Battle Report: marines on marines

[Kierdale]

My third game of 5th edition (a couple of weeks ago, written from memory), I faced off against a young Ultramarines player in a 1,000 point game, basic deployment and annihilation as our mission.

My forces:

Note that the Thousand Sons and Word Bearers are pre-Heresy so are, rules-wise, normal marines.

10-man Tactical squad Nehebkau, my Thousand Sons. Sergeant with a power sword. Plasma gun, missile launcher.

Combat squad of Word Bearers (like my 1kSons, pre-Heresy), nothing sparkly on these five boys.

10-man Tactical squad. Sergeant with combi-melta and power fist. Plasma gun and plasma cannon.

Devastator squad. Sergeant with a power sword. Two lascannons, one plasma cannon and one heavy bolter. Spare points allowed me to buy two or three bolter-wielders as ablative wounds.

5-man Assault squad. Jump packs. Sergeant and one marine with plasma pistols.

A lone captain with artificer armour, power fist and plasma pistol as my HQ choice.

All but the Thousand Sons and Word Bearers were borrowed from the GW store army (they're painted silver with black skull insignia. Staff's own chapter).

The Enemy: Ultramarines

A captain and command squad. I don't remember their armament as they didn't last long...

One 5-man scout sniper squad with a missile launcher. Thankfully no Telion.

One 5-man Devastator squad. Like mine it had two lascannons, a plasma cannon and a heavy bolter.

One 10-man Tactical squad. Sergeant with (IIRC) chainsword and bolt pistol. Flamer and missile launcher.

One 5-man Terminator squad. A couple of chainfists and an assault cannon.

Terrain

A 4ft x 4ft table, we had a hill in the bottom left and top left corners (from my PoV) and another in the middle of the right edge, topped with a forest.

A ruin mid-left.

A couple of ruins back in my deployment zone.

Another ruin in the very middle of the board.

A forest in the middle of my opponent's.

Deployment

I put my Devastators on the hill on my left, carefully positioning them so that they could see diagonally across the board and hit pretty much anything that advanced forward, and far enough left that he wouldn't be able to sneak around the left side of the leftmost ruin and get too close (not without coming under a turn or two of fire from the Devs).

The plasma-tactical squad went in the rightmost of the ruins in my deployment zone, giving them a fair view of the rightmost hill, forest and anything that would move from my right toward the ruin at the center of the board.

The Word Bearer combat squad I put as far forward as I could, still in cover of my ruins, with the intention of either advancing toward the central ruins or the leftmost one (in front of my Devs).

The Thousand Sons Tactical squad (who embarrassingly ran off the board in the first turn of my last game ;) ) I put in the ruins in the center of my deployment zone. No great fire arcs but I'd be able to redeploy them left or right as necessary. I was also very aware that his Terminators would be Deep Striking, so putting my 1kSons here would at least mean I could bring a lot of fire to bear easily and quickly.

The Assault squad deployed a little behind the 1kSons, again out of sight and kept ready to react to his Terminators.

The lone captain...I didn't really have much of a plan for him as he didn't particularly fit in with any of my other squads (in retrospect he would have helped in the Word Bearer combat squad)...so I thought I'd send him advancing through ruins right up the middle of the board and see what trouble he could get into!

My opponent put his Devastators opposite my plasma tactical squad, pretty much out in open terrain, though a good distance away (almost mirroring my own Devs).

His scout snipers deployed behind his central forest (not in it, as I probably would have).

His command squad was put between the scouts and Devs.

The tactical squad deployed on his right (my left), with the central-left ruin keeping them out of sight of my Devs.

Turn One

I won the initiative but didn't do a lot to begin with, just advancing the Word Bearers a bit, keeping them in the cover of ruins and flexible as to whether I wanted to go up the middle or go left. The captain too advanced directly forward, ruin to ruin.

Shooting, the 1kSons put a frag into his Tactical squad (it was out of sight of my Devs, which no doubt weighted heavily on his mind...but not of the sons of Magnus!) and killed a couple of them.

My plasma tactical squad tried a cannon shot at his Devastators but they proved to be out of range. Disappointing but there was no overheat...and it revealed that his plasma cannon would likewise be out of range.

In his turn he moved his Tactical squad forward toward the central-left ruins, now conscious of both the Devs and 1kSons tacticals. His Terminators didn't deploy this turn. His command squad advanced toward the middle ruins, but not out of the clear...

