Don't let the title fool you, I'm not great at writing battle reports. Mainly because I forget what has happened almost as soon as the game is over! (probably why I never win, I forget why I lost).
In any case, Dad Rich and I had a game at the weekend, and as he has been in internet blackout for a month it is down to me to tell you all about it. For me, this was the first test run of the army I am going to take to the Horus Heresy Throne of Skulls in July. For Rich, this was about me trying to persuade him he wants to come along too! :-)
Ok, on with the show. What follows is a bunch of pictures from the game in roughly chronological order, with some text to try and explain the awesome bits about what is going on. I won't bore you with the boring bits.
Set Up
We both play 30k these days, and as Book 6 has recently come along we thought we'd give it a go. Rich selected the 'Hunter - Hunted' mission, we played 3000pts a piece and the set up was the diagonal deployment zone set up. Rich had his Imperial Fists (IF), I had my Vlka Fenryka (W)
There was nothing super special about this mission other than that each player had to select 50% of their units to hold in reserve at the beginning, and a bunch of special victory point bonuses, but we'll worry about those at the end.
We both forgot to pick Warlord Traits (although Rich had Sigismund so his traits are pre-defined). We rolled to see who went first. I won but made Rich set up first. I later tried to seize the initiative but failed.
Rich and I both have the limited edition Breacher Sergeant, but they both look very different these days!
Turn 1
We set up 50% of our units, both placing our heavy weapons squads at the back and tanks to the fore.
Rich sent his Spartan down the middle and I set up anticipating a flanking manoeuvre .
My Long Fangs took out the IF scicarian. The IF lascannon armed heavy weapons squad took out a Rhino-mounted tactical support squad, which was the highlight of their game... Pretty much everyone else was in cover or out of range due to the cross-ways deployment.
Turn 2The IF Spartan-mounted thunderhammer-wielding terminators dismounted and took out the Wolves’ Spartan, which was attempting a flanking manoeuvre up the right hand side. This saved the Wolves’ breacher squad from a close encounter with a thunderhammer but hey stormed in to combat with Sigismund and his squad in the next turn.
The Space Wolves jetbikes arrived in style, zoomed across the board, failed to shoot anything, lost two men then Hammer of Wrath-ed their way in to close combat. Whereupon they failed to hit and failed to save their wounds… points well spent then!
Turn 3
The last of the reserves made an entrance on both sides. The Space Wolves' Master of Signal brought down his orbital bombardment, and killed precisely nothing!
The IF terminator squad round the bend and take on the remaining Wolves Breacher Squad. Both these squads contain their respective army's Warlord. Sigismund and the Wolves’ Praetor, Hrodger Ironblade, challenge each other to a duel. Both hold their own, neither losing a wound, but as the Wolves’ unit as a whole lost combat he was killed in the ensuing sweeping advance.
Turns 4 – 6 – Increasing levels of combat as the sides ground each other down. The IF Templar Brethren was hacked away by a 20 man Blood Claw squad, whilst the IF terminators continued to pound everything in their path with their Thunderhammers and Power Fists.
I brought everything I could to crush Sigismund, even two Contemptors joining the fray at one point, but he and his squad weathered everything I could throw at them.
A nice picture of the Scicarian which unfortunately died to 9 krak missiles in the first turn. I'm not that great a tactician but always taking missiles launchers has never failed to pay off. The choice of krak or frag missiles means they can stop men or vehicles, and it's a cheap upgrade. Both my squads died in the game but not before they earned their points back. Meanwhile, Rich's mega expensive las-cannon squad killed a rhino and a couple of men, killing absolutely nothing in a couple of the turns.
A 20 man tactical squad armed with close combat weapons decide they'll have a crack at Sigismund, hoping they can succeed where everyone else has so far failed... they died to a man over the last 3 turns...
The combination of Sigismund's leadership value and an apothecary in the squad mean that this terminator became the un-killable blades in a 6-turn meat grinder. If I face them again I will just run rather than pouring 3 or 4 squads in just for the slim chance of beheading a legendary character.
Although I lost, it's not to say I had all the bad luck of the game. Rich’s spectacular dice roll of 6 1’s in one round, where he only required 2’s to hit, has now made it in to his Saga forever more…
The Imperial Fists won the day, but mainly due to several squads cowering at the back of the board and failing to get their hands dirty… (That might just be my interpretation…). We didn’t count up victory points but at the end, the wolves had one remaining full unit on the board and the IF’s had only lost one full unit, so it seemed pretty clear in our minds.
The game was fun, Rich's board and scenery were great backdrops to the battle and I was amply supplied with tea throughout. So, all in all it was a good day even if I did lose.
What would I change about my army before the tournament? I'm not sure yet. I have tried to have a pretty balanced force; two heavy support, 2 fast attack and 4 troop choices to try and cover all bases. The Jetbikes really didn't get their points back, despite looking cool. Neither did the Spartan, but I didn't take the 'flare shield' upgrade like Rich did (meaning his survived where mine didn't). Everything else worked pretty well. The Master of Signal is my favourite, bestowing a +1 BS to any squad within 6" and granting an orbital bombardment once per game.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
Dave
