The Battle of Aqua Veritas

[Honda]

Prologue:

 

Inquisitor Icthus looked up from his data slate, a furrowed brow slowly manifesting itself in the pale luminescence of the screen. Although the presence of the Tau xenos was troubling, he was more concerned by the puzzling behaviour of the Imperial units sent to intercept them. Rather than lining up attack vectors to remove the interlopers, they appeared to be settling on a flank…as if in support.

 

Growling like a cornered predator, the inquisitor sent a burst transmission to another secure device located deep within the strike cruiser, “The Wrath of Sanguinius”. Confirming that the message was received, he turned to Iapetus, spitting out the command, “Grand Master, deploy your knights and leave nothing standing”.

 

“Yes, Inquisitor, and what of the in situ Imperial forces?”

 

“I said, leave nothing standing”.

 

+++

 

The Big Day.

 

The game that had been greatly anticipated, planned for, modified for many reasons, had finally arrived.

 

However, the night before, we got together to set up the terrain on the impressive 5’ x 13’ table in Truewater’s conference room, hereafter dubbed, the “Star Wars” room.

 

Why do we call it that…well, you’ll just have to get a tour and find out. It’s amazing.

 

So we cobbled together all of our terrain, including a WFB castle, some very impressive scratch built pieces that the Tau player brought and before we knew it, two and a half hours later (well, a little pre-game construction did take place), the table was ready, our armies were staged for deployment and we were ready to go.

 

The participants

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For this battle, the sides were Jeff P. representing Inquisitorial forces, allied with Rob’s always intimidating Blood Angels vs. Anton’s Tau and my Elysian Drop Troop Company (IA8).

 

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The Grey Knight/Inquisitorial Order of Battle

 

Inquisitor Lord Icthus

BaneBlade “DaemonBane”

Leman Russ “Old 123”

Land Raider “Armored Spearhead Formation”

Land Raider Crusader – Transporting Grand Master Iapetus and retinue

Land Raider – transporting Grey Knight Troops

Land Raider – transporting Grey Knight Troops

Land Raider Terminus Ultra

Grey Knight Troops

Grey Knight Terminator Squad 1

Grey Knight Terminator Squad 2

Rhino 1 transporting IST Squad

Rhino 2 transporting IST Squad

Callidus Assassin – she who has no name..

Culexis Assassin – He who has a name but won’t tell you cause it would fry your brain…

 

The Blood Angels Order of Battle

 

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1 x Gabriel Seth

1 x Honor Guard (6), Razorback TL-lascannon

1 x Vanguard Vet. Sqd (5), Power sword, Thunder hammer

1 x Terminator sqd, 1 x Acannon, Land raider

4 x Assault sqds (5), Jump packs

4 x Tactical sqds (6), Razorback TL-lascannon

2 x Death Company Dread

4 x Death Company (5), Jump packs

2 x Vindicators

1 x Stormsword

1 x Baneblade

 

The Tau Order of Battle

 

Tigershark AX-10

Commander Shadowsun w/ her 3 drones

Crisis Shas'O w/ cyclic ion blaster and plasma rifle

Ethereal w/ honor guard

1 small stealth suit squad w/ markerlights

1 large stealth suit squad w/ 12 drones

3 missile pod suits (2 of which I just now realized that I forgot to bring on the the board)

3 squads of 10 firewarriors w/ all upgrades

3 squads of kroot, 2 @ 14 w/ 10 hounds, 1 @ 10 w/ krootox and shaper.

3 sentry drone towers

3 squads of 8 pathfinders w/ devilfish, 1 w/ 3 railrifles

4 piranhas, 2 w/ fusion, 1 w/ burst cannon, 1 w/ rail rifles

4 tetras

3 hammerheads

1 skyray

3 squads of broadsides

 

 

 

The Elysian Order of Battle

 

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Company Command (5)

Platoon Command (5)

2 x Infantry Pltns, demo charges

2 x Heavy Wpns team, Missile launchers

1 x Heavy Wpns team, Mortars

1 x Heavy Wpns team, H. Bolter

1 x Special Wpns sqd, 2 x flamers, demo charge

6 x Veterans, demo charge and 2 x special weapons each

3 x Storm Trooper sqds, 2 x special weapons each (plasma or melta)

