial Guard powerblob (visible in the bottom left hand corner) prepares to smash at the Grey Knights Strike Squad.
The second powerblob advances to take out a squad of Marines and their Razorback. Thanks to the Priest, both targets were quickly annhilated.
Team 2, Turn 2 Summary As of now, only the movement phase of Turn 2 has been completed, we're still waiting on how the rest of the turn will play out, but many intersting things have already taken place.
For one, the Stompa advanced into charge range of several Leman Russ tanks, threatening to break the back of the Imperial armoured advance, while a squad of 10 Ultramarines Terminatos deepstruck in support of the Grey Knights still bashing away at the Titan. Meanwhile, a squadron of Land Speeders also deepstruck next to the Imperial artillery, threatening to silence it. Where this would lead, we don't know......yet.
The Stompa arrives dangerously close to the Imperial armor formation.
Vendettas and tanks advance from the Monoliths in the rear into the face of Team 1's advance.
The Ultramarines Terminator squad holds a key hill, able to advance to either support the Grey Knights against the Titan, or smash into the Imperial Guard gunline.
The fight rages on, and you can see the Ultramarines Terminators advancing from the hill.
Imperial Guard artillery never liked deepstriking multimeltas....
END OF DAY ONE The fighing at the end of Day One ended, in the middle of Team 2s 2nd turn, in the morning we'll start up at their shooting phase. Here are some pictures of how the battlefield looked at the end of the game day.
I'll be back tomorrow with the rest of the battle!
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2011/04/18 01:07:31
"If everything on Earth were rational, nothing would ever happen."
~Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
~Hanlon's Razor
Well, after a total of 9 hours of gaming, we finally finished our Apoc battle, but boy was it worth it! Here's the second part of the battlereport. Resuming in the middle of Team 2s 2nd Turn shooting phase. I apologize for the decline in quality.
Team 2, Turn 2, Cont. Summary Having completed their movement phase, Team 2 moved into shooting. Shooting began with lascannons and multimeltas from the deepsttrucki Land Speeders taking out one of the IG's Basilisks, while Godhammer Land Raiders in the back field blew up one of the Monoliths. Autocannon fire from Grey Knight Dreadnoughts took down the multimeltas on the turretless Demolisher, leaving a melta Verterans squad stranded next to the Stompa. Firefights in the Infantry half of the table resulted in some more dead Guardsmen, but the situation there remained relatively stable. However, a lucky shot with an autocannon dread killed an IG Techpriest, meaning all of the crippled IG tanks would remain crippled for the rest of the battle. Autocannon and heavy bolter fire also takes a heavy toll on Imperial Guard powerblobs, taking the blob down to only the Sergeants and Commissar.
In assault, the powerblob took down the last of the Grey Knight strike squad, while the Stompa charged and chopped Pask's Vanquisher to bits. ...Or squashed it flat. Which I'm not sure. Either one is orky!
I regret to say that I have very few pictures of this turn, thanks to me forgetting to take pictures. Remind me never to pursue a career in journalism.
My avatar has agreed to cover for me and my distressing lack of photos for this turn.
Team 1, Turn 2 Summary On most of the front, tanks and infantry move up, however, in some areas the advance has been bogged down. The armoured assualt had been blunted by the hail of shots, taking turrets off tanks, and had settled for focusing on killing and holding the stompa against any attackers. The powerblob that took down the Strike Squad began to move up, while the other more damaged one began to swing around to intercept the Grey Knight terminators still swinging at the Warhound Titan. A group of Necron Tomb Spyders begins to advance on the massed Ultramarine terminator squad.
Shooting however was a much different story, with a Manticore rocket and melta Vets taking the last few structure points off of the Stompa, wrecking it and leaving it as a massive line of site blocker. With the wreck as cover, the armoured advance basically halted, unwilling to do much more. Shots from Necron Destroyers and backfield Warrior take down the Land Speeders, while Imperial Guard hevy weapons teams take a light toll on Dark Eldar Raiders.
Leman Russ and Baneblade cannon fire cause some serious pain to the Tau gunline, blasting whole squads of Crisis Suits off the table. However, attempts to cripple the Tau army completely by blasting the Ethereal off the table with Earthsaker fire fail miserably thanks to bad scattering with the Earthshaker cannon.
The Infantry Battle Rages on...
Mechanized Infantry meet with tanks and Heavy Infantry in the table centre, while stompa burns in the background.
A downed Valkyrie, along with a Predator hold an objective (the glue bottle in the background) while a damaged Rifleman dreadnought stalks off towards the Necrons.
A wider view of the main infantry battle.
The Battlefield as a whole.
Team 2, Turn 3 Summary Dark Eldar jetbikes began to swoop in, while Vect's pimpmobile dropped Vect and a squad of Blood Brides off withing charge range of the damaged Baneblade. Elsewhere, a squad of Wyches charged a squad of Necron Immortal that were holding the flank of the powerblob that had taken down the Strike Squad. A group of Grey Knight Paladins drop in, in an attempt to take one of Team 1s rearfield objectives. Tau Crisis suits begin to advance in amongst the cripples Imperial tanks, hoping to finish them off at close range.
