Iron hands battle reports: new bat rep 2/23 (Page 6)

[Kierdale]

Thanks for taking the time to write up the last report too. Sounds like it was a nasty one. :(

A fair point you have about sternguard over Ironclads there. Will up be trying that swap in the future?

 

Please do post more battle reports!

[Axagoras]

Thanks you Kierdale, I think I might of had it if I had used the melta pod to also go after the bastion and catch his warlord running out of it. And I have been writing up more 1500 pods lists atm but in a 1750 the sternguard are worth it.

[Frogstar168]

Great batreps, Axagoras.  Well-written and shows drop pod tactics practically.  Thanks for sharing.

[Axagoras]

no problem, if you have any questions on using pods feel free to PM me. The biggest thing to remember is when running a bunch of pods is dont wuss out. Just go for it, you cant afford to sit back or deploy away. Go for it and watch the enemy fall like chaff before the scythe :D

[Axagoras]

Last night I decided to test out the escalation rules vs a good friend of mine who plays chaos marines. Rolled emperors will and standard deployment.

Iron hands:
Chapter master Axagoras
w/ bike, shield eternal, thunder hammer, digital weapons

2x 5 tactical marines with plasma guns, combi plasmas in a TL lascannon razerback
6 space marine bikes w/ 2 grav guns and combi grav

Storm talon w/ lascannons

Devastator squad with 4 lascannons
Thunderfire cannon
Hunter

Fellblade (demolisher cannon, 2 rapier batteries, tl heavy bolter and TL main gun)


Chaos marines: (one DP, cultist squad and maulerfiend were black legion)
Daemon prince of tzeentch in power armor with ML 3 and spell familiar (got fnp on gifts)
Daemon prince of tzeentch with black mace in power armor with ML 3 and spell familiar (got an extra wound on gifts)

3x 10 cultists
 

2 helldrakes

4 maulerfiends

Shield generator with 3 void shields (shooting anything within 12 inches of it hits the void shields first

Deployment:

I won the roll and deployed my devastators and TFC in a ruin with good line of sight and hid the rhinos behind it. Chapter master and his bikers were put on the line and the hunter took cover behind a nearby ruin to wait for the helldrakes. I placed the fellblade where I felt it would be able to have the most field of fire. His deployment was all 4 maulerfiends in good cover or behind a ruin/los and the 2 center ones were in the void shields range along with the daemons. And the cultists were standing around the objective and 1 squad was in the ruin on the left.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%201/Deployment.png

Turn 1:

All maulerfiends moe their 12 inches ignoring the effects of cover and get some nice runs off, now the maulerfiend on the right will get to my fellblade and theres nothing I can do about it but I will have to weather the storm. non mace DP flies and does the extra move ability to get into my line while the cultists move forward.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%201/Topofturn1.png

On my turn the biker and razerbacks move to engage the lead daemon prince while the hunter moves to get away from the mauler fiend. the fellblade rumbles forward and prepares to fire at the maulerfiend it can see but hold fire. The devastators aim for the void shield to strip its protection away form the traitors hiding behind it, succeeding in downing 2 shields leaving 1 left. Now the fellblade fires, both rapiers at the void shield generator downing the last shield leaving the traitors in the open. Demolisher cannon scores a direct hit on the maulerfiend and hits 4 cultists as the fellblade main gun also scores a direct hit on the same spot hitting 7 cultists (7 inch blast) and the maulerfiend. As the dust clears the daemon engine is no more and only 1 cultist still stands. The thunderfire cannon targets the cultists in the left ruin with the airbursting fragmentation shell managing to kill all but the cultist champion leaving 2 1 man cultist squads who hold their ground vs all odd. the razorbacks fire at the daemon prince getting a hit but failing to do a wound or ground it. Realizing the daemon needs to be brought down or all will be lost Axagoras rallied his men scoring 3 hits on the flying daemon and even though only 1 wound was scored the fusillade was enough to bring the abomination to the ground where the bikes assaulted it. In the challenge my chapter master was only able to deal 2 wounds to it leaving it at 1 while the daemon caused 1 wound on my chapter master but his self repair systems were more thne enough to overcome it. I won combat but he was holding me in combat for the rest of his army to charge in on turn 2, emperor protect me.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%201/Bottomofturn1.png

