Balance of Power: 1750 tourney. Game 1

[Polythemus]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jEzRvrpkku8/UiTUvFMvrJI/AAAAAAAAA2U/Uwtdnj5JaMQ/s640/game1-title.gif

 

 

 

PRELUDE

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eJlcxioXpGo/Uih36gopBBI/AAAAAAAAA2k/gzM39ud6QKg/s640/space-battle.gif

In the growing dusk the raid had begun.  A shadowy figure clad in ceramite and a robe, the Knight Master surveyed the grounds. The Ravenwing strike team had hit and intercepted the Hrud cargo ship of the encrypted cogitation keys and they had landed here on this feudal planet. Cogitation keys rumored to contain three names, and three locations. With these names and locations the Chapter of the Dark Angels could become a little purer, and their sins absolved in some small measure. That, the Knight master knew, was worth any sacrifice. The problem was the enemy was here as well, Grey knights led by the infamous Kaldor Draigo. Secreted by imperial agents through back channels and black market purchases the Grey knights must have gotten wind of the cogitators and their contents. The fragile history of the Chapter, nay, the Legion was at stake if the inquistion decrypted the keys and found the fallen before the Unforgiven. Draigo would love for his Ordo Malleus to uncover what he would surely see as a corruption at the heart of the Chapter. The Dark Angels had only just beaten them here. There could be no allowing Draigo to escape with the cogitators. The Deathwing would have to begin their bloody work...

 

 

 

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J_-mSgupqbI/UiTUu_P1IqI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/Q4xR-gdsrys/s320/mission-1.gif

 

Deployment and mission:

so unfortunately i missed a few pics with this battle so you will have to let your imagination fill in for you at the end a bit.

my opponent was using Blood angel Allies led by a reclusiarch with power fist and maul, Death co. ,a furioso and a Death Co Dread with talons magna grapple, melta gun. At some points i called one of these an ironclad cause of its av13 front armor. 

 

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sg8iRmA7img/UiTUs2JrkxI/AAAAAAAAA1c/GyErGjoIxoM/s640/Balance-Battle-A-d1.gif

 

D1 -  The Crusader and the Godhammer rumble forward. The Landraider fires at the Dreadknight, causing it to lose a single wound.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BCXFbI83Qdw/UiTUuMthO4I/AAAAAAAAA18/5qAAxMApznE/s640/Balance-Battle-A20130825_g1.gif

 

G1 - The rightmost Dreadknight shunts forward and tries to incinerate the librarian, but fails to wound. The Furioso drops in and attempts to use a melta-gun to destroy the crusader, but cant outside melta range cant pen the thick armor. A secondmost empty drop pod also falls behind the tower.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ReraCVmJFFA/UiTUtLAUW4I/AAAAAAAAA1g/KjfqJT64u5Q/s640/Balance-Battle-A-d2.gif

 

D2 - Two sets of terminators teleport in using Belial's beacon. The right most terminators drop behind the tower, while the left try to pen the furioso using their assault cannon. The Crusader plinks a hull point off the Furioso using the multimelta, stunning it. The Godhammer blasts a few wounds off the Dreadknight while its prescienced deathwing troops charge from asault ramp to the nearby dreadknight. The intial swipe by the dreadknight crushes four terminators, but i only get one wound in, leaving the dreadknight with one wound. (Meanwhile i forgot to use the prescienced attack re-rolls! Gaaah!)

 

G2  - In the following turn the rest of the enemy troops teleport onto the battle field. Draigo and several paladins appear, as well as the final drop pod carrying the ironclad dreadnaught, but two mishaps occur. One causing me to place it into into the farthest corner (on my side of the table, which i would regret,) the other making the paladin go back into reserves. The Death Co. emerge and fire on the central terminators along with anything else that can. The Dreadknight on the left finishes off the final terminator in assault.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-51nvdEx_hA8/UiTUtL-2bkI/AAAAAAAAA1o/lgdN8YOjJEc/s640/Balance-Battle-A-d3.gif

 

D3 - The next turn the Deathwing start to press the advantage. The Godhammer  unleashes a full barrage eliminating the Dreadknight, while the Crusader fires on the Death company, uses its machine spirit to destroy the ironclad. Central terminators jump back into the Godhammer for protection. In the assault phase the blocking droppod is assaulted by the terminators. The Deathwing knights emerge and go to charge the Death Co. but sadly, fail their charge.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m6f2lPiicYg/UiTUtiqnF7I/AAAAAAAAA10/06ff3FfBEE4/s640/Balance-Battle-A-g3.gif

 

G3 - The Grey Knight and the Blood Angels enact swift retribution, the Death Co. fire on the DWKnights, while the Dreadknight jumps forward to incinerate and then assault the exposed terminators. luckily it flubs it first attacks and takes several wounds from powerfists. The Death Co. and furioso assault and destroy the DWKnights, while the far relic is claimed by a paladin.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IfZI001HCok/UiTUuS-uk3I/AAAAAAAAA2I/TTlHyX0KlyQ/s640/Balance-Battle-Ad4.gif

 

D4 - The Crusader fires on the Death Co. and destroys the Furioso. The Godhammer fires on the paladin but cant wound and penetrate. Belial risks trying to kill the reclusiarch charges from the Crusader, and with the aid of the librarian fell the dreadknight.

