Strike Force Baptiste (Mortifactors)

[Koyote]

Strike Force Baptiste
Mortifactors Space Marines 1999 points

Master of the Marches, Brother Artemis, Captain of the Fifth Company and Inquisitor Baptiste

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort1a.jpg


Deathwatch Kill Team Ixion

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort7a.jpg


Deathwatch Rhino, Eternal Defiance

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort9.jpg


Terminator Squad 'Hammers of Posul', First Company

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort2a.jpg


Purifier Squad Roland, Grey Knights

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort4.jpg


Grey Knights Razorback, Titan's Rage

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort10a.jpg


Tactical Squad Roman, Fifth Company

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort6a.jpg


Tactical Squad Benedict, Fifth Company

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort5b.jpg


Fifth Company Rhino, Retribution

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort11.jpg


Strike Squad Victor, Grey Knights

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort3.jpg


Devastator Squad Strabo, Fifth Company

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort8a.jpg


Thunderfire Cannon, Sin Eater and Brother Techmarine Argus

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort13.jpg


Quad-Gun, Wrath of Posul and Loader Servitor LS0097

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mort12.jpg

[Koyote]

In 800.M41, N’Kari, Keeper of Secrets and arch-fiend of Malan’tai, was banished from the material plane by a Grey Knight strike force led by Brother-Captain Pelenas and the indomitable Justicar Anval Thawn. Almost two centuries later, the Emperor’s Tarot has revealed to the Librarians of Posul portents of the arch-fiend’s rebirth. The auguries are vague as to the exact time and location of N’Kari’s return, but the Tarot has revealed that the reconstitution of arch-fiend’s material form is intertwined with the fate of the Overlord of Commorragh, Asdrubael Vect. Whether Vect knows of his role in N'Kari's return is unknown.

 

The task of thwarting N’Kari’s return to the Imperium of Man has been entrusted to Brother Captain Artemis, Master of the Marches, Commander of Mortifactor’s 5th Company. Prior to his accession to the rank of captain, Brother Artemis spent two decades seconded to the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos. As a former member of the Deathwatch, Artemis is ideally suited to a mission targeting the vile xenos overlord, but the captain’s knowledge of the denizens of the warp is limited. Accordingly, after conferring with his Deathwatch mentor, Inquisitor Baptiste, Captain Artemis petitioned Titan for aid. Titan answered by assigning to the strike force, two demi-squads of Grey Knights, led by Justicar Roland, Knight of the Flame.

 

Guided by the psychoactive liquid-crystal wafers of the Emperor's Tarot and the prescient counsel of Inquisitor Baptiste, the 5th Company has left the space docks orbiting Posul, aboard the Strike Cruiser 'Punisher'. The strike force's mission is to seek battle with the dreaded Overlord of Commorragh and prevent N'Kari's return to the material plane.

 

 

My first game of 6e was a 2000 point game against a Dark Eldar opponent. We rolled to determine mission and deployment and ended up playing The Emperor’s Will (formerly known as the “draw mission”) using the Dawn of War deployment.

 

Mortifactors

 

Brother Captain Artemis (counts-as Pedro)

Xenos Inquisitor –power armor & conversion beamer

10m Tactical –las, melta, power axe, rhino

10m Tactical –las, melta, power fist

5m GK Strike Squad –hammer, halberd, psycannon

5m Assault Termies

10m Sternguard -2 combi-melta, hvy flamer, ML, rhino

6m GK Purifiers –hammer, halberd x3, psycannon, incinerator, razor w/ psy-ammo

Thunderfire Cannon

10m Dev -4 ML

Aegis DL – quad gun

 

 

Dark Eldar

 

Vect

Haemoculus x2 -stuff

10 Kabalite Warriors –SC, raider

10 Kabalite Warriors –SC, raider

5 Kabalite Warriors –2 blasters, raider

5 Incubi-stuff, raider

9 Wyches –stuff, raider

9 Reaver Jetbikes –3 heat lances, bladevines & caltrops

9 Reaver Jetbikes –3 heat lances, bladevines & caltrops

Ravager –DL x3

Ravager –DL x3

 

More later...