4 x Vendettas, 3 x TL-lascannons

3 x Valkyries, with Rocket pods, H. Bolter sponsons

1 x Vulture, TL-autocannons, 6 x Hunter killer missiles, Flares, Armored cockpit

1 x Vulture, TL-Punisher cannons, Flares, Armored cockpit

2 x Lighting Strike Fighters, TL-Lascannon, 6 x Hellstrike missiles

1 x Landspeeder Storm, with H. Flamer

5 x Scouts, 1 x Combi-flamer, 4 x Shotguns

3 x Landspeeder Typhoons

 

Pre-game Thoughts:

 

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Good guys: So we did the set up thing, but both sides bid 30 minutes on the set up and ended up rolling to see who went first. The Imperial side came out on the short end of the stick on that one, which I thought was pretty good for our side because with all of our mobility, we wanted to be able to contest or grab objectives on the last turn without facing retribution. So, although we didn’t get the side that we wanted, on the whole, I’d almost always rather go second.

 

Considering that neither of us “Good” guys had a single unit that could seize any of the objectives, it seemed like a good idea to try and stretch the other side as much as we could and keep them guessing as to where our focus was directed.

 

To that effect, we placed our objectives as far away from each other as we could. The Imperials clustered theirs behind the castle walls.

 

The BA/GK alliance opted to put everything in reserves for their set up and I wanted to do the same, but the Tau player, crafty beast that he is, talked me into setting a trap for the bad guys using our Broadsides as bait.

 

Sort of while we were figuring out the set up, the Imperials talked us into adding two laser defense towers (with slightly different armament), positioned at opposite corners of the table. The idea being that these weapons could be fired at units on the table if one side or the other owned the tower (i.e. no enemy formations within 6 inches). The idea of nasty death raining down on us from above didn’t sound all that attractive. So we detected a sense of ownership related to the Imperials and that caused us to adjust our plans just a little bit.

 

The Tau thought we should feign a desire to control the defense towers and seeing if we could lure all that nasty power armor to the opposite corners of the table and keep them from getting to our soft under parts. I was onboard with that plan, but a tad nervous. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to contest them long enough to keep them out of the Imperial hands.

 

To support our feint, we deployed Stealth and Broadside teams in the towers, surrounded by tons (metric or otherwise) of Kroot, basically daring them to take the towers away. We also set up a medium strong position towards the center of the board, using the castle walls to screen some of our troops, whilst elevating a unit of Broadsides enough to see quite far enough to interdict any arriving troops.

 

The Elysians, still not quite sure that this plan was going to work, opted to hide a Venator outside of LOS from just about anything underneath the aqueduct, preserving the valuable locator beacon for the upcoming drop.

 

So the trap was set, now if only a big silver or red rat would take the bait.

[Honda]

Turn 1 – The Gathering Storm

 

Inquisitor Icthus stood in the teleport chamber, surrounded by the brilliant hulks of the Grey Knights. Where a less focused personality might have smiled at detecting the obvious weakness in the enemy’s plan, Icthus merely grimaced, his face appearing as if it were a mask of weathered stone.

 

Puzzled by the unusual deployment of the Imp-, no they would never be thought of as belonging to the Imperium again. They were traitors, plain and simple. Still, something nagged at the back of his mind. The traitors had not integrated their forces with the xenos and yet they appeared to almost loiter a short distance from the xenos central positions as if they were waiting for something. Was it possible that they had detected the Inquisitor’s forces and were merely waiting for an opportune moment to strike?

 

Not knowing their intentions only infuriated Icthus all the more.

 

Overcome by his frustration, Icthus touched the attack rune on his data slate, triggering multiple commands to various units, who would then embark upon landing craft or await their turn to be thrust through the aether in a flash of lighting, hopefully to materialize near their target.

 

On his mark, the room began to slowly dilate, cerulean flashes arcing across the chamber, scoring the grounding rods surrounding the warp dais and then everything…changed.

 

 

 

 

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Turn 1 comments:

 

Imperial: we decided to observe the enemy plan

 

Good Guys: Without any Inquisitorial forces deployed, there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do. We continued to consolidate our bait forces around the two towers, not really wishing to do a whole lot of movement as we weren’t entirely sure where the big punch was going to come from. Although we felt confident that there would be at least some Inquisitorial presence behind the castle walls, simply because the castle limited the LOS for all those nasty rail guns, it didn’t seem likely that they would completely ignore the rest of the table.

