My first Legions Imperialis game

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Here are my impressions from my first contact with the game but first a few details:

 

Iron Hands (IH; Loyalist) vs. Ash Scorpions (AS; Traitor)

 

Game Mode: Single Player

 

Game Length: Custom

 

Points: around 450 

 

Custom Rules: Infantry only double their movement when performing March orders.

 

Mission: Monument Preservation (Custom)

 

Board: 180 cm x 120 cm. The battlefield was littered with a large amount of massive rocks, rock formations and flat hills.

 

Deployment: Forces deployed along the long table edges. Starting distance was 80 cm.

 

Mission Briefing:

Three monuments (Objectives) were built on flat hills in the Wastelands of New Mars. The first was in the centre of the board, the second on the left flank close to the AS deployment zone and the third on the right flank close to the IH deployment zone. To achieve victory one side had to control more objectives than the other side at the end of turn 4. However it was possible to prematurely score a victory, if one side could control objectives for two consecutive turns though it wasn´t possible to claim objectives in the first turn even when near them.  If the above winning conditions couldn´t be met by either side then the game would be a draw. The Loyalists tried to preserve the monuments while the Traitors tried to defile them.

 

Detachments from left flank to right flank:

IH

1. Contemptor Dreadnoughts (4U; 2 assault Cannons & 2 lascannons)

2. Commander, Tacticals (4U), Assault marines (2U) & Terminators (2U)

3. Predators (3U; full lascannons) & Sicarans (2U; omega plasma arrays & lascannons)

4. Tacticals (4U), Plasma gunners (2U) & Missile launchers (2U)

 

AS

1. Tercios (4U)

2. Malcadors (2U; full lascannons)

3. Ogryns (4U)

4. Legate Commander & Tercios (4U)

5. Leman Russes (4U; Vanquisher turrets & lascannons)

 

 

Battle Report:

I will keep it short and simple. The game lasted for three turns in total and the Iron Hands won by controlling two objectives for two consecutive turns (2nd & 3rd turn; central objective and the one on their right flank).

 

Right Flank:

I was confident that the four Leman Russes would be able to hold their own against the five marine tanks but the dice let them down. Despite being able to strike first they only destroyed a single Predator and were reduced during turn 2 to only a single tank due to the combined efforts of the IH tanks. Adding insult to injury they failed their morale check and fled the battlefield. The IH infantry on the right flank (Tacticals, plasma gunners & missile launchers) controlled the objective and did nothing else in the game.

 

Central:

The other infantry bases of the IH Demi-Company pushed forward towards the Tercio with the Legate Commander. The assault marines ignited their jump packs and sped forward while the tacticals and terminators advanced behind them eager to perform bolter porn on Overwatch, if the Ogryns countercharged the assault marines. And boy did they perform that bolter porn! Better than the boys in yellow, if I may add. They scored four hits (having to roll natural 6s while doing Overwatch) and three Ogryn bases bit the dust before having an opportunity to swing their power blades. The last Ogryn bases was destroyed by the fire of two Predator tanks (on First Fire orders) who had no other viable targets (the Leman Russes used a large rock to deny them LOS). Shame, shame, shame!

 

Left flank:

Tercios (4U) secured the objective and did nothing else in the game like their IH infantry counterparts on the other side of the board. The Malcadors blasted with ease three Contemptors out of existence while the walkers climbed the flat hill in the centre of the board and suffered a single point of damage by the ancient´s lascannon return fire. The lone walker would meet it´s demise when it charged the Tercio supported by the Legate Commander and the boys in ash grey destroyed it on First Fire orders in the last turn. During turn 3 the Malcdors advanced towards the centre hill and the Sicarans tried to intercept them. Both sides traded a tank in the forthcoming fire exchange.

 

 

Conclusion:

Low point games tend to be swingy, if the dice don´t go your way or if the opponent has a lucky streak. Leman Russes with Vanquisher guns look spicy on paper but a single turn of bad performance doomed them. It would have been better to pair them with the Malcadors but foolish me thought they would be okay on their own. Likewise the Ogryns´ demise in turn 2 was totally unexpected. Lesson learned: Units using Advance orders can support the more aggressive elements in a good way. This is even more efficient, if the weapons have the Point Defence trait though in this battle the IH infantry was just damn lucky. For my Ash Scorpions this would mean to turn the Baneblades from my future shopping list into close-ranged brawlers with heavy flamer sponsons because right now they struggle with the infantry elements of the IH. At the end of the game the AS had four Tercio bases, a Malcador and the Legate Commander left while the IH only lost all dreadnoughts, a single tank of each variety and a single base of assault marines. It looked rough in the end no doubt.

 

In regards to core rules I still find the infantry too fast (5´´). Maybe 4´´ would suit them better and be more in line with the vintage 2nd Space marine rules. All in all I enjoyed the game and it was pretty fast as I had prepared unit cards in advance with ability descriptions on the back for swift reference.

 

Note:

I found an error in the weapon loadout of the Malcador lascannon turret. It says it has two attacks but should have instead a single attack and Arc (F) like it´s counterpart in the Predator lascannon turret description. 

 

 

Edit:

Battle Report in Pics (113 in total)

https://ibb.co/album/qkBCFR

 

Issues with Ibb:

The pics were uploaded from my folder onto the ibb hosting site. Ibb sorts it´s pics in reverse upload order. This means the first pics which will be shown are the last of the battle report. Furthermore sometimes pics (which were uploaded in groups of 16) are not finally shown in sequence because individual pics differ in data size so that later pics in upload order with smaller size are still uploaded more swiftly than the previous selected ones. Despite this fact the pics have numbers attached to them so that in doubt one can look, if something seems out of place.