Turn 2:

On his turn 1 helldrake flew in right to my devastators hitting all 5 with with baleflamer yet proving the flesh truly is weak only 2 battle brothers died (2 1s to wound and 1 passed fnp) his maulerfiend on the right moves right next to the fellblade while the other 2 along with the black mace dp ready to multi assault Axagoras and his bodyguards. But before they could charge a miracle happens, the daemon prince at one wound tried to cast some blasphemous sorceries on his prey and succeeded in casting it but suffered perils of the warp and got pulled back to the warp screaming in rage. The commanding daemon enraged at seeing his brother already sent back to the warp sent in the maulerfiends first to soak up the overwatch (since they were no longer engaged in CC) yet proving their worth on yet another battlefield 2 grav shots hit and a lucky 6 ground a maulerfiend to a halt before it could get into cc while the other failed its 8 inch charge (rolled a 5 and a 2, rerolled the 2 for a 1). The other maulerfiend assaulted the fellblade dealing 2 HP of damage to it and missed with the magma cutter. The surviving daemon seeing his plans in disarray charged into the iron hands and the next challenge begins. From warp speed and scoring a 6 on the black mace he had 13 attacks, with hatred scored 12 hits and 11 wounds. The shield eternal, as strong as it is can only prevent so much damage before failing, letting 4 wounds through to Axagoras. While damage like that would lay any other marine low be it Calgar or Lysander, Iron hands are much harder to kill, passing 1 6+ fnp to leave him bloodied but still standing to hit back dealing 2 wounds leaving the daemon at 3 wounds. The black maces toughness test effect killed 1 biker watching

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%201/Topofturn2.png

On my turn the fellbalde backed up to bring all guns to bear on the maulerfiend who dared attack such a proud war machine. The razerbacks backed up from the maulerfiend and with help from the devastators destroyed the infernal machine. The hunter missed its target but the fellblade struck true, leaving nothing left of its prey. The Thunderfire cannon fired at the immobilized maulerfiend scattering onto the daemon in the combat scoring 2 hits and causing 1 wound to help out the his master. In combat the daemon and master both fought on equal footing at I1. His armies in ruin the daemon channeled the power of the black mace but the powers of chaos are fickle indeed, after being blessed with the full power of the mace and fialing tokill his prey the mace rebelled causing the daemon to fight at WS 1 yet still managed to deal 4 wounds to Axagoras while he retaliated with 4 wounds of his own. The 2 giants one shimmering and smoking as it struggled to maintain connection to the material world while the other in battle scared black armor oozing numerous liquids both connected with their mauls at the same time shattering each other. As Axagoras fell he saw the daemon dematerialize back to face a very displeased master, as his bionics shut down 1 after the other. It would take many long months before the techmarines would be able to rebuild his body but the battle was won within acceptable loss parameters. (Opponent conceded and I don’t blame him, but it also let me get another game in that night as well)

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%201/Bottomofturn2.png

Game 2:

After the game vs my chaos friend a elder player asked to play vs my escalation list and since that game finished early I accepted. We rolled lengthwise deployment and once again got emperors will (forgot to put the objectives down in the pictures but mine was near the thundrefire cannon and his was where his guardians were. They didn’t play much effect on the game)

Eldar list:
2 spirit seers, one on a jetbike with some supgrades, both got the usual elder powers, so lots of rerolls

3 Guardian jetbikes
20 Guardians with a wave serpent
10 Dire avengers with a wave serpent

9 warp siders with exarch
Crimson hunter

3 war walkers with starcannons
There were a couple of other upgrades scattered throughout the army.