 

So that meant we would have to wait to find out where and how much.

[Honda]

Turn 2 – Lightning Strikes

 

 

As if waking up from a nightmare, Icthus’ body shook for several seconds while the warp lightning slowly faded. Not recognizing the location from the targeting grid, he looked down at his data slate and quickly realized that his forces had missed their target. Issuing a bark of a command, Icthus and his retainers, accompanied by two squads of Grey Knight frater, marched in the direction of the defense tower through a large expanse of trees.

 

Upon reaching the tree line, the forces halted, observing the xenos allies, the spindly, but reviled carnivores and their four legged hell spawn patrolling around the base of the tower. After several silent vox commands were sent, the forces charged out of the trees to engage the Kroot, intending to take the tower by surprise.

 

Unfortunately, the Tau and Kroot appeared to be aware of their presence, while a harsh crack of burst cannon rained down from the tower top. The Kroot trap appeared to be sprung.

 

Almost appearing out of nowhere, additional Kroot counter-charged the Inquisitor and a fierce struggle ensued. After just a few minutes of brutal clashing, the superior armor and weapons of the Imperial forces began to tell, and almost as quickly as it started, the combat was over and the Kroot forces completely destroyed.

 

Just as the Knights began to force their way into the tower, however, additional Tau forces began to appear, though staying out of engagement range.

 

In the distance, Icthus could hear the loud crack from Tau rail weaponry, undoubtedly issuing from the sister tower several klicks away.

 

Stepping back from the tower assault, Icthus scrolled the battle map on his data slate and observed that several detachments of the Blood Angels had also engaged a similar set of forces. Tying into the Blood Angels vox network, it was clear that they were encountering stiff resistance and several members of two teams had reported spotting one of the mysterious Tau leaders.

 

Icthus was pondering the significance of the report, when an omega icon began flashing red before it slowly faded away. The location of the icon was approximately halfway between the two engagements. Fighting the urge to swear, Icthus realized that one of his most valuable assets, the shadow operative from the Temple Callidus was no longer functional.

 

Assuming that the elimination of his asset could not happen without the strong presence of enemy forces, Icthus began to sketch out the remainder of his deployment, now believing that the Tau had foolishly deployed in a manner that prevented the mutual support of their forces by each other.

 

It was becoming very clear to Icthus that the simultaneous attack on both towers would collapse the xenos defense, allowing the Imperial forces to rapidly crush any resistance offered by the defenders.

 

No mercy would be offered. As the Imperials executed the attack, only the complete eradication of the xenos and traitors would signal the conclusion of this exercise.

 

Turn 2 comments:

 

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Imperial – Do we come in or not, to take out some key targets on the table? We order select elite units to come in, all dismounted GK and GKTs along with Inquisitor Lord Icthus attempt to storm the southernmost bastion. The Callidus Assassin is ordered in late and in haste and tries to take out the Broadsides that the teleporting Blood Angels Vanguards missed. She flames a drone but can’t mount the parapet to assault. Failed and caught in the open, she is shot to pieces in the ensuing turn…

 

Good Guys – We decided to play the bait out a little longer this turn. That meant that we fed a few more units to contest the defense towers. However, we didn’t want to over commit our side as that would play into the hands of Imperials, allowing them to then concentrate on and defeat us piecemeal with their superior hand-to-hand capabilities.

 

So, sticking to our plan, we did a fair amount of “tap dancing”, watched units get chewed up at the towers, though in the North, the Blood Angels were struggling to get the right convergence of forces for success, while trying to cause casualties where we could and for the most part sustain the illusion. A unit of assault troops had tried to deep strike in on the middle concentration of broadsides, but due to a mishap, were placed in a section of the table that did not have any troops, but to their chagrin, was well within range of Tau weaponry. Shortly thereafter, casualties ensued and the squad was wiped out.

 

We knew that next turn was going to be big. They had to bring everything on (or lose it) and up till now, the jabs we had been tossing at each other were only intended to set up the knock out blows.

 

The real question at this point is who successfully lands their hammer blow first?

[Honda]

Turn 3 – Red Storm Rises

 

A flashing comm window on Icthus data slate displayed one word…JUDGEMENT.