 

G4 - the far paladin its relic contained moves away towards the corner. another paladin on in the right near corner hides behind some rocky out cropping. A nearby paladin charges the Crusader and destroys it with one swing of his demon hammer. draigo and the last paladin retreat with the central relic.

 

D5 - The Godhammer attempts to fire on the far fleeing paladin but night has descended and the paladin is out of range of its guns, the other paladin with draigo loses a wound but survives due to majority toughness of five. the librarian zooms to get linebreaker while the one group of terminators assault the drop pod and the other group move towards draigo and his fellows. Attempting the assault both are killed.

 

G5 - the lone far paladin tries to retreat further. draigo hides. in combat the reclusiarch kills off belial with swing of his powerfist.

 

D6 - the god hammer tries to shoot at draigo but cant get through the storm shield.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mAI1_DcY_Pc/UiTUt747ypI/AAAAAAAAA2A/8TzSPpVNP7U/s640/Balance-Battle-A-g6.gif

 

G6 - the grey knights roll for the final turn and win.

 

GK - 2obj (6pts) + WL + Linebreak + FB
DA - 1obj (3pts) + Linebreak

 

Librarian Bellerophon closed his eyes and layed his hands to Belial, using the ancient phrases to cocoon the leader into a swath of protective stasis. The loss of the two cogitators was a terrible shame on the 1st company, he knew they would all die before they allowed the grey knights to achieve victory here. Yet he had one important bit of insight that his fellows did not, he knew that the grey knights, and especially Draigo were bound by imperial doctrine and procedure. This could be used to the Dark angels advantage. It was likely that a small squad would be used to carry the information to a psychic relay point, so that the cogitators could be unlocked and logic engines used to decrypt them. This would permit a chance to win back the cogitators. As he signalled the battle barge, Claw of Retribution, he inwardly smiled. The next few weeks would be busy ones for the Ravenwing.

 

Conclusions - 

Close but no bannana. having never fought grey knights before i think i actually did ok, though my target priority was probably a little off.

Successes

i was pretty successful dealing with dreadknights which was a necessity since he rolled for them to become troops at the outset. each of them were killed quite easily as they only have 4 wounds which is a nice change after having fought vs so many tyranid creatures.

the force stayed compact and had a good strategy which was only foiled but a drop pod which clogged up the terrain and was quite annoying to get around. this prevented problems with getting to the central relic.

 

Errors

Having forgotten to use prescience vs the first dread knight was pretty poor mistake, had i done so i may have been able to kill him out right, and saved the lascannons for paladins the following turn.

I think that i rolled for difficult terrain incorrectly during the DWK assault. i was counting the drop pod ramp as difficult but probably should not have done so. had i been able to take out the death Co. on that turn it would have left a lot more options. 

probably should have used belial vs draigo. I think in a list like this he may be better with a TH/SS combo.

 

while there are probably more points this is probably a good start.

[Master Avoghai]

Is someone may tell me WHY, in the holy name of the Emperor, GW never made battle reports like that?

 

Brilliant!

[Dread]

That was AWESOME and yeah why didn't they. I enjoyed the report very much, thanks.

[facmanpob]

Always enjoy reading your comedy batreps!

[Raztalin]

Really good and fun read!!

[thade]

That is a stellar style for a batrep.

[LokisSword]

Polythemus: Thanks for the battle report, it's actually the first post in nearly 12 months that's made me login and comment.

I've been reading your battle reps for a long time and always enjoyed them. As someone who doesn't get to play much I really enjoy the effects/style of the report as it makes everything very clear to understand...

Without wanting to sound too hyperbolic, good job - please carry on!

[Polythemus]

thanks for all the kind words folks. makes for an awesome feeling to know hard work pays off with your compliments.

[Grand Master Caloth]

You are right, forgetting Prescience is painful... and yes, i personally believe THSS Belial is a better option

[Goat Rider]

Awesome Job!  I really enjoyed that.  Especially the "I tripped" part when you failed the charge ;)

Please feel free to continue making these :)

[Brother Maxwell]

Amazing work mate!

Looking forward to game 2 heh~