40K Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs. Marines

Battle Report!

I successfully recruited one of my buddies to come over to the house and try a game of 40K. I put together a small force of marines for him and a guard army for me. The battle would be seize ground, with the variation that any infantry unit could hold an objective. Here is the breakdown:

SPACE MARINES

• Space Marine Captain with Power Sword and Artificer Armor
• Command Squad with the following equipment: 1 Plasma Pistol, 1 Pair of Lightning Claws, 1 Power Sword,Company Champion, and Apothecary
• 10 Man Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Heavy Bolter
• 3 Space Marine Bikers with a Melta Gun

I was a little worried about this army since I only have a few models at hand (hence all the extra equipment). Turns out they were fine!

IMPERIAL GUARD:

• Company Command Squad with Autocannon
• Platoon Command Squad with Missile Launcher and 2 Plasma Guns
• 2 Squads with Heavy Bolter and a Power Sword on the Sergeants
• Veteran Squad with 3 Plasma Guns in a Chimera
• 2 Armored Sentinels with Autocannon and Plasma Cannon

I honestly thought this would be enough plasma. I really did.

 Aaron split the tactical squad into combat squads and moved the heavy bolter to the top of a building in the first round. He had a good field of fire and began putting the hurt down early on. They also controlled an objective. There was one near his deployment zone and two near the center. The rest of his force began running down the table to pounce on the center objectives right away. He left his bikes in reserve.

 This unit would prove the toughest to dislodge. After this command squad got in the ruins, it proved very difficult to put any wounds on them. Their Apothecary kept them going despite Lasguns, Heavy Bolters, and Autocannons causing tons of wounds. I had intended to wipe them out with the Veterans, but they were delayed in getting there.

 Here is a birds-eye view. I spent three turns leap frogging my infantry units near them, but was unable to cause any casualties. I refrained from getting too close to their potential assault.

 The Captain went off on his own, trusting to his armor to see him safe. The bikes racing up behind got a bead on the Sentinels, who themselves were targeting the combat squad on the other objective. You can't see it here, but the Captain is getting ready to assault a squad between the buildings.

 In a later turn, he managed to wipe the squad out, but then my Chimera finally showed up and three veterans with Plasma Guns popped out the top hatch and hosed him with six shots! Despite some fevered dice rolling, the Space Marine Captain was wiped out. He performed well, however, destroying the squad I was trying to use to seize an objective with.

The chimera, platoon command squad, and sentinels wiped out the bikers and the combat squad on objective number two. We rolled to see if round six would begin and it was a "2." Game Over! With another round I could have used my vehicles to contest the other objectives and the veterans to hold one. Close to a victory, but not close enough. Congratulations to the Noob!






I made two big mistakes. For some reason I put the Missile Launcher and Plasma Guns in a standard platoon command squad. They should have been my Company Command Squad where these weapons would have benefited from the improved BS. As it was, the Company Command Squad was pretty useless as the marines got their normal save from the autocannon hits and the junior officer could not force the marines to reroll cover saves from the plasma.

Mistake number two was keeping the chimera in reserve. He would have been better off shooting all weapons from round one and pushing into enemy territory to try and contest that objective. The delay to round four because of lousy reserve rolls was punishing.

A good fun game. 600 points is all right by me.

-Maniple

I Guard vs Orks 2000 points

On Friday I went out to JW's place and threw down with him and his buddy Chris. I brought my 2000 point Imperial Guard List and they each brought 1000 points of orks. There were a few things missing that I had hoped to see. There was no heavy armor for my Vanquisher to take apart, so it quickly became obvious that this was going to be a waste of points. I would have been much better off with a standard Leman Russ. They did bring a lot of what I did not want to see, however. The first thing was boyz. It looked like there were three mobs of thirty boys each with three rokkits and a power klaw on the nob. At ninety models I was going to struggle to kill them fast enough. Then there was a trukk with about ten nobs inside that weighed in at over 300 points. Running interference for that flank was a big mob of Gretchin. There was also a mob of Lootas ready to take position in a nice bunker on a hill.

On the other flank there was more nastiness. Along with one of the big mobs, there were six killa kans followed by a Big Mek with Force field, a Deff Dread, a mob of shootas to support the Big Mek, and a trukk with a mob of burna boyz. This was a nasty list.

I set up first down the middle of the board. This was a challenge since I would be presenting the rear armor of my tanks to whichever side of the board I was not shooting at. The orks were allowed to set up 12 inches from my deployment zone, so that meant I needed to stay well back from my edges to give me the most time to shoot. I opted to not put anything in reserve since I needed to start shooting everything in round one.