 

Icthus allowed the briefest trace of a smile to brush against the corners of his mouth as he tracked the movement of Blood Angels units. Slowly executing a pincer attack from the East and West, Icthus could see the xenos formations squeezed between the two massive formations, supported by super heavy assets that laid waste to anything within sight. The sound of rolling thunder indicated the firing of the Astartes super heavy assault gun. Icthus resisted the urge to rub his hands together at the thought of smashed alien flesh scattered across the field of battle.

 

Closer to his position, Icthus could feel the ground trembling as his own armored assets pushed in from the South and East, intending to grind any opposition underneath their treads. The wall of adamantium armored vehicles, lined off the Eastern edge of the battlefield, ensuring that none would escape from that direction.

 

Soon the great steel encased cannon of the Inquisitorial forces Baneblade began launching massive projectiles towards barely visible locations to the North. Icthus was confident that death and destruction would rain down from the skies as the Emperor’s wrath manifested in the form of great barrages from the huge engine.

 

The supporting Grey Knights began their ground assault upon the remnant xenos forces still in possession of the tower. Icthus became extremely impatient with the leading Justicar, harshly questioning him as to when they would take possession of the tower. Icthus was eager to add the blinding laser barrages to the torrent of fire already in place.

 

And then in the briefest of moments, the picture was transformed.

 

The skies were suddenly filled with great hunting birds. Their roars, accompanied with lancing beams of light that tore into the inquisitor’s armored formation. Circling out of the sky, great Vultures descended upon the lighter armored vehicles, punishing them with huge volumes of fire until they exploded. The Inquisitorial Baneblade took multiple barrages of missiles and lascannon fire, along with point blank shots from the xenos fusion weapons.

 

All along the battle line, smoke and fire erupted in billowing gouts, smothering the air with toxic results. Skirting the edges of the Eastern battle line, traitor storm troopers attacked the row of Landraiders with highly effective melta shots, adding to the explosive symphony.

 

Where once stood a physical manifestation of the inquisitor’s will, now doubts in the form of fire and fury crept in. As if to strengthen his growing indecision, Icthus’ data slate displayed additional air units engaging the Blood Angels armored units in coordination with the xenos chaos spawned rail weaponry. Damage runes flashed over the magnificent assault gun indicating main weapon failure.

 

A hideously effective Tigershark AX-1-0 swept over the hills and poured shots and missiles into the Blood Angels Baneblade.

 

The inquisitor looked up and howled at the skies.

 

Turn 3 comments:

 

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Imperial – whoomp there it is. All remaining units enter in on the south/southwest table edges in and all pop smoke except for the BaneBlade who fires everything, killing a few units…

 

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Good Guys: To quote James Bond in Casino Royale, “All in”.

 

It never ceases to impress upon me how intimidating large numbers of red painted troops are when placed en masse on a table. Maybe it’s just that red is Nature’s way of saying, “Don’t mess with me”. Anyway, a ton of red shows up in the North near the defense tower, behind the castle walls and another large portion grabs the Western side of the table. It’s impressive looking.

 

If I were looking for cheap titillations in my report to amuse the great unwashed masses who might read this, I might comment upon how it appeared to me that the Blood Angels were configured to pop our forces around the North defense tower like a large zit (yeah, I went there).

 

Unfortunately, no less impressive are the significant number of inquisitorial landraiders who make an unabashedly bold land grab in the Southeast, their flank firmly supported by their own Baneblade. At this point, I am very thankful that we don’t have enough targets on the board for the inquisitorial or Blood Angel forces to capitalize on. So for the most part, the Grey Knight vehicles pop their super secret fairy dust smoke (when does their new codex come out again?), whilst the Blood Angels look around to see if anyone is foolish enough to think about shooting at them.

 

Almost like a minor distraction, the Blood Angels bring on a Death Company unit and a Dreadnought to harass the Tau formations near our middle objective.

 

Just to show the Imperials that we are only slightly intimidated by huge numbers of power armored troops, we go all in and at least simulate the visual aspect of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” as the Elysians come on in full force, going and blowing. In a coordinated manner, the Tau bring on Hammerheads, Skyray’s, a cornucopia of fast recon vehicles along with additional squads of Fire Warriors. Oh, and a Tigershark AX-1-0.

 

We have well and truly arrived.

