Not a Batrep... But I played a Boarding Action Game!

[ThePenitentOne]

I played my first game of 10th, and my first boarding action today. I lost 45/20, but every unit I brought. Most of my units had some shining moments, despite the loss. I didn't take detailed notes or photos, so I didn't want to write a full battle report, but I want to share some of what happened.

 

I played the Space Lane Raider Detachment:                               My opponent was playing Deathguard:

 

Archon                                                                                          Blight Lord

10 Kabalites                                                                                   5 Plague Marines

                                                                                                      5 Plague Marines

Succubus

10 Wyches                                                                                     3 Death Shroud Terminators

                                                                                                      2 Chaos Spawn

Haemonculus

5 Wracks 

 

5 Mandreakes

 

My Wyches got to an objective on the first turn, and started to Secure it so that it stickied.  My Kabalites got to a hatch and opened it, which gave them a view of a hatch that a unit of  Plague Marines would be opening in the following turn, so I set overwatch, making sure my Dark Lance and Blaster had shots; this was a tactical error- I should have set up the Shredder to get Torrent auto-hits with multiple shots. My Wracks and Haemonculus were attacked by the Spawn before they could get to a door or objective.

 

In the second round, his Plague Marine opened their door, and my Overwatch was for Naught; he charged then, so we fought through the hatch; I think we dropped one, but I lost three Kabalites.  The Wyches advanced toward the second unit of Plague Marines now that their objective was sticky. The Wracks and Haemonculus dropped a Spawn, and the Mandrakes showed up to help them, wounding the second Spawn and Breaking it.

 

In the third turn, my Archon got in on the fight and killed the remaining Plague Marines, while the Blight Lord covered the Hatch, setting Overwatch. The second unit of Plague Marines got shots on the Wyches, whittling them down a bit. The Deathshrouds showed up and tore into the Mandrakes while the Spawn finished off the Wracks. Another mistake: Anti-infantry doesn't work on Spawn, so units that rely on it aren't the best choices for Spawn hunting.

 

In the fourth turn, my two remaining Kabalites tried to bait the Blight Lord, but he held his overwatch until the Archon emerged. I think he got three hits (torrent) but my Shadowfield deflected two before it burned out. The Succubus ripped into  Plague Marines with the few remaining Wyches. The Mandrakes and Haemonculus fell to attacks from the Deathshroud and the remaining Spawn. the Blight Lord took care of both the Kabalites and the Archon, the remaining Plague Marines mopped up the last of the Wyches.... And the Succubus was the last to fall.

 

Thoughts:

 

I didn't rack command points or Pain Tokens particularly well, and I know I under-used both resources. I was Woefully unprepared for the battle: I got Mandrakes assembled and rough blocked in; I did a lot of work on the Kabalites, and I think they look AWESOME, but they aren't done- only two had their heads attached, and one guy was armless. My Wracks and Haemonculus are fully assembled and base coated, but otherwise unpainted. But I also didn't have all my unit cards and strat cards.... Which is why Pain Tokens and CP were so badly tracked and used.

 

The Narrative:

 

My Archon, Sykil Draeven, has been put in charge of reclaiming a Splinter Realm that was infested by Daemons after the Incursion that Yvraine's ascendance brought to Commorragh. In order to do this, he needs to curry favour with a Corsair fleet. The Felarch agrees to provide a Razorwing Fighter to Draeven's cause in exchange for a data-retrieval run on a Deathguard vessel. Little does Draeven know, the data he seeks is related to the Eye of Vect- a stealth ship, stolen by Veth Rayden and flown to Precipice to explore the Blackstone Fortress.

 

My Haemonculus, Vivithrax the Withering has been seeking the raw materials to create a Talos. This had to be a large creature- I had pictured an Ogryn, but I think the carcass of the Chaos Spawn is an even better subject... So raw materials acquired!

 

As for the Wyches, I had two cults of five painted, and I was trying to figure out why both teams would be invited to the raid and who their Succubus is. Painting aside, I think it makes more sense that this unit and their Succubus ARE the Wyches that Draeven will soon sponsor in the Arena fight, but given how many feel in this battle, we'll just say that the five basic Wyeches that fight in the Arena were the survivors- the Succubus and five of the Wyches could not be resuscitated.

 

 

 

 

[N1SB]

Btw Brother Penitent, you faced a top tier Boarding Action list.  You fought well.  The Death Guard, being very anti-infantry what with their plague spewing this and spikey plague wotsit, really excel in Boarding Action, a game mode that's practically ALL infantry.  Your friend wasn't being cheesy, it's just a really well done take-on-all-boarders list.

[ThePenitentOne]

Oh yeah, my opponent was one of the coolest, chillest people I've ever played. He was the perfect opponent for a guy who was as unprepared and inexperienced with this edition as I was. We both knew that the DG were at a bit of an advantage, going in, but I really didn't mind because it kinda plays into my narrative:

 

Sykil Draven's Raiding force did not succeed in the mission- they were unable to control enough of the objectives for long enough to completely download all of the information regarding the theft and current whereabouts of the Eye of Vect. But they did download SOME information, so the Corsairs we're working for aren't empty handed, and Draven has proven his loyalty to them by risking a battle against such a deadly foe for their benefit, and they are in his debt. They'll let us use their Razorwing fighter.

 

And Vivithrax has what he needs to build a Talos... I almost want to buy a spawn kit to add some bits to the Talos so I have a story to tell every time I play- a story that immortalizes not only my Talos, but my opponent's army as well, which is the full reason I play 40k at all.

 

(Keep in mind, I still have to build and paint both the Razorwing and the Talos AND earn enough RP to raise my supply limit... But the story prerequisite has been met)

 

I should be able to have both my Mandrakes and Kabalites finished by the end of the weekend... I'm so close on both counts! I'm pretty proud of the Kabalites, and I think the Mandrakes will look good too- they're old finecast ones, and so ultimately they'll be replaced/ augment with new ones. I figure the old model can represent Elders, while the new Mandrakes are in their prime.

 

My next battle with any of these forces will be the Arena fight, and I am going to go over the top on that battle report because it's going to be a solo game to facilitate photos and notes. The battles are really consequential in shaping the way the army grows. Tonight I'm generating all the Crusade cards that I didn't have time to develop in advance- I expect all 33 models to be named by the end of the night, and I'm rolling casualty tests, updating kill tallies and experience too. It wasn't an actual Crusade game, so there were no Agendas to score, and I won't apply any of the post=game rules in the next League battle either... but in my home games and the ongoing narrative, those records are important.