Alrighty guys, here is the stunning finale to the gripping narrative began in our last report (
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/532956.page). Enjoy!
Father Petros' forces began closing in on the ruined temple where the corrupted artifacts were being held. Having destroyed most of the enemy armor, he knew the heretical Astartes could not hope to catch him with forces already deployed on the planet's surface. The fool had been crushed and outmaneuvered. Petros smiled to himself, knowing the Emperor's work would soon be done.
Then from the sky he saw thin smoking contrails falling towards the site. His teeth gritted in frustration. The Astartes had called it faster moving elements to try and cut him off, at the very moment of triumph! No matter. His flock would overwhelm this desperate attempt just as they had before...
So this time I took closer pictures of the armies involved. Here is my hodge-podge Blood Angles army, shown for completeness (only the Hammernators are a fully painted unit) not because they are anything to look at:
The List was:
Captain Lazarro with Power Fist and Displacer Field
10 Assault Marines with 8 chainswords, 5 jump packs, meltagun, flamer
5 Terminators with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield and Teleport Ability
Now, the real show, lordmoon's incredible Sisters of Battle army, which I am always happy to see across the table pummeling my poor goobers
I have been saying for a while he should post pictures of it, so I cut out the middle man and did it myself xD What an incredible army, top to bottom. And that's not even the entire thing!
Anyway, enough oogling the ladies, on to the battle for the Garnet Chalice
The Battlefield
The treasure chest wherein the Garnet Chalice is rumored to lay. Both of us decided it made sense if our missions were Take and Hold on the treasure chest.
Father Petros' army deployed for battle, bolstered by the approving thumbs of their true master lordmoon
The deployment of Lazarro's forces. Since the Hammernators were in orbit waiting to teleport down there was not much to place
A shot of the entire battlefield before the shooting starts
The assault marines combat squad and the jumpers head off into the jungle, on the advice of Brother Dum Dum Dugan who seems to recall the Codex Astartes saying something about "leafy green undergrowth being the best defense against flame weaponry".
The other half of the assault squad moves to the right and covers behind slightly less tree cover. "Cap'n, they get more finished paint jobs AND more trees?! Well gawl-dangit, that ain't no fair!"
On the Sisters' turn the Seraphim advance, trigger fingers itchy (there's an ointment for that I'm sure)
The frateris militia run madly up the center, knowing that faith, screaming, and chainsaws tend to solve most problems
More movement on the left flank as the frateris militia try not to look directly at the repentia, for as Father Biffy sayeth, "If you think impure thoughts about third edition models which were created by a committee of twelve year old boys the Emperor will toll the Bell of Lost Souls like a hundred times. Per thought. Seriously."
The Holy Number of Our Turn
Brother Burly McFacebeater, Veteran of the First Company, calls in the teleport strike behind enemy lines.
It is at this point I make a series of painful blunders:
1)I comment on how safe Deep Striking is in 2nd, as the only way to truly lose the models is to roll two 1's on 2D10
2)I mention how beefy Storm Shields are, given that they are a 4++ save in
HtH and shooting as long as it is in the front arc
3)I look up what the Thunder Hammer can actually do and lordmoon and I both have a moment of "zomg whaaaaaat" when I read that it auto-wounds whatever it hits, including vehicles
So I go to roll my 2D10 and Scatter die for Deep Strike and...
(Those are 1's, they are percentile dice for the tens column in
rpgs)
So yeah, the Hammernators die instantly, and 500 points of my 1000 point Blood Angels army evaporates
"The Emperor's Finest!"
Never again is Brother All-Thumbs allowed to work the teleporter controls
So the assault marines dig in, terrified of the beating they know is coming given that the cavalry just went and got itself phased into a hillside
Lazarro similarly heads for cover
The jump packs jump back
Apparently the aerial recon servo-skull forgot to take pictures of the Sisters second turn (i.e. I am a dummy), but the Sisters army advances and the Immolator lights three assault marines on fire. Mmmmm, roast marine.
The Holy Number of Our Turn
The Assault marines get desperate and charge the frateris militia, Lazarro is out of range.
The last two jumpers charge the immolator in desperation, knowing they only have krak grenades and can only hurt the tracks if that
...then proceed to roll box cars for armor penetration and then a 6 on the result charge, flipping the immolator end over end and chucking a sister into the jungle to go ker-splat on some ancient architecture.
The assault marines acquit themselves quite well in close combat
On the Sisters turn the assault marines find themselves surrounded by the might of the Ecclesiarchy
Father Petros watches menacingly as the fighting continues, sending his militia at the enemy
The Sisters miss every shot, but the frateris militia riddle the marines with bullets
The marines keep fighting to get to grips with Petros and slaying more goobers, but they lose one of their own.
"It's cool, I'd prefer to die, I don't think our HMOs cover chainsaws to the face."
The Holy Number of Our Turn
The final turn, it's now or never!
The marines, now numbering only four, keep pressing to snatch victory from the jaws of ass-whoopery
Another falls, but so do many frateris militia and the marines press their advantage in the chaos
Some sisters in the rear advance (oddly enough I think these gals were frenzied for this game)
The faithful throng advances
The seraphim scatter into the center of the field
After another vicious melee, another marine falls, but Lazarro kills his opponent's and consolidates onto the chest.
Final victory points -
Sisters - 3
Marines - 3, but thanks to Take and Hold - 8!
A startling marine victory!
Lazarro crushed another peasant skull and looked about, seeing the chest. He ran towards it, his legs tearing huge gouges in the turf. Grabbing the chest, he turned to his brother marines.
"Go!" shouted Sergeant Giovanno as his chainsword swept crimson arcs through the enemy. "Take the chalice now, or it is lost!"
Lazarro nodded and turned his displacer field to maximum output. "For Sanguinius, brother."
"For Sangu-" was all Lazarro heard before he was transported back to the ship in orbit.
In the hold, Lazarro opened the chest to see what laid within.
Nothing but gold! No chalice to be found at all. The rumors were just that, reckless speculation. Lazarro hung his head with the weight of this misfortune. "Even these piles of gold will not repay the debt we have lost in good men."
Techmarine Conrad looked at the gold with his jeweler's loupe. "It's fake, mon."
"Noooooooooooo!" cried Lazarro, haunted by the senseless death he had taken part in.
FIN
xD Anyway, melodrama aside, that was the second battle and the conclusion of our mini-narrative. As always it was a great game against lordmoon, and I had a blast revisiting 2nd. I look forward to gaming with it again in the coming future and it has me doing something I have not done in a long time - look at
GW models to purchase!
Hope you guys enjoyed it and get a chance to give 2nd a whirl
