Death World Showdown: Space Wolves versus Ultramarines

[FashaTheDog]

Having cleansed the foul Orks from the Death World of Shikyo, the Space Wolves prepared to leave when Marneus Calgar, leading the Ultramarines who fought by their side, remarked about how the Sons of Russ would have fought better had they merely followed the grest Primarch's teachings. This did not sit well with the Space Wolves who challenged those Ultramarines to a duel. Feeling that there was nothing to gain by fighting on such a hostile world as this, Calgar began to leave, feeling that while the Space Wolves would be slighted, they would have the good sense to let the matter go for now. Instead the Astartes of the Fang opened fire upon he and his men. Thus combat was joined and reinforcements called in to assist.

 

The mission was Weather the Storm from the Death World Battle Missions fought at 2,005 points. Mainly because I had an 1,850 point list and he suggested 2,000 and it was easier to add 5 points so I could upgrade my Dreadnought to Bjorn than make any real changes. If I had thought about it, knowing my foe always used Calgar when possible, I would have taken Logan Grimnar instead since it would only have been proper for the Masters of each Chapter to face off, but I didn't think of it until after we started.

 

Space Wolves

2 9 Strong Grey Hunters - Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Plasma Gun, Rhino

2 6 Strong Long Fangs - 3 Missile Launchers, 1 w/ 2 Lascannon, other w/ Lascannon and Heavy Bolter

Vindicator

15 Blood Claws - 2 Meltaguns, Power Claw

5 Wolf Guard - 2 w/ Plasma Pistol & Power Claw, 1 w/ Terminator Armor & Cyclone Missile Launcher, 1 w/ Power Claw, 1 w/ Bolt Pistol & CCW

----The first two attached to Grey Hunter, the Terminator the double Lascannon Pack, the Power Claw to the Blood Claws, and the last to the final Long Fangs

Rune Priest - Chooser of the Slain, Plasma Pistol, Living Lightning, Storm Caller

Battle Leader - Pair of Wolf Claws, Saga of Warrior Born

Battle Leader - Terminator Armor, Frost Blade

Bjorn the Fell-Handed

 

Ultramarines

Calgar

5 Terminators - Thunder Hammer Storm Shield, Land Raider

10 Sternguard - Rhino

10 Tac Marines - Lascannon, Rhino

10 Tac Marines - Heavy Bolter, Rhino

2 Predators Annihilators - Lascannons sponsons, on both I think and Chronos on one

Chapter Master (of the Fleet) - Thunder Hammer

Vindicator

 

Deployment

With the semi random deployment, all of the Rhino based Ultramarines ended up in reserve. The Vindicator, Master of the Fleet, and a Predator had to deploy on the port third of his deployment zone. In the central third, he had his Land Raider loaded with the Terminators and Papa Smurf himself along with the other Predator. I held nothing in reserve with Long Fangs on both ends, the double lascannon pack in the starboard third of my deployment zone near the Blood Claws and all my ICs, my Vindicator in the center with both Grey Hunters, and in my port third I had Bjorn. I won the roll for first turn.

 

Turn 1

A Meteor Strike opened the game by destroying the port side Predator, although Chronos bailed out, while many Seeker Lightning Bolts fried a starboard side Long Fang with a lascannon several times. Having not paid too much attention to the mission, this pack was camped out on the high ground but I dared not move them as the other Long Fangs were not all that much farther from the ceiling. With the Death World setting the pace, Bjorn advanced and opened up with his assault cannon on the Ultramarine Vindicator, immobilizing it. My Vindicator did not get a good shot and rushed forward with the Grey Hunters and Blood Claws, who also got their 5+ cover save from Storm Caller. The starboard Long Fangs blew off the port side Land Raider lascannons and took the turret from the remaining Predator. The other Long Fangs missed, but as my foe's Land Raider did not have any side hatches, we joked that they sailed through there and hit an Orks on the next table over. I rolled to hit and wound for the Ork as a joke and the Ork player took his 3+ cover save from having gone flat out and failed. Then he actually removed the Biker as a casualty! The entire store erupted in laughter.

