The Saga of Snorri Weatherbane

[IAMNOTHERE]

As Egil stood upon the hill,
He saw the priest and wondered,
The Wolves he'ed pledged,
For Snorris' quest,
Were together rapt before him.

If Snorri knew he gave no clue,
And sounded the hunt before him...

Snorri has earned a promotion after the last 2 battle reps and gets his own thread. As ever it 1750pts of SW here's what I took to the latest battle:

Snorri Wetherbane - Rune Priest, Terminator Armour, Saga of the beast Slayer (TW/LL)
Wolf Guard 5 WG, inc 1 TDA, Cyc, CF & 1 TDA, Cyc, PS.
Vindicator Iron Fang
Vindicator Thunders Might
Redeemer Grendels Fury
Jontis' Long Fangs 6 Long Fangs, 5 ML, WG
Svens' Grey Hunters 5 GH, flamer, Wolf Banner, MotW. WG with CbP, mounted in a LCTPG Razorback
Yuris' Grey Hunters 5 GH, flamer, Wolf Banner, MotW. WG with CbP, mounted in a LCTPG Razorback
Andres' Grey Hunters 10 GH, 2 Plasma Guns, MotW, Wolf Banner. WG with CbP - these go in the redeemer on turn 1.
Jaegers' Scouts 5 Wolf Scouts, melta bombs, MotW. WG MotW

Not 100% happy with the list but good enough for now.

Facing us were the IG Steel Legion and they had somthing like:

Yarrick
Lord Commisar

Alpha Platoon - In Chimeras
A0 Command Squad, plasmas, commisar.
A1 Squad, HB, Commisar
A2 Squad, Las Cannon, Commisar

Bravo Platoon - In Chimeras
B0 Command Squad, plasmas, commisar.
B1 Squad, HB, Commisar
B2 Squad, Las Cannon, Commisar

Hellhound 1
Hellhound 2

Leman Russ - BC/LC/HBS

Basically everything was mounted and there were quite a few upgrades on commissars etc. Looking at this I'm not sure he was fielding a 1750 list or not - It certainly looked a lot accross the table.

The mission was capture and control with a dawn of war set up, he won the roll to go first and gave it to me - which was very nice as I didn't fancy massed IG fire on T1. I should of suspected them that somthing was up.

I placed my objective in a ruin smack bang in the centre of my DZ between the 2 pillars, he placed his behind a hill on my far left flank. The terrain was laid out as follows:

2' Gap/3 Tree Wood/18" Gap/2 Tree Wood/Gap
Gap/Long hill/Left Clearing/3 Story Building/Right Clearing/Oval ruin
Gap/Ruined wall/Gap/2 Pillars/Near right clearing/High Hill.

For deployment I placed Yuris' GH and Razor on my objective between the pillars and kept the rest in reserve. The Steel Legion declined to deploy - this took away my 1st turn and acute senses advantages, canny.

This gave me a great first turn of bringing everything on bar the scouts.

I decided to dominate the Left flank and ignore the right, too this end I advanced both Svens' Razor and the Iron Fang up the gap on the left flank and popped smoke. Jontis' Long Fangs ran on and into the ruined wall whilst Snorri and the WG arrived in style aboard Grendels Fury. Andres' Grey Hunters were close behind this and tucked in behind both it and Thunders Fury. Both these were tucked in close to the 2 Pillars. Everything poped smoke.p

As ever late to battle the Steel Legion showed up. The sheer mass of armour looked daunting enough as it rolled on:

A1 & A2 took up station with a Hellhound between them guarding his objective in the far left corner. B1 & B2 Were next, tucking in behind the long hill. To the right of 3 tree wood the LRBT lumbered a massive 12" forward. On the right flank, A0, B0, Yarrick, the Commisar Lord and HellHound 2 deployed next to 2 tree wood. The size of the smoke screen was massive as everything from both sides had popped.

With both sides now deployed and in the game we moved to turn 2 and the action really began.

More to follow...

[Seabo]

Nice little poem .
Biggest thing I don't like about 40k is players electing not to deploy anything on 1st turn....I think is was incredibly stupid to allow this on Gdubs part.
Looking forward to the rest .

[IAMNOTHERE]

Turn 2 - Probing attacks

As the early sun rose over the field of battle the Wolves had the advantage. On my left flank the Iron Fang moved forward into demolisher cannon range and fired. Svens' Razor tucked in behind to take advantage of the AV 13 hull.

