Battle Report: Invasion of Mors Ultima
First time doing a battle report so I'll apologize ahead of time for not many pictures.
This was a 2500 point game. Annihilation in a spearhead deployment; 4 players (2 vs 2).
Each team was required to bring at least 2 codex. More were allowed, however each codex required the basic org chart to be filled. (1
HQ/ 2 Troops).
Team 1 was:
Chaos Marines - Black Legion
Abaddon
(1) 4 Terminators (with Abaddon)
(2) 5 man Berzerkers
(1) 5 man Noise marines
(1) Greater Daemon (reserved)
Chaos Daemons -
Herald of Khorne
(2) 8 man blood letters
Marines - Vanilla
Librarian
(1) 5 Terminators (reserved)
(1) Dreadnought, with Drop Pod (reserved)
(3) 5 man combat squad. 1 group with the libby.
(1) 10 man scouts
(1) Land speeder
(1) Thunderfire cannon
(1) Predator
(1) Vindicator
Team 2:
Dark Eldar - Cult of the Viridi Capillos
Haemoncullus
(1) 9 Wyches with Raider
(1) 10 Warriors with Raider, 1
DL.
(1) 3 Trueborn in Venom, blasters
(1) 4 Trueborn in Venom, blasters
(1) 5 Incubi in Venom
(1) 6 Reavers
(1) Ravager
(1) 5 Hellions
Tyranids - Splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan
(2) Tervigons
(2) 10 Gargoyles
(1) Tyranofex
(1) Trygon (reserved)
(1) 10 Termagants
(2) 5 Genestealers plus a brood lord.
The situation:
Abaddon was "visiting" Mors Ultima in order to convince a local marine command to throw off the Imperial shackles... and to confirm the location of a valuable artifact. This was going well until a splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan began raining down. Meanwhile, a Dark Eldar cult watching the proceedings also wanted possession of the ancient relic and decided to use the tyranid invasion for cover.
Surprised and caught away from their transports, the marine force agreed to work with Abaddon, at least for the short term, in the hopes of saving their skins....
-----------------------
The table had a bastion in the dead center. All references are from this point (north, south, etc). Tree stands directly to the north and south while hills were to the east and west. Each table quarter effectively had some type of cover shielding it from the others.
Team 1 won first turn/deployment. They deployed in the North East corner.
Team 2 Deployed in the South West corner, with the Gargoyles arrayed to provide as much additional cover as possible (their intended purpose). I guess neither side believed too much in reserves...
The scouts infiltrated into the middle of South East quarter. The genestealers infiltrated into the trees directly south of the bastion.
note: a sharp eye might catch a few necrons in the bunch. We ran out of gargoyles and proxed them.
Round 1: Team 1.
The opening round was a bit of a yawner. The drop pod carrying the dreadnought came down near the western edge of the North West quarter. The vindicator moved up to support. The bulk of the on foot marines and daemon host moved towards the North West quarter trying to stay close to the bastion. Abaddon and his group moved towards the east side of the bastion. Meanwhile the predator, land speeder and thunderfire cannon moved to support the scouts in the South East quarter. One combat squad moves to support the cannon.
There was some initial shooting that dropped two gargoyles; with the Ravager being the single biggest loss. It was killed by the dreadnought.
note: The upside down thing next to the dread: proxied drop pod. The rhino in the top left: poxied vindicator.
Round 1: Team 2.
Tervigons both spawned more 'gants. One of which got the dreaded doubles. The raiders moved around the Western hills to draw a bead on the dreadnought. Wyches and Haemoncullus dismounted in preparation for assaulting it.
One group of Gargoyles saw an opportunity to shut down the librarian and moved into assault range. The hellions moved up to behind the western hill
A Venom moved to support the raiders. Another (Incubi) hugged up close to the South West corner of the bastion, in shooting range of a few marines and bloodletters. The third moved to help kill some scouts. The reavers decided to just go for it and attacked the marine group next to the thunderfire; bladevanes apparently forgot to deploy.
