Friday 27 February 2015

Weekender Part 2 - Batle Reports!

So with the weekender came the lovely mini-campaign that forgeworld love to set up, and naturally I can't resist joining. Over the Saturday the XVI took part in 3 separate combats and gave the Loyalists 3 victory points (d'oh!)

Battle 1: 1000pts vs Mechanicum

So first up was a 1k points game against the mechanicum, where the XVI and their solar allies attempted a small sale flanking manoeuvre against loyalist defenders. Rolling 'big guns never tire' made it interesting - as my opponents bright yellow mechanicum had a Thanatar and my SA had a Demolisher with tank commander.

Deployment:
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Summary: Over the 5 game turns my assault troops and centurion flank attacked - only to be wiped out by the enemy Castellax in combat! The Demolisher weathered a series of shots from the Thanatar - wounding a few Castellax before its eventual destruction in combat. My Volkite support squad tried to flank an objective but were shot down, and finally the Lasrifles (after nearly running off the field in the 1st turn) attempted to kill the enemy's 3 Thallax (wounding one in combat).
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                           The assault Squad Attempts a Charge!                                                                                       After some swift butchery - the castellax carry on regardless.

Battle 2: 2600pts vs Iron Hands

So against the Iron Hands we decided on the Event special game mode called "The Oncoming Storm" in this mode there is one 'rally point' objective, placed by the loyalists and worth D3 VPs. Any unit within 6" of the rally point are fearless and have counter attack (representing how both sides see it as a vital capture point). The game begins with only the troops from the primary detachment on the table - everything else being in reserves. VPs are scored for units killed or falling back, with loyalists scoring extra for any traitor units in the traitor deployment zone, and traitors scoring for any of their units in the loyalist deployment zone. To make this even more complex we rolled diagonal deployment.

Deployment:
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The Iron Hands place their rally point in a building at the far corner of the map - putting a full squad of tac marines on it.
His forces: Autek Mor, Castman Orth, Pravius with 2 Castellax, 2 Tac squads, Sicaran Venator, Contemptor with two ccw, Vindicator, 3 graviton rapiers, whirlwind and a typhon.

My Forces: Sebastian and Command Squad with Power Axes, 2 Assault Squads, Ventrix, Iosef with 10 Terminators, techmarine, Predator, Demolisher with SA commander, 20 lasrifles, Thunderbolt.

The Game: His first turn involves moving his one squad to the roof of a building, I start off by moving around the board on two flanks. 
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Turn two for him saw everything bar Mor and the Typhon immediately come out of reserves, with the castellax, contemptor and vindicator taking shots at the assault squad to the right flank. In return my lasrifes, Thunderbolt, pred, Sebby and Ventrix all appear on the board (the two jump units deepstriking). The Thunderbolt immediately opens up on the vindicator and wrecks it in a salvo of missiles, autocannons and lascannons. Meanwhile the remaining men of the right assault squad charged the castellax and were torn up in overwatch.
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Turn Three saw no new units for him arriving, however the Iron Hands worked to consolidate their position - damaging the Thunderbolt and killing some of the remaining assault squad. In response my Terminators, Techmarine and Demolisher enter the field, two making a direct line for the enemy positions whilst the Techmarine held behind the tank. The Thunderbolt left the field at this time too. My shooting vaguely damaged the contemptor and the venator - however nothing serious was killed or destroyed.
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Turn for for the IH saw combined firepower take down the assault squad and all of Sebastian's command Squad, along with the Venator immediately destroying the Demolisher and the contemptor jiggering the poor predator. Also the Typhon arrived and immediately shot at my terminators, whilst Mor just joined the Tac squad on the objective. In return my Thunderbolt put an end to Orth's venator (though not killing the character - who got in the Typhon) and saw Sebastian charging into the Graviton rapiers - killing 4 of 6 crew.
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Over the last two turns - the IH killed Ventrix before he could charge, the contemptor turned and butchered the poor lasrifles, the Terminators weathered ludicrous whirlwind and Typhon fire. Sebastian killed the remaining crew, followed by the sergeant and three men of the nearby tactical squad, before being brought low by sheer numbers. The game ended with 2 of my units in enemy zones (The Thunderbolt and Iosef) and a victory for the loyalists.

The Last Game I forgot to take pictures of - but consisted of an unholy alliance of Space Wolves and "Loyalist" Thousands sons (both using just normal legiones lists) facing the XVI in a 4200pts game. To summarise the XVI did awfully well, with Sebastian and his Squad teaming up with a lone sergeant to kill 16 assault marines and Praetor - THEN another 10 Vets - THEN Sebastian weathered an entire enemy shooting phase before eventually dying, Centurion Valentine (Siege Breaker with Thunder Hammer) one shot killing a contemptor mortis, An Auxilia Techmarine and Servitors killing a jetbike Squadron and the Thunderbolt being shot out of the sky by a single intercepting, rending sicaran shot!


Overall Summary: Damn good gaming!  If I can take anything away from the weekend its that:
- forgetting my rapier crew is a terrible idea.
- Also that I need to not take allies in a Heresy game under 3000pts, as it only hinders what I can fit into the army list.
- Iron Hands Pravius with Castellax is expensive but bloody hurts/Castellax bloody hurt!
- Always take Blast Chargers on lasrifles - would have allowed me to wound the castellax and rear of the contemptor.

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