In the centre Snorri and the WG left Grendels Fury and target B2 with living lightening and cyclones. Andres' GH get into Grendels Fury and Speed accross the right clearing, assault cannon roaring as it targetted Chimera B1.

Jontis LF pick out the armoured sillouette of a Hell hound near the enemy objective and reduce it to a mass of twisted metal.

Thunders Might rolls forward but fails to hit the LRBT by 3 tree wood and Yuirs' Razor tries to take down the other Hell Hound.

After a stunningly good shooting phase you'd of thought there would be a lot more burning hull. I hit, penetrated and got above average rolls on hte damage table. The Steel Legion had put out such a smoke screen that all bar 2 results were ignored

The Steel Legion reacted to this torrent of fire by debussing A1, A2, B1 & B2 from their transports and forming a defensive perimeter around their objective. This was actually a sound plan as without guess weapons I had no way of getting to most of the troops.

The LRBT fires at Snorri and the WG as they move accross the left clearing, killing a WG.

On my right flank the Hell Hound, A0 and B0 move round the 3 story building. Whilst B1 & B2 advance into the left clearing with multilaser fire lashing out at my Wolves.

This turn the shooting skills of the Steel Legion showed - The Wolf Guard was my only casualty although Thunders Might and Yuris' Razor wouldn't be fireing next turn.

More to follow...

[IAMNOTHERE]

Turn 3 - The Wolfen Strike!

Well after turn 2s exchange of fire I'm even more impatient to close with the Steel Legion. So I apply speed to the equation on hte left flank and Svens' Razor moves up behind the Iron Fang. With some encourageing fire power they manage to explode Chimera A1 and stun A2.

Grendels Wrath with Andres' GH squad summit the long hill, smashing between chimeras B1 & B2. A hail of assault cannon fire slices the air close to B2 lascannon squad keeping their heads down.

Snorri and the Wolf Guard move in behind the speeding redeemer and let loose a hail of cyclones at B2 itself destroying its weapons and immobilising it.

The warp is not kind to Snorri and a daemon attacks him from the ether.

Jonits' Long Fangs split fire and target both B1 on the hill and the hell hound advancing round the 3 story building. Managing to disable the inferno cannon on the hell hound is a god send.

Thunders Might, unable to fire this turn decides to interpose itself between Yuris' Razor on my objective and the LRBT. Nothing quite beats an AV 13 shield.

This turn my Wolfen Scouts arrive with wire guided precision and positioned themselves to mallet the LRBT. 11 MotW and 4 melta bombs later it's a pile of unexploded scrap waiting for the Iron Priest to administer the last rights.

With the loss of the LRBT the Steel Legion are left with a pair of las cannons to deal with my redeemer and a mass of anti infantry firepower.

Both Lascannons took shots at the belly plate of Grendels Fury but failed to damage it. A mass of heavy bolters. multi lasers and las guns ripped into the Wolfen Scouts dropping 2 before B2 infantry squad charged in. Despite good rolls to hit I couldn't make any wounds and baerely won combat by 1.

In the centre an exchange of infantry fire continued but didn't scratch Jontis' Long Fangs.

On my right flank, A0 and B0 disembarked with A0 plasmaing Thunders Might and once again stopping it fireing next turn.

The lack of antitank was now starting to show the Wolves manouverd for a decisive blow. The next turn would be quite critical, I'd need to thin a lot of his 6 tps choices down to stand any chance of winning.

More to follow...

[IAMNOTHERE]

Sorry it's been so long but these things happen.

Turn 4

On my left flank I advanced Svens' Razor at pace towards his objective whilst the Iron Fang swung right. This gave it a good field of fire into the left clearing.

Grendels Wrath moves into the gap betwenn wrecked chimera hulls and assault cannons churn out rounds into the armour of the chimera.

Snorri and his Wolf Guard continue to move up over the brow of the long hill and target A1 causeing it to flee from the field.

Targetting the Chimeras around the ruin, Jontis' Long Fangs manage to stop one from shooting. In the mean time Yuris' Grey Hunters have disembarked from their Razor sitting on my objective. With good bolter and flamer drill the reduce all of A0 to just Yarrick.

The Wolf Scouts continue to do well and manage to not wound any of their opponents. A tied combat kept them from being shot.