The tyranofex moved along the southern border, staying just behind the tree line.
Shooting was relatively benign. A few berzerkers died; three scouts died. The vindicator was stunned from a dark lance shot.
Wyches (sans Haemoncullus) then assaulted the dreadnought in order to plant haywire grenades. Amazingly, all failed to pen but no wyches died. Gargoyles assaulted the scouts with no clear winner. The dice weren't favoring anyone.
Then the gargoyles assaulted the librarian and his surrounding combat squad. The hope was simply to survive for a round. Instead, 2 marines and 2 gargoyles died.
End of Round, Kill Points: 1 to 0
Team 1 got a small early lead by taking out the ravager.
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Round 2: Team 1.
Some marines moved up to support the libby! (this was an interesting choice as the gargoyles would certainly fall in the combat phase.)
Predator sat still while the herald and a group of bloodletters came screaming around the bastion into a group of genestealers. Abaddon lurked on the bastions east side, prefering to wait it out.
The thunderfire destroyed the venom carrying 3 Trueborn. All trueborn lept to safety. The predator didn't have
LOS to a decent target so simply shot at the southern genestealers, the land speeder did the same. 2 died.
Most of the marines shot at each tervigon and both raiders. The wyche raider was immobilized. The marines previously attacked by the reavers, shot them all down.
In close combat, the scouts fought the final gargoyles, and lost 3 of their number; leaving 4 alive. The gargoyles lost combat then failed a morale check. They weren't swept but were heading straight for their corner. The scouts decided to retreat instead of giving up kill points to the genestealers that were close by and used a 3" consolidating move to go towards the predator.
The bloodletters lost 1, genestealers 2; however, they passed morale and stayed in.
The dreadnought and Wyches duked it out another round; and the wyches ran away; the haywire grenades were obviously defective.
The libby+marines and another marine group fought with gargoyles and smashed the last of them. For the effort they were able to consolidate a whole 1".
Round 2: Team 2.
The wyches did not regroup and continued to head for the southern border; likewise the southern gargoyles flew off the table. Meanwhile the Trygon stayed in reserve.
A Tervigon spawned another group of gants (13) and that's all she wrote for this baby carrier. All gants moved north over the western hill. The southern genestealers broke from cover and engaged Abaddon.
The incubi venom moved east over the southern trees and dropped off the incubi to attack Abaddon. The 3 trueborn moved into the southern tree line to draw a bead on the land speeder.
Another venom parked itself between the dreadnought and main marine force. While the warrior raider moved up for a better shot at the dreadnought.
The shooting was bloody. The Tyranofex dropped another three scouts; leaving 1 left. The trueborn immobilized the speeder; it dropped behind a hill and no longer had
LOS to anything. Gant's dropped another marine in the libby's support group. The wyche raider killed the dreadnought and the warrior raider stunned the vindicator. While the warriors took out the entire unit of noise marines. The Haemoncullus was able to use his liquifier to take out a couple of bloodletters.
The hellions then dropped the rest of the libby's support group.
The north venom utterly destroyed a group of berzerkers while the south venom took out 3 of Abaddons terminators.
In assault, the genestealers attacked Abaddon with the Incubi moving in as well. Abaddon's remaining terminator was killed and he was wounded. Meanwhile the Incubi were hurt, but don't run.
The previous Genestealer / Bloodletter assault ended and the bloodletters were cut down; but not without heavy losses; only the brood lord remained.
Meanwhile the Hellions attack the libby. Combat isn't resolved as the libby loses a wound and a Hellion dies.
End of Round 2, Kill Points: 5 to 6.
Lots of things went *poof*, and the attackers are in the lead.
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Round 3, Team 1:
The reserved Terminators and Greater Daemon show up. The Daemon takes over the body of a berzerker champion and moves towards abaddon; while the terminators drop right behind both tervigons and close enough to the wyches to assure they will keep falling back.