Groups of Space Marine assault Terminators deepstrike down in support of the Grey Knights, leaving Team 1 with a mass of 20 Terminators in the middle of their infantry formations.
As units began to open fire, the Inquisitor that had taken down the Ratlings opens fire with his converstion beamer, annhilating the remaining Basilisk, while the Vendettas finish off the Manticore, silencing the Imperial artillery. Dark Eldar lances begin to open up, crippling several of the already badly damaged Imperial tanks, and doing some damage to the turretless Baneblade. In the rear of the table, Tau reserves begin to enter the fray, in an attempt to deal with the Necron Monolith phalanx continuing to wreak havoc. Crisis Suits begin to do some damage, taking down a vanilla Leman Russ, but failing to harm the other Baneblade. Dark Eldar splinter cannon fire dashes against Imperial Guard powerblobs, dropping a few Guardsmen in one powerblob, while massed heavy bolter and autocannon fire firnishes off another.
In the middle of the table, melta Space Marines finish off a damaged Banewolf, while Dark Eldar lances take out a Chimera, dropping is plasma vets out onto the table.
In assaault, Draigo and his Terminators score big against the Titan, immobilizing it, and blowing off both its turbolaser, and plasma cannon. It is at this point that we realized that Titans can't be locked in combat, and we had wasted 2 turns of Titan shooting because of it. On the other side of the table, Vect and his Bloodbrides engage the turretless Baneblade, blowing off its tracks and most of its weapons, leaving it with only a heavy bolter and lascannon.
Our reaction to the discovery that Titans can not be locked in combat.
Vect and his Blood Brides toss Haywire grenades onto the Baneblade, Fell Lord, while Jetbikes zoom out for shots against the other Imperial tanks.
Dark Eldar Incubi prepare to join combat against the Immortals.
The Ork Stompa stands burning in the midst of the Imperial tank line.
Guardsmen hold the line, while Necrons hold the flanks.
Draigo and his Terminators celeberate crippling the Warhound TItan.
Despite attempts of the now silenced Imperial artillery, Tau begin to advance against the Necron monoliths, while Warriors teleport in.
Beyond the Titan's legs, you can see the Inquisitor who's conversion beamer finished off the Imperial artillery.
Valkyries zoom past, while Predators watch over the graves of the first Imerial Guard powerblob.
Crisis Suits and Dreadnoughts stand together, while the wreckage of Leman Russ tanks burns before them.
Team 1, Turn 3 Summary With the artillery silenced, a Baneblade and Titan crippled, the situation did not look good for Team 1, and the 20+ Terminators and Paladins in the midfield did nothing to calm us down. With movement, the last IG powerblob decided to go in a blaze of glory against the newly arrived TH/SS Terminators, while Kho'sarro Khan arrives with a pair of Rhinos in the vehicle battle, hoping to assist the struggling IG tank force against the Tau. The Titan, with nothing else to do, decides to enact emergenc repairs, and its servitors and crew manage to bring its turbolaser back online.
The relatively undamaged Baneblade advanced slightly, but turned to focus on a group of Raiders, Jetbikes and Crisis suits hiding behind the wreckage of the Stompa, attempting to clear the enemy away from its damaged fellow, while a plasma Veteran Chimera advances slowly up the flank of the crippled Baneblade.
The first shot of the round came as the Baneblade cannon fired, failing to cripple Vect's pimpmobile, but slaying large numbers of Jetbikes and immobilized a Vendetta. The Baneblade's Demolisher cannon brought down a group of Tau stealth suits, while heavy bolter fire ripped into the squad of Blood Brides, killing many of them, leaving just the Succubus, and Vect. The Plasma Vets open up with their weapons. The plasma rounds bounce off Vects shield, but a shotgun blast from the Sergeant takes down his shield, and lasgun fire deals wounds to the Succubus. Elsewhere, lascannon and autocannon fire from infantry squads and Hydras plow into the deepstriking Paladins, taking one down with massed fire, while Necron warriors join in. In the middle a squad of Plasma Veterans take down a pair of Space marine bikes with disciplined lasfire.
In assault, the Imperial Guard plow into the Terminators, but stormshield and 2+ armor combine to stop them fromt aking any casualties, while they smash almost 10 Guardsmen in return. The Necron Immortals finally succub with the arrival of a squad of Dark Eldar Incubi, who move off towards a downed Chimera, and its exposed Plasma Vet squad, while Khan and his Marines smahs into Fire Warriors and Crisis Suits, killing most of them. Necron Flayed Ones charge in against Draigo's Terminators, but are beaten down before they can do damage. The suriviving Paladins charge into an Imperial Guard HWT, and a unit of Necron Destoryers, defeating thme, but being beaten down to their Grand Master in return.
The crippled Warhound lords over the battlefield, while it crew desperately tries to repair its weapons.
Khan and his Marines charge in, scattering the Tau before them.
And Imperial Guard Commissar Lord rallies his troops against the Terminators.
Not that it ends very well...