His scouts sniped a bit at the Thousand Sons but to no effect. His Devs' lascannons vaped one or two of my plasma Tacticals.

Turn Two

The Word Bearers ran across to the central-left ruin. I could see his Tacticals were heading for it and I wanted my boys in that cover, rapid firing on him from it before he took it and used it to likewise hit my Devs!

The captain continued to advance forward toward the middle of the table, ruins to ruins.

Shooting, now that's where things got more exciting.

The 1kSons' missile launcher could still see some of his Tacticals so another frag was put into them. I think it scored another one or two casualties.

The plasma Tacticals and Devs then lit up his command squad. Two plasma cannons and two lascannons...the unit was wiped out but for the captain. I have very good luck with the scatter die.

In his turn he attempted to bring his Terminator squad, quite understandably after my firing, down in front of my Devastators (though, now I think about it, my Devs didn't actually have a lot else to shoot at after this). My luck with scatter die held out: they scattered onto one of my Dev marines and were delayed.

His Tactical squad got close to the central-left ruin, but weren't able to enter it yet. They did manage to kill one of the Word Bearers within though.

His captain advanced forward. It was looking like we'd be able to have a captain-versus-captain duel next turn as the two were getting very close to each other in the middle of the board!

The scout snipers fired at the Word Bearers to no avail, and his Devs' lascannons took out one or two more from my plasma Tactical squad. Actually with his command squad gone and his Devs out of my plasma cannon's range I was wondering what to do with the plasma squad in my next turn: redeploy them leftward, perhaps to get some shots at the scouts and his Tacticals...or try a mad run for the forest atop the central-right hill and then some shots from cover onto his Devs. His moves in the next turn decided things for me...

Turn Three

The Word Bearers climbed a level in the central-left ruin and got off shots at his Tactical squad. One or two casualties there.

The plasma Tacticals fired their cannon at the captain (sure, I wanted that duel, but if I could vape him first...so be it) but failed.

The Devastators however did not fail. I think it was one of the lascannons that finished him off.

My captain now stood in the central ruins (out of breath from all that running in anticipation of some fisticuffs), looking at the scorched remains of his counterpart. He set his eyes on the scout squad beyond the forest in front of him. What the hell: he'd ran half way across the board, why not go the whole distance?

In his turn his Tactical squad stood still and fired, putting a lot of bolt-shells, a frag missile and a gout of promethium, into the four remaining Word Bearers. Two fell and the remaining two withdrew. Thankfully still within the ruins though, as his snipers attempted to finish them off and were unsuccessful.

His Terminators at last teleported...but not in front of my Devs this time. Rather he dropped them on my right flank in front of my plasma Tactical squad. They proceeded to chew up that very squad with a volley of fire from storm bolters and his assault cannon.

Turn Four

The Word Bearers got back into the fight, taking up their positions in the windows of the ruins once more to pour a pittance of fire down upon the Ultramarine Tactical squad (who spent most of the battle out of cover). The Devastators managed to miss the scouts with their lascannons. A poor choice of target on my part. Next turn they did better...

The assault squad (bet you'd forgotten about them, hadn't you?) jumped into action toward the Terminators (out of assault range though, sadly) and took down two of them with their plasma pistols! The plasma-Tactical sergeant shot his combi-melta and missed. The plasma cannon scattered waaay off and the rest of the squad were likewise ineffective. The plasma-gun wielder was unfortunately out of LOS of the Terminators. Another lesson to be learned there with regard to deployment.

The Thousand Sons missile launcher-totting marine turned to his right to find he had a nice clear shot on the Terminators and proceeded to kill one with a krak missile.

The captain - the most ineffective member of my army this game - ran out of the runs toward the forest, aiming for the scout snipers beyond. He did not make it to that woody bit of cover however...

In his turn his Tactical squad advanced closer to the ruins the two remaining Word Bearers held but did not enter them. If I were him I really would have done so. The two WBs were on the first floor so he could easily have gotten in on the ground floor.

A point to consider there: why did I bother moving up a floor? Better to hold the ground floor and stop him getting in, no?

No WB casualties, thankfully. I think by this point his Tacticals had only four or five members left by now.

His scout snipers shot at my captain, the sniper rounds pinging ineffectively off his artificer armour...but oh boy that krak missile sure made a mess of him. Dead before he even did anything!

His Devastators raked through the assault squad, killing all but two, who I chose not to have fall back. I however then failed the Leadership check and they fell back anyway (D'oh!), nearly jumping off the board!