 

With out much ado we begin to shoot. I pour tons of missiles, lascannons, fusion gun shots into the Inquisitorial Baneblade. The result of which is…bupkis. It still stands…if a bit defiantly if I do say so myself. Icthus is a happy camper.

 

The Punisher cannon armed Vulture starts throwing out lead and just rips a rhino to pieces. I kind of like that. Even with all shots becoming glances, twin linked heavy 20 is nothing to sneeze at. Most of the Vendettas on the South side pretty much whiff their shots as well as the Valkyries, though I do think they caused the Hyperios to be shaken for their efforts, which keeps the South side in the “Friendly Skies” category for another turn. Thankfully, there are a few squads of Storm troopers running around and they stunned the Landraider Terminus.

 

On the Tau side, they are throwing shot after shot into anything that’s bigger than a breadbox, i.e. super heavies…and except for knocking out the main gun on the Stormsword, they pretty much take everything we can throw at them and laugh.

 

We’re not laughing.

 

At all.

 

We do pop some Razorbacks, forcing their riders to walk to Starbucks, but really it smacks more of inconvenience than anything.

 

Oh, and the campaign to annoy the Imperials is still working out well as they have not secured the defense towers as we still have troops running around inside, causing a fair amount of frustration and amusement to the respective sides.

[Honda]

Turn 4 – Like Grasping Smoke

 

Icthus screamed over the vox net.

 

As unproductive a habit as that usually is, it did create some results from the sullen commanders of the Grey Knight vehicles. With preternatural skill, the Grey Knight tank commanders position their weapons into the flight lines of the traitors and began to shoot. This had the effect of causing the sky full of flyers to constrain their evasion patterns, thus providing additional opportunities for shots.

 

And it began to show.

 

The Grey Knight gunners only response to the screaming was hit after hit on the inbound aircraft, causing several large explosions and showering the ground with burning fyceline, aircraft components and bodies.

 

Suddenly, there was a huge airborne explosion on the southern side of the battlefield. Just as the great Tau hunting bird was lining up the next round of shots, a piercing beam lanced up from one of the landraiders and ignited the fuel cells. The resulting shock wave caused both sides of the conflict to take pause. There was never a question of survivors.

 

Thus began a complex ballet of destruction, the two dancers no more alike than night and day.

 

The airborne forces of the traitors used their high mobility to concentrate on vulnerable areas of the Imperial forces, whilst the Imperials put their trust in their resilient armor to hold off the assaults until they could close with their tormentors and destroy them. Too many times though, they were forced to watch them pirouette away unharmed, only to rain destruction elsewhere. Although the enemy fire began to subside, there were still too many enemy platforms punishing the Imperial remnants.

 

It was maddening to Icthus and he continued to bark a stream of epithets and commands into his vox.

 

Turn 4 comments:

 

Yeah, we're feeling it. Not so tough after 3 hours

 

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Imperial – Mathhammer is right. The Inquisition downs a Vendetta, a Valkyrie, a Hammerhead, and the XR-7 Coupe super heavy (i.e. AX-1-0 –editor). One hyperios destroyed and one stunned, the Terminus Ultra is stunned also and one Rhino is destroyed as well. The ISTs run for cover. The northernmost Dread is shaken, and the inquisitorial BaneBlade soaks up immense damage but does not fall. Battle for the south Bastion continues.

 

Good Guys: I would counter that statistics are a harsh and unforgiving mistress. All in all, a very unsatisfying turn for us. The Imperials did a good job of marshalling their forces and more importantly addressing the main threats to their attack. We were caught by surprise at how effective the twin-linked lascannon sponsons on the Landraiders were, even though they were only hitting on 6’s, it did point out that if you direct enough effort at something, the Imperials certainly have the tools to take on any task. It’s not that we didn’t expect to lose aircraft, we were just a tad surprised at how many hits actually came our way by non-AA vehicles.

 

In hindsight, some of that is because there were few threats to the Grey Knights armor on the South side of the board that didn’t have wings, so perhaps with more of a combined arms approach, the decisions on what to shoot would have been more troublesome.