In retaliation the vaunted Steel Legion mass their fire power and blast away. Unfortunatley the targets they had available wern't easy kills and negligable damage was caused. On my objective Yarrick and B0 - complete with 2 commisars - together with shooting from the chimera, put the pain on Yuris' GH. By the end of the combat despite acquiting themselves well they were nothing but gene seed.

B1 charge in to assist B2 with the pesky Wolfen Scouts and should in all honesty have made short work of them. The Wolfen Scouts had other ideas and kept on going. Tearing through 2 Legionaires.

Turn 5

Andres' Grey Hunters deployed from the REdeemer and set about to target the last Steel Legion Squad on the enemys objective causing them to run.

Grendels Wrath positions itself to target any survivors of the Wolfen Scouts rampage and stop them getting back to the objective.

Sven and his Razor clear the remaining Chimera hulls from the long hill whilst everything else targets Yarrick. 2 Vindicators, Jontis' Long Fangs, Snorri himself and his wolf guard all rain fire on Yarricks squad.

The rain of lead and mass reactive rounds is intense but at the end of the fire fight only Yarrick is left standing.

At this point the Steel Legion get the order to retreat and leave the field - walking.

Victory to the Wolves!

[IAMNOTHERE]

Well Snorri looked upon the foe,
An lo he did not quiver,
His first command,
Would see them damned,
Bourne in beasts of silver,

After Action Report

Well most of the things I tried this game went well. I especially liked the effect grouping Vindicators, Grey Hunters and Razorbacks had.

I must admit it was a pain not being able to start the GH in the Redeemer but there wasn't too much of a problem in the end.

The Guard list was an interesting one that concentrated heavily on a theme. I'd of expected to face some melta vets or seen the orders processed used but neither happened.

Thanks for reading.

[Lord Cook]

Nice report Steve. I have to say though that the Imperial Guard army has many... questionable... choices in it. Alas for my brethren.

Hmm, a 1,750 point army. Possibly one I'm likely to see come the 6th?

[IAMNOTHERE]

As I said, it didn't feel like I was facing a 1750pt army.

All the models in my list I had to proxy so you may or may not see somthing similar on the 6th.

I couldn't possibly say.

[IAMNOTHERE]

Well Snorri cast the runes of wrath
And problems he did vision
A radio mast broadcasting fast
That needed quiescing!

Well after X Legion I thought I'd redesign the list a bit and play a few lower point games. Here's the list at 1000pts:

Snorri with MH & SC
Iron Fang Vindicator
Thunders Wrath Vindicator
6 Long Fangs (5 ML)
Svens' GH (5 GH, flamer, WG), Razorback LCTPG
Boris' GH (8 GH, Wolf Banner, MotW, MG, WG with CbM & PFist), Rhino
Jaegers' Wolf Scouts (5 WS, MG, MotW, WG with MotW & CbM)

Facing me were the command element of the Ultramarines:

Calgar
5 Thunderterms
Tac 1a (5 Marines, MG, Pfist in rhino)
Tac 1b (5 Marines, LC)
Tac 2a (5 Marines, ML in pod)
Tac 2b (5 Marines, MG, Pfist in same pod)

Mission Hearts & Minds
Objective There are 2 buildings, 1 a radio transmitter, the other a power generator. A scoring unit can claim these by being in base contact.
Victory Conditions If you have both you've won. If you have the radio transmitter but not the power generator it's a draw.

Essentially you need the Transmitter to broadcast info to the population. You need the Generator to power it. By itself the generator is useless.

more to follow...

[Draconian77]

Looking forward to the report.

[IAMNOTHERE]

As it boiled down we both should have payed more attention to the mission - it turned into a brutal slug fest.

Terrain Standard 6'*4' table.

Gap/manufactorum/12" gap/3 story ruin/gap/long ruin
18" gap/radio transmitter/2' gap/power generator/18" gap
gap/low ruin/gap/2 story ruin/gap/shrine

What's probably not too clear from the description above is how balanced the terrain was, especially in the deployment zones. You can also tell straight away that the centre of the board has tumble weed blowing across it.

I won the roll to go first and forced my opponent to deploy.

Tac 1a with the rhino hunkered down in the manufactorum whilst their sister squad 1b took up sniper positions on the 3rd floor of the central ruin. Calgar and the Thunderterms deployed on my far right in the long ruin. Tac 2a&b were podding.

