Konor Week 2: Prot's Ultramarines vs. Deathguard (Pics)

[Prot]

I played quite a few games this week but perhaps most fittingly this game was the most bloody....

I don't think it gives much away to show this pivotal moment:

++ The smell of burning garbage rips through the air. The Deathguard have found some dark means to flank the Ultramarines. Somehow Typhus has waded through death and destruction, but Calgar waits in anticipation. Not only would the outcome of this fight pretty much dictate the game's outcome, but it would be perhaps the mist bizarre finish to a game I've had in 8th edition. ++

The Game:

- We decided to skip Maelstrom and give the Open War deck a try (this was my first time, but not my opponent's).

- The scenario required basic kill points based on the Power Level of what you killed.

- The "Twist" required us to set up our forces into Three Segments. Only one segment could be deployed on the table to start. That segment could not be larger than half of the units in the army.

An interesting way to play. The other thirds of the army would come in one segment at a time in turn 2-3. The game would end in Turn 5 based on the most kill points.

The Armies: (from memory)

- Deathguard:

2 units of Plague Marines (blightlauncher/plasma each, champ with Fist each)

1 Pred annihilator

Typhus

Sorcerer

2 larger units of Poxwalkers

medium sized squad of Terminators

2 Helbrutes

- Ultramarines:

Calgar

Techmarine

Primaris LT

2 x Redemptor Dreads

2 x Intercessor Squads

1 x Dev Squad (3 missiles)

5 Termies

1 x Scouts

1 Typhoon Speeder

1 x Helbasters

1 Ancient Primaris (Emperor Ascendant)

3 x Inceptors

Setup/First Turns:

Deathguard get to go first. Ultramarines fail to steal the initiative.

The Deathguard Segment deployed across the middle including the Pred Annihilator at the back.

+ The Deathguard start the unending march in search of reinforcing the Poxwalkers. +

- The Deathguard start moving forwards, and advancing Pox Walkers. Psychic powers make the Poxwalkers harder to hit. In the shooting phase the shots are split up and the main targets are obviously the Redemptors. The Deathguard note the ability of the Techmarine and split wounds up between the two Redemptors. The shooting is quite strong, and lascannons threaten to rip the Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon apart.

+ The Techmarine only repairs 1 wound. The heavily damaged Redemptor unloads his Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon into the hordes. +

- Ultramarines try to keep the front guard running, but the HOG Redemptor takes 11 wounds in T1, and only repairs one. The other Redemptor with Macro Plasma takes 3 wounds.

- Calgar's aura is inspiring, the Ultramarines hold firm and realize that the Deathguard will have reinforcements and must take down as many Poxwalkers as possible or they will be tied up and defenseless to Typhus' endless advance.

- A great deal of Pox walkers are wiped out. The Gatling Cannons on the Redemptors still can't finish off a single squad of the Poxwalkers. The Disgustingly Resilient rolls are perhaps average, but the heavy firepower has no bearing on their saves.

- Macroplasma Redemptor splits fire, and only gets one shot, and fails to touch the Predator. The Dev squad steps up to the plate and the missiles rip through the Predator, with the help of a command point being spent on the damage roll... barely killing the tank.

+ The Deathguard are reinforced! Helbrutes waddle in off the western flank which would mean certain death for the Dev squad (my best performers thus far.)+

- Deathguard start advancing hard, but the Helbrutes do not hit that well.... Ultramarines are lucky and will have a brief moment to react to the western breach.

- Poxwalkers advance again, and are just outside of assault range.

- The psychics start again, and Ultramarines have no way to defend and a few mortal wounds are dished out to the Redemptor. (3). This causes the Ultramarines to initiate the Strategum that lets them take 5++ rolls against Mortal Wounds. The defiant Redemptor saves 2 out of the 3 mortal wounds. Unfortunately the other Redemptor would fall to Smite.

- As mentioned the Helbrute shots put some wounds into the Typhoon but it is still operational, and the rest of the Ultramarines dodge the firepower.

