New game, new list!
We played at the Lab:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/527541.page
Do you want to have your armies mentioned in the battle reports? Feel free to challenge me to a game.
Company Command squad: 85
Lascannon, standard.
Marbo: 65
Platoon command squad: 100
Chenkov, lascannon
Infantry squad: 80
Meltagun, lascannon
Infantry squad: 80
Meltagun, lascannon
Conscripts: 155
Send in the next wave
Veterans: 130
Autocannon, sniper x 3, Forward Sentries
Aegis defence line: 100
Quad gun
My opponent's list:
Huron Blackheart: 160
Chaos Marines: 95
Flamer, mark of Nurgle
Chaos Rhino with havoc launcher: 47
Chaos Marines: 98
Flamer, mark of Nurgle, combi bolter
Chaos Rhino with havoc launcher: 47
Chaos Spawn: 108
Mark of Nurgle
Chaos vindicator: 120
ALLIES: IMPERIAL GUARD
Lord commissar: 70
Veteran squad: 80
Flamer x 2
Chimera: 55
Hellhound: 130
The mission was the Emperor's will.
We rolled for Warlord traits.
Because he had Huron, he could infiltrate d3 units, while I had Intimidating presence. (Fear my company commander!)
Our deployment was pitched battle and we had no night fighting.
We rolled off and I decided to take the first turn.
I deployed in a typical gunline, trying to split my forces evenly. I had the mortars in the middle of my lines and my company command squad was on top of the objective. (It was a skyfire nexus) The objectives are in the green circles opposite of one another.
My opponent centred in one corner.
Pre-battle thoughts: Well, I was quite scared about his forces. Nurgle Marines are tough to kill and I have a lot of bad experiences with them. Then there was the vindicator that could decimate my forces from range, while the Hellhound got up close and personal. Then there were his spawns which appeared hard to kill.
“After Suv managed to push the heretics out of the village, the third company was tasked with holding the newly gained positions. The heretics were preparing an assault on our positions. I kept some of our new recruits in reserve so that we'd appear weaker than that we were. It's a trick that I learned from Vladimir Russki, our regimental standard bearer and I must say that it worked well. So as we were digging in, we suddenly heard the rumbling of engines. The heretics launched an attack, going straight towards our lines!”
Turn 1:
I move my conscripts forward and have them advance towards the enemy. I can recycle them later and it forces my enemy to engage them. Across the other side of the table, I move one of my infantry squads forward. While I’d rather keep it static, my opponent has no forces there and it might be useful for Linebreaker.
Then I start shooting. I need to get First Blood so that I can change a draw into a victory. However my army doesn’t work exactly as I had hoped. I manage to strip two hull points and a bolter of a Rhino and another hullpoint from a vindicator.
“They caught us off-guard and most of our shots failed to hit them. Immediately I started barking out orders, ordering the new recruits to spread out and minimize any damage. While I tasked one of my squads to try to slip behind their lines.”
My opponent moves his vindicator, Rhino’s, Chimera and Hellhounds. The spawns also run forward. My conscripts as well as one of my heavy weapon squads suffer several casualties from the vehicles. The last gun keeps standing, only one wound left.
Then my conscripts manage to pass their morale check and my opponent his turn ends. Neither of us have first blood.
“Although they suffered casualties, we managed to keep our new recruits in line. The autocannon teams near my position got hit, but a lone gunner remained behind his weapon, returning fire at the heretics! He was mortally wounded, but kept going.”
Turn 2:
Marbo arrives and I deploy him behind my opponent his vehicles. All of them are bunched up so that I can hit four of them at once. This would be good! For the rest I move my conscripts to keep screening my company command and to force my opponent to attack them. At the opposite end, an infantry squad is moving forward.
Then I open fire with my army and one of the rhino’s is wrecked, the Nurgle marines popping out.
The Chimera gets blown up and several veterans are killed. Two of the spawns go down.
Then Marbo throws his democharge, he can hit three vehicles. The Hellhound, the Rhino with Huron and the Vindicator. However I scatter and hit only the Rhino, which blows up. This is not exactly what I had hoped for.
At least I have first blood. And my opponent his forces standing right in front of my army.
“One of our scouts had managed to get behind their lines and bravely decided to use his democharge on the enemy's vehicles. Unfortunately he miscalculated the windspeed and the democharge landed on top of a Rhino... He would pay dearly for this mistake. At the same time, the attack was still going towards us. We manage to whittle away some elements, but they are still coming.”
So my opponent his forces arrive. My conscripts are set on fire by the Hellhound and the two survivors are killed by the five nurgle marines. My company command squad loses the extra veteran and the lascannon team.
Marbo gets shot by Huron and his nurgle marines.
The spawn then charges forward and gets hit by overwatch from my remaining autocannon team. I expect him to die horribly, but he keeps standing and he even manages to poke the spawnm causing another wound. It was quite amusing, because both now keep locked in close combat.
“Unfortunately the new recruits didn’t entirely grasp the concept of 'GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THAT FLAMETHROWER!' and 'GET OUT OF THERE!' and they unfortunately never will. Luckily the brave Valhallan gunner managed to wound the grotesque monster that was running towards him. Not even then, he tried to save himself, but he kept firing."
Turn 3:
My conscripts come back! They arrive and open fire, and with a little bit of help from the rest of my army, killing three of the chaos marines.