Deployment:
He won the roll to deploy first and set up his guardians with a farseer in the ruin on his side of the board with his the wraithknight and a serpent full of dire avengers next to it. The warp spiders and the jetbikes hid behind the ruin near the empty wave serpent and the war walker. I deployed the razerbacks behind the central ruin and had the bikes hug the ruin wall to keep them alive. I put the devs in area terrain and the thunder fire in the run by the objective. And fellblade took up a position where it would see most of the board.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Deployment.png

Turn 1:
His forced all advanced, wraithknight jumped to the next ruin as the guardians charged forward. The war walkers scouted then moved up to get in range of the devastators along with the wave serpent. Jetbikes and warp spiders played it safe. The serpent with the dire avengers fired its scatter laser and star cannon at the Thunderfire dealing 4 wounds and I failed 2 armor saves killing the gun (I really should of hid it behind the ruin, still used to needing LOS). And the war walkers poured 24 twin linked s6 shots at the devastator squad dealing 18 wounds but I passed all but 2 saves keeping 3 lascannons alive. And his warlord wraithknight used the escalation warlord trait for 1 turn of ap 1 on its guns but rolled snake eyes to pen. And the southern serpent rolled really poorly causing no damage to the razerbacks

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Topofturn1.png

On my turn the bikes lurched out of cover to move on the elder line , the fellblade moved up and the hunter moved to get a shot at the serpent near the guardians. The Techmarine ran behind the fellblade for cover and the razerbacks crept out of cover and with the devastators destroyed the southern wave serpent. The hunter missed the northern wave serpent. The fellblade blasted away at the wraithknight with all of its guns only causing 1 wound to it but dealing some serious damage to the guardians, but hope was not lost the bikers fired through the ruin at the towering wraith construct dealing 7 wounds to it and bringing it down to 1 wound. Just as the elder thought the wraithknioght would live another turn to cause some serious harm a orbital strike slammed onto it. DIRRECT HIT!. Crumbling the monster and killing a few more guardians.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Bottomofturn1.png

Turn 2:
On my opponents turn the surviving wave serpent moved back while the guardians moved up to get in firing range on the bikes. The war walkers moved to engage the devastators while the warp spiders jumped into weapon range by the bikes. Jetbikes with the warlord laid low. The war walkers wiped out the surviving devastators without a fight. Then the guardians, warp spiders and the wave serpent fired everything (short of the serpent shield) into the bikers putting a wound on the chapter master and killing 4 of his bodyguards leaving the 2 grav guns alive. The warp spiders then jumped 11 inches back into the ruin to stay in cover.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Topofturn2.png

On my turn the storm talon arrived and flew over to back up the tactical marines in razorbacks. Axagoras moved up to either charge the guardians or the dire avengers if I could crack open the transport while the bikes went after the warp spiders. The fellblade moved up and shot the raipers into the waver serpent for 1 hullpoint, the demolisher cannon at the guardians and killed 2, then the main gun hit 7 warp spiders in the ruin, wounded 5 and only killed 1. The grav guns on the bikes were just as effective leaving 7 warp spiders alive. The storm talon along with the razerbacks cracked open 2 war walkers. My chapter master charged the surviving guardians, declared a challenge to the farseer who promptly declined. Guardians got no wounds through the artificers armor and Axagoras pulped 4 guardians who held.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Bottomofturn2.png

Turn 3:
His crimson hunter flew on form the center of his deployment zone then turned to try to stay out of most weapon range. Jet bikes move up with the lone war walker and the 7 warp spiders get a long range jump to get next to the bikers. In the shooting phase the crimson hunter blows the assault cannon off the storm talon (2 misses and a 1 to pen). And the warwalker deals 2 glances to the lead razerback. To everyones surprise the warp spiders hold their fire and charge the bikers instead, and kill one in the combat. My chapter master succeeds in killing 3 more guardians and then sweeps the squad, ready to move on the warp spiders tying up the lone biker.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Topofturn3.png