 

How to read the battle report:

Before the battle takes place panorama shots are taken to show the entire battlefield. Then the troop deployment is shown for each force by using close-ups highlighting each unit. At the start of later turns panorama shots are taken to show how the battlefield has changed due to actions in the previous turn. After that the dice tray is shown with a blue D20 illustrating the begin of the respective turn.

 

The report uses colour coding for it´s order tokens like it was done in 2nd Space Marine:

Red: First Fire

Blue: Charge

Purple: March (yes, this order wasn´t available in the 90s)

Green: Advance (units which haven´t moved have the tokens placed adjacent to them; units which have already moved have the tokens placed onto their bases or their models)

Yellow: Fall Back (not an order per se but a status effect)

 

A single D6 was used to illustrate which force controls the center objective from turn 2 onwards:

Iron Hands: Black/Gold 

Ash Scorpions: Red

 

In addition in some cases a comment was written onto the pic to make clear what was going on (e.g. Overwatch). Activations are explained in the following order:

1. A close-up of the selected unit is shown with it´s token.

2. The new position of said unit after movement (e.g. March, Advance, Charge and Fall Back orders) is shown in a wider shot taking into account it´s environment.

3. In case of ranged attacks the target is shown in a single pic after the active unit was shown with it´s activation token. Then the outcome of the ranged attack is shown (e.g. destroyed model base shown by placing it upside down or a comment which states the shots had no effect).

 

In case of units with multiple hit points (Malcadors) a blood drop token illustrates a single point of damage.

 

That should be all. If anything is still unclear you can post it in the comments. Have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30 by Deus_Ex_Machina

[SkimaskMohawk]

2 hours ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

I found an error in the weapon loadout of the Malcador lascannon turret. It says it has two attacks but should have instead a single attack and Arc (F) like it´s counterpart in the Predator lascannon turret description. 

It's a different gun, which means it's not a mistake. Sometimes two lascannons on a model will be 1 shot accurate, sometimes they'll be 1 shot, and sometimes they'll be 2 shots.

[apologist]

Thanks for the run-down; an interesting read. What, if any, lessons do you think you'd apply to the next game? Will you try another small one, or bring up the size a bit?

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

4 hours ago, apologist said:

Thanks for the run-down; an interesting read. What, if any, lessons do you think you'd apply to the next game? Will you try another small one, or bring up the size a bit?

I have five Rhinos (gift from GW store manager) and four Kratos tanks still unassembled. The total AS force is if I am not mistaken around 600 points strong. So by finishing the remaining IH tanks a game with slightly more points could be played. A couple of years ago I started the trend of documenting all my GW single-player games by taking pics of unit activations. So if there is interest I can upload the entire battle report to the forum.

 

The Warhound titans will remain unbuilt until my collection grows to a much larger size as such units tend to cripple low point games as the mission objective flies out of the window and the side who either destroys the titan or the side who successfully evades the titan will score a victory.

 

Winning conditions for the next mission will be definitely changed as I never play the same scenario twice. The aim overall is to tell a story and use the old hexagon campaign map tiles as documentation where battles have been fought in the past. This time there were only three objectives as more couldn´t be managed by a small army force. Another thing for implementation will be a different deployment method. Instead of deploying along the long board edges the lines could be drawn in a diagonal manner. Once both sides have access to transports deployment along the short board edges can be done to make these vehicles even more important.

 

My terrain collection for New Mars is still a bit limited at the moment.  To remedy this the next project would be to build a couple of craters to visually distinguish even more the next battle as it will take place in another sector (adjacent hexagon tile). Right now infantry have very few options to take cover so this will offer them more tactical options.

 

Map at the start of the campaign (battle results still need to be added):

https://ibb.co/album/Rjnz5Q

 

 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

20 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

It's a different gun, which means it's not a mistake. Sometimes two lascannons on a model will be 1 shot accurate, sometimes they'll be 1 shot, and sometimes they'll be 2 shots.

You are correct. I checked the HH 2.0 profile of the Malcador turret lascannon and it turned out to be a Gravis Lascannon granting it one shot more than a standard lascannon. As the term "Gravis" is not used in LI it looked like a printing error to me. 

[Cactus]

I love a map campaign! My first GW game was Mighty Empires. I look forward to seeing more.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

My first post has been edited. It now includes pics of the battle report alongside information of how to read it.

[LameBeard]

What does the black cat half way signify? 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

1 hour ago, LameBeard said:

What does the black cat half way signify? 

That´s my cat. She is such a diva that she needs to be center of attention anywhere she goes. Including battle reports. Besides she serves as an indicator of who has read the battle report. :)

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

I have done a HH 2.0 battle report on the weekend. It will help tell the story of the Iron Hands being on New Mars along the Legions Imperialis battles like I have planned months ago. The pics have been edited already and are being uploaded now. Everything will be finished tomorrow and posted in the Age of Darkness subforum as there is to my knowledge no dedicated battle reports subforum here. So the LI and HH 2.0 battles will be split in separate threads. The IH will face off against the Militia in a 1000 pts. game in a very custom scenario.

 

Edit:

The scenario "The Weakest Link" has been uploaded to the Age of Darkness subforum.

Edited February 13 by Deus_Ex_Machina

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

i began painting my five rhinos today. Tomorrow I start on a couple of craters. A new battle report for LI is scheduled for next weekend.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

I had to shoot my second LI game during the week as my cat decided to sleep in my gaming room during the weekend. Anyway, this battle report introduces new terrain (five craters) and is appropriately dubbed "Carnage at Craterside". Post production of the batrep will start in the evening and there will be almost 200 pics this time to enjoy.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Carnage at Craterside, another LI battle report, has just been posted by me.