[Koyote]

Setup

 

I placed my ADL in the center of my deployment zone and near my 12” line. We then rolled for the terrain density limit for each 2’ x 2’ area and then took turns placing terrain. Scott was sporting and didn’t set up any of the giant buildings up against my ADL. He did, however, use the tallest pieces to create plenty of cover for his Raiders, which I feel is totally fair. I placed a set of ruins to the left of my ADL so my Techmarine could fortify them with Bolster Defenses. On the other flank of my ADL I placed a 2” high hill, to provide cover for vehicles.

 

I rolled Tenacity (Warlord & unit have FNP when within 3” of an objective marker) and Scott rolled Master of Maneuver (Warlord & unit have Outflank).

 

We rolled for Night Fighting and this battle would be fought at sundown.

 

I won the roll-off and choose to setup and ‘go’ first. I placed my objective marker about 6” behind my ADL. Scott placed his behind a very tall hill, almost directly opposite.

 

I placed the Quad-gun on the right side of my ADL, so during setup I placed the Thunderfire Cannon on the left. In between the two big guns I deployed two Tact squads. The squad to the right manned the Quad-gun and the squad to the left was joined by my Inquisitor Baptiste and Captain Artemis. Artemis and both squads were within 3” of the objective. The Devs were setup to the left of the TC.

 

The Sternguard were deployed on the far right, inside their Rhino, which was protected by a hill. The Purifiers were deployed on the far left, inside their Rhazor, behind the fortified ruins and an empty Rhino belonging to one of my Tact squads.

 

The Terminators and GK Strike Squad were held in ‘Deep Strike’ reserve.

 

Scott divided his army in two. One cluster, which included Vect, his Incubi, Wyches, 9 Reavers, and 2 Ravagers, were grouped behind cover on Scott’s right. His Kabalite Warriors, and 9 Reavers were grouped behind cover on his center left, near his objective.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1a.jpg

 

Thoughts:

 

After being spoiled by Seattle Wargaming Center's wonderful terrain, it is always a terrible disappointment to play with the abysmal terrain that Card Kingdom has to offer. :lol:

 

In 6e setup and deployment seems fairly straightforward. Because fortifications are setup before terrain, there is an opportunity for an opponent to be a jerk and completely nullify the advantage of a fortification with terrain placement. In casual play, this shouldn’t be a problem for me as I am pretty careful about my choice of opponents. In tournament play, terrain will likely be fixed, so fortifications will be setup along with the rest of the army.

 

I’m not convinced that the Warlord Traits are properly balanced against one another. I was thrilled with FNP, but there are too many other traits that aren’t nearly as useful.

 

The only question we had was exactly how does the ADL work? More specifically, how far behind the ADL can my models be without the ADL providing cover to my models' targets? If one uses the 'model's eye-line LOS rule,' then the whole thing becomes a cumbersome trigonometry problem, that must take into account the height of each individual model's eyes, the height of the wall, and the distance between each individual model that is shooting over the ADL and the wall itself. And since the height of the crenelated wall is not uniform, the exact height of the wall between the firing model and its target changes based on the target's location relevant to my firing model. :wacko:

 

More later...

[jeremy1391]

Gorgeous army!

[Lachdannan]

I remember the Blood Angels from awhile back. Really looking forward tot his new project of yours. The models are modeled very well, and I really like the fluff you have made for them. Feels like a proper treat :unsure:

 

Looking forward to this thread already.

[Bannus]

That is a good looking army you have started there - can't wait to see it painted!

 

The conversions (especially the quad-gun and lascannons) are all nicely done. :( :tu:

[Koyote]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

 

Every model in my list that is armed with grenades is actually equipped with grenades. Every model armed with a primary weapon and a pistol, either has a pistol in its off hand or a holstered pistol on its hip. All of the models have the correct Codex Astartes 'unit type' badge (e.g. Tactical, Devastator, etc.) on their shoulder pads. I've scattered bionic limbs and other fun little details throughout.