 

On the North end of the table, the Vendettas started hacking at the Blood Angel armor in an attempt to limit their mobility further. By limiting the Stormlord to sponson shots, some of the teeth of the BA attack had been pulled. All the same, they still had plenty of very dangerous infantry running around and if we were going to be able to maintain a presence in the North, we had to do some damage. The outflanking Blood Angels had smashed through a Hammerhead, stunning another, plus a Skyray, significantly decreasing our anti-armor assets on that side. Thankfully, the Vendettas were able to lend some assistance. Unfortunately for the Imperials, the Hyperios on the North side failed to hit anything, though it remained intact and unshaken.

 

The center was also becoming problematical. The Furioso that entered on that side was tying up an unusual amount of fire power withstanding nearly everything that came its way. This then reduced the number of shooting units that had to deal with a Death Company unit that was beginning to cleave its way through the units entrusted with holding the center objective.

 

Also in the same general area were the Blood Angels Baneblade, a Landraider, and a razorback, and a rhino that needed to be dealt with. Although the follow on Tau Fire Warrior units were able to wreak havoc on the lighter armored vehicles, we still didn’t have the type of units that were going to be able to quickly deal with their attendant infantry.

 

So we were going to have to figure out how to deal with these pain points otherwise the Imperials were going to be successful at collapsing us into easily managed pockets.

[Honda]

Turn 5 – The Picture Darkens

 

Icthus was running out of options.

 

Rapidly scrolling back and forth on his data slate, Icthus could see unit icons blinking off rapidly, his carefully crafted force disappearing before his very eyes, as if some invisible force were plucking them from the battlefield. Recognizing the danger to the mission, he began to order his remaining formations back to the deployment beacon.

 

Although the Grey Knight vehicles continued to scour the air in an attempt to drive off their tormentors, the mechanical raptors continued to harass the consolidating Knight force. The transports of his accompanying Storm Troopers had all been shredded by gatling cannon armed attack craft, the foot troops then viciously hunted down in turn.

 

The confidence he had held in his Landraider armored column was shattered as one after another by what appeared to be sapper units armed with special weapons. These units appeared out of the smoke like wraiths, slowly dominating the Northern section of the battlefield.

 

Icthus noted that the Grand Master was close to securing the objective when suddenly, a cataclysmic explosion erupted, marking the former location of the Inquisitorial Baneblade.

 

Almost immediately, a second gigantic explosion sounded and quickly scrolling through the battle map, Icthus could see that the Blood Angels equivalent super heavy had also stop registering. No sooner than its demise was noted, a flanking Landraider next to the great beast also ceased to exist.

 

Icthus had hoped that some relief for his forces would arrive in the form of heavy artillery from the Northern defense tower, but much like his unsuccessful effort, no support appeared to be forthcoming.

 

Through the swirling smoke to the North, great diving birds of prey swooped down upon the red Astartes, explosions screened by the great fortress walls, but not the all seeing eye of his data slate. Although the Astartes were heavily engaged in the close in fighting that they relished, it seemed as though the xenos were always able to funnel new units into the area, denying the Emperor’s finest any measure of victory.

 

Even the great red horde of the Astartes appeared to be struggling and Icthus now began to wonder if they would be able to accomplish all the demands that he had placed upon them.

 

Turn 5 comments:

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T5/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas52.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T5/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas51.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T5/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas54.jpg

 

 

Imperial – All the debris raining from the sky jams the radar for this turn and only 2 other flyers go down – a lightning and another Valkyrie. The GKs in the Godhammer raiders make for the objective and the Crusader makes a motion to threaten the enemy objective near the center east of the table. The GKs in the bastion strike out and mount an assault in a last attempt to use the Defense Laser. In the end, one stubborn Tetra takes cover under the massive piping assemblies and refuses to go down, preventing the GKs from firing the massive gun. Inquisitor Icthus now doubts the efficacy of the mission and prepares to evacuate and call in virus bombs from orbit to deny the enemy use of this strategic asset. The Land Raider that took down the massive Tau airship now tastes revenge and is destroyed while the remaining Rhino is vaporized. The ISTs make a run for cover but are badly stunned and don’t make it, leaving them sitting out in the open as “stuka fodder”. The Leman Russ is destroyed by mass Melta fire becoming a pile of slag…only eclipsed by the fireball from the “DaemonBane” as it finally gives up the ghost to massive combined fire from the enemy.