On my turn the chapter master moves to charge the warp spiders and the fellblade moves up to get shots at the wave serpent. The razerbacks move up and dorp off their cargo of 2 tactical squads in front of the advancing farseer and his bodyguards. In the shooting phase the storm talon stuns the crimson hunter and the hunter finally getting a hit in gets a pen knocking it out of the sky. Razerbacks deal 1 hullpoint to the surviving war walker and the tactical squads caused 1 wound because of the psychic power where the farseer got to reroll all saves. Fellblade unloads everything at the wave serpent but thanks to a 4+ cover save it only took 1 glance leaving it at 1HP. Axagoras assaults the surviving warp spiders but the exarch ran to meet the threat head on… and got squished under the weight of the bike (hammer of wrath). No other casualties were caused but the warp spiders rolled a 6 to hit and run forcing them to spend 2 round of CC with the chapter master. At this point my opponent called the game so 2 wins in a night isn’t bad for my marines.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/December%20escalation%20game%202/Bottomofturn3.png

So those were my experiences with escalation. A fellblade really didn’t carry too much weight. First game it killed 9 cultists, and 2 mauler fiends and in game 2 it did a hp to the serpent, a wound to the wraithknight, killed 1 warp spider and a handful of guardians. Far short of blowing away the opponent in 1 or 2 salvos.

[Axagoras]

Game 2 is up.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a Fellblade armanent like and armour like? I'm going to assume its a Forgeworld unit. It seems to have weaponry rivalling or better than a Land Raider Crusader since you describe it taking down cultists as well as maulerfiend vehicles.

 

Btw, thanks for your excellent battle reports. Its really great to finally read about a Space Marine player actually playing well and knows how to use his units. Youtube is full of battle reports of idiotic Space Marine players losing not due to bad rolling but to horrendous tactics. Like dropping his Captain and Command Squad right in the middle of three Dire Avengers Squad, a Guardian Squad and Vaul batteries and expect the Storm Shields he put on all of them to save them.

[Axagoras]

its pretty much a bs 4 baneblade with 3 extra hull points and the main gun has 2 fire modes, a large HE 7 inch and a Anti vehicle 3 inch blast with armor bane not sure if I can give more stats without violating policy, also as a super heavy vehicle it can fire each gun at different targets. And it is a over 500 point lord of war model which I figured I would test out because escalation is the new rule set. But thank you kasper, it means a lot to hear that and if you have any advice for suggestions im always more then welcome to listen to them.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Just keep playing Space Marines competently. :) And if possible, defeat if not smash all your enemies. After all, subtleties isn't IH strong point. Pity I'm not an IH fan, but like it or not, they've probably the second best chapter tactics after the Ultramarines. (White Scars/Imperial fists third, Salamanders/Raven Guard fourth IMHO)

 

Wow, 500 points for a superheavy! Makes me wonder what would have happened if you had replaced that normal Codex Space Marine units. I've read about the new escalation rules as well as Titans and Superheavies with D weapons capable of wiping whole units in one turn. Not to question your victory, but for once I wonder if the game was a little lopsided since the Eldar player didn't seem to have a lot of anti-armour on his side. The Chaos player on the other hand, should have had no trouble killing the Felblade but if I read correctly, rolled badly for the magma cutter and did not focus enough of his forces to kill the Fellblade.

 

Still, in refernce to the 3 games on the first page, I'm still very glad you played with your head and not with your toys, utilizing the best of your tools to keep objectives and contest them. Even the one where you lost to the eldar (game 3 I think), you were making him work for it. I hope you will continue to post great reports like this but if I have a prejudice, I hope you will continue to use normal codex units as opposed to forgeworld units. I won't even mind if you use allies, as long as its not something against fluff like allying with Tau. Yes I know in the allies system they are battle brothers but seriously? An Iron Hand calling a Tau ally?

 

Somebody obviously forgot about the Damocles Crusade. Either that or the Iron Hand commander who was one of the ruling council of that crusade alongside the White Scars veteran sergeant, is dead or senile.

[Axagoras]

Why dont you like forgeworld units if you dont mind me asking? And im working on a small addeptus machanicus forcd to use the rules of tau, very early in the design process but using guard tech preists as a firewarrior commander and stuff like that

[librisrouge]

These games seem to confirm my suspicion that Escalation isn't going to be the problem, strength D weapons are. The Fellblade was impressive but not game breaking by the least. A proper focus by the Chaos for could have eliminated it and the Eldar could have Wraithknighted it (its a verb, look it up :)) except that Gravguns happened. I think that any tournament that bans Escalation should look into simply banning D-Weapons. My typical army can likely handle any non-D weapon super heavy and I don't think an army is competitive that can't.