The remaining berzerker group moved to
cc range of the Warrior Raider; and a bloodletter group begins a southern march to support the Herald and Abaddon. Next, a remaining combat squad positions itself to hammer a group of gants. The Predator doesn't move, instead hoping to keep the scouts safe while trying for a shot at another venom.
Pred fires and the Incubi venom dies. The terminators shoot at a tervigon, wounding it but it doesn't drop. The berzerkers shoot at the warrior raider, and do nothing. A combat squad shoots at the gant screen, taking out 8 of them even with
FNP.
The thunderfire cannon then shoots at the trueborn hiding in the trees, 1 dies.
In assault, Abbadon finishes off the Incubi and the herald kills the broodlord. The genestealers in
CC with Abbadon wound him, and pass their own mroale. The berzerkers assault the Warrior raider and destroy it.
The libby assaults the hellions and kills one. They pass morale and choose to "hit and run".
Round 3, Team 2:
The trygon arrives and lands next to the cannon and a combat squad while the wyches run off the table edge.
Hellions move slightly closer to the librarian for another attack run. The gants split up with some staying between the terminators and the tervigons and another group moving up to go after the combat squad in the North West. The warriors sit still. Meanwhile the trueborn move a little deeper into the tree line. The tervigons go ahead and cross over the western hill to get close to the berzerkers there. The tyranofex moves out of the tree line to try and get a little closer to that hidden scout. The remaining venom starts moving around the bastion to line up a shot at Abbadon for the next round.
In shooting, Hellions kill the librarian. Gants shoot at the terminators in their flank; taking out 2. More gants shoot the combat squad also killing 2. The Wyche raider hits the Vindicator, causing it to explode. The warriors kill the bloodletters; and the trueborn kill 2 berzerkers. The tyranofex doesn't have
LOS to the remaining scout group and doesn't have a weapon capable of harming the Predator so it simply abides.
The Trygon shoots the nearby combat squad and drops two of them.
In close combat, a tervigon assaults the berzerkers and kills them. Abbadon hurts the genestealers pretty bad, leaving only the broodlord alive.
End of Round 3, Kill Points: 11 to 10.
It is still a close game, too early to call. However, the
SM/
CSM/D team is a bit demoralized. Their army is spread out and the remainder is unable to support each other. While the
DE/T army still has a very viable fighting force.
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Round 4, Team 1:
The greater daemon is moves to within assault range of the trueborn in the trees. The herald is also in range to help Abaddon finish off the broodlord (althought that will be unnecessary). The combat squad in the north west moves closer to a group of gants to prep an assault; while the combat squad in the east doesn't move. The pred sits tight, while that loan scout moves further away from the Tyranofex. Finally, the terminators move a little closer to the gants.
The terminators open fire and kill several gants. The combat squad in the east rapid fires at the trygon, but it still has 2 wounds left. The combat squad in the north pistols those gants and kills 3. The thunderfire shoots at the trueborn in the trees killing another one. While the Drop pod finally decides to shoot at the hellions, killing them.
In assault, the terminators hit the gants and wipe that group out. The herald moves into
CC with Abaddon and the broodlord. It was unnecassary though as abaddon disposes of the creature. The Greater Daemon is able to close combat the trueborn in the trees, and wipes the last one out. Then the combat squad in the north assaults that group of gaunts, wiping out the last of them.
note: you can barely see the lone scout hiding immediately behind the predator. The winged hive tyrant, we're using it as a tyranofex. That model wasn't out yet.
Round 4, Team 2:
The remaining venom moves further around the bastion and draws a bead on Abaddon. The Tervigons both head towards the northern combat squad. The trygon is already in assault range, so it doesn't bother moving. The warriors get into range of the northern combat squad.
The Tyranofex slinks along but still can't get
LOS. The final group of gants points everything at the terminators in their backfield.