1. In round one I shot a lot. My best shooting was with the autocannon on the sentinel. It targeted the trukk full of Nobz and scored a penetrating hit. The resulting "careen" result sent the trukk back into his own lines where it promptly blew up. The Nobz inside were unscathed, but now they had to foot slog it with everyone else. I pulled my tanks up elsewhere to try and get some hits on the killa kans. They had wisely deployed where they had maximum protection from my big guns. The chimera with flamer-armed veterans rushed up to the ork lines in order to flame them, but were still a little short. My shooting began to tell a little bit by putting some initial hits on his walkers, but I knew that only one needed to make it through to ruin my day.

In his turn, he fired off a bunch of rokkits and blew up my chimera, killing most of the veterans inside. They were now sitting ducks that would also give him a free charge move if I didn't do something quick. The killa kans shot some grotzookas and my lines started taking casualties.

2. Turn two was much the same as the first. he kept marching and I kept shooting. The kans were getting whittled down, but I was having trouble killing them fast enough. The Lootas immobilized the demolisher by hitting its rear armor. I had turned it around in order to move closer to the advancing killa kans and thought that the woods behind me would offer cover. Unfortunately he rolled for a ton of hits and I failed my cover save. I was left with nothing to shoot at because of the exceedingly short range of the cannon. I did get lucky when he failed a bunch of cover saves of his own and more kans went to the discard pile.

3. Turn three was pretty good for me. Sly Marbo showed up and tossed a demo charge on top of the Nobz a bunch of them died and then failed a leadership roll to stick around. I don't think the orks made a single leadership roll the whole game, even with bosspoles! I had hoped to use Marbo the next turn to assault the Lootas in the bunker, but in retrospect, he would have been better off on the other side throwing his demo charge on the kans. Elsewhere I began to pull back from his advance and try to delay his inevitable Waaagh. The veterans in the Valkyrie dropped out and melta gunned the killa kans. Unfortunately, only one was able to hit, which resulted in one dead kan rather than the two or three I had hoped for. The resulting flamer response killed the whole squad. The Valkyrie also got assaulted and would not be able to shoot in the next round. Sly Marbo went down under a hail of pistol fire.

4. The Leman Russ took a shot at the Big Mek and his unit. A bunch of boyz died, he failed his leadership, and began falling back. This was good for me since the unit would not be able to rally and his kans would no longer get the 4+ save. This helped the rest of my shooting, but unfortunately it looked like two kans were still going to get in. I had opted to stay put and fire rather than pull back. This would turn out badly for me, since my shooting was ineffective. The vanquisher's one job was to kill the Deff Dread, but the one time I got a shot, I missed. As a result, my tank was now vulnerable to an assault in later tunrs.One rule I did check later was that on squadrons- if a member of a squadron is immobilized, it is wrecked immediately. One of the kans remained on the table after this result since we thought that it remained until the unit next moved. As a result, I got one immobilized result with my Leman Russ and a destroyed result from a Lascannon unit. Both hits were applied to the same model. What should have happened was that the immobilized unit should have been removed and the remaining kan destroyed. This left the last kan charging towards my lines unscathed. Bad News.

5. My shooting was growing worse and worse. My plasma toting command squad killed one enemy and one of their own. A far cry from the three or four I had hoped for. The grots had been soaking up a ton of fire the whole game but finally broke and fled this round. He got really close on the left flank and started to assault my middle. A Nob was able to assault and wreck the Vanquisher with his power klaw. The same unit also charged two of my command squads. I thought that one of them was safe, but the charge move was just enough to get his boyz in. This was just about my single biggest mistake in the game. I did not keep my own units far enough apart in order to prevent multiple charges. However, being stuck in the middle, there wasn't really any place to hide anyway. This was typical of the decisions I had to make all game: do I remain forward in rapid fire range, or do I retreat and stay out of assault range? The Sentinel AC killed another Kan this round. He was quickly becoming my MVP. The Deff Dread got blown up by a lucky Lascannon shot and saved the Leman Russ. We rolled for another round and...

6. This was my last chance to pull out a victory. His assault from last round had folded up my lines like a piece of wet toilet paper. The shooting I had left was not nearly enough to make him flee. Most of my tanks were either wrecked or missing guns, so there was no help there. The Kan that had survived from the end turned away from my lines and assaulted the Leman Russ. The big tank finally went down. The boyz in the middle were able to make multiple assaults and completely wiped out most of my remaining troopers. All I had left was one limping tank, the Sentinel, A command squad, and a couple squads from the same platoon. I had dished out a fair amount of damage, but he held the middle.

Result: Each side scored one point for each unit they killed, plus one point for each unit they had remaining. I scored 18 points, the orks scored 19. Boo Hoo. Although, if I had caught that bit about the immobilized result in the Kan squadron, who knows?

Game ended. orks win by one. Much fun was had by all.