Combat rages, even as casualties begin to take their toll.
The Xenos Bane opens fire, trying to clear the Dark Eldar away from its sister tank.
The Imperial Guard's commander surverys the battlefield from a safe distance.
Tanks cluster for cover behind the Stompa, as Chimeras replace Leman Russes as front line vehicles.
The sheer number of Terminators begins to cripple the IG gun line, as elements are tied up in close combat, and fire support begins to fade off.
With the loss of the Immortals, and the Wyches heading off to deal with the plasma Vets, Team 2 had cleared a way through the gunline.
Necrons pour out of a Monolith, securing an objective. (The glue bottle)
Grey Knight Paladins charge in against lascannons and Destroyer.
After shooting, and combat the Grey Knight Grandmaster is all that remains. '
The battlefield as a whole at the end of Game Turn 3
Team 2, Turn 4 Summary
We'd agreed Turn 4 would be the final round of the game, so this was make or break for both sides. Everyone's reserves had been fully commited, and it was just a matter of seeing what could be finished off, and which objectives to hold. Movement saw not a lot of change overall, both sides were fairly well commited to their fight, and most highly mobile units had been brought down by now. However, Tau Crisis being Tau Crisis lept further into the mass of burning vehicles.
Between the Dark Eldar and their Haywire Grenades, and Tau with fusion blasters, both Baneblades were eliminated, while last bits of Grey Knight shooting destroyed the Warhound Titan, and the Hydras leaving it as a wreck. Leaving the table nearly clear of vehicles. At some point, Khan took a missile launcher to the face, killing him and many of his fellow Marines suffered the same fate.
In close combat,t he Grey Knight Terminator link up with their Ultramarine companions to push the last units of Necrons and Imperial Guard off the field, leaving the only hold outs as a few remaining tanks, and Veteran squads. Dark Eldar see fit to strike in and take out one of the few remainign squads. The combat between the Terminators, and the barely remaining IG powerblob begins to end, with the rest of the Guardsmen wiped out. Only the Lord Commissar and Priest stand, having been protected by their invul saves.
As the battle rages on, wreckage of tanks, and bodies of infantry litter the battlefield.
One of the few remaining squads is slaughtered by Wyches
In the backfield, Tau and Necrons continue to clash.
Finlly destroying the Titan, the Grey Knights link up with the Ultramarines to charge the last standing group of infantry.
Most of the battlefield had been cleared of units, but some fights still raged.
Tau forces advance through the remains of the Imperial armoured group after the loss of both Baneblades.
Imperial Guard and Necrons fight to the last.
The battle has begun winsding down, sheer attrition having taken its toll. Team 2 has the lead in objectives, holding 3 objectives and contesting 2 more, with one objective unclaimed.
Team 1, Turn 4 Summary The end of a long hard fought battle began, with the Replacements strategic asset comingi into play, leting the Warhound Titan walk again! With most everything else stuck in combat, movement was a simple manner of repositing what units remained.
SHooting began with the Warhound vaporizing a Marine squad holding an objective, and everything in a few inches, taking one objective away from Team 1. Additional shooting manages nothing, with very little left alive to manuver. Running sees a Necron Warrior squad securing an additional objective, while rearfield assault Marines clear away the last of a squad. Necron Warriors charge the Grandmaster, who had brought down the last Destroyer, leaving the Grand master locked in combat.
AVE MACHINA!
Even in death, my tanks mock me.
Vect gets his revenge, as Wyches slaughter the Guardsmen who dared to fire on him.
Necron Warriors hold the Grand Master at bay, while the Lord Commissar and Priest fight against an overwhelming number of TH/SS Terminators.
Compare these images from the end of the game to the beginning, and bear in mind that thousands of points of reserves had been commited over the course of the battle.
Conclusion At the end of the battle, Team 2 held 2 objectives, and contested 1, while Team 1 held 2 objectives, contesting 1, leaving the game a draw!
Overall, we had a lot of fun. From the beginning it seemed like it'd be a good Apoc game, namely because it wasn't decided on Turn 1! We probably would have continued if we had more turns and units left, but we didn't, and the game was over. Despite hundreds of deaths on both sides, and tens of tanks being commited to their doom, the battlefield remained contested. Just another day in the grimdarkness of the 41st Millenium.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2011/04/18 01:05:00
"If everything on Earth were rational, nothing would ever happen."
~Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
~Hanlon's Razor
Horrible stompa! i would put that monstrocity out of its missery turn one with 6 vanquishers. It cool when people make their own models, dont get me wrong! but that thing is a disgrace to all the people who take time to scratch build real units or buy them... if you want a stompa take a day and make one dont glue one together out of cardboard in 20 miniutes, other than that looks like a fun battle!
2011/04/27 11:14:32
Subject: University of St. Andrews Wargaming Society SABRE Apocalypse Battle (26,500 points)
707th Lubyan Aquila Banner Motor Rifle Regiment (6000 pts)
Battlefleet Tomania (2500 pts)
13'000 points ish (13/3/9) 
4000-6000pts, but they are badly put together, feel someone elses wrath!