The remaining three terminators charged the plasma Tactical squad, reducing them to two guys (sergeant and plasma cannon)...before they themselves were smote.

Fifth Turn

The two remaining Assault marines and the two survivors of the plasma-Tactical squad both advanced toward the right board edge (up the hill toward a forest). A bad move on my part as it took them closer to his Devs without any chance of getting anywhere this late in the game.

The Word Bearers and Devastators took out more of his Tactical squad milling about in front of the center-left ruin, leaving only the sergeant and missile-launcher carrier.

I thought about advancing the Thousand Sons but, with the game potentially ending soon I didn't want to risk them (plus they are my favourite squad).

In his turn he moved the two remaining Tacticals into better cover at the foot of the center-left ruins, safely out of LOS of my Thousand Sons and Devastators (he was paying far more attention to the locations of window in the terrain by this point).

I don't remember now if he managed to snipe the two remaining Word Bearers to death, but may have.

His Devastators killed off the plasma cannon-wielder and his sergeant, exposed as they were halfway up a hill (sorry gents!).

Turn Six

Numbers were dwindling but still the game went on!

All I really managed now was to get the two remaining assault marines back toward my deployment zone and the safely of the ruins therein. All heavy weapons fire at the remaining two Tactical marines was ineffective...though I forgot something that could have swung the game...

In his turn he managed to put his two Dev lascannon shots through ruin windows and into my two remaining assault marines. One died...I donft remember if the second did too.

And the game ended in a draw!

On Reflection

His terminators were unsupported. They did a fair bit of damage but failed to destroy any units. I think he would have done better to drop them on my left or center where they could have threated the Word Bearers, Devastators and Thousand Sons (who never moved from my center all game).

His Tacticals also spent most of the game outside cover (as did his ill-fated command squad), and his scout snipers would probably have done better if he had deployed them a little further forward: in his central forest. Their range and lines of fire would have been better.

We both should have deployed our Dev squads further forward to get better use from our plasma cannons.

I really should have done something more constructive with my captain: putting him with the Word Bearers on the left flank. The addition of his fire (or assault) could have finished off the two remaining Tactical marines and gotten me another kill point.

I also totally forgot about the heavy bolter in the Devastator squad. Though I never checked (even after the game as we talked about it) it probably was in range and again could have finished off those Ultra Tacticals.

I never had anything that could touch his Devastators but, after taking out his command squad I probably should have pulled back from my right flank, denying his Devs any targets at all and forcing them to come forward.

All in all a good game, very fun and a lot learned.

It was interesting that it was an entirely infantry game too.

Photo shows the basic layout of the board (hereby swear to take more pictures next time!). The necron you can see in the lower left is on the next table. My opponent is currently moving his command squad in his first turn...

[mughi3]

Yes more pictures!!!!

 

Since your doing pre-heresy are you planning on getting some FW armor matks for your forces?.....thousand sons would look lovely in maximus armor.

 

I would think that being psykers they would also use the grey knight codex instead of standard marines dex.

[Kierdale]

I'd love to get some FW earlier-marks...it's going to depend a lot on my wallet (and shipping costs to Japan). Otherwise it's a matter of converting and Green Stuffing.

 

As for the codex, GK is attractive but a lot of the units I want to use are C:SM-only (for example the scouts and vanguard I'm currently making). I'll get Tigurius eventually as my counts-as Ahriman (or more likely an original captain-character).

 

And yes, next time I'll be sure to take more photos. One of each major engagement of the battle...if I remember.

[Dizz]

I'll get Tigurius eventually as my counts-as Ahriman (or more likely an original captain-character).

 

A powerful supporting librarian like Tigurius could have turned the battle heavily in your favour, supporting squads where they happened to lag (perhaps by teleporting certain units to where you wanted them?) and generally giving the enemy a bad time through the use of other powers like force dome and whatnot. I would be very excited to see what you do with him tactics-wise :ermm:

[Kierdale]

Sure, I'd love to use Tigurius...though I though I think he's a little pricey for a 1000-point game. To have included him in that game I'd have cut the captain (no great loss as he didn't do anything) and had to cut some points somewhere else...perhaps lose the heavy bolter and some bolter marines from the devastated squad. Null zone would definitely have helped take down those terminators faster...and perhaps I could have used Avenger on his tactical squad to my left...or Gate of Infinity to get close to his Devastators...

Could've...should've...would've :ermm:

Ah the benefits of hindsight.

 

Once I've got him I'll include him in some bigger games.