 

Some of my favorite models are those models throwing grenades.

 

I cast the Mortifactor shoulder pad skulls in an Instant Mold greenstuff mold (LINKY). I used the exact same skull for my Deathwatch Exorcist model armed with the missile launcher. Once the skull was glued to the shoulder pad, I made it Exorcist chapter heraldry by simply adding a hand sculpted horn.

 

I prefer the multibarrel look of the psilencer over the single barrel look of the psycannon, so did a barrel swap on the two psycannons.

 

The Grey Knights are wonderful models, but their poses are very limited, so I did a bit of converting. The model holding the nemesis daemon hammer with only one hand is a conversion made from a chopped up warding staff bit. Straight off the sprue, the blades of the nemesis force halberds are at a realistic angle for a warrior preparing to chop, but this angle doesn't show a good profile of the blade, so I rotated the blades to a more aesthetically pleasing angle.

 

Originally, my GK allied contingent was to be lead by Crowe, so I dropped the $20 on the model. When I was done tinkering with the list, Crowe was replaced by an Inquisitor. Not to waste the beautiful model and the $20, Crowe was converted to serve as my Purifier's Justicar.

[Koyote]

Turns 1-2

 

Since we both began the game with a unit within 3” of a Mysterious Objective, on Turn 1 the nature of both objectives were revealed. Coincidentally, we both rolled Skyfire Nexus, but since neither of us had flyers or flying monstrous creatures, this had no effect on the game.

 

Vect’s Master Tactician ability allows the DE player to seize the initiative on a 4+. The dice gods frowned on my opponent, Scott, and Vect failed the roll. This left me with two juicy targets for my Orbital Bombardment. Seeing as how Scott had placed most of his scoring units in one big clump, I chose it as my target. The cast of the die revealed that the dice gods weren’t done messing with us quite yet and the Pedro Bomb deviated 10”, leaving the DE cluster unscathed.

 

This was followed by an abysmal turn of shooting by my Devs and Tactical squads. However, my Thunderfire Cannon, Quad-gun, and Razorback picked up the slack, downing Vect’s Raider and a Kabalite Warrior Raider. The explosion of Vect’s Raider inflicted quite a few casualties. Scott chose to start distributing wounds from the wound pool to Vect. When the had smoked cleared, Vect’s shadow field was blown, and thanks to the Look Out Sir rule Vect lived, but at the cost of a Haemonculus and a couple of Incubi. The Kabalite Warriors didn’t fare much better. They lost 8 models, reducing the squad to 2 warriors.

 

Both squads passed their pinning and morale tests.

 

First Blood for the Mortifactors earned me 1 VP!

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1b.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1c.jpg

 

 

Indignant at being forced to walk, on the DE’s turn, Vect swapped places with the Haemonculus in the Wyches’ Raider. The Haemonculus and Incubi, then started hoofing it towards the DE objective.

 

On Scott’s right flank, his Raiders moved forward slightly to target the Quad-gun, but even though he premeasured the distance, something went wrong and dark lances were out of range. Scott was more careful thereafter.

 

A Ravager scored 2 wounds on my Thunderfire Cannon, and I proceeded to fail both 4+ cover saves. Techmarine Argus’ pride and joy was turned into a smoking wreck.

 

The squad of Reavers on Scott’s right flank screamed over intervening hill, blasted away at my Razor with their heat lances, and then jumped back behind the hill during the Assault Phase. But alas, the Emperor protects! The Razor survived the superheated beams of energy and merely suffered a destroyed weapon and the corresponding loss of a hull point.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1d.jpg

 

 

On Turn 2, my GK Strike Squad arrived via Deep Strike. I placed the GKs on my right flank to threaten the DE objective and shoot down a Kabalite Raider. Unfortunately, the squad deviated 7" backward and because of the Raider's night shield, the sons of Titan were just barely out of range. Here, I screwed up. Instead of premeasuring the distance first, I declared the shot and then measured the range. It seems that old habits die hard.

 

To support the Strike squad the Deathwatch motored forward 12" and fired their Rhino's smoke launchers.

 

Minus its only gun, the Razor's driver slammed his damaged tank in reverse and backed up to my ADL. Thanks to the brilliant new rule that allows models within a squad to move without the entire squad then counting as having moved, my Techmarine was able to join my Devs AND move into base contact with the Razor without interfering with the Dev's firing of its heavy weapons. Then, spanner in hand, Techmarine Argus quickly repaired the tank's damaged weapon.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1f.jpg

 

My battle line opened up upon the xenos vehicles, but thanks to some amazing cover saves, the Dark Eldar only lost a single Ravager and suffered a single hull point on a Kabalite Raider.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1e.jpg

 

 

Understandably frustrated by the entrenched Astartes, Vect ordered his Reavers to undertake a suicide mission to cover their Overlord's advance. With an agility and skill far beyond that of mortal men, two squads of black-hearted gladiators first soared into position, then accelerating to breakneck speed, and swooped over the Mortifactors' defense line. As they passed overhead, both squads of shrieking xenos slashed down at a Tactical squad with their bladevanes and released clusters of impossibly sharp caltrops.

 

The Reavers targeted the Tactical squad without Captain Artemis, so my Mortifactors did not benefit from FNP. And while the squad suffered some 30+S4 and S6 hits in total, their battle plate defied the Reavers and only 6 marines fell to the wicked xenos weapons. Despite the loss of Brother Sergeant Benedict, the squad passed their morale test and held their ground.

 

With the Mortifactors' attention focused upon the immediate threat of the Reavers, the Raider transporting Asdrubael Vect and his Wych bodyguard, moved into position on my left flank, behind the ruins Brother Argus had fortified. Thus, the Overlord's Raider received the benefit of a 3+ cover save. Barring a disaster, this put Vect in range for a Turn 3 assault.

 

In the Dark Eldars' Shooting Phase, the Ravager fired upon the Quad-gun. Again, I couldn't manage to make a single a cover save and the gun was destroyed.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1g.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1j.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1h.jpg

 

VICTORY POINTS:

Mortifactors:4

Dark Eldar 3

 

 

Thoughts:

 

At this point in the game, the only real trouble Scott and I got into was trying to determine how attacks from the Reavers' bladevanes and caltrops are distributed. The rule doesn't specifically say that these attacks are either shooting or an assault attack. Moreover, if one follows the general rule that wounds are distributed, starting with the closest model to the attacking model, which model is the closest? Is it the model that the Reavers fly over first, or is it the model closest to where the Reavers end their move? We looked at the DE FAQ, but no luck.

 

We ended up rolling it off. I won, so wound distribution began at the front of the unit. The place where the Reavers began their pass over the squad.

 

As I mentioned above, I REALLY like the change that allows individual models to move around in a squad without affecting models that do not move. The old system was just silly and unrealistic.

 

 

More later...

[The Yak]

Now this is something I am looking forward too....

 

Mortifactors are cool simple as that. Having just flicked through your Blood Angels thread, it seems we are in for a treat.

 

Good Luck

[Koyote]

Turn 3

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1n.jpg

 

Among other things, 40K is a game about forcing your opponent to make tough decisions. At this point, I had 2 large squads of Reavers behind my lines and Vect with a squad of 9 Wyches one Player Turn away from assaulting my lines. In addition, while I had plenty of guns, the Reavers had a 3+ cover save (Jink + turbo-boost+ Skilled Rider) AND my best assault units were either too far away or inside transports and unable to assault this Turn.

 

Scott had cleverly screened one unit of Reavers with the second unit (also known as bubble wrapping), so as to make my choices a bit more complicated. Also, I knew that if I didn’t wipe all of the Reavers out on my Turn and instead ended in a protracted assault with the xenos bikers, Vect would be free to pick his targets and possibly assault my units without the threat of Overwatch fire –which really was my best chance of beating Vect & his Wyches.

 

Lastly, after doing the calculations in my head, I didn’t feel that I had enough firepower to ensure the destruction of all or nearly all the Reavers with shooting alone. However, my Sternguard Rhino was still close enough that if I reversed course and disembarked, I could add the Sternguards’ firepower to the mix. This, however, posed a dilemma. It was Turn 3 and even with the arrival of my Termi Assault squad, my depleted GK Strike squad and Termies, alone, simply didn’t have the numbers to run the gauntlet to my opponent’s objective. If I added the Sternguard and their Rhino, I could probably make it by Turn 5 and contest in the event that the game ended early. On the other hand, if the Sternguard didn’t reverse course and help protect my own objective, and Scott was able to get Vect and his Wyches into a protracted assault near my objective, he had a fairly good chance of contesting my objective on Turn 5.

 

I went the more conservative route and reversed the Sternguard. Their heavy flamer and Dragonfire Bolts (ignores cover) were my most potent weapons against the Reavers’ 3+ cover save. In addition to the Sternguard, my newly repaired Razorback also backed up 6” and deployed my Purifiers. While the stormbolters and psycannon could throw out a good volume of fire, the incinerator (S6 AP4 ignores cover) would do the real damage.

 

I then moved Captain Artemis’ squad as near to the Reavers as possible so as to improve my chances of being within assault range of the surviving xenos bikers after the Shooting Phase. And here I gambled a bit. Aside from the Reavers and Vect, there were still other threats beyond my ADL. And, with the loss of my TC and Quad-gun, I was running out of long range shots to deal with them. Thus, when Artemis’ squad moved towards the Reavers, I left Inquisitor Baptiste by himself. He would be a unit of 1 model and very vulnerable, but because he didn’t move, I could add his conversion beamer to the few remaining long range shots I had available this Turn.

 

Elsewhere on the battlefield, my Termies arrived. I placed them on my right flank, but not too close to the clump of Kabalite Warriors as I didn’t want to make it too easy for Scott to double-tap them. They deviated a short distance, but not so far as to jeopardize their mission.

 

In the shooting phase, the Mortifactor counter-attack poured their rage into xenos bikers. When the flame and smoke cleared, 4 Reavers from the rearmost squad remained. As Artemis’ squad had targeted this squad with assault weapons and pistols, they were free to assault the xenos scum.

 

Unable to see Vect’s Raider, the Devs targeted the remaining Ravager and demolished it. Inquisitor Baptiste, had similar luck, and his target, a Kabalite Raider, was also destroyed. The only heavy weapon that could see Vect’s Raider, through a small window in the ruins, was the Razorback that had destroyed Vect’s first Raider on Turn 1. Hoping that the Razor had Vect’s number, I took the chance. I managed a single penetrating hit, but I was denied when Scott easily made his 3+ cover save.

 

In the Assault Phase, Captain Artemis bravely led the charge. Fortunately, the Reavers’ heat lances missed and the single splinter wound Artemis suffered was easily saved. Bellowing a challenge to the xenos scum, Artemis met the Reavers’ Arena Champion in single combat. Yay, my first challenge!

 

Due to their combat drugs, the Reavers were WS 5, but their numbers were too few and their strength too low to do much damage against Space Marines. The xenos bikers were cut down and their champion annihilated by Artermis’ power fist.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1k.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1l.jpg

 

 

Turn 3 was Scott’s opportunity to make his move.

 

Vect’s Raider hopped over the ruins and he and his Wych bodyguard disembarked.

 

On my right flank the Kabalite Warriors, both embarked and on foot, moved into position to maximize their firepower against my GKs and Termies. Mid-board, the Haemonculus and surviving Incubi continued their trek towards the Dark Eldar objective.

 

In the Shooting Phase, Vect and the Wyches unleashed their foul xenos weaponry upon my Devs. Thanks to his BS8, Vect’s Obsidian Orb (S10 AP3 Blast) landed right on target. I knew that the Devs were would be the target of Vect’s assault and that Overwatch shots are fired as Snap Shots so I declared that my Devs would Go To Ground.

 

Vect’s orb caused quite a few wounds, so I started with that wound pool. The first two models were removed without saves, but the third marine was partially behind the ADL, so he received a 2+ cover save. I thought myself quite clever for figuring this out and hoped that this one marine would be able to soak up all the remaining hits for his entire unit. Wrong. He did save the first wound, but the second roll of the die showed a ‘1’ and my “clever” plan was thwarted by the dice gods. In the end, things didn’t go too terrible for me –only 4 Devs were removed as casualties.

 

On my right flank, the Kabalite Warriors and their Raiders opened up on the GK Strike Squad and Termies. Two of Titan's heroes were laid low by splinter fire. The Terminators took a ton of wounds, thanks to Kabalite Raider’s Splinter Racks, which in 5e were stupid, but in 6e, this vehicle upgrade is amazing! Three ‘Hammers of Posul’ were laid low. Both squads passed their morale test.

 

Scott had gambled by being so aggressive in the Shooting Phase, but Vect’s squad was still fairly close to the surviving Devs and his DE had Fleet of Foot, so Scott was fairly confident that he could make the charge.

 

The Dev’s Overwatch fire was fairly impressive, thanks in large part to Brother Techmarine Argus’ flamer. Four Wyches were cut down and the gap between the bloodthirsty daughters of Commorragh and the Devs grew 6 inches. Still, with FoF, this distance is very manageable. Ha ha. ‘Not so,’ says the dice gods. Scott rolled a ‘4’ and a ‘1’ for his charge distance. Playing it safe, Scott used his FoF ability to re-roll only the ‘1,’ but the dice gods scoffed at him, and when the cube came to rest, it was a ‘1’ once again. Failed charge!

 

Ha ha. Vect was mine!!!

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1m.jpg

 

VICTORY POINTS:

Mortifactors:4

Dark Eldar 3

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Random charge distance is a cruel, cruel mistress! One failed charge can have a devastating affect on a game. IMHO, this has further tipped the game in slight favor of units that can shoot well. This is why, when I was making my Mortifactors list, I decided to sacrifice the mobility and speed of Assault Marines (a longtime staple of my SM armies), for the firepower of Sternguard and Grey Knights.

 

 

More later…

[Dosjetka]

Such a great thread. I can't wait to see you add paint to your models :lol:

 

Ludovic

[Yodhrin]

Lovely stuff. I'd appreciate a detailed rundown of how you converted up those lovely Lascannons for your Tac squads - I have a fair idea, but there are parts on there I don't recognise.

[Koyote]

Lovely stuff. I'd appreciate a detailed rundown of how you converted up those lovely Lascannons for your Tac squads - I have a fair idea, but there are parts on there I don't recognise.

The conversion is a mix of heavy bolter and lascannon pieces from the plastic devastator kit. The body of the gun is the heavy bolter with the barrel removed and replaced with the lascannon barrel. The backpack is the lascannon backpack. The cable fixtures/connectors at the bottom of the gun are from bottom of the lascannon. The lascanon's small scope piece is used to cover the heavy bolter's ejection port. The power cable is electrical wire that I purchased from Radio Shack.

 

I don't have close-ups of a Mortifactor lascannon model on hand, but here are some old WIP pics of another lascannon model that I built using the same design.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/lcfront.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/lcside.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/lcback.jpg

[Koyote]

Turns 4-5

 

I started Turn 4 by organizing Vect’s firing squad. This included the surviving Devs, Techmarine Argus, the Purifiers, and as backup, the Razorback. The Sternguard, hopped back in their Rhino, which then traveled full speed towards the DE objective.