[Kasper_Hawser]

To be honest, I'm not a 40K tabletop player, I got interested after playing the Dawn of War computer game series in 2006 and from there delved into the fluff. Much much later, I then began to observe the tabletop games, even buying a few codexes just for reading material. In the last few years I've been following blogs of the changes in 40K and basically self taught myself 40K.

 

From an outsider point of view, I understand that Games Workshop is a miniature companies that aims to sell as many models as possible, the game itself and its balance being the gravy on the main course so to speak. That being said, the general mood I get from most blogs seem to be "GW doesn't care bout balance, just sell as many models as possible". To me, the Allies system, the Inquisition Codex, Forgeworld and now Force Formations seems to be aimed so that people buy models that are not even part of their normal army in order to be competitive.

 

I'm not sure where I read, but one particular blogger wrote a very interesting article where the main dissension about Warhammer 40K is the difference between players who play Competitvely and those who play according to fluff.

 

Long story cut short, I'm not familiar with Forgeworld and escalation stuff, so maybe that's the main reason why I don't like seeing them thrown into the mix. It's hard enough keeping track of all the normal codex units without adding Forgeworld which I can't easily find the details and stats off on the net.

 

Just my opinion as a fluff bunny. Like I said, in the end I still think you won fair and square in your victories and where you lost, you still played well. As in everything else, its how you play the game that makes you a great person, not whether you win or not.

[Kasper_Hawser]

On the flip side, I understand that Forgeworld helps some of the older codexes, like my personal favourite Space Wolves, cope with 6th Edition as I think they are the only army without anti air or an air unit. In that area, I don't entirely disdain Forgeworld and agree it can help ageing codexes keep up with 6th edition.

[Axagoras]

When I run forge world its usually 1 unit like a contemptor dreadnought or a relic whirlwind. Or I run a full fw list like a siege vanguard but for those I always ask a friend ahead of time. But I agree with that point, with the main codex, the allies, the inquisition, dataslates, esclation and stronghold assault thats 6 lists you can get units from

[altheaftermath]

Where do you find the rules for that fellblade you're running?

[greggles]

Great battle reports!  Do you have any photos of the fellblade?

[Axagoras]

The rules for a fellblade are in the new IA 2v2 and also in IA apoc. And I was just running a baneblade as a counts as fellblade. It was more of some new rules came out and a friend and I wanted to see how it played out with a super heavy.

[Axagoras]

working on a recent tournament I went to and finished 3rd out of 14 players. Fought against a guard fortress castle, a eldar list with wraiths, jet bikes and serpents, oh my and to finish it off it was a ultramarine pod list. hopefully will get the games posted in the coming games.

[Axagoras]

The local FLGS hosted their monthly tournament yesterday (LVO prep event) and after the dust cleared I ended up in 3rd place. As usual I was representing space marines with my iron hands force (although every game I wished I was using star phantoms tactics but im just as stubborn as the primarch)

my 1750 list as follows:

Chapter master Axagoras
Artificers armor, shield eternal, bike, digital weapons, thunderhammer and an auspex

5 space marine bikes with 2 grav guns and a combi grav

4x 5 tactical marines with a plasma gun and a combi plasma in a drop pod

3x 5 sternguard with a heavy flamer, a melta gun and 3 combi meltas in a drop pod (1 squad had a standard marine instead of a heavy flamer)

4 hyperios platforms

Stalker AA tank

Game 1:

Deployment was hammer and anvil with the primary objective being the scouring while the secondary objective was purge the alien. Table had some trenchworks and a forest on each side of the board with a large LOS blocking hill in the center. My opponent was playing imperial guard with the fortress of redemption playing a large role in his army.

his list consisted of:

1 Company command squad

2x Infantry platoons with 1 platoon command squad, 2 infantry platoons each and 1 had 3 heavy weapon teams with lascannons.