+ Ultramarine reinforcements arrive just in time..... Plasma Helblasters over charge into the impervious Plague Marines! +

- Terminators flash in the middle of the battlefield. The Helblasters roll in from the backfield. Scouts infiltrate deep to flank the second large squad of Poxwalkers.

- Calgar orders targeting priority. The Deathguard are advancing on two fronts. The Helblasters overcharge to get the damage bonus and manage to take down a few Plague Marines but it won't be enough....

- Poxwalkers left in the primary squad are finally gunned down by the remaining Redemptor.

- Scouts and Terminators fail to fully remove the second large squad of Poxwalkers... they continue to march to the thin blue line...

- In the western flank things have become unhinged... Helbrutes are dangerously close, and Plague marines are closing the gap. Everything unloads into the oncoming hordes but the toughness value and resilience is very difficult to overcome.

Mid Game:

+ Intercessors try to... intercede, but are largely cut down by bolters, and plasma death. Helbrutes continue to flank the falling Ultramarines' defences. Calgar tries to hold off the oncoming of Typhus and his Plague Marines... +

- The Intercessors are taken down to the Sergeant. The Typhoon is hanging on by one wound. The Devs have fallen to one Missile launcher marine, and the front lines of the Deathguard are dangerously close to the Ultramarines' edge.

- The psykers unload but fail to buff themselves, however their Smite ability to deal wounds takes down a few Helblasters... but the Ancient and the banner of the Emperor Ascendant have a huge turn and the dying Primaris fire off overcharged plasma death before taking their last breaths... killing 2 more Plague Marines to the dismay of Typhus.

- Poxwalkers in the distance are held up from reinforcing Typhus' front line but the cost to the Ultramarines is high. The Poxwalkers don't go down easily and manage to absorb some Scouts into their ranks!

- Finally the assaults start, and the Helbrutes firing was abysmal but upon charging the speeder, a Helbrute was taken down to one wound in overwatch. The Intercessors are charged by the Western flank but somehow they manage to stay alive for the most part. A Sergant would die but the Ancient would help him fight on one last time, and he would kill one more Plague Marine.

End Game:

- The Terminators and Scouts fall back and fire... still the Poxwalkers live, and add to their numbers....

- The end of last turn sees the Typhoon speeder go down and when the smoke clears it is Typhus and a Helbrute that consolidate towards Marneus Calgar who must now hold the line....

+ The Last Stand: Typhus and a Helbrute break through and Calgar will meet the challenge. The rest of the Ultramarines watch on but have their own hands filled with the last of the Plague Marines. +

- A careful fallback plan is issued, at -1 the re-roll aura from Calgar will not be as helpful, but this is what last stands are about...

- The Helbrute goes down to Intercessor fire, and the Lt. rushes in and slices up a few Plague Marines before he is killed with a fisting Plague Marine!

- All that remains is a few Intercessors, and the Ancient.... and of course Calgar.

- With the Helbrute out of his way, Calgar steps up to Typhus and launches bolt rounds from the Gauntlets of Ultramar into Typhus. They bounce off of his diseased hide to no effect.... the Gauntlets strike first in close combat and all swings find the mark.... and most wounds are taken, but the LT. is dead so will not be able to assist Calgar in this death match. Typhus in incredibly resilient though. He takes a few wounds but with his 4+ invlun, 5+ Disgustingly Resilient, and then a 6+ Warlord Trait save... wow.... so little damage gets through it is amazing.

- Deathguard Turn 5: The Plague marines are encouraged by Typhus' incredible stamina.

- Calgar is "Smited" and takes 3 wounds but halves all damage, taking on 2 wounds instead thus saving his life! Calgar staggers with ONE WOUND LEFT.

- The Intercessors manage to almost kill the remaining Plague marines but they first charge into the Ancient... somehow he stands... barely with 1 wound as the last of the Plague Marine succumb to their wounds.

