The Kowalski Plains held little of real interest to the civilized.
But the scattered tech-nomads persevered in their struggle for supremacy over this haunted wasteland.
1,000 point battle today, once again dominated by vehicles.
JR's "New Londo Fairy Boys" vs. Dracula & FloridaJoe's "Leman Prussians"
"No more robots with the movement of a crappy NES AI." exclaimed JR,
"Why couldn't the Orks program a variable for the value of how far to turn?"
Ork robots from the 'Ere We Go and Freebooterz books could only ever turn 90° or multiples thereof.
Greenskins are celebrated(?) soldiers, not coders. "Me maek tinboy; fore milyun lainz uv Basik"
I can't wait to see how the test players react to the fully programmable robots from the Compendium.
The opposing force was set to follow Joe into battle but that storm is hitting his state and his connection cut out.
I'm sure he's fine.
Anyway, Drac took command.
The Rogue Trader rulebook has systems for creating your own vehicles from scratch or generating them randomly.
That no one had opted for these despite how many vehicles were being fielded was a source of disappointment for me.
Until now.
In fact, this battle saw one of the weirdest, least balanced things from 1st Edition taken by JR's army.
A juggernaut.
Even if you've been playing the game for a very long time you might never have seen one in action.
They could not have conceivably been tested before publication.
And while they could be beaten, they are rightfully considered broken.
I'd previously applied a massive discount to the vehicles from the rulebook in a vain attempt
to balance them with the cheap, potent vehicles from later on in 1st Ed's life-cycle.
Both players started out slowly. Drac because he needed to cross some irregular terrain without damage.
JR because the max speed of "Ian" was only 12".
Unlike the other reports, I didn't take an overhead screenshot each turn because it took so much time for
the sides to get close enough to do more than brandish their weapons at each other.
We also allowed a chatter to jump in with a small force to spice things up.
They opted for Catachan Devils skinned as Vaporeons.
While the Leman Pruss's were forming up a line on the left flank,
the lighter right flank tried a slightly different strategy and fanned out across the plain.
It seemed like the juggernaut would have been the sort of thing they'd never be able to miss, but Cornholio managed.
The other wartrak managed to take out a heavy bolter sponson.
At first Drac wanted to take out the nearest battlecannon on the top corner but it was too high up and therefore out of range.
By the end of next turn the fast attack wing had already come undone.
The 2 battlecannons on Ian missed and misfired, but the Russ's managed to land piercing hits on all 3 of their targets.
I asked Drac if he wanted to dismount the Speed Freeks but he just said
"Nah don't bother - they'll be dead in a minute."
The damage result on Cornholio's wartrak had an interesting result.
Its control system went haywire and from now on the players would roll to see who'd steer, while the other player would shoot.
So for the time being Drac was able to steer while JR would fire the lascannon.
Needing this loose end tied up, Drac opted to charge full speed in an attempt to ram the jug.
Meanwhile JR shot the battlewagon, killing half the passengers and wounding the Kaptin.
Drac was without sympathy.
"They don't have melta charges - I don't care about these guyz at all." *sad ork noises*
Then they were close to crossing the halfway point of the field at last.
Still lacking range on the Pruss's, the New Londo forces just kept bullying the already immobile battlewagon.
The Ork Kaptin muttered angrily under his breath, vowing that they would not endure such mockery.
Dismounting and standing clear in the open, he called out to the encroaching behemoth, letting them know where they could stick their turrets.
The two main forces were just out of each other's reach at this point.
Drac launched a bombardment of attacks aiming for the point at maximum range.
Oddly they all scattered in the same direction, very close to one another.
But the lead tank was only slightly damaged.
While this was going on the Vaporeons watched the procession quietly, eyes wary.
The player controlling them came back surprised to find them alive.
But at this point nobody could spare a shot their direction.
This time around JR won control of Cornholio's steering while Drac got to fire.
I'd assumed JR would simply continue straight and ram the juggernaut for a free kill.
However he cruelly denied Cornholio his desired vehicular seppuku.
Instead the wartrak veered off and was missed by the sponson-mounted multi-melta.
For the second game in a row Cornholio would survive to the end while piloting an out of control vehicle.
Without any further hesitation the New Londo lead tank rolled into extreme battlecannon range alongside Ian.
A massive exchange of cannon fire ripped back and forth.
After Drac lost a crew to a hull hit, he pressed on anyway pummeling the juggernaut with the remaining lascannons and battlecannons.
...not leaving a single scratch on it.
Indignant, he conceded.
What a brutal match.
We were able to test a lot of optional rules and convenient automation tools in this bout.
For one, we used the "Vital Hit" mechanic from a Chapter Approved article in the Compendium.
With this rule, if you score 2 over the needed hit roll you can add a bonus to the strength of your shot.
It was this +1 increase to armor penetration that left Drac a Leman short; it would've survived otherwise.
That in turn led to a situation that likely would've snowballed on him if we'd continued.
As always thank you for reading.
Starting the 1st of October we're switching up the available units.
Anyone's free to join us.