Guardsman marbo

1 Vendetta

2 Leman russ battle tanks (seperate)
2 griffions and 1 basilisk (in 1 squad)

fortress of redemption with krakstorm and 4 heavy bolters

Deployment:
He won the roll for sides and set up his fortress where the forest was removing it from the board. My warlord trait was to reroll reserve rolls and his was units near the warlord use their leadership. The way his fortress was deployed and how building work, since you cant assault into a section if its occupied, and if you destroy it it becomes impassable there would be no way for me to reach his artillery park. I won the roll to deploy and set up in a defensive position to try and limit the damage that his artillery could do and preventing the heavy weapon teams form getting shots on my men. The hyperios went in area terrain, the stalker on the hillside to try and get up top and make snap shots at the artillery as last resort while Axagoras and his bodyguards set up on the line ready to charge at the fortress. He deployed his leman russes off to the side in an attempt to draw AT fire off the fortress and to hit my units around the hill, and he set up the artillery battery behind the fortress. The 2 side bunkers of the fortress each had a platon command squad, the front rampart had 20 guardsmen with a lord commissar, below them were the 3 heavy weapon teams, in the main tower were the other 20 guardsmen and the company command was at the top of the fortress. The vendetta and marbo were in reserve.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Deployment.png

Turn 1:
DEATH FROM THE SKIES. I bring in my 3 sternguard squads and 1 plasma tactical squad right on his line. The sternguard without a heavy flamer went after the leman russes, while the other 2 each would take on the bunkers with the platoon command squads in them, the plan being to flame them out of it then march right on in turn 2. tactical squad landed right in front of the main rampart to draw fire off the sternguard. The bikers moved up and the stalker moved 12 inches nearing the summit and fails to damage the lead battle tank. The isolated sternguard quickly turned 1 tank into a smoking wreck and hopefully enough would survive the 2nd ones blast to remove it form the field of battle. The sternguard squads at the flanks of the fortress impedatly find there's a small problem with their plans... there are no fire points to flame into on the side bunkers. If the Iron Hands wouldn't be getting into the bunkers the traitors wouldn't be getting out, and 4 melta guns made short work of the bunkers and the hapless squads trapped inside. The tactical squad now being in a bad position and not really having a good answer to the current situation shot up the guardsmen on the top of the rampart, only manageing to get one before the guardsmen were ordered to ground. Chapter master Axagoras recived an urgent coms request from his sternguard on the front line "Forgive my weakness sir, the bastions side bunkers proved impenetrable and we will not be able to silence the enemy's heavy guns within acceptable time parameters, requesting high level orbital assets to be deployed". "Granted" said Axagoras in his monotone voice, switching coms channels over to the battle barge Omnissiah's Glory in orbit "FIRE ON MY TARGET". A blinding light slammed into the ground behind the fortress, a direct hit. 2 traitor artillery peices lay in ruin and the bastions main tower shook from the force of the explosion killing 1 guardsmen in the tower and 2 of the company commanders bodyguards.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn1.png

The traitor commander seeing his fortress begining to crumble screamed out "GET BACK INTO THE FIGHT, KILL THE STERNGUARD". The surviving guardsmen reapeared on the ramparts once again, lit up the southern sternguard squad killing 3 battle brothers including the melta gun. The surviving griffon blasted the northern sternguard squad but their power armor held true, but the tactical squad was not so lucky. The 3 lead marines were reduced to dust by the lascannon teams. The surviving battle tank avenged its brother and killed 3 sternguard but this time the melta gun survived.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn1.png

Turn 2:
On my turn with my rerolls I kept 2 tactical squads on reserve and brought in 1 into the breach behind the fortress of redemption and blew off the griffons gun with their plasma guns. The northern sternguard squad moved into position and collapsed the rampart killing all but 1 heavy weapon team underneath it and managing to kill 1 of the guardsmen on top of it. the surviving sternguard and drop pods thinned out the horde and the stalker popped the surviving heavy weapon team. The sternguard in the south shot and assaulted the leman russ but only managed 2 hull points of damage on it. The chapter master and his squad turbo boosted up to join the fight. The 2 surviving tactical marine charged into the guardsmen to tie them up for at least a turn, but only the Sergent made in into cc, killing 1 guardsmen but the commissar held the line.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn2.png