 

Good Guys: Turn 5 gave us some hope that we might turn things around. After losing our big guns (AX-1-0), we were concerned that our ability to impact the Imperial super heavy tanks was going to be severely curtailed. However, we still had plenty of Broadsides and they just kept plugging away and eventually we brought down the GK Baneblade. We also started taking down some of the other tanks, not with our fancy shmancy flying anti-tank weapons, but the old fashioned way, with good ol’ grunts. Guys with melta and plasma running round chasing after tanks were picking up the slack and keeping us in the game.

 

The other thing that we were starting to see is our maneuver tactics start to play out for us. We were able to drop in where we needed to as well as concentrate fire because of our mobility. We still had some tough work ahead of us, but as we were closing in on the last hour or so of play, it looked like our strategy of contesting most + owning 2-3 objectives had a chance of playing out.

 

We just had one more tough turn to get through.

[Honda]

Turn 6 – Upon Carrion Fields

 

Icthus made no attempt to remain civil through what appeared to be the last phases of the operation. The fact that the enemies of the Emperor continued dictating the tempo of the battle only increased his bile. Somehow, his magnificent armored fist had been decimated and the remnants were holding out near the bridge at the head of the valley. Possession of the bridge was critical for ensuring that the Imperial forces were not trapped in a pocket within the valley, turning the sunken geographical feature into a valley of death..

 

Icthus continued to bark over the command net, ensuring that his forces were maneuvering to provide a blocking force at the neck of the valley, as detailed in the contingency plans.

 

In the event a consolidation of forces became necessary, Icthus was expected to hold the bridge and pass until all ground forces had been extracted.

 

Taking into consideration the continued mobility advantage the enemy held, Icthus began to question whether it was worthwhile remaining static while the more mobile forces of the xenos and traitors sought to outmaneuver his forces, then closing in to exterminate them.

 

“No”, he thought to himself, at this point it was extremely unlikely that the Blood Angels were going to be able to marshal their forces in time to escape destruction. It would be better if at least something could be salvaged. He also did not want to think about the possibility of having to confront the Blood Angels while his forces were in the process of abandoning their positions. The resultant conflict would be inconvenient.

 

Once again, the great hunting birds of the traitors began their screaming assault upon his retiring forces. Vehicles were sought out and destroyed. Those moving back to the retrieval area on foot were cut down as if by a great unseen scythe. Icthus could see that his remaining forces had laagered around as ordered as best they could, but unfortunately, the defensive formation only began to attract attention by the traitors as it stood defiantly in the face of the continuing pressure.

 

Looking down at his data slate, he confirmed that the Blood Angels were facing a full airborne assault in their end of the valley. It appeared as if the traitor forces had virtually crash landed several of their vehicles in strategically advantageous locations while others, hovered and struck out at the light armor, resulting in explosion after explosion. Truly, they were finished.

 

Faced with a building assault in the South by the traitors, thus sealing off the retreat axis, Icthus quickly tapped his finger on a special Retrieval icon, requesting an emergency evacuation, but only for specially designated units.

 

Soon, Imperial Navy assault craft arrived for the bulk of the Inquisitorial forces. At the same time, Icthus was not surprised to see a gleaming Thunderhawk sweep down from the heights and forcefully slap the ground near the location of the Grand Master, assault ramps quickly deploying.

 

The bitter fruit of defeat weighed heavily upon his thoughts as he snapped at his retinue to move quickly to the evacuation site. A puzzled look came to his face as he saw his retinue remain where they were standing, the buzzing flashes of blue lighting beginning to screen off his view, while reality rapidly dilated.

 

In a flash, he was gone.

 

 

Turn 6 comments:

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T6/DSC_0036.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T6/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas58.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T6/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas56.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T6/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas55.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T6/DSC_0040.jpg

 

 

Imperial – The remaining Inquisitional forces in the southwest of the table are too few in number to hold the objective uncontested. The Grand Master in the crusader disembarks and takes out a squad of ISTs, a squad of Drones and 2 Broadsides but is unable to contest the central east objective. Icthus issues the call to evacuate and teleporters are spun up to retrieve the precious grey knights…

 

Good Guys – Although casualties among the Elysian were high, due to the numerous in flight crashes, there were still quite a few aircraft carrying platoons. So, our last play was to interpose aircraft and troops in the North where possible to force Blood Angel infantry to assault the vehicles, thus preserving the infantry till the end of the turn. In a sense, dropping the aircraft and hidin-, uh, placing the infantry in tactically sound defensive positions, doubled the amount of targets the Blood Angels had and prevented them from kicking us off of the contested objectives. Something was either going to contest or score.