My company commander relocates to a safer position. I want to deny my opponent slay the warlord. I tried to destroy the hellhound, but I only ended up putting some dents into it. My autocannon team is eventually killed by the spawn.
Across the field, a lone squad is still sneaking forward.
“I called up our new recruits to come forward, while I decided to move to another location upon recommendation from Russki. It's not that I'm afraid of a hero death for the Imperium, I just believe that I can be of more value to him when I am still alive.”
My opponent his hellhound advance forward, his vindicator move and his nurgle marines come closer to my lines. Another heavy weapon squad gets annihilated and half of an infantry squad gets killed. Huron moves towards his objective and the veterans come closer to my lines. Then the single spawn runs around my conscripts and charges my warlord. I hoped that I had luck with overwatch, but I didn’t kill him. However I had different luck, because my company commander manages to kill the spawn. My warlord is still alive, for now. So far, we both have one objective and it can swing both ways.
“The flamethrower tank opened up again, while the heretics kept pressing forward. A Chaos Spawn suddenly appeared by our side, trying to gnaw off my arm. So I did what any faithful Imperial would do and I punched him in his ugly face with my chainsword. It solved the problem easily.”
Turn 4:
I move my conscripts so that they screen my lines, preventing the vindicator or the hellhound from getting through and to hug the objective as well. My other infantry squad moves up and my company commander takes up position behind them.
Luck’s on my side and I manage to blow up his vindicator and wreck his hellhound.
A lone squad is still casually strolling across the field.
“Our remaining guns managed to zero in on the enemy, the remaining vehicles are destroyed. The crew from the flamethrower tank tried to make a run for it, but were shot down. One of them got hit by a jet of burning oil and suffered the same fate he had given so many of my troops."
My opponent advances with his veterans, determined to take my objective. His veterans try to set my conscripts on fire and burn down several, before he charges them and manages to kill two. In return my conscripts kill two of his veterans.
They keep locked in close combat.
"However the fighting wasn't over yet. A group had managed to infiltrate our lines! It was vital that we had to hold this village. The new recruits suffered casualties, the concept of cover unknown to them, but they managed get two lucky hits on the heretics."
Turn 5:
I move almost everything towards the combat. I need to get stuck in, because I’m really afraid that my conscripts can’t finish off the lone Lord Commissar and will either run away or get wiped out. That means that my opponent has one objective and contests another and I would have lost the game.
We roll the dice and I fail to hurt the commissar, but he does harm my conscripts. I roll the dice for the two armour saves and manage to pass them!
“Immediately I ordered several other squads to join me as we rushed over. We couldn't let the heretics hold this position. We had to drive them out of here!”
Now we can either make it or break it. I win or I lose this game. There is no middle ground. We roll the dice... and the lord commissar gets finished off by my conscripts!
“However before we arrived, the new recruits had already managed to finish off the heretical leader. Someone had managed to plunge a bayonet into his side, before another jammed his bayonet in his throat. I got even better news, our squad had managed to get amongst the heretics their lines and found it was largely deserted. The remaining enemies started to retreat. We had won this battle!"
Since I can never reach his objective and he can never take mine, we agree to end the game here. It means I’ve won, because we both have one objective, but I have first blood. The linebreaker squad was just out of the deployment range, which leaves it at 4-3 for me.
Ah, I must say that it was a pretty tense game. I mean, there were a lot of moments where I expected to be lost or to be sure of my victory. I hadn’t gotten first blood in the first turn, while I (sort of) easily could have gotten it. Marbo could have gotten an awesome moment, but his democharge scattered.
Then again, my autocannon team managed to put two wounds on a Chaos spawn, which I honestly hadn’t expected. I also found it quite amusing to have my company commander finish off the chaos spawn in close combat.
As for my opponent, he had mostly bad luck. His veterans failed to annihilate my conscripts, his spawn had a target painted on his head and the vindicator hasn’t done much in the game. (Or good luck, if you consider Marbo scattering good luck.)
Sadly enough my Veterans did like almost nothing this game and those 130 points could have been invested in a lot of different, better things. The rest of my units performed rather well in my opinion.
Still I must say that it’s one of the best games I have played. It was because it was quite a tense game, it could really swing both ways. It wasn’t clear who would win until the last turn. While there still were plenty of funny and amusing moments.
Man of the match.
I’d guess this one goes to the recyclable conscripts. That they came back was a huge advantage to me. Not only could I put more pressure on my much threatened flank, I also had new troops who could take an objective. If I hadn’t been able to recover them, I would have certainly lost this game.
“I would like to recommend our deceased Valhallan gunner Nowak Radken, for the Medallion Crimson and I hope you can send it to his family. He certainly deserves it for his actions and they should be proud to be family of such a good soldier.
As for the battle, I'd say that the heretics in this area are quite weak and we should stage a new offensive here.
Now if you'd excuse me, I'd like to get back to my men. We need to be ready for the fight and some recruits need to be learned how to get cover properly.
May the Emperor smile upon you,
197th Bataviran/222nd Catachan ‘Iron Wolves’, third company, company command squad, company commander, captain second class, Detlev Joachim Vordon.”
Comment and critcism is welcome. I'm wondering if the pictures are better than those from the last game?
5000 