Analysis:

• My bubble wrap tactic did not work since I was not careful to prevent multiple charges. I needed to spread out more and offer more cover. If I had done this more effectively, I would have been given several more opportunities to shoot at his mobs.
• Leave the Vanquisher at home unless I know I will be seeing AV 14 tanks
• Put Veteran units in reserve. By leaving them out, they were vulnerable to shooting right away and once their transports went down, they gave a free assault move to the units I was trying to slow down.
• Reduce the amount of equipment on my sergeants. I had a few power fists out there, but everyone who had one was shot before he got to use it. A few Melta Bombs or set of Krak Grenades would have been useful for taking down those killa kans that got in, however.
• Switch out at least one Lascannon for a Rocket Launcher or Autocannon in Platoon A. These weapons were consistently more effective.
• Looking at the pictures, it seems that my units were often technically inside difficult terrain when they were assaulted. this may have given them a chance to survive one turn longer if I had remembered to apply terrain effects properly.
• Put heavy flamers on the tanks. This gives the tank good anti-infantry firepower when the enemy closes and the main gun has been blown off.
• Know the rules!

300 Challenge: More Imperial Guard

 In preparation for my big 40K game the other day I finished up the banner bearer for my company command squad. this banner was easy to paint since the design is embossed. I picked out a few colors to match the example in the book and set to work. I found that highlighting the entire banner with a white drybrush before I started made it easier to see all the lines later. Once I blocked in the colors I gave it a quick highlight and put it back on the shelf!

 Here are some more "legacy models." They were made from leftovers of the Fuselier conversion. They are basically Cadians with Brettonian and Empire heads. I swapped out a few lasguns for grenade launchers and turned them into another veteran squad. I should now be able to field a pretty decent force of all veterans for the I Guard now. I am curious to see how they do.

The paint scheme is pretty basic. Dwarven Flesh for the face and hands, Chainmail for the metal bits, a green blend for the guns, and Scab Red for the uniforms. The leather bits are Scorched Brown. I had some ballast I was using for the Dystopian Wars bases so these guys got the same treatment. They look alright, so off to the shelf for them!

These eleven models bring my total for September to 109! I know I am posting this on October 1st, but I did start them in September so I am counting it as a win. I think it will be time to switch gears a little bit and get into a game system I haven't touched yet this semester. Not sure where to go. If only there was a game system that combined all my favorite steam-powered, magical, undead fantasies into one!

Warhammer 40K: 2000 Point Imperial Guard

I have a big 40K game coming up this weekend and I have been working on an army list. We will be playing a scenario where my 2000 point army will be assaulted from all sides by two 1000 point armies played by Chris and JW. Since they have two armies, that means they have the potential for twice the number of HQ and Elite units. I will have to tailor my army to match this potential threat.







Threats:

• Lots of HQ and Elite means lots of 2+ saves and multi-wound models.
• The assaulting armies will have to rush across the board to get me, so that means lots of transports or Land Raiders or Deep Striking units, perhaps in drop pods.
• If Orks or Nids are present I can expect to see a good deal of foot-slogging infantry trying to soak up fire for the Elites coming behind.

Answers:

• Lots of plasma will see to those pesky 2+ armor saves.
• Several Lascannons will give me the ability to double-out some character models. They will also force any armor out their to be careful.
• A meltagun hidden in a squad will take care of drop pods to prevent them from contesting my objective.
• Tanks will run interferance, pound oncoming infantry, and snipe other tanks. I will be taking a Vanquisher to make sure no Land Raiders get anywhere close to my lines.
• Veteran squads in transports will remain in reserve in order to respond to threats I have not anticipated.

Here is how the army is coming together:
Company Command Squad. This HQ will babysit the front line troops and annihilate anything that comes too close. The power fist will help out my tarpit unit. MotF will delay enemy reinforcements.
-Commander with power fist
-Three veterans with plasma guns
-Vox caster. This will improve my chances of twin-linking the plasma guns against light tanks and monstrous creatures and will actually increase their survivability better than a medi-kit while making their shooting more effective at the same time.
-Master of the Fleet.

Company Command Squad. This unit will hunker down in a tall building and snipe anything it can see while also handing out orders to nearby units. I went with a sniper rifle since it can threaten big things and enemy heroes at range. There aren't many other gun options that pair well with the Lascannon, but this should at least some of the time.
-Commander, naked
-Officer of the Fleet
-Veteran Lascannon team
-Veteran with Sniper Rifle

ELITE
Sly Marbo. I am interested to see how this model works out. I have heard good things but never put him in a list before. He can appear anywhere on the board, throw a demolition charge, and hopefully stick around to engage in a little shooting in later turns.