 

My foe rolled a Magma Eruption on the Blood Claws, but none died from it, protected by their ceramite, although the Seeker Lightning zapped the Wolf Guard Terminator in the starboard side Long Fangs and killed him four times. Immobile, but not defenseless, the Vindicator returned fire on the venerable Bjorn but failed to even slow the Heresy veteran as he failed to even glance with the dead accurate shot. I had forgotten about that Master of the Fleet hiding in the corner who called down an orbital shot that killed a two-thirds of the Blood Claws. I groaned at my faulty memory and for not having spread out. Fortunately I passed my leadership test. Some scattered shooting did nothing more and my foe felt disheartened by his blue and white dice not rolling better.

 

Turn 2

One of the guys at the store who did not play rolled for me and I called it as Self-Detonating Fauna. Deciding that my Blood Claws needed to be avenged, I chose the Master of the Fleet who was wounded and rolled a 1 for his armor save. Hooray for the Death World! Then Seeker Lightning killed yet another Long Fang from the same pack. Boo, hiss Death World! I had a laser level which allowed me to figure out exactly which models were highest up and found that after that third Long Fang was dead, the immobile Vindicator was now closest to the ceiling thanks to the little skull on the ammo crane putting just above the rest of the Long Fangs (Lightning Rod Fangs?) so I was kind of happy about that. Seeing my Blood Claws no longer assured to tear apart the Terminators and Calgar, I threw one of the Grey Hunter Packs into position. The Lightning Rod Fangs blew off the other lascannon sponson and put a stunned result on it. Then my Vindicator wrecked it. The other Long Fangs split their fire into the Terminators, but their storm shields and armor shook off the attacks with ease. Bjorn did not move as I was too anxious to crack open the Land Raider and forgot, but he did continue to rain fire into the Vindicator. My other Grey Hunters gleefully barreled through a wooded hill with reckless abandon, knowing that their Rhino was indestructible as it had tank shocked and killed two Obliterators and a Keeper of Secrets in the past as well as having shrugged off battle cannons and lascannons at every turn. Charging Calgar and his guards in a hail of harmless plasma and bolt pistol fire with both of my units, I dropped two of the Terminators before they could raise their weapons. Calgar even took a wound, but it was not enough as the Master of the Ultramarines and his three remaining Terminators smashed aside most of the remaining Blood Claws. Thanks to the mission, I failed their leadership test which would have been a pass if I could have used the Rune Priest's Ld10 instead. The Grey Hunters, however, held.

 

With Deadly Spores engulfing the port side Long Fangs, a few of the old wolves coughed a little and grumbled about a sore throat, but none were seriously bothered by it. Now ready to watch the Seeker Lightning blast the Ultramarine Vindicator to shrapnel, I was disappointed when he rolled a 3 to see it it occurred. None of the Rhinos made an appearance this turn, so he only had his battered forces to hold until they arrived. The Vindicator's shell aimed at Bjorn sailed clear off the table, clearly due to the "ineffective" rain of assault cannon fire the turn prior. The Predator did immobilize my Vindicator, but I was fine with that since it was in the perfect position anyway. Some ineffective Long Fang fire at the Predator only say it shaken, so good enough really. The assault saw Calgar and his men shrug off the Space Wolves' attacks and slew them in return for their troubles. They then made their way towards the center to deal with the other Grey Hunters.

 

Turn 3

Suffocation meant nothing to either one of us and Seeker Lightning failed to strike, so the planet was quiet for the moment. The Blood Claws rallied and followed Calgar, intent on revenge while Bjorn bore down upon the Vindicator. The Predator was finally put to rest with a couple of missiles while the bulk of the shooting saw another two Terminators fall. Born did little more with his assault cannon to the Vindicator, but he didn't want to anyway as charging it made up for not having moved last turn. With ease, he turned the blue siege breaker into a smoking crater as the Blood Claws and their leaders tore apart the last Terminator as the wolf claw armed (Wolverine) perforated Marneus Calgar twice, reducing the Lord of Ultramar to a single wound, before the response saw him smashed to the ground. The combat was drawn for now, but I was left with only three models with which to take down the beastly Calgar.

 

A Tectonic Shift caused my port side Long Fangs to stumble and be pinned while the lightning rods on the otherside didn't seem to notice as they were more concerned with the skies. Now that my Long Fangs were again the closest to the ceiling, Seeker Lightning struck down another, justifying their concern from what was above as opposed to below. Finally the Rhinos arrived in force. Looking at the situation, my foe decided that he'd rather hang back and see what I did rather than commit and he was right to do so as I needed power armor in the open and he was refusing me easy kills. Instead he used his wrecks to set himself up as hull down. In the assault, I finally defeated Calgar and the three survivors consolidated into the ruins for cover.