 

In the middle, although the GK Grand Master was wading his way through whatever we through at him, it was slowing down his progress and we still had plenty of Elysians to toss his way, keeping him from grabbing the objective…though we were sweating it towards the end.

 

In the South, we were just able to put a Landspeeder close enough to contest the objective, and we were cashing in the insurance policy by lining up a combined assault on one flank where Storm troopers were attempting to screen us off from the objective. It was pretty clear that we weren’t going to be able to budge the remaining two Grey Knight squads.

 

And suddenly, it was over.

[Honda]

Wrap up:

 

Post-game casualties

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/Post-game/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas60.jpg

 

First off, the game was quite exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Each side came to win and with the momentum shifting back and forth, the tension level remained rather high. What kept the game so enjoyable, despite the intensity, is the people. We genuinely enjoy each other’s company and it’s great to have that many great people to game with.

 

So after tallying up the objectives, the Tau + Elysians Alliance had 2 objectives, the Inquisitorial Strike Force had 1, and three were contested. The game could have gone either way, it was that close.

 

I can hardly wait for the next one, excellent game guys!

 

 

Epilogue

 

The hunched over figure muttered to himself, using both hands to rapidly drag and expose multiple vid panels back and forth, deep in the act of analysis. He had every confidence that the answer would reveal itself, if he could only put the right data points in the correct sequence. It was there, he was sure of it.

 

Suddenly, the door to his room swung open. Two massive figures, backlit but clearly wearing armor and bearing heavy las weapons, framed the doorway.

 

Another less physically imposing figure, yet carrying more authority in his bearing, appeared between the two soldiers.

 

“Citizen Icthus, it is time to explain your actions!”

[Warlord Gralock]

Waaagghhh!!! How could ya miss da planet ya dumb grot, now turn dis 'ulk around so we kan get some good krumping in

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like it was a blast.... I am so disapointed that I could not attend.

 

We going to do another battle like this?

[Honda]

We going to do another battle like this?

 

Yes, we are targeting mid-February for the next one. If you are going to be available, we can feature green xenos scum next time.

 

Do try to put someone a little more capable of steering the Rok to the planet's surface.

 

We'll be waiting. :cuss

[Rakene]

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T3/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas37.jpg

What are the models in this picture behind the Valk's? and what did you use them as in the game?

 

Nice bat-rep. A fun read.

[Lynnean]

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d187/hkowabunga/Apocalypse%20Games/102310/T3/201010-22ApocBattle9kJeffRobvsAntonandJim-VeritasAquas37.jpg

What are the models in this picture behind the Valk's? and what did you use them as in the game?

 

Nice bat-rep. A fun read.

i guess those were used as Lightning Fighters :devil:

[Foda_Bett]

The plane is the F-19.

Would probably work better as a tau ship IMHO.

[Dorns Padawan]

That was an enjoyable read, can only imagine the fun you guys must have had!!! Am loving the gaming room you got there, in the background, is it me or do you have CCTV showing a birds-eye-view of the battlefield?

[Honda]

The plane is the F-19.

Would probably work better as a tau ship IMHO.

 

You are correct sir and I couldn't agree with you more. I used to play Tau and I do think the F-19 lines are very Tau-ish, so for the longest time, the darker F-19 was my AX-1-0 equivalent. It even has twin Rail guns underneath and seeker missiles launching from the bomb bay.

 

That being said, I love how the F-19 looks, even if it doesn't look very Imperial.

 

On the gaming side, the two grey F-19's represented Lightning Strike fighters, who put in a singularly uninspiring performance. I would have been better off getting more Storm Troopers.

 

And the room does feature a CCTV to allow the display of contents on the table, at least on the one end...which we have to develop more reasons to use. :)

[mitchell93]

Really entertaining read and looks like it was a really entertaining battle!

[chewielight]

I have played against Jeff P and he is a pleasure to play against. I cant wait to see more.

Who said Houston doesnt have good 40k LOL. I cant wait to get the rest of you guys into some games.

[Demoulius]

enjoyable read :lol:

 

cant see how the imperials werent the good guys though :)

[Captain Juan Juarez]

I'll take a week off as soon as I can to read this epic Battle Report :lol: