So I finally took my Ultramarines to Throne of Skulls...

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

And managed to walk away with these :) 

 

 

Had a really great event, probably the most fun I've had at Throne of Skulls. My opponents were great guys to a man and some of the battle were phenomenally close run. Couldn't have asked for more really!

 

Managed to win 4 and lose 1 (absolutely hammered by Tyranids!) and finished 3rd overall (using the margin of victory).

 

My buddy took overall winner with his Ravenwing and my group won the quiz! Epic success. 

 

Nice to dust off the boys in blue, been a while. The old dogs still have some spark left in them! 

 

If anyone of you went, I hope you had a good time, as for me; I'm off to bed - hopefully my dreams won't be dice-filled pandaemonium like they were last night!

 

[Captain Idaho]

Congratulations mate! What kind of opponents did you face? What was you list in the end? I take it you won best Space Marine player?

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Hey mate,

 

Thanks :D - haha, yeah, God of War is the Best Marine award these days (it even has a little purity seal on the bottom right hand corner!). 

 

I played (in order) Necrons, Imperial Guard with Space Wolves allies, Tyranids, Space Marines (Ravenguard) and then Tau. So quite a mix of stuff! Hadn't played against Tau since their new book, so was a little nervous... very hard fought. People say Mech is dead, but I'd have lost games 1 and 5 without my trusty rhinos! I've also realized I'm much better at bubble-wrapping against drop pods than I used to be. 

 

My list was:

 

Librarian with Null Zone and Avenger (Null Zone was vital against Wraiths, but did nothing else :) ).

6 Sternguard, 3 Combi-Meltas, Meltagun, Pod

Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon and Missile Launcher (not the most efficient loadout by any means, but he's something of a talisman to me)

10 Tacticals, Missile Launcher, Meltagun, Combi-melta, Rhino

10 Tacticals, Lascannon and Plasmagun, Rhino

5 Tacticals, Razorback with Twin-linked Lascannon

Stormraven with Multi-Melta and Assault Cannon

Vindicator with Dozer Blade

Vindicator with Dozer Blade

 

Pretty balance approach 'style' is what I was going for. I found I had the tools for mostly everything that I needed. The game against IG+SW was the single hardest fought game I've EVER played of 40k (bearing in mind I started in 2nd....) - great opponent, razor-thin margain of victory.

 

Shattered me so much that in the next game against Nids (game 3 day 1) I forgot to deploy my dread! Hah!

[alloyslayer]

That's a great result! Are you putting up bat reps?

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

That's a great result! Are you putting up bat reps?

 

Thanks :) - I was really happy to get God of War, win 4 games AND tie for the sportsmanship award! Couldn't quite believe it actually. 

 

As for battle reports, sure; if that's something people would be interested in. For now though, I need to sleep - I saw your profile pic and comment and thought ''I don't remember writing that...'' then looked at the name :D

 

Clearly I'm sleep-deprived!

[greatcrusade08]

congrats mate, sounds like you had a great weekend

[Dosjetka]

Congrats! And I'd definitely be interested in reading some batreps :)

 

For now though, I need to sleep - I saw your profile pic and comment and thought ''I don't remember writing that...'' then looked at the name :D

 

Clearly I'm sleep-deprived!

I saw thought the same thing, and yet I've had a good night's sleep :lol:

[Kierdale]

Another vote here for battlereps!

 

 

And congratulations. Well done!

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Well done :)

 

How does your list work? I am looking at the Raven, compared to the rest of your army. Did you put a particular combat squad in it, or was it doing something else?

 

You have quite an amount of AV in your list, as well as Marines. Interesting ^_^

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Thanks everyone :) it was a really great weekend, even the quiz was the best one I'd attended, an awesome ''Say what you see'' round that left a lot of people very confused, no-one expects to see Des Lynam's face projected on the Bugman's screen.

 

Anyway;

 

Marhshal Wilhelm - hehe, I get that reaction a lot! People are always surprised by the number of tanks, but the way my list mostly works is flexibility. If I need volume of fire the tacticals can start on the ground and the rhino can 'dance' in front of them using flat out to provide mobile cover, the Vidicators pound clumped enemies and make open terrain very scary, I've got a decent amount of long-range anti tank and anti-mc whilst retaining melta to take out the scarier vehicles you see. 

 

The Sternguard are their to neuter a specific threat (like a land-raider or they can dragonfire into cover to kill campers) and the Raven's a really handy gunship which (depending on the scenario) sometimes carries guys from any of the squads. There's always someone spare who can ride in it if needed (thanks to the way combat squads work you can retain your special/heavy weapons in the five guys staying on the table) and there's always a spot, somewhere, for my librarian to hide! 

 

Should I just put the reports in this thread, or should I stick them in the reports forum?

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Game 1: Crusade, 3 Objectives, Vanguard Strike

Opponent: Chris (Necrons)

Warlord Traits:

Necrons: +1 to reserves

Ultramarines: Enemy must re-roll successful reserves rolls

His army list (as close as I can remember):

Anrakyr the Traveller on foot

Royal Court: Necron Lord with MSScarabs and Res Orb, Cryptek with Voltaic Staff

10 Phyrian Immortals with Tesla Carbines (maybe more)

10 Necron Warriors

10 Necron Warriors

Night Scythe

Night Scythe

6 Wraiths with Lash Coils

Monolith

Annihilation Barge

We rolled for Night Fighting, but it wasn't in effect, I won the roll to go first and decided that despite it being an objectives scenario, I'd go first. With that we went to deployment.

I put one objective close to the ruins in my table corner and then my second objective 12'' to the left of that, about 5'' from some woods. As it was Vanguard Strike this gave me as much space from his units as it would be possible to have and (I hoped) with 2 Vindicators I'd be able to clear out any enemy units trying to capture/contest on my side of the board as the objectives deliberately weren't in cover (Necrons don't rely on AP to punch through power armour so why not! ). Chris' objective was just behind the bastion near the middle of the table.

My Vindicators held the centre of my battle line, about 6'' back from the front of my deployment, the razorback with my Librarian and 5 man squad was between them but a little further back. One tactical squad split into combat squads with 5 men (Missile Launcher) taking the ruin in my table quarter and 5 men (Combi-melta, melta) staying in the rhino. The second squad split (5 men with las, 5 men with plas) but stayed in the same rhino. The Dreadnought took my most extreme right flank - isolated, but anything Chris sent over there would be far from the key area of the field and in the most open section (terrain wise) of the board.

Chris deployed his barge to my far left, the Wraiths about 8'' from that in his centre, pretty much at his front line. The Immortals with the Lord and Anrakyr were covered by the bastion, whilst not being in it, the Monolith started in reserve (wanting to avoid being Melta'd no doubt!) one unit of warriors sat in their flyer whilst another unit (with the Cryptek) was deployed at the back behind the wraiths and immortals.

Initial thoughts: I hate wraiths! - seeing them made me feel vindicated (bad pun sort of intended) in taking Null Zone and two...well... vindicators! Assuming he didn't steal the initiative my plan was to drop the Sternguard Pod in to take care of the Barge before it could claim jink saves for moving, draw the wraiths off (6 unattended Sternguard can put a lot of hurt on Necron warriors) then I'd take pot shots with my heavy weapons at the wraiths and generally maouvre to set up firing lanes.

Marine Turn 1: And that's exactly what happened! Chris didn't sieze, the Sternguard came in exactly on target and obliterated the barge - giving me first blood and removing a dangerous threat. My lascannons and missile launcher took out a wraith and I think my dreadnought sniped a single Immortal from Anrakyr's unit who didn't get back up.

Necron Turn 1: Chris' wraiths made a beeline for the sternguard which is great for me, Anraykrs unit took some pot shots at them along with the warriors killing one, before the wraiths turned them in to mincemeat in close combat and consolidated 3'' back to their original position.

Heroic sacrifice from the Deathwatch (I use the old Deathwatch models for my Sternguard as I like them so much and they have the WYSIWYG weapons - seemed fitting too for this game, themeatically).

Marine Turn 2: The raven arrives and headed straight for the wraiths, the vindicators moved forward to give them a firing solution on the wraiths for next turn should they advance (they're still about 32'' away at this point) and popped smoke in case the scythes came in. The dreadnought continued his advance to get firing solutions on Chris' objective and everything else sat tight. Shooting saw the raven fail to hurt the wraiths (didn't fire any storm-strikes) but my lascannons killed another and the dreadnought dropped another two immortals, but they both recovered.

Necron Turn 2: Chris' turn saw the monolith arrive, roll a double 6 for the scatter, land on my units and go straight back into reserve. One scythe entered play and went for my rightmost vindicator, the wraiths headed towards my line as fast as possible and the warriors continued their ineffectual shoot-out with the Drop-Pod. The immortals hid for the most part wisely so - coming forward would have meant braving demolisher shells - and no-one wants to be on the end of that. Anrakyr however destroyed my dreadnought using his tacyhon arrow which was a bit of a shock. Thanks to smoke launchers the scythe only caused a glancing hit on the vindicator and it's now my turn three.

Marine Turn 3: The Librarian casts Null Zone as the Wraiths are close enough, the raven turns and heads straight for the night scythe, the Vindicators move to maximum range for the wraiths and that's about it.

Shooting goes... well. Excellently in fact - a combination of null-zone, lascannons, vindicators and the drop-pod sees all but one of the wraiths die. The rest of my stuff manages to chip one hull point off the Scythe (although my five guys with a melta gun on a Skyfire node do nothing!) but the raven proves its worth by smashing the scythe out of the sky - which promptly falls headfirst on to my command razorback and Imoblises it! The Cryptek and warriors go back into reserve.

Necron Turn 3: Chris' turn three sees the wraith set itself up for a charge on the rhino that's on my left flank, the monolith arrives deep-striking behind my rightmost vindicator, the second scythe doesn't arrive and the monolith uses it's portal to pull Anrakyr and the immortals to it meaning they're now in my half of the board and behind my vindicator (oh dear...). Shooting sees Anraykr take control of my storm raven... which is looking right at my vindicator and within melta-range - aaargh! Chris fires 2 stormstrikes, the melta AND the assault cannon... but only causes one more glancing hit. Increcdibly lucky for me! The Immortals wreck my razorback with glancing hits with support from the monolith's shooting but my Librarian and the 5 man squad pass their pinning test. Assault phase sees the wraith take 2 hull points off my las/plas carrying rhino and a destroyed storm bolter, but that's about it.

Marine Turn 4: Time to start thinking about his objective - the rhino with one hull point that's carrying the las/plas guys drops off the combat squad of five guys with a plasma gun to kill the wraith before heading 12'' for his objective (in hindsight I should have dropped the Lascannon squad! Just a mistake ). The blessed (lucky!) vindicator runs from Anrakyr into the top right of the table, but into a position where it can get a shot on him, his unit and the Monolith - as they're clumped up and he's the closest target it's a shot worth taking! My raven flies off the board in preparation for his next scythe and my 5 tactical marines with a melta/combi-melta drive 6'' towards the monolith which is nicely in melta-range. The Librarian's squad take cover behind the wreck of the razorback and add their bolters to the combat squad who are taking on the wraith - weight of fire does the trick and that's the wraiths dealt with. My vindicator takes a weapon off the monolith, kills two immortals AND Anrakyr (enough hits gets through LoS). One of the Immortals stands up, but Anrakyr doesn't - the melta squad take two more points off the monolith and stun it, Living Metal fails to ignore it.

Necron Turn 4: Chris' turn for sees the last scythe arrive to take some shots at my rhino which is carrying the melta, the warriors from the scythe which crashed arrive through the monolith and I have a whole heap of necrons in my face who are advancing closer towards my objectives. The scythe wrecks the rhino, the warriors and monolith kill 2 of my marines in the ruin (missile launcher guys) who promptly fail their LD test and run off the board and the immortals kill two tactical marines from my Librarian's squad. The Voltaic staff cryptek, under pressure from the second Vindicator and apporaching rhino are hiding in the bastion - he tries to glance down the vindicator but can't thanks to cover saves from the wood that's obscuring most of it (thank the Primarch for dozer blades).

Marine Turn 5: My Rhino moves the 12'' needed to park on his objective, the guys inside will have to wait and see if they can get out next turn. The vindicator moves through the woods and turns around to shoot at the bastion.

My Librarian moves up to get the avenger in to range of his immortals, the 5 men with the plasmagun move behind them to claim my left most objective. The five man squad move up a little to rapid-fire at his warriors. The raven (which came back on this turn) flies to within melta range of the monolith and assault cannon range of the scythe.

Shooting; the left Vindicator horribly crushess the bastion and the cryptek inside takes 16 s6 hits (he doesn't recover!), the right vindicator kills 3 Immortals and the lord - the Immortals get back up but the lord does not. The lascannon guy snap shoots from the rhino on Chris' objective but misses (not surprising). The Plasma combat squad, the Librarian and his 4 men shoot down 3 warriors. My tactical squad fire bolt pistols and a meltagun and the warriors on my right most objective - they kill two, one gets back up leaving 6 in the squad (they passed their morale check). The raven melts the monolith and takes a hull point off the scythe.

Necron Turn 5: The scythe flies off towards my left most vindicator near the bastion, the warriors get out of the bastion but having to stay 1'' from an enemy model means they can't quite claim the objective. His immortals walk towards my melta squad to deliver a blocking charge. Shooting sees the scythe kill my left most vindicator and the warriors kill my rhino that's on the objective but my men pass their pinning test. Unsurprisingly some charging Phyrian Immortals and shooting from the remaining warriors are more than a match for 4 tactical marines, so he's now in control of my right most objective.

If the game ends here I've won I think but it doesn't end just yet.

Marine Turn 6: My raven goes in to hover mode to lend fire to my back lines, the 5 man plasma squad spread out to protect my objective and the Librarian squad moves up to try and murder the immortals. My 5 Man squad on his objective prepare to rapid fire at his warriors and that's it for movement.

Shooting sees the raven kill all but two of the warriors remaining on my rightmost objective.

Drat.

They pass their LD check - double drat. The Librarian and his squad (with potshots from the plasma squad) take the immortals down to three after Reanimation Protocols and the Librarian squad charges in. Combat is... uninspiring - my Librarian and his men do nothing, and lose a marine in return. But we stick around and lock the immortals in place which is good enough.

Necron Turn 6: sees the scythe fly off (no viable targets it can reach) the warriors near his objective move to contest his objective with my marines and his two warriors on my rightmost objective mill around.

Shooting sees him kill one tactical marine on his objective but that's it - combat is a non-event, I think I down an immortal and he downs a marine (oh to have a force sword/axe!) and the game ends there and then.

Counting up the Victory points I have;

1 Objective, First Blood and Slay the Warlord

Chris has: 1 Objective and Linebreaker.

So that's a win to me!

Just.

Phew; I thought I had Line Breaker from his objective, but when we measured it I didn't - so I can offer thanks to the heroic Deathwatch kill-team; their sacrifice made it possible to secure my first victory of the tournament!

The problem with Battle Reports is that they don't convey the 'feel' of the game (they can't!) but this was a truly awesome first game. Chris and I had a lot of laughs and he played his army very well - if Anrakyr had been a bit luckier it could have been very different. Always good to have a first game that's fun as well as close, was really looking forward to the rest of the event. Let me know if this was too long - I never know how much detail people do or don't want, thanks for reading this far!

Courage and Honour.

[spjaco]

Great work. Of course Ultra's had a hard time with T'nids, even in the fluff they do, at least at first + = WINNING.

Like I said though, great job. God of War. Excellant.

[alloyslayer]

That's a very well written out battle report brother sergeant, I'm looking forward to the rest :)

 

Also loving the profile pic ;) lol

[Kierdale]

A very well written (and fought) battle report!

Looking forward to the rest.

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the feedback :) - I was worried I was going OTT with the amount of text, but I can't figure out how to leave bits out without it taking away from the overall information I'm trying to convey. Thanks for reading it through though.

 

That said, here's game two - (warning! warning! Wall of text imminent! :P):

 

 

Game 2: Big Guns Never Tire, 3 Objectives, Dawn of War

 

Opponent: Simon (Imperial Guard and Space Wolf Allies)

Imperial Guard Warlord Trait: Outflanking units have Acute Senses

Ultramarines Warlord Trait: -1 to Enemy Reserve Rolls

 

His army list (to the best of my recollection):

 

Company Command Squad, Commander with Power Sword, 4 Flamers

Platoon Command Squad (not sure what weapons they had)

Infantry Squad, Autocannon and Commisar

Infantry Squad, Autocannon

Infantry Squad, Autocannon

Veteran Squad, Grenadiers

Vendetta

Leman Russ Demolisher with Heavy Bolter (no sponsons)

Leman Russ Demolisher with Heavy Bolter (no sponsons)

 

Rune Priest, Force Axe (Rolled Prescience from Divination and Smite from Pyromancy)

10 Grey Hunters, 2 Meltaguns, Wolf Standard and Drop-pod

10 Grey Hunters, 2 Meltaguns, Wolf Standard and Drop-pod

6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers and Drop-pod (just to make up the numbers)

 

Depoyment and Initial thoughts: We rolled for Night Fighting and it wasn't it effect, Simon got first turn and elected to go first (the fact he had two pods full of melta-hunters meant I was really nervous about him going first). Simon also got to place two objectives, one in a ruin in the table quarter to my top right, one in a crater to my top left (but in a more forward-central position).

 

Simon deployed his long fangs in his table quarter to my top right, in a ruin next to an objective. His veteran squad deployed in the level below them, no doubt to act as a bullet screen/road-bump. His demolishers were deployed centrally, one just to the left (as I looked at it) of the ruin, his other demolisher further to me left. Simon then formed all three infantry squads in a single blob with the Commisar and the Rune Priest - they then did an excellent job of bubble-wrapping the demolishers in case my pod came in (the auto-cannons were fairly far forward, but with enough bodies in front to prevent sniping from my shooting should I sieze).

 

I deployed my objective just behind a pair of woods in my deployment zone, opposite the ruin containing his long fangs. I have to say at this point I was pretty intimidated. The demolisher cannons would hurt anything of mine that got into the open, the long fangs are great anti-tank, he has plenty of scoring bodies and the blob squad is virtually impossible for me to shift. 20 grey hunters could cause serious problems for me; if they kill my vindicators turn one it's pretty much game over and grey hunters will probably out perform my tactical marines in a close-up contest.

 

To protect against that I deployed my vindicators centrally and behind the two woods in my deployment zone (dozer blades mean I'm not really afraid of terrain). The Razorback covered the flank of one vindicator, the dreadnought and a rhino (plasma combat squad) covered the flank of another. I used the second rhino with the melta gun squad to deter any frontal assault and five men with a lascannon camp on my objective - that's it. 

 

I'm entrenched! 

 

I check the distances and there's no way a drop-pod can fit and discourge troops into my lines for a shot at my vindicators without getting within 1'' of my units. I look across at his deployment - there's not much chance of me killing a tank turn one (with my pod) due to the bubble wrap, but I try to sieze the initative anyway - I don't make it.

 

Imperial Guard Turn 1: Simon kicks off proceedings but throwing the pods down at me. The first squad lands in front of my left vindicator, but scatters enough that the guys inside are about 8'' away after moving (so not melta-range!). The second pod comes in on target near my dreadnought - Simon tries to disembark to move between my units (to shoot the vindicator) but I've measured it correctly and he can't end his move more than 1'' from either the dread or the rhino. So far things are going to plan :)! Because they don't have a shot on the vindicator the grey hunters move to my left, flank the dreadnought and prepare to fire. We roll for his objective in the ruins with the long fangs and it turns out to be a scatterfield generator - a 3++ cover save means the scoring long-fangs are going to be hard to shift.

 

His blob squad moves forward 6'' and so do the veterans and demolishers. With movement done Simon gets the shooting under way - his grey hunters obliterate my dreadnought, but lose two in the explosion (First Blood to Simon), the second squad can't burn through the front armour of the vindicator and the trees. The drop-pods have no targets, the autocannons from the blob squad take a hull point off my plasma rhino and the long fangs chip a hull point off my vindicator to the right. That's about it.

 

Ultramarines Turn 1: Time to make the Sons of Russ regret their decisions! I hope. My sternguard arrive, they have to make a daring drop as they're punching a one-way ticket but the dice are with me and they land on target behind the blob squad. They disembark 6'' and take aim at the demolisher nearby - they're exposed and vulnerable, but killing it will score me a victory point so I think it's worth it, especially as they're within melta-range. My vindicator nearest the dead dreadnought backs up 6'' to my objective and turns to face the grey hunters. They're out in the open so I've got to make the most of it. The melta-rhino advances 12'' towards the long fang objective and pops smoke, the right vindicator backs away 6'' and aims at the grey hunters nearest my objective (risky shot but has to be taken). The rhino with the plasma combat squad risks the terrain and moves 12'' into a wood between the two drop pods. 

 

Shooting - and some vengeance, the demolisher from the backfield vindicator kills five grey hunters as punishment for destroying the dreadnought. A couple of snap-fired rapid-fire bolters from the rhino accounts for another. My razorback tries a long range shot at the demolisher near his objective but I don't get anything from it. I take a deep breath and fire the second demolisher - it scatters but thankfully not in my direction, it takes a hull point off the drop-pod and kills two of the grey hunters adavancing towards my objective. I fire the lascannon and bolters at them, but don't manage to kill any more wolves.

 

Imperial Guard Turn 2: The vendetta does't show up, which is a good thing for me, the surviving demolisher moves towards my smoked rhino, the blob squad members without autocannons move forward through the crater to claim the objective (turns out it's a skyfire node... yay...) and the veterans stumble out of the ruins towards a crater in the battlefield. The survivng grey hunters that destroyed my dreadnought move towards the vindicator - they've lost their meltas so need to assault in order to destroy it which is a minor mercy.  The 8 man hunter unit moves in to the wood and rapid-fire range of my 5 man lascannon combat squad - I'm expecting to drown in a sea of bolter shells. The command unit moves out from behind the ruins towards my sternguard in case they start to cause trouble - four flamers and a power sword is fairly threatening - and they have a demolisher and a blob-squad in support if needed.

 

With his movement over Simon begins shooting. The grey hunters in the woord open up on my combat squad killing 3 of them including the lascannon. The demolisher is just out of range of my rhino (which is a relief) so shoots at the sternguard killing 4 of them. The Long Fangs fire at my Razorback destroying it, while the veteran squad kills one more Sternguard using their lasguns. The survivor fails and runs closer to the blob-squad, not sure what I'm going to do with him at this point - he's fired his combi-melta anway. Prescience fails to go off meaning that the autocannons are only able to take another hull point off the plasma rhino in the woods taking it down to 1 HP. The drop-pods open up on my Librarian's squad and I think they kill one. 

 

The 3 hunters assault the Vindicator but fail to do anything with their krak grenades. So that's the end of the turn.

 

Ultramarine Turn 2: Feeling a little on the ropes and it's only turn two, but my stormraven arrives and a I see an opportunity - Simon's Warlord is out in the open, completely safe... except from a flyer. I see an opportunity to ''cut the head off the snake'' (and remove someone who can give orders) and launch the raven at the squad on full throttle - the multi-melta is now also in range of the demolisher, which is even better. The 10 man tactical squad in the melta rhino moves up 12'' - they're close enough to snap-shoot the demolisher and so close to the ruins with the long fangs/objective - if I can just hang in maybe I can contest it. The vindicator that's on my back line backs another 6'' away from the hunters that assaulted it and prepares to fire. The other vindicator backs up too, aiming at the large squad of hunters neary my objective (I still know it's a risky shot but it has to be taken before my vindicators are inevitably take out).  The rhino lurking in the woods moves to the edge, whilst staying in cover, it's in range to take pot-shots at the blob squad (useless) or fire the plasma at the nearest drop-pod. Decisions decisions ;)

 

My heroic surviving sternguard prepares to move into a position to charge the blob squad until I think ''Wait - they'll just overwatch him'' so I move to a nearby barricade which gives him line of sight on either the command squad or the blob squad. Lastly my librarian moves just into the wood where the grey hunters are - I can only get two in range of the avenger but that'll do for now. 

 

Shooting; The backfield vindicator fires at it's three pursuers - and fails to hit. Darn. The librarian and his squad kill 2 grey hunters and the second vindicator misses again - killing one hunter and destroying a storm bolter on the drop-pod behind them. I'm kind of thinking things aren't going my way at this point! 

 

Until the stormraven opens fire. Full compliments to the crew of the Casus Belli - as it not only destroys the demolisher with it's multi-melta, but four assault cannon shots and two stormstrikes later and there's no trace left of the Colonel and his command squad - +1 Warlord point to me and 1 objective point for the demolisher. My plasma guy strips a point off the drop-pod (deciding that the blob squad was a waste of ammo) and the surviving sternguard executes two guardsmen - I'm sure he feels proud, but it's a drop in the ocean. 

 

Imperial Guard Turn 3: Again my Warlord trait keeps the vendetta off the table, so that's a good start for me - it might not be coming through in the report but I'm extremely hard pressed in this battle. In fact, by the end of this battle I'm mentally exhausted (so if you finish reading and think ''that wasn't so bad'' I've probably missed a lot of stuff out!).

 

Anyway - movement: The autocannons in the blob squad sit still, while the rest of the unit mills around the terrain - the rune priest is trying to get his runic weapon in range of my libarain, but terrain and the range is keeping him out of it. The veteran squad try and leave the crater that they're in, but roll a double 1 for terrain so decided to stay in for safety. The larger grey hunter squad moves towards my objective and that's about it for movement.

 

Shooting sees the prescience'd autocannons on the skyfire node open up at my stormraven, they only land two hits so I decide not to jink. Two glances. Darn it! The long fangs unleash on the razorback and annihilate it, nobody dies in the explosion and my librarian isn't pinned which is a blessing.

 

The 5 or 6 strong grey hunters (my memory is burning out!) fire bolt pistols at my 3 surviving objective campers and kill one, I'm so close to the table I hope I don't fail my leadersh..... off they run. Meaning my objective is now empty and the grey hunters are very close to it! Crucially the 3 man hunter squad didn't move - they're 7'' away from assaulting the vindicator but fail to make it - a lucky reprieve for me to be sure. My sternguard vet stands around in disbelief - he's made it through another turn!

 

Utramarine Turn 3: Seeing that discretion is the better part of valour and knowing that the vendetta is in next turn, my raven flies off the board. My backfield vindicator shuffles away and prepares to end the lives of it's three pursuers, the second vindicator is kind of trapped in no mans land - it can't afford to move forward and it can't get in to cover. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose it to the vendetta next turn so I aim at the larger hunter squad barrelling down on my objective and prepare to fire. The librarian leads his men through the terrain towards the Grey Hunters and I'm sure that the avenger can do some damage now, whilst the rhino in the woods moves into maximum range to fire some bolters at the long fangs in the ruins. My tactical squad in the melta-rhino advances further up the table toward containing the long fangs. The last act of the turn is for the heroic sternguard to move further around the barricade to position for some pot-shots at the long fangs.

 

Shooting - the vindicator at the back of my lines opens up with a demolisher cannon and a snap-shotting stormbolter at the 3 man hunter squad - despite scoring a direct hit with the demo-cannon I only kill one. Aarrrgh! Stormbolters from the rhino, the drop-pod and a shot from the sternguard kill 2 long fangs but they stick. My librarian successfully casts the avenger but Simon make his deny the witch roll, my second demolisher shell is bang on target but the hunters go to ground and I don't cause any damage. My plasma squad take a shot at the drop pod near my objective leaving it on one hull point... not exactly the most glorious of turns. 

 

We'll see how this pans out!

 

Imperial Guard Turn 4: The vendetta arrives and my heart sinks a little, I know there's a scoring unit in there and it has 3 twin-linked lascannons when I'm already being out-shot, not good. The blob-squad continues to wiggle around and the vets move over to rapid fire at my tactical squad. The two remaining hunters from the smaller squad move into the woods near their brothers who've gone to ground and that's the end of Simon's movement.

 

The blob-squad opens up on the rhino containing the plasma squad, however its luck holds true and it survives! My compliments to the chapter armoury. The vendetta however does exactly what I feared and annihilates the vindicator that's out in the open - 1 game point to Simon. The long fangs finally kill my blessed melta-rhino, it explodes and two marines die. Veterans pick off another with their lasguns. The grey hunters pick off one of my tactical marines from the Librarian squad (meaning I have 2 men and a Librarian facing off against all the surviving grey hunters) there's no combat to go through so it's my turn again.

 

Ultramarine Turn 4: My Stormraven comes screaming back into the action, intent on taking out the vendetta - there's nothing else I have that can take it out and, though it's putting a victory point right next to Simon's autocannons I don't reall have a choice. The tactical squad moves towards the ruins with the long fangs but they're just out. I'll need to run in the shooting phase to get safe - if I wipe out the long fangs it's a point and I'll be claiming that objective. The librarian moves to block the larger squad of hunters from taking my objective, the back line vindicator moves away to a firing position and that's about all I can do. The plucky sternguard has decided he likes the idea of claiming linebreaker so he moves and runs round the back of the long fang ruin. Time to see what effect my firing can have!

 

The vindicator fires on the larger squad of grey hunters to try and make them go to ground. They don't but only 2 die leaving four behind - on the plus side the blast does kill off one of the drop-pods. The librarian tries to fry the smaller squad of hunters but fails his leadership, bolter fire kills one more but the two remaing stick around. This means there are 6 active grey hunters near my objective - not good news. The big moment; what can the stormraven do? Well; four assault cannon shots, 2 stormstrikes and a multi-melta later and, despite jink, the vendetta is a smoking crater and all 5 mean inside are dead. Awesome! That raven is single-handedly saving the game for me.

 

My tactical squad run into the ruins. It's not a solid hold but they're within 3'' of the objective.

 

Imperial Guard Turn 5: Night fighting is in effect, not that it really affects anything - the blob squad is practically under the stormraven, the veterans move within rapid-fire range of the Heroic sternguard, the grey hunters move up to contest the objective and no-doubt assasinate my librarian and the drop-pod that's still functional continues to do nothing vs my 5 man plasma squad.

 

Shooting, rather predicatably, sees my librarian and his men die in a hail of bolter shots - the wolves are now controlling that objective and it's looking like the end. The veterans unload on the sternguard and.... do nothing. He makes 8 saves - legend. The long fangs try to target the vindicator, but all they manage to do is take it down to 1 hull-point with a weapon destroyed.... Simon rolls the dice and I lose my stormbolter. I breate a sigh of relifer. The last act of the turn is now down to the autocannons. Prescience failed to go off, but they stilll land 3 hits - learning my lesson from last time, I jink - and he rolls 2 fours and a 1. I'm just pleased the raven's alive, I don't mind that it's snap-firing.

 

Ultramarine Turn 5: Well... not exactly much for me to do at this point! The melta-squad move through the ruins to assault the long fangs when assault rolls around. The plas squad, stuck in some trees as they are, move for pot shots at the Grey Hunters, the raven turns 90 degrees and hurtles back to my objective - it's twin-linked so snap-firing isn't a problem, I just have to do something about those damned grey hunters. The surviving vindicator stays about 17'' away from the objective and prepares to try and shift the hunters with potentially it's last demo-shell. I don't want to go near in case I give away another kill point. The lucky sternguard doesn't want to die, so moves through the ruins to charge into the long fang combat.

 

Shooting - the combat squad, the vindicator and the raven unleash on the 2 survivng grey hunters and between the pot-shots, the raven snap-shots and the demo cannon I kill them all! Pretty lucky, but then again they've survived 4 attempted avengers with a total of 2 casualties, so I don't feel too bad about that. There's nothing else for me to shoot with so I charge the sternguard and marines in and... fail. I lose one tactical marine (meaning I have  4 tactical marines and a Sternguard around the objective - with three very disgruntled long fangs) but at least I'm contesting it. Those long-fangs just aren't going to give up their kill-point. I look around the battlefield to see if there's anything left to do - there isn't. I do a quick mental calculation... Simon has: Warlord, First Blood, 1 Vindicator and 1 Objective. I have: Warlord, Line Breaker, 2 Demolishers - so he's winning 6-4. I let him roll for the end of the game.... and he rolls a 6 - we go on!

 

Imperial Guard Turn 6: The veterans move near the ruin, to within 3 of the objective. Even if I somehow kill the fangs I'm not going to score that objective. The blob squad sit tight, safe in their invulnerability and that's all the movement there is.

 

Prescience goes off and Simon lines up on the Stormraven - this could be bad news. Curse that Skyfire node! I declare I'm going to jink and he scores one penetrating hit and one glance... looks like I'm going down. I roll the dice for my cover saves; 2 4's. Dammit. But wait - it's Nightfight! We measure the distance and I'm 30'' away so I'm benefitting from Stealth, combined with the jink save I have a 4+ cover save - the raven lives! I can't believe it - that raven is my man of the match for sure. There's no other shooting for Simon to do so we go to combat - it's another pillow fight, my guys kill a long fang and they kill a tactical marine. The sternguard still can't believe he's in this game.

 

Ultramarine Turn 6: This is it - my long-hopes have come to fruition - the vindicator moves 12'' directly towards my objective, the stormraven turns and flies towards the veterans (doesn't really matter as I'm snap-shooting and they're in cover but why not) and we go to the shooting phase.

 

Predictably the veterans go to ground and the raven kills nothing, I'm sure the pilot's not even paying attention at this point, probably high-fiving the servitor for all I know. The plasma tacticals know they're not in range of the objective so prepare to charge a pod out of bloody mindedness... and the vindicator, well, it goes flat out; right on to my objective ;). I've never been so relieved it's Big Guns! Simon looks like he's kicking himself and tells me he forgot the vindicator could score, and that's why the autocannons were focusing the Raven. I'd just assumed he was after the kill point the last hull-point would have delivered. 

 

We go to the last round of combat, the plasma squad drop kraks on the pod and take it down to 1 hull point. Decent effort, but pointless. However if I can kill these long fangs with my tactical squad.... I check myself; nevermind that, I need to stay alive! I'm expecting last-minute heroics from one side and Simon looks nervous too. We pick up the dice and grit out teeth.... it's a complete non-event. Both sides are clearly exhausted; the Ultramarines and the Wolves flail around like school-children and nobody gets hurt.

 

We roll the dice and it comes up a 1.

 

We both take a deep breath.

 

Simon sits down and I take a gulp from my drink. 

 

I'm exhausted; mentally and, weirdly, physically. I've been less exhausted in boxing training! It's probably a combination of focusing for two and a half hours and being hunced over a table rolling tons of dice!

 

I've tabled peopled and been tabled, I've had close games and epic draws - but it's never been quite so tiring or felt so hard fought. It probably doesn't come across in the battle-report my synapses are no doubt short circuiting - I'm sure I've missed bits, but there we are. Don't get me wrong, it's been a great game and I've really enjoyed the challenge - I'm glad it's time to relax for a little though!

 

We shake hands and it's time to add up victory points:

 

Simon - First Blood, Slay The Warlord, 1 Objective and 1 point for killing a heavy support choice = 6 Points.

 

Me - Slay The Warlord, Linebreaker, 1 Objective and 2 points for killing heavy support choices = 7 points. 

 

I can't quite believe it, we both do a double take - he's had me on the ropes for most of the game and turn five he had a crushing win in the bag. That last hull-point on the stormraven has brought me victory and the surviving vindicator can't believe it's luck. Simon curses his lack of focus in the last couple of turns,  but I can't blame him - we were both shattered by that point. 

 

What is there to say? I shake my head in disbelief, we go over the ''could have'' and ''should have'' - we recount the tenser moments of the game and then sit and relax for a couple of minutes. 

 

We're both wishing we could just go have a chill-out, but the next game is soon! We'll see what awaits next, whatever it is - it can't be harder than the last game, right?

 

Courage and Honour.

[Kierdale]

A very, very exciting report. I can understand you were knackered afterwards! :D

Very entertaining and well fought.

 

There's one more report?

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

A very, very exciting report. I can understand you were knackered afterwards!

Very entertaining and well fought.

There's one more report?

Thanks Kierdale! :) - haha, I was totally zoning-out for the rest of the day! I'm positive I've missed bits, there are things in my memory that I remember happening but I can't place into the narrative as I don't know when they took place; it was an epic game though. That much I'm sure of.

There are actually THREE more reports (eeeep!) but none of them are as long as the last one. If you're still interested in reading, I'm happy to keep churning them out :)

[Gaius Atticus]

Thats one of the best reports ive read. You got all the details that matter and actually told us your plans as to why you were doing things. Your bad luck I thought had cost you the game until, he got a fair share of his own not killing the Raven or the Sternguard.

 

In the end you won because you focused on the objectives, something he forgot.

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Thats one of the best reports ive read. You got all the details that matter and actually told us your plans as to why you were doing things. Your bad luck I thought had cost you the game until, he got a fair share of his own not killing the Raven or the Sternguard.

 

In the end you won because you focused on the objectives, something he forgot.

 

Thanks, Gaius :) - really appreciate the feedback.

 

I was definitely trying to get across what I was planning on, during the course of the game, without giving away too much how it would all play out. There were definite swing of luck on both sides! I couldn't quite believe that 4 attempted avengers killed a total of 2 grey hunters (without the protection of a runic weapon) - or that they tanked so many vindicator shots.

 

But then, as you said, the resilience of that sternguard, my heroic rhino from the melta squad and the epic performance by the raven - it all balances out in the end.

 

I couldn't agree with you more about objectives; it's all too easy to lose sight sometimes. But from turn 4 I was constantly thinking about how I could contest points, gain points and back-up plans in case none of it came through.

 

I really enjoyed the game - it was exhausting, but and excellent fight.

[Robert2004]

Great battle reports, really enjoyed reading them and you can tell you have put the effort into them! Well done!

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Great battle reports, really enjoyed reading them and you can tell you have put the effort into them! Well done!

 

Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed them! They do take a lot of effort - I've never attempted them before; so kudos to all those whose battle reports I've read in the past! :)

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

Game 3: The Relic, Hammer and Anvil

 

Opponent: Allen (Tyranids)

Tyranid Warlord Trait: Conqueror of Cities

Ultramarines Warlord Trait: Conqueror of Cities

 

His Army List:

 

Tyrant, Wings, 2 Twin-linked Devourers, Old Adversary (Warlord)

Tyrant, Wings, 2 Twin-linked Devourers, Old Adversary

8 Ymgarl Genestealers

3 Hive Guard

3 Hive Guard

Tervigon

Tervigon

11 Termagaunts

10 Termagaunts

 

Initial Thoughts: 

 

Yay! Tyranids! This should be easy... wait. I'm not using my Dark Eldar... this is going to be horrible :D

 

Flying monstrous creatures may be viewed as inferior to flyers in many regards, but there is definitely a great deal of flexibility and maneuverability with them too. Allen's army is going to be resilient (thanks to biomancy) fast (thanks to the flyers and spawn-gaunts) and no-doubt fully capable of flooding the Relic with bodies. If I get first turn then maybe I can knock-out a monstrous creature and that'll put me on a much more favourable footing, plus I can flood the threatening terrain to prevent the Ymgarls from getting in my line and causing me problems.

 

Knowing how many gaunts two tervigons can spawn, and lacking any thing that's really formidable in close combat, I think I'm going to struggle to take the relic - maybe I can contest it and then it'll come down to secondary objectives. Not the most optimistic battle-plan, I'm going to give it my best shot don't doubt that, but I think I'm in for a tough ride.

 

I'm not usually given for excuses and so forth - but I would like to point out that at this point I'm exhausted! The 3 hours sleep the night before, the crazyness of game 2 and the general drain of a day stood up in a warm (and loud) hall means I'm definitely not functioning at my full capacity. A conversation with Allen reveals this could be the worst time to lose focus - he too has won both his games so far, he attends a lot of independant tournaments and organises them too! He admits to being a little OCD with the rules - and that's fine, we have the same rule-set and I like to play things right too. I get the impression he knows his army well, this is my first 6th ed tourney with my marines (I normally attend tournaments with Dark Eldar)!

 

Excuses out of the way - I'm still up for this, I make a quip about how Old Adversary is fitting giving the armies faces each other and we start the pre-game dicerolling.

 

Allen rolls up a ton of psychic powers - his Warlord Flyrant walks away with Iron Arm (argh!) and the other Flyrant gets Endurance (I'm mentioning the powers they'll cast during the game), one tervigon nets Enfeeble and Iron Arm, the other bags Endurance and Warp-speed.

 

At this point I can already see what's probably going to happen - the 2nd tyrant will fly in support of the Warlord and he'll be the target of Iron Arm and Endurance. Which could result in a S9 T9 Flyrant with FnP and IWND - sheesh! I'd best be prepared :D. Allen notes down the terrain where the ymgarls are hibernating and we get to deployment.

 

Allen wins the roll off and takes the side to my left, he deploys his general and a tervigon in one ruin, the second flyrant just outside this and then he bubble wraps the quarter in a sea of termagaunts. One squad of hive guard joins them and there's really very little space to pod-in, aside from in front of the warlord; but he'll have a 4+ cover save, even if I steal the initiative. The second unit of hive guard takes cover behind a second ruin on allen's left flank, a tervigon deploys within a forest 10'' to their right (towards the centre of the board). His 'front line' is about 6 inches back from the front of his deployment zone.

 

With that done we go to my deployment. There's alot of terrain in my table edge... I combat squad my troops and do my best to occupy most of it. I create a solid flank on my left of both vindicators and a rhino carrying a plasma combat squad. The Librarian and his men deploy in the razorback in my centre, I'm about 6'' back from my front line too. The Lascannon combat squad occupies the wood near my razorback, about 4'' to the left, the missile launcher combat squad occupies a wood a few inches to the right and my melta rhino starts on my far right flank, hidden behind a wood.

 

All set to go, we roll for Nightfighting (which isn't in effect) and I try to sieze (don't think I've ever want to sieze quite so much!) - but I fail and we go to Allen's turn.

 

Tyranid Turn 1: The tervigons produce roughly 28 termagaunts between them, and BOTH of them are now out - excellent start for me I think. The 13 strong new brood pushes forward behind the squad of 11 - who are rapidly scuttling toward the relic. The 15 strong brood moves up on my left flank with the existing brood of ten - it's a formidable wall of gaunts, I'm glad it's all I'll have to deal with. Both units of hive guard push through their respective ruins, the tervigons cling to terrain whilst inching forward behind the termagaunts and the fyrants push forward - sure enough, when the powers went off, Endurance and Iron Arm landed on the Warlord. My worst fears for the game are realised as Allen rolls a 5 and the Flyrant is now a T9 monstrosity. With nothing they can hurt in range, that's the end of Allen's turn.

 

Ultramarine Turn 1: Right... plan of action - try and down the flyrant with the weapons that can hurt him (and are out of range of anything else) then unload what I have into him. Take it from there. Allen and I are under the impression that, if you can't hurt a target you can't shoot it - is that correct? If not, I'd have fired my rhino storm-bolters first. Anyway:

 

The sternguard pod comes in, I aim to land near the warlord and, despite a scatter, I move up to rapid-fire range. My rhinos advance 6'' (the melta-rhino avoids immobilising itself in terrain) and the vindicators move themselves into range of the flyrants/edge of the termagaunt brood. That's about all there is to do, so I start firing. The missile launcher misses, not surprisingly, as does the twin-linked lascannon on the razorback. Not a great start. Then the lascannon hits, and my interest perks up - I fail to wound (disheartening to not wound on a 3 with a lascannon!) and Allen picks up the dice for his grounding test. We both expect him to pass... but he rolls a two! Down goes the Warlord. I wound it with the S9 hit and he fails his FNP test. 1 wound down, 3 to go. The sternguard realise that their melta's need a 5 to wound so they unleash their hellfires and a meltagun - they manage to get two wounds past the armour, but the tyrant shrugs off one thanks to FNP. 

 

2 wounds to go. 

 

The first vindicator opens up and scores a direct hit, liquidating 1 gaunt (pesky cover) and wounding the Warlord, but FNP strike again so it's unscathed. The second vidicator scatters an inch (after subtracting my ballistic skill) towards me so misses the single gaunt (woe is me ;) ) but hits the Warlord. I cause yet another wound (trying to wound on a 3 with a demo-cannon is a weird experience!) and this time he doesn't make his FNP - 1 wound to go! 

 

Brilliant, I think, my army's inherent shooty-ness is coming through for me. Right, I've used everything else that can hurt him, time for my dreadnought to prove his worth!

 

Only... I look around and my dreadnought is no-where to be seen. I pull a confused face, look under the table, behind the trees. He's not there. With a sinking feeling I check my carry-case and, sure enough, he's in the layer below my army layer. 

 

I should explain at this point I was five minutes late to the start of the even and thus didn't get a tray to move my army around with (standard procedure at Throne of Skulls).

 

I can't quite believe it. I'm normally pretty organised, when it comes to my army at least, and moreover my dreadnought is something of a talisman to me! I've forgotten him and, as a result, robbed myself of a great chance at First Blood and Slay the Warlord which I think are really important in the Relic, especially when going second. Mentally kicking myself and seeing Allen's confused expression I explain what I've done. He does a double take and I laugh. I ask him if, promising not to fire the dreadnought, I can bring him on. It's more than I deserve to be honest and, in hindsight, probably came off as a bit cheeky - not how I intended it all. I can see the consternation on Allen's face, I know (like me) he enjoys the competitive side of the game and it's my own fault - my dreadnought deserves to be in reserves. But he says, yeah - bring him on. I'm fairly stunned.

 

I ask if he's sure and he says yes, so I bring the dreadnought on my table-corner, left hand side and that's that. To round things off the drop-pod shoots two termagaunts and kills them. End of Ultramarine turn 1 and things have already been a bit of a rollercoaster for me!

 

Tyranid Turn 2: Well, after the hilarious failure with my dreadnought, it's on to Allen's turn two.

 

The ymgarls (predictably) show up in the large crater just in front of my vindicators (Allen passed me the paper as proof but I'd already known where they'd be). Despite the fact I knew that it was coming my choices in the previous turn had been A) shoot at the Warlord to try and secure First Blood or B) flat out my vehicles into the crater to make sure the ymgarls couldn't come on (if they arrived) but miss any chance of shooting the Warlord.

 

I'd obviously gone with plan A (which might have worked better if I'd not been an idiot and forgotten one of my big guns :D) so now I was going to reap the whirlwind.

 

The Warlord tyrant gets off Iron Arm and goes up to toughness 8, the second tyrant casts Endurance on him and the tervigons also cast some spells but they didn't affect the game at all.

 

The Warlord flew forward and vector struck my razorback (I forgot at the time vector strikes are always unmodified strength), the ensuing S8 vector strikes thoroughly wrecked the razorback, though it doesn't explode so the marines and librarian inside disembark and pass their pinning test. The second tyrant didn't feel it necessary to vector strike anything and hovered between two of my squads - close to the missile launcher from the rightmost combat squad. The rest of Tyranid movement consisted of strengthening their chokehold on the Relic (though they couldn't actually move it at this point), two large squads swinging around to start sniping at my sternguard, the hive guard shambled around in the ruins - not really in range of anything.

 

Shooting sees the suport tyrant kill 2 marines from the missile launcher squad, including the missile launcher bearer, and the Warlord emulated this act by killing 2 from the lascannon squad including the lascannon! Shooting from the hive guard on the right, and termagaunts, sees 4 of the sternguard go down but everyone passes their morale checks.

 

Moving to the assault phase the ymgarls choose to activate their s5 and double charge the vindicators, one explodes killing 2 ymgarls but the other survives with a hull point remaining, suffering only 2 glancing hits - which was an unexpected bonus to say the least.

 

That's everything for the Tyranid turn.

 

Ultramarine Turn 2: The stormraven arrives but the tyrants are too far into my line for me to be able to get a clear shot at them. I could try firing the assault cannon turret at the warlord in an attempt to down him but that'd leave the multi-melta out of range of anything beyond a termagaunt - I decide that I might as well use this turn to try and put some hurt on the tervigons, so I head straight towards the tervigon closest to the Relic. My surviving vindicator pulls back and prepares to fire at the ymgarls, the rhino close to them shuffles forward into dangerous terrain and immobilises itself. Oh dear! At least it's moved and 2 tactical marins are in rapid fire range of the 'stealers. My rightmost rhino with the meltas moves forward 12'' through woods, but doesn't crash and is within snap-fire range of the tervigon. 

 

I then decided to make another tremendous mistake and cluster my librarian's squad behind the wreck of the razorback, rather than moving in to cover - I can't tell you why I did that, again I can only assume it was my overly-tired state! Hiding in cover would have greatly protected against a claw-to-face scenario, but there we go. The dreadnought moves forward towards the Relic and the sternguard try to move as close as possible to a position to contest the Relic for as long as they can - they're dead meat out in the open.

 

Shooting sees.... not a great deal. Between the vindicator and the tactical marines I force the ymgarls to go to ground and lose one model, but I lose the plasmagun to an overheat. The sternguard kill a couple of termagaunts with their pistols and the raven takes 3 wounds off of the tervigon. Everything else tries to down/hurt the Warlord (thrown krak grenades, the dreadnought etc etc) but there's no getting through his defences and we don't knock him from the sky.

 

The sternguard assault in and, miraculously, one of them is alive at the end of the turn. I kill another two termagaunts but there are still loads of them left - and the tervigon nearby will kill me even should I somehow survive again.

 

I've invested so much into killing the Warlord that if I don't pull it off soon, not only will he continue to cause havoc but I'll lose my opportunity to win the rest of the game.

 

Tyranid Turn 3: The warlord fails to cast Iron Arm and my interest perks, the support tyrant cast endurance on him and the rest of the tyranid force stomps forwards. The two tyrants decend to the ground, the Warlod lines up a charge on my librarian's unit (oh to be in cover) and the support tyrant eyes up the three tactical marines 2'' from him hiding in some woods (throwing insults as well as grenades, no doubt). The ymgarls recover from pinning but can't act and that's it for the movement phase.

 

The left most hive guard fire at my stormraven to no avail, the rightmost hive guard obliterate the drop-pod and that's it for shooting. Allen's too savy to shoot my squads near the tyrants (combat tactics could have proven incredibly useful) so we move straight to the assault phase.

 

Predictably marines die all over. The sternguard punches out another termagaunt but is torn to pieces by the second charging brood, both tyrants display phenomenal prowess (as you'd expect) and rip-apart everything in blue including my librarian - 1 point to Allen. I'd considered challenging, but if they Warlord kept me in combat I'd not be able to shoot on my turn. Both tyrants consolidate in to cover. The tervigon kills the melta rhino, but it doesn't explode and my men pass their pinning test. Maybe there's a chance I'll kill it next turn!

 

The last act of the turn is for the Warlord to pass his It Will Not Die roll so he goes back to 3 wounds. Aaaargh.

 

Ultramarines Turn 3: I'm swiftly running out of options and the game is already pretty much finished at this rate. The stormraven can't get a decent angle on either tyrant whilst zooming - so I go in to hover and head over in the direction of the Warlord. The melta-squad move behind the tervigon, either to go for line breaker (huge ask) or maybe kill the tervigon along the way. What little else I have positions to shoot the Warlord and we move on to the shooting phase.

 

The vindicator misses everything, the dreadnought misses with the missile launcher and the lascannon is stopped from hurting the Warlord by the forest. The melta squad only strip one wound from the tervigon (taking it down to 2) and my 4 men in the immobilised rhino (and the rhino itself) amaze everyone by stripping a wound from the Warlord tyrant! Down to 2 wounds he goes. The stormraven opens up with everything it has, and two wounds get past armour and cover.... Allen rolls the dice for Feel No Pain... it's a 1! And.... a 6. Drat. That damned beast survives on a wound and I've got nothing left to throw at him.

 

I grin ruefully at Allen and he laughs - it's a lopsided game but it's alot of fun.

 

Tyranid Turn 4: The Warlord casts iron arm (T8) and his supporting friend gets off Endurance. The termagaunts holding the objective scurry towards Allen's deployment zone and everything else focuses on my melta-squad or my stormraven (I wish I'd take a picture - a veritable swarm of nids surrounding small pockets of Ultramarine blue - very cool). The support-rant hops to just infront of the stormraven and the Warlord goes to join him. Allen rolls for dangerous terrain (he's using his 'jump pack' wings) and rolls a 1. He then rolls a 2 for his armour save and we both burst out laughing. After everything my company as thrown at him he finally succumbs to a treebranch (or a rabid squirrel)! We then remember that he's got Feel No Pain! Nooooooo! Allen rolls the dice and, sure enough, up pops a 5! Double-drat. Afterwards we remember that Monstrous Creatures have move through cover and pass Dangerous Terrain tests anyway, but that was one of the more comical moments of my weekend for sure.

 

Allen then destroys the stormraven and the tervigon consolidates, Godzilla like, on to my wrecked rhino.

 

We're both tired, it's a long day and we could both use some wind-down time (perhaps go see how other games are progressing). I've got 9 tactical marines, 1 dreadnought, a vindicator with one hull point and an immobilised rhino facing off against pretty much allen's entire army. I literally can't reach the termagaunts holding the Relic with anything I have left and Allen has killed my Warlord (and has Linebreaker).

 

We call it there I could have continued to gun for the Warlord, but any humour in the kill would have been robbed after the 'Squirrel Incident'.

 

Victory to the Tyranids!

 

Summary: 

 

So..... *chortle* where to start.

 

In hindsight winning 'best Space Marine player' felt like a bit of a misnomer when I played so shockingly in that game! I'd have liked to give Allen a more competitive game, I'm definitely capable of doing so - but it just all fell to pieces. If I'd had the dreadnought and killed the Warlord it would have been a lot more interesting - the stormraven could have handled the support-rant much more easily (though he was worth nothing, in strategic terms) and then I would just have to contest the Relic - not an easy job, but with going second the possibility was there.

 

Unfortunately that wasn't to be, and I compounded my initial error by getting my Warlord killed easily and losing a vindicator to ymgarls that I knew were coming. I really just made a lot of simple mistakes and that's all there is to it!

 

It took a long time for me to produce this report (not simply due to time delay from the actual events) but mostly because I needed to figure out exactly how I was going to make it worth reading! I hope it doesn't feel too sparse or isn't too terrible a read. Allen went on to win all of his games and take home best Tyranid player, which doesn't surprise me. It was a great list and played well so all credit to him.

 

2-1 is a great start to a weekend and I'm doing my part for the Imperial campaign (my group of friends had decided we'd all use Imperial codexes and our mission was to win the 'Imperial Crusade' by winning half of our total games).

 

All three games were really enjoyable for differing reasons, I had a look around the hall to see how things were going for my friends and to look at various armies - some of which were absolutely fantastic - I'd strongly recommend visiting the Warhammer World Facebook page for the photos.

 

Me and my mates then headed to the pub quiz which, much to our surprise, we won!

 

Courage and Honour.

[Brother Sergeant Scarus]

I was organised and got the next report sorted in a decent time:

 

Game 4: Purge the Alien, Dawn of War

 

Opponent: Jim (Space Marines)

Warlord Traits:

Ravenguard: Warlord has Feel No Pain within 3'' of an objective (unlucky roll)

Ultramarines: Choose whether or not Night Fighting is in action first turn

 

His army list:

 

Librarian with Force Axe, the Avenger and Vortex of Doom

8 Sternguard, Heavy Flamer, 2 Combi-meltas, 2 Combi-flamers

Sergeant has Lightning Claw, Drop-pod 

10 Tactical Marines, Meltagun and Multi-melta, Powerfist, Drop-pod, Locator Beacon 

10 Tactical Marines, Power Sword, Meltabombs, Flamer and Missile Launcher, Drop-pod

Landspeeder Squadron: 2 Landspeeder Typhoons with Multi-Meltas 

 8 Bikes, 2 Meltaguns, Power Sword, Meltabombs and Multi-melta Attack Bike

Stormtalon: Twin-linked Assault Cannon and Twin-linked Lascannon

 

Initial Thoughts:

 

Well, after a little too much celebrating our pub quiz victory last night, I was pleased that we'd be getting kill-points out of the way first thing in the morning (it's pretty straightforward as scenarios go) and I was even happier that it was against a list that gave up a decent number of kill points itself - as mine proffers a great deal of them!

 

Jim and I shook hands and exchanged army lists (we'd both brought spares for people to keep should they so wish) and talked a little about how our weekends had gone. As it turns out Jim had played against my friend Tom in an earlier game (Tom went on to win the event with his Ravenwing) and, from what Tom had told me, it'd been a fun game - so I was very optimistic.

 

Jim's army looked fantastic, I want to say that first. Dark colour schemes aren't always appreciated, in my opinion, as much as brighter ones. But when you took the time to look at his Ravenguard it was a beautiful army - lots of forgeworld weathering/mud effects, forgeworld armour pieces thrown in amongst more modern equipment (very fitting for a Ravenguard force) and generally a very nicely themed/looking army.

 

From looking at Jim's list I was very much hoping I'd get first turn (smokes and so on) and with that many drop-pods in his list there was a very real possibility of me giving up First Blood if he went first. I won the roll to go first so I moved on to deployment.

 

My main priority was to keep my vindicators alive, as they'd quicky make a mess of marines out of cover and without transports, so to that end I castled up in my deployment zone. I had a fairly large wood to my right hand side, so deployed the melta-rhino on that side (obviously not combat squadding in this scenario) the vindicators stuck close together, their flanks protected by rhinos and their rear protected by my razorback - the dreadnought (who I was very focused on deploying!) plugged a gap that the Ravenguard might have disembarked into, near the forest with the melta-rhino - the left flank I left deliberately open as there wasn't much cover at all and the rhino/razorback might present an enticing target. All my vehicles had their rear arcs covered by other vehicles or terrain, save the rhino on the left flank.

 

Jim then deployed - he also had a forest in his deployment zone, opposite the forest in mine, and he hid his bikes and land speeders behind that. I estimated that his plan would be to hide until his drop-pods arrived, then use his speed to join his forces together. In contrast, my plan was to pick off his forces as they arrived and hope that once agian my heroic sternguard could score first blood and tie up the bikes as I fought off the arriving pods.

 

I decided that Night Fight wouldn't be in action first turn - and Jim rolled to steal the initiative; he rolls a 1 and we get the game under way.

 

Ultramarines Turn 1: The sternguard drop in aiming for the land speeders and, for the first time in the past 7 games, they don't land on target - even more, they scatter so much that I'm only just in 12'' with my weapons after disembarking. Not ideal, but at least landspeeders are lightly armoured - I doubt my sternguard will survive the following turn so I resolve to fire all my combi-weapons now and rapid-fire my the two bolters.

 

The rest of my movement is fairly timid - I do move out a little, the vindicators pop smoke (the rhinos/razorback don't - bait bait) and the dreadnought moves through the forest for a pot-shot at the bike squadron.

 

With that done shooting gets underway, the dreadnought kills a biker (because it can't get los to the speeders) and the sternguard unleash on the landspeeders. It doesn't go brilliantly, but it doesn't go terribly wrong either. I kill one - but that's not first blood as they're a squadron. Worth a shot and if I give up First Blood now then so be it.

 

Ravenguard Turn 1: 2 drop-pods arrive, the sternguard and librarian disembark near the razorback, they combat squad with one group taking the meltas and one group taking the flamers. I'm expecting the meltas to kill the razorback and the librarian+flamers going after my librarian and his 5 man squad. The second pod disgorges a tactical squad to go after my melta-rhino.

 

The bike squad and typhoon move to 6'' infront of my sternguard - it doesn't look like it'll end well for them - and that's the end of Ravenguard movement.

 

This shooting phase proceedes like nothing I've ever seen before... the attack bike, bike squadron and typhoon kill four sternguard. Four. That's it. I can't quite believe it! I take advantage of this good fortune and use combat tactics to fall back 7'' - much to Jim's chagrin :) the melta sternguard fire at the razorback and cause one glancing hit... The flamer squad and librarian are bereft of their preferred target so rapid fire and throw a krak grenade at the razorback but this does nothing. The tactical squad do show some success and annihilate my melta-rhino, killing two Ultramarines in the explosion, but I pass my pinning test. First Blood to Jim and the current score is 2-0 to him.

 

Ultramarines Turn 2: The stormraven comes on to the field, it streaks across the battle field near to Jim's forest. I figure that it can take care of the land speeder and start chipping away at the bike squadron. My sternguard auto-rally and move as fast as they can through the large ruin in the center of the table - must try and preserve their kill-point for as long as possible. The rest of my army unfolds and faces down the Ravenguard squads. 

 

The Vindicator on the left moves so the ruins in the centre block LoS to it's rear arc, the razorback follows. The vindicator on the right faces down the Ravenguard tactical suqad (my Ultramarines stay in the crater of their rhino incase the shell scatters). My las/plas tactical squad pile out of their rhino into rapid-fire range and the rhino turns to add it's stormbolter to their firepower. The dreadnought moves through the woods but can only really draw a bead on the tactical marines and their drop-pod.

 

With movement done I move to the shooting phase. Having learnt from experience to fire my demo-cannons first (more targets to hit) both vindicators unleash on the Ravenguard. The vindicator on the left obliterates the combat squad protecting the librarian and my razorback guns him down with it's twin-linked lascannon - Warlord point to me. My las/plas tactical squad open up on the Ravenguard melta-sternguard and kill one of them - leaving four figures in black left on that side of the table. The vindicator on the right kills four Ravenguard thanks to the scatter, the dreadnought explodes the drop-pod taking out another two and my melta-marines kill another two leaving the sergeant and 1 meltagun. My Sternguard run through the ruins trying to stay out of line of sight, the stormraven annihilates the landspeeder with its multi-melta and 2 stormstrikes, the assault cannon picks off two bikers (one of whom had a meltagun) and my eventful shooting phase is over. The Ravenguard pass their morale checks, but I'm wracking up points at a formidable rate.

 

There's no assault so the turn ends: Ultramarines 4 - Ravenguard 2.

 

Ravenguard Turn 2: Jim shakes his head and I can't help but feel his pain - my dice have been lightning hot and his have completely abandonded him already! The third drop-pod fails to turn up, though the storm talon arrives and moves to flank my stormraven. The surviving bikes move right up to the drop-pod in an attempt to destroy it, and that's about it - the 2 surviving tactical marines advance towards my melta marines and the sternguard shuffle closer to razorback and turn their guns on my las/plas squad.

 

Shooting sees the bikes fail to destroy my drop-pod (despite shooting a meltagun, multi-melta and krak grenade at it) - Jim hit, but he keeps rolling double 1's for penetration - I've never seen bad luck quite like it. The stormtalon takes 2 hull points off my raven but I survive thanks to jinking, the sternguard kill two of my men with vengeance rounds and kill one of their own.... leaving two left in the squad. The drop-pod shoots too but fails to do anything. Jim's surviving tactical marines kill one marine from my meltasquad using the meltagun before charging in, they survive my overwatch and we move to the assault phase.

 

The bikes charge in, destroy the drop-pod with a meltabomb and consolidate an inch.The tactical squad combat sees my men kill his meltagunner and his sergeant punchs out one of my men in return. That's it - we stick.

 

Jim's turn is over: Ultramarines: 5 - Ravenguard: 3

 

Ultramarines Turn 3: The stormraven flies off the board as it's snap-shooting currently, my dreadnought moves so that it can see the talon and the bikes, everything else just forms up into a defensive position in anticipation of the next pod - save the left-most vindicator which can get a decent shot on the bikes. The sternguard continue moving towards my lines.

 

I open up with the las/plas squad and kill the remaining sternguard, the razorback fails to kill the pod as does the right-most vindicator. The vindicator and dreadnought kill enough bikes to cause a panic test - they promptly fail and flee 15'' off the table. At this point me and Jim are both shaking our heads at the dice - mine aren't failing me at all and his are just the most unlucky rolls I have ever seen. 

 

Honestly, I've been playing since 2nd ed and I never remember seeing dice like this. Jim's a great sport though, he jokingly screams at his men ''Why can't you get past the drop-site massacre, it was 10,000 years ago!!'' - we're having a good time, despite the one-sided unfolding of events.

 

There's nothing left to shoot so it's to the assault phase. For the fun of it I challenge his sergeant with my melta-sergeant. Predictably my chainsword dinks off his armour and he then flattens me with a powerfist. I combat tactics out of the fight and fall back 6''.

 

That's the end of my turn. Ultramarines: 8 - Ravenguard: 3

 

Ravenguard Turn 3: Jim's pod arrives and plummets in behind my vindicators - at this point Jim decides, because of how the game is going, to combat squad and see if he can cause any damage. The stormtalon moves over to fire ant my rightmost vindicator and the lone sergeant heads towards the razorback he's stood next to and that's Jim's movement over.

 

Shooting, yet again, sees absolutely virtually nothing at all happen. Aside from the talon, which causes a glancing hit on the vindicator, anything that hits has no effect, so we move to assault - the sergeant, despite charging with a powerfist, can only stun the razorback, leaving it with one hull-point. Oh dear.

 

Ultramarine Turn 4: The librarian dismounts to unleash the avenger on the nearest Ravenguard combat squad, both vindicators face down the second squad, the raven flies back on to the board, into the flank of the talon and all my tactical marines take aim at the sergeant.

 

He goes down in hail of bolter shells. The left-most squad disintegrates under demolisher shells and the avenger/librarian's combat-squad/rapidfiring sternguard accout for all but the tactical sergeant of the Ravenguard. My stormraven doesn't miss it's opportunity and takes out the talon, despite Jim jinking. At this point Jim has a marine and 2 drop-pods left. I have both vindicators, the raven, the razorback, a dread, a rhino and 18 tactical marines - as well as my librarian. Jim wants to keep going though for the fun of it and I'm happy to oblige him!

 

Ravenguard Turn 4: The sergeant moves to assault my librarian and the drop-pods aim at the tactical marines.

 

The rearmost pod picks off one marine and the sergeant's pistol does nothing - bouncing off my 3+ armour. He charges in and I don't overwatch - he challenges my librarian and I accept; I figure he deserves that much! Predictably I kill him - though to his credit I take a wound in return.

 

Ultramarine Turn 5: I fire everything I have, except the raven, at the drop-pod in my deployment zone but It survives :) - the raven goes in to hover and obliterates the drop-pod near the ruin

 

Ravenguard Turn 5: The drop-pod fires defiantly, but ineffectually, at my men.

 

Jim rolls the dice to see if the game end and rolls a 1 - victory to the Ultramarines!

 

Summary:

 

What a strange game! Jim was a brilliant opponent, we had a lot of laughs and he didn't sulk about his dice at all - in fact I probably felt worse; just wasn't a fair representation of his list or plans at all.

 

For my part, I think I made all the right movements and decisions and, simply due to army composition, I think I had the tools to force the win - but it should have been a great deal closer than that.

 

I've already said it, but I've never-ever seen such unlucky dice. Normally I find one has to plan in advance, think of redundancy plans and actions should XYZ fail or unit XYZ die. In this game I found that I was simply making new plans as things that I was sure were dead kept living!

 

Yet another great game though, in terms of enjoying it - 4 fun games so far and 3 victories, definitely something to be happy about. I'm pulling my weight in the crusade too, having won over half my games! One more game to go, so far I've escaped heldrakes and Tau - I wonder what the next round will bring!

 

Courage and Honour.

[Kierdale]

Another great couple of reports. Well played and well written up.

And Jim sounds like a very good sport!

[Robert2004]

Again, really loving these battle reports! Enjoy reading them and look forward to the next one, keep them coming!