 

On my right flank Scott had created for me yet another dilemma. On Turn 3, Scott had moved his last surviving Kabalite Raider, loaded with Warriors, away from his objective, but within 12” of my Terminators. My Assault Terminators were too far away from the Kabalite Warriors guarding the objective to assault them, so I had two choices: move towards the objective or move towards the Raider. If I went for the objective, the two Termies would suffer yet another Shooting Phase of shots from the Warriors in the Raider (equipped with a Splinter Rack) AND the Warriors guarding the objective. If I moved towards the Raider, I could destroy the Raider and hopefully some of its occupants. This would deny Scott the ability to reinforce his objective on Turn 5, and to be completely honest, provide my Termies with a much more heroic demise than being gunned down without killing a single DE all game. I chose to assault.

 

As you have probably guessed, my Shooting Phase did not go well for Vect. The Purifiers reduced the squad to Vect and two Wyches. The Devs and Techmarine Argus finished off the last three models.

 

Slay the Warlord earned me 1 VP!

 

To add insult to injury, Vect’s Raider was also destroyed.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1o.jpg

 

Hammers held high, the two surviving Assault Terminators charged the Raider. Assisted by their Splinter Racks, the embarked Kabalite Warriors fired a devastating fusillade of splintered crystal shards coated with virulent poisons. Grimacing in pain, the lead Terminator first stumbled, then toppled onto the ground. Enraged by the loss of his battle brother, the remaining veteran pushed through the deadly hail of toxic shards and landed two furious blows upon the hull of the foul xenos transport. The Raider’s detonation was tremendous, consuming 4 of the Kabalite Warriors and a very unlucky Terminator.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1q.jpg

 

 

During the bottom half of Turn 4 and the entirety of Turn 5, little happened. Scott consolidated his surviving squads of Kabalite Warriors and Incubi in a defensive stance around his objective. The Sternguard, in their Rhino, moved at top speed towards the Dark Eldar objective. My Strike squad gunned down a few more Kabalite Warriors, but the heroes of Titan were eventually laid low by the xenos’ guns.

 

At the end of Turn 5 the die was cast and the game continued.

 

VICTORY POINTS:

Mortifactors:5

Dark Eldar 3

 

More later…

[jeremy1391]

Givin the Xeno the ol' what for is a favorite past time of mine! Keep it up!

[Race Bannon]

Ok, I'm hooked too. :devil:

[Koyote]

Turn 6

 

At this point in the game, all of the action was centered around the Dark Eldar objective. On Turn 5, Scott had moved his Haemonculus, Incubi, and two diminutive squads of Kabalite warriors (one numbered 2 models, the other numbered 1 model) into a defensive perimeter around his objective. The terrain, the placement of the DE models, my transport’s distance from the objective, and the fact that vehicles and embarked models cannot contest, created for me a bit of a dilemma. I resolved the problem in the most cinematic and straightforward way possible. I moved the Rhino to the base of the tall ridge protecting the xenos’ objective and disembarked the Sternguard/Deathwatch. Rolling a ‘4’ for my difficult terrain test, I managed to get my Deathwatch Kill Team to the top of the ridge, overlooking the foul xenos and their objective.

 

Unable to assault the Dark Eldar, I chose to shoot the most dangerous threat, the Haemonculus and Incubi. Specialists in exterminating xenos, the Deathwatch did not disappoint. The elite warriors of Commorragh were hit by a heavy flamer, 8 marines double-tapping armor piercing Vengance Rounds (AP3), and for good measure, a frag grenade –which hit dead on. The squad was utterly obliterated!

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1r.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1s.jpg

 

 

At this point, the outcome of the game was certain, so Scott was playing for pride. The 6 survivors from the Raider that the Terminator had destroyed moved within double-tap range of the Deathwatch. The other 3 Kabalite Warriors moved to within 3” of the DE objective. Because of their elevation, my Sternguard were more than 3” from objective so they could not contest.

 

Scott ended his Turn by firing everything he had at the Deathwatch. Four of the xenos hunters were cut down but the squad passed its morale test.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1t.jpg

 

At the end of the Turn a die was cast and the game was over.

 

The Sternguard ended the game in my opponent’s deployment zone, so I achieved the third secondary objective, Linebreaker, earning the Mortifactors 1 VP.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/BR1u.jpg

 

FINAL VICTORY POINTS:

Mortifactors:6

Dark Eldar 3

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Aside from premeasuring and random charge distance, I am pleased with the way 6e plays. I am pleased that some of the abstractions were removed from the game, such as the ability to wound models that cannot be seen by the ‘shooter.’ Or the rule that states that if one model in a squad moves, the entire squad counts as moving. I am pleased the vehicles, in general, can move faster. This makes for a more dynamic game. And I think that preventing squads from disembarking if the transport has moved more than 6” is a good way of balancing the increased speed. On the same note, I am VERY pleased that vehicles and embarked models can no longer contest (or score).

 

I like the idea of Secondary Objectives, but I am not sure I care for First Blood. It gives armies that go first and 'shooty' armies an unnecessary advantage. Plus, it can only be earned by one player and the other two secondary objectives, in general, are much harder to achieve.

 

I have other thoughts about 6e, but I will reserve judgment until I play more games.

[Koyote]

I found this on deviantART. I like it. It reminds me of Rogue Trader era/early 2nd Edition 40K artwork. <_<

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mortifactorsbig2.jpg

[jeremy1391]

Ever since I read the ultramarine novel that had the mortifactors in it I always thought they were pretty cool. Good battle report! now get some paint on those lovely marines!!!

[Azash]

Love the custom hip carried las cannon's those awesome!

 

I also dig the Warhammer totem as a banner in fact I did the same thing with a few modifications with my own marines.

[Lachdannan]

I really enjoyed the presentation of the battle report. Very well done, and the visual aids were very welcome.

 

I also really like that piece of artwork you found, very cool and old school.

 

Looking forward to this thread. What are you going to paint first?

[Koyote]

@Azash: Another WFB model that I've repurposed for 40K is the Dreadfire Portal. The plan is to incorporate it into a display base for the army. All of the skulls and symbols of death just scream Mortifactors.

 

As you can see in the photo, I removed the rune and twin-tailed comet symbol and replaced them with GS tiles. I also cut off the ring of spikes around the dais -the spikes were just a bit too much.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/dreadfire.jpg

 

Original version:

 

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1900535a_Blog130711_7.jpg

 

 

@Brother Syth: The plan is to start with the Deathwatch. This way, if for some reason I abandon my Mortifactors project, I can still use the Deathwatch as Sternguard for my Blood Angels army.

[The_Chaplain]

Really digging these mortifactors man, keep up the good work.

[Koyote]

I've been so busy with work and friends that I haven't had a chance to put any paint on my models or even get in my second game of 6e.

 

My plan is to nose around a couple of my local games stores tomorrow and try to find a pick-up game.

 

In the meantime, here's a nice illustration of a Space Marine taken from a THQ Dawn of War II advertisement. Except for the color of his pauldrons, he looks an awful lot like a Mortifactor.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New/mortifactorDoW2.jpg

 

My Mortifactors are from the 5th Company so the borders of their shoulder pads will be black. After looking at this illustration, I may experiment with bone white pauldrons with black borders rather than solid black shoulder pads. The problem with this deviation from the official color scheme will be the chapter symbol. Even if I black-line around the edges of the raised skull, I don't think a white skull on a bone white background will look very good. Hmm? Too bad. Still, I may try it on a test model. :confused:

[The_Chaplain]

After looking at this illustration, I may experiment with bone white pauldrons with black borders rather than solid black shoulder pads. The problem with this deviation from the official color scheme will be the chapter symbol. Even if I black-line around the edges of the raised skull, I don't think a white skull on a bone white background will look very good. Hmm? Too bad. Still, I may try it on a test model.

 

You could always do a skull inside a black color field circle? Or sculpt an elevated circular platform and slap a skull on? (the elevated circle example is on this model to give you an idea- its brass/gold, but you can get the idea): linky dink