The enemies air support arrived but came in on a vector to stay out of the hyperios defense platforms range and killed 1 of the southern sternguard. The griffon turned around and ripped into the tactical squad with its heavy bolter killing 1. The battle tank in the south made a cross map shot into the surviving sternguard killing all but the melta gunner. Guardsmen marbo showed up behind the bikers and tossed his demo charge killing the 3 rear bikers. In the assault phase the marine punched another guardsman down but was dragged down by the sheer number of them. They consolidated out 6 inches.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn2.png

Turn 3:
With the enemies hard hitting guns silenced it was time to bring in my troops and the last 2 pods crashed down in my line on the objectives. The surviving sternguard in the south blasted apart the leman russ battle tank and the surviving bikers turned back to avenge the fallen leaving a gory mess of sly marbo. The tactical marine behind the fortress blasted at the griffon only doing a hullpoint of damage. The drop pods and the 2 remaining sternguard continued to put down the traitors while the last surviving melta gun by the fortress blasted apart the final part. The tower came crashing down killing the comany command squad on top of it, and with all other exits leading into impassable terrain the surviving guardsmen in the tower had to jump for it. Of the 19 that made the jump only 4 lived, guess 15 bodies softens a fall nicely. Chapter master Axagoras blasted straight through the trench-works into the survivors running straight over his first victim. At the sight of their comrades in arms dieing all around them the guard Sergent turned and made a break for it but only made it 2 steps before the commissar shot him in the back.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Topofturn3.png

The rest of the game consisted of the 4 guardsmen charging the marines behind the fortress, killing 2 before the marines ended their heretical existence then removed the girffon from the board. vendetta blew the gun off the stalker and lost another hullpoint from the hyperios. The 2 bikers moved onto the objective to claim it while my chapter master kept smashing apart the guardsmen until it was just the commissar left, sorrounded by the broken bodies of his followers while the gore slicked armor of the chapter master showed not even a scratch. The commissar screamed "THE EMPEROR PROTECTS" Axagoras raised the hammer above his head and responded "the Emperor protects... his own" and the hammer fell.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac344/papuan2/January%20hobby%20town%20tournament/Bottomofturn3toendgame.png

End result was a win for the primary objective of the scouring 3-0, win for the secondary objective of kill points, 11+ to 2, and with first blood, slay the warlord and line breaker to line breaker it ended 10-1. FOR THE OMNISSIAH. Next up, round 2 vs eldar with serpent, wraiths, and spiders oh my

[greggles]

Wow...what an awesome report. Your drop pod army is spectacular against someone who tries to do the old leaf blower style list with stronghold support. I could imagine had he faced an army without as many deep striking assets, the battle would have gone quite differently. Instead, his fortress became his tomb.

[tylertt]

Excellent quality in your batreps, enjoyed reading all of them. Best of luck to you in your upcoming matches.

[Axagoras]

Thank you, its always nice to see people enjoying them. To be honest if that orbital bombardment had missed I would be in serious trouble, but if 1 heavy flamer survived im pretty sure I might of had a chance. Flame the fire port and toss a krak grenade in it, and hopefully kill the heavy weapon teams and run a squad inside. Otherwise the walls might of become my tomb. And Greggles I would love to see some more of your battle reports, there a nice contrast to mine.

[greggles]

I have a 2v2 daemon dark eldar, BT/necron one I'm working on.  As you know, they take so much time :).  Got a new camera but having some issues with the lenses.  Though I could make do with a 35mm, really need a wider lens to capture the entire table in one shot.  40k problems!

[Axagoras]

nice I cant wait to see that one up, and yea they can take a while. especially when you cant remember how turns 2-4 went because of all the carnage or how exactly everything fit together since your opponent and you both brought 7 pods each and decided only 1 photo would be enough

[Kierdale]

Excellent to read more of your battle reports!

At first I was surprised by the cheekiness of that IG fortress tactic but, as greggles said and you proved, it doesn't stand up to a drop-heavy list. Nice work.