TROOPS
Infantry Platoon 1. This platoon is kitted out with a lot of long range weaponry. I think I will tend to field them as "bubble-wrap" units. This means they will usually be deployed as separate squads, each with a heavy weapon. They will ring the outside of the deployment area and shoot at any incoming armor. Once assault troops come in range, they will receive the charge, get wiped out, and set the opponent up to be shot at in the next round.
-Platoon Command with lascannon, 2 sniper rifles.
-Platoon Squad with grenade launcher and lascannon. Attached Commisar with power sword.
-Platoon Squad with grenade launcher and lascannon
-Platoon Squad with grenade launcher and autocannon

Infantry Platoon 2. This platoon can also be fielded singly, but I would prefer to deploy the individual squads together to form a tarpit in the center. This will receive a charge and hold up the enemy until one of them dies or reinforcements arrive.
-Platoon Command with heavy flamer, plasma gun, platoon standard, and medi-kit.
-Platoon Squad with flamer and heavy bolter. Attached Commisar with power sword.
-Platoon Squad with grenade launcher and heavy bolter
-Platoon Squad with meltagun and heavy bolter

Veteran Squad 1. This squad is equipped with some serious troop killing power and can also reinforce the troops in the center if they get into trouble. The Chimera brings some serious firepower as well.
-Veteran Squad with power sword and three plasma guns
-Chimera with heavy flamer, dozer blade, pintle heavy stubber

Veteran Squad 2: This squad is equipped with anti-tank guns and comes mounted in a Valkyrie. By now it looks like I am overkilling tanks, but I have to assume that some of my elements will be taken out early or won't get a shot off. This gives me more flexibility and redundancy.
-Veteran Squad with power fist and three meltaguns
-Valkyrie with rocket pods.

HEAVY SUPPORT
These three tanks are taken separately and will do their best to remain in cover and bring all their sponsons to bear. The Vanquisher will kill tanks, the others will focus on troops.
-Leman Russ with lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons, pintle heavy stubber
-Leman Russ Demolisher with heavy bolter, plasma sponsons
-Leman Russ Vanquisher with lascannon

I hope all goes according to plan. What seems more likely is that everyone will be in everyone else's way and the enemy will be on top of me in turn two. I calculate that it will take two terminators and 3 genestealers to completely wipe out my line...

- Maniple

300 Challenge: Dystopian Wars

 I picked up two boxes of Dystopian Wars minis at Gen Con and have been eager to get going on them. The models are nicely detailed and have lots of character. The big tank has several turret options as well. I started off by putting some Catachan Green fairly thinly over the flat bits.

 Here is a close up of the big tank. At this stage I began lightly drybrushing the metal bits with GW Chainmail. Whenever you drybrush, go very lightly. You can always go back and dust some more on later. If you go too heavy, it will obscure the detail and you will not be happy with the final product.

 Here is the whole army, drybrushed and ready for the next step. I will also do a few airplanes in order to get closer to my painting goal for the week. The only problem is that they will be painted in a totally different color scheme, so that may slow me down. We will see how it goes.

Since I had the green out, I figured I would quickly paint up a few more guardsmen. I have a battle coming up this weekend and these nine guys will help to round out my force. This brings my total to 77  for the month, which means I will need to finish 23 in the next few days. Let the countdown begin!


-Maniple

300 Painting Challenge: The Vanirmen

 This morning I set out a new squad to work on. These are the rest of my Vanirmen, a conversion using Catachan and Marauder bits. I will use them in my 40K games as Penal Legion Troopers since they have a mix of weapons and a rough and tumble look to them. Ignore the models on the far left, I will get to them later. As you can see, they are primed black. At this stage I mentally prepared a painting plan in order to get these 25 guys done in one day. If I employed too many steps thay would never be finished. The steps were: Dwarven Flesh, Graveyard Earth shirts, Bestial Brown leather and hair, Ultramarine Blue pants, Chainmail metal, Flesh Wash, Elf Flesh Blend Highlight, Gray Base. each step would take me about an hour on 25 models, so this was an all day project.

Here I have completed the flesh, pants, and metal. At this point you could actually stop painting since they follow the "3-color" rule that most tournaments require for play. They still look flat, though, and need some more work.

 Here they are at the end with the flesh highlights, mistakes corrected, and paint covering almost all of the black primer. I did not put camo on the pants since I need to be able to distinguish them from the Vanir Veteran squad I finished last week. They look pretty good even without metal washes and highlights.

Here is a close-up of the finished model. I like doing extreme flesh highlights on models with lots of exposed skin. It really makes them stand out. This completes 25 more models, bringing my total to 51!

Soon I will turn back to the Space Marines and complete a Deathwatch squad that has been lurking around my hobby table for about five years...

-Maniple