- The Banner of the Emperor Ascendant still waves with the massively wounded Ancient watching the Calgar/Typhus fight which has become and outright brawl.

- The Poxwalkers charged scouts in the distance, but at this point Ultramarines use 2 CP's to interrupt and Calgar would fight Typhus first!

- Calgars last effort hits home, but it is not enough... with the staggering resilience of Typhus coming through again with a 4++/5++/6++ this leaves him with 2 wounds and still standing!

- Typhus roars in anticipation and cleaves through Calgar. But before he hits the ground the Ancient Banner kicks in propelling Calgar to fight on one last time.... a mortal blow is struck and Calgar's last breaths are spent watching Tyhpus fall in defeat (much to everyone's surprise.)

- The game is essentially over. Calgar and Tyhpus have smashed each other into the ground exchanging Warlord kills. The Plague Marines are all wiped, and only the Sorcerer and some Poxwalkers (chewing on Scout's brains) remain. The Ultramarines somehow prove victorious with some Intercessors, the Ancient, and the Terminators all still alive. I don't think the game could have come down to a more crazy moment then that brawl between Calgar and Typhus!!

[The Wolfguard]

Awesome read Prot, Calgar and Typhus killing each other is bloody epic! That banner is worth its' weight in gold it seems! I'm not familiar with the Konor missions but this sounds really awesome and looks like it was very fun.

 

 

That duel at the end, wow, what an ending!

 

Quick edit: On another note your redemptors look very nice! I like that shading indeed. Your army looks great together, so do the Death Guard!

Edited August 8, 2017 by The Wolfguard

[Ishagu]

Fantastic result :-D

 

Your army progress is coming along nicely too :-)

[Honda]

Once again, an excellent report Prot.

 

I'm curious, what do you think of the Hellblasters? I took two five man squads in my last game, never overcharged them, and initially didn't think they did as well as I thought they would.

 

My opponent seemed to think that they were the one's killing everything he had. :)

 

Go figure.

 

Also, what was your impression of the Redemptors?

[Prot]

 

Quick edit: On another note your redemptors look very nice! I like that shading indeed. Your army looks great together, so do the Death Guard!

 

Thank you. The game was a blast. :)

 

 

Fantastic result :-D

 

Your army progress is coming along nicely too :-)

 

I appreciate it! I've been working non-stop on it almost every spare moment I get. I might be burning out a bit. I don't even think Cawl could paint as much Primaris as I have the last month!

 

 

Once again, an excellent report Prot.

 

I'm curious, what do you think of the Hellblasters? I took two five man squads in my last game, never overcharged them, and initially didn't think they did as well as I thought they would.

 

My opponent seemed to think that they were the one's killing everything he had.

 

Go figure.

 

Also, what was your impression of the Redemptors?

 

I think the Helblasters are best thing about Primaris to be blunt. Unless it really doesn't make sense to, I always overcharge. It's the one ticket I have to get through elites/vehicles. But as people have seen they are a threat and are focused down VERY quickly. I got sick of it and started always using the Ancient, and the Emperor Ascendant.

 

Redemptors.... I hate to say it because I actually really like the models but they are quite a bit worse than I hoped.

 

If I were writing rules for Redemptors I would have had them without a Damage chart like regular Dreadnoughts. 13 wounds is not big enough to support a sliding performance chart at 6 wounds (where a normal dread acts 'fine'.)

 

Once the Redemptor is damaged, you can pretty much forget moving and shooting. The penalty to moving is too harsh, combined with the diminished BS.

 

I -might- understand the diminishing BS if this thing was shooting out a bunch of Grav bombards, or Soulburner Petards with Mortal wounds, but this is different... it's largely a pile of S5 shots.

 

Otherwise they are fun units, and I will continue to use them for a while, but being 100 percent honest I think the contemptor better. It's actually more survivable, and works just as good with 1 wound remaining as it does unwounded.