 

Turn 4

More Self-Detonating Flora, so I chose one of my Long Fangs as I had no choice, fortunately he survived. I tore around and out of the wooded hill with the Grey Hunters, laughing at the so called dangerous terrain. Piling out, they managed to get a rear armor shot on a Rhino, yet completely failed to penetrate it despite everyone rapid-firing and mostly hitting. Bjorn strolled around and stunned the Predator while the Long Fangs blasted off a pintle mounted storm bolter.

 

The Swarm came and my Rune Priest shooed off the psychneuein, telling them to go pester some Thousand Sons sorcerers instead. A fifth Long Fang was reduced to a charred corpse by the Seeker Lightning. It was looking like my foe could safely ignore that unit and still have it killed. Rather than get out of his Rhinos, he shot ineffectively from the top hatches, but he was in the winning position if the game ended. It did not.

 

Turn 5

Some Treacherous Footing and no Seeker Lightning was nice as I got to the business of having Bjorn kill the Predator and the Vindicator blasting the Rhino behind the Sternguard's. The rest of the shooting was not so special, but the Grey Hunters charged the other Tactical Squad's Rhino and ripped it open like a bag of dog treats. My foe had never seen an emergency disembark, so I though it nice to show him. No one failed dangerous terrain tests, but them being pinned was good enough. I had also rammed his last Rhino, shaking it for giggles.

 

Another Magma Eruption failed to do anything, but the Seeker Lightning claimed a sixth victim from the unfortunate lightning rods. I'm glad he couldn't purchase Seeker Lightning as part of his army list. A Rhino was destroyed by the Tactical squad that wasn't pinned and the Sternguard got out and blew away all but the Rune Priest, which still left him a point above me if the game ended. Again it did not.

 

Turn 6

Some Carnivorous Flora failed to find a tasty victim and mercifully the Seeker Lightning did not strike either. Seeker Lightning also was favorable and did not strike this turn. My Vindicator fired on the Sternguard as did the Long Fangs and a blast of Living Lightning from the Rune Priest, killing six of them when all was said and done. It felt good to give him a taste of some kind of lightning at least. I also got the last Rhino thanks to the ever indomitable Bjorn. With a howl and rain of pistol shots, the Grey Hunters charged through the Rhino wreckage unharmed and into contact with both Tactical Squads. Winning combat the Ultramarines both failed their leadership tests, on a 10 and 11. Since both units had models already touching their table edge, they both fled the table automatically. The Rune Priest gambled and lost when he charged the Sternguard and was smashed aside by the stocks of their bolters.

 

A Rain of Oil was found to be quite humorous as it meant that my immobilized Vindicator could have moved if it was my turn, but it wasn't, so instead it was just difficult terrain for the Sternguard, who failed to notice anyway. Fortunately the storm that had been striking the table had passed and there was no further Seeker Lightning. It didn't save my last Long Fang on the starboard side of the table thanks to the Sternguard's accurate shooting and my clearly damaged power armor from being so close to so many lightning strikes. With that the game ended with me up a couple of points.

 

After Report

I needed all six turns to get those kills. Chronos also died somewhere in there too, but I cannot remember where. Regardless, Calgar was almost the monkey wrench in my plans as he took and dished out some serious damage, well beyond his points. We both had a few really whiskey-tango-foxtrot moments, but in the end the rolls were rather average all around. In a standard mission I'm not so sure I would have fared as well as the deployment randomization really worked in my favor this game. Leaving those Long Fangs was something of a call I had to make as moving them would have meant also moving the other pack. I probably should have deployed better, but it was too late by the time I realized it.

 

We also fought a post game duel between Marneus Calgar and Logan Grimnar under the same circumstances that the Blood Claws had; namely I got the charge. We fought the first round with both warriors taking two wounds. Three rounds went by with nothing getting through the other's defenses. On the forth round, we both struck unsaved wounds simultaneously, making Calgar the victor of the one-on-one duel. Kudos to the Lord of Ultramar on winning the honor match despite the lost battle.

[JamesI]

This was a fun game to watch (and sometimes get to roll the dice for some of the random deathworld stuff). Despite not playing I think I killed several long fangs...

[FashaTheDog]

Yeah, about half of them :) .