With everything in place, they all unload. The Wyche raider busts a cap in the Drop Pod; it explodes. Not bad for a unit that had been immobilized early on. The warriors wipe up the northern combat squad. The trygon shoots at the eastern combat squad, killing another 2.
The venom shoots at Abaddon and he dies. The mounted trueborn shoot at the Herald, he disappears. And the gants take pot shots at the terminators, doing absolutely nothing.
In close combat, the trygon assaults the eastern combat squad. No one hears them scream; the trygon then consolidates closer to the thunderfire and land speeder. The gants assault the terminators and lose; they run away with no hope of recovering.
End of Round 4, Kill Points: 16 to 15
From a kill point perspective, it is still too close... Tactically? Not so much. Mop up time.
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Round 5, Team 1:
At this point they don't really know what to do. The Greater Daemon is out of range of everything. The terminators could move towards the tervigons, but they'll most likely lose. Also the scouts are hiding and the land speeder is junk. This leaves the pred and thunderfire cannon. Which isn't enough.
They decide to chance it and send the terminators up the western hill. However, they just can't get in assault range.
The predator takes a pot shot at the Venom and knocks it out of the sky. The truborn land and are unharmed. The thunderfire then hits the trueborn and kills them all.
Round 5, Team 2:
The trygon goes for an easy kill and takes out the land speeder. The warriors move to get their dark lance in range of the thunderfire. It pops.
The tervigons move into assault range of the terminators. While the tyranofex tries to get a little further around the back of the pred. Still no joy, so it assaults the pred directly. Instant hit (hasn't moved in several turns), good pen roll and the Pred is wrecked.
In assault, both tervigons reach the terminators. There's nothing left of them.
End of Round 5, Kill Points: 19 to 19
Instead of rolling to see if there was another round we just called the game at this point. The
SM/
CSM/D team has a greater daemon and a lone scout left. The
DE/T team has a Raider (immobilized with a Haem'y inside), a group of warriors, 2 tervigons (both wounded), a tyranofex and a trygon left on the table.
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
=============================================================================
Post Game:
This was the largest game we've played in quite a while; and there were a LOT of tactical mistakes made. The
SM/
CSM/D team learned a valuable lesson in that you don't leave a live target in your midst. After immobilizing the wyche raider they essentially forgot about it; it killed a lot of stuff.
The gargoyles were awesome. A group tied up their librarian, making it impossible to use his psychic shooting attacks the entire game. Well worth the 60 points.
Another mistake is that once the drop pod landed, they only used it's weapons for a single round. There were targets all around it, so it should have been capping things left and right. Normally I would have reminded them, but we had an agreement at the end to keep each others mouth shut. (It actually was a friendly game, but both sides wanted to treat this as much like a regular competition as possible.)
The ravager dissapointed. Getting dropped turn 1, round 1 wasn't fun. But that's what happens when it is even somewhat exposed.
The
SM/
CSM/D team let us divide up their forces and take them down. They had a group in the north west, east, south east and center. We concentrated our forces in the north west and center and it wasn't until the very end that anything was cut off (the warriors). Also, target selection was surprising.
I'm not sure about the effectiveness of our tervigons. Between them, 3 groups were generated before going kaput. This gave us 4 gant groups; all of which were fairly easy kill points while doing not much more than tying up a few units for a turn or two. Given the monstrous creatures still alive at the end, those 4
KP were close to costing us the game.
Next, I think they might have been better off leaving the daemons at home. We didn't enforce the "must split the army" rule due to the multiple codexes in play; however, they didn't really show much. Of course, a good part of that was a combination of target selection and where they deployed...
Finally, we had considered reserving a lot more than just the trygon: as in most of the
DE team because we weren't able to go first. The only reason we didn't is that there was plenty of cover between the gargoyles, trees, hills and the bastion that we felt having everything out ready to hit would make or break the game. I think that was right, but it was certainly a gamble. Also, having the trygon reserve in exactly where we needed it was a clinching move.