I placed my Long Fangs in the low ruin on my left. I hid Svens' razorback, Thunders wrath and Boris' Rhino behind the 2 story ruin in the centre and placed Iron Fang behind the Shrine on my right. The scouts would be operating behind enemy lines.

I had enough protection to wether the first turns fire and dish it out I thought as I failed to seize the initiative

[IAMNOTHERE]

Turn 1

The Ultra Marines started with Tac 2 podding in front of the shrine on my right flank. Tac 2a jumped out and made for the Generator whilst 2b went Vindicator hunting with the melta gun. Luckily for me his aim was off and Iron Fang got ready to reply.

Marneus and the Thunderterms bogged themselves down in the ruin and after a poor run move were still in difficult terrain.

Tac 1a burst from the manufactorum in the rhino and made straight for the transmitter popping smoke as it went. 1b lined up Boris' Rhino with it's las cannon but the shot glanced harmlessly off.

The pod coming down had put me on the back foot - I honestly thought he'd go for an objective instead of bringing the fight to me

The Long Fangs started my turn with a salvo into the Ultras rhino but a combination of poor rolls and smoke sent every thing astray. Over on my right flank the Iron Fang reversed a bit and launched a demolisher shell into Tac 2b killing 1.

Boris' rhino screemed forward 12" towards the generator and the Grey Hunters deployed. Even with rapidfire only a single member of 2a fell

Thunders Wrath trundled round to the right of the 2 storey ruin but scattered wildly into open ground. Sven took his Razorback around the left flank of the same ruin but his lascannon needed realigning as it missed Tac 1b in the 3 stroy ruin.

Turn 2

With no reserves the Ultras consolidated their position on the Transmitter. Moving Tac1a to the far side out of Los of the Long Fangs they deployed behind the rhino. Calgar and the Thunderterms got themselves out of the ruin and with the Gauntlets of Ultramar killed one of Boris' Grey Hunters.

The pod killed a second Grey Hunter and the combined shooting of Tac 2a a 3rd! Snori pulled it out of the bag though passing the leadership test on a double 5

Unfortunatly for the Iron Fang though Tac 2b both fired and assaulted it. In short order it was reduced to scrap

Tac 1bs' Lascannon bounced from the glacais plate of Thunders Wrath.

Well I'd written off Iron Fang at the start of the turn but the Gauntlets were an unwelcome experience!

Drawing a bead on the front of Tac 1as' rhino the Long Fangs loosed a second salvo. The extreeme angle didn't help as 2 pens and a glancing were saved.

Sven continued to move towards the transmitter in the centre left with a lascannon that needed new sights. Snorri and Boris' Grey Hunter squad took better aim at Tac 2a and brought 4 down; this left a lone missile launcher.

Thunders Wrath targetted the advancing Thunderterms but scattered wildly.

more to follow...

[IAMNOTHERE]

Turn 3

Seeing how Boris' Grey Hunters were starting to dominate the area around the Generator my opponent made a beeline for them with Calgar and the Thunderterms. This time those Gauntles took out 2 Wolves Somthing would have to be done

The sole survivor of Tac 2a fired a krak at Thunders Wrath destroying the demolisher cannon whilst his sister squad Tac 2b moved back through the shrine. Luckily the pods stombolter fire was ineffective.

Meanwhile Tac 1b took a shot at Svens' now exposed Razorback! In short order the onboard fuel cells were heated beyond safe operating temperatures and it exploded!

Tac 1a continued to take cover behind hte rhino and the Radio transmitter.

My poor positioning of the Long Fangs became apparent as in the ruin on my far left they had no visible targets - I advanced them out of he ruin and ran them towards the transmitter.

Svens' squad pulled themselves from the crater that was their razorback and advanced on the transmitter as well. A poor difficult terrain test slowed them down though.

Thunders Wrath exacted a modicum of revenge on Tac 2a by gunning the lone Marine down with its storm bolter as it advanced towards the pod.

Snorri and Boris' Grey Hunters backed away from Calgar and unleashed a Murderous Hurricane felling a 1st company veteran.

Jaegers' Wolf Scouts chose this moment to make a welcome appearence. Coming from my table edge they launched an assault on Tac2b in the shrine. After a flurry of blows they'd won the combat 4-1. The Ultramarine survivor managed to disengage but a poor fallback move left him well unable to regroup next turn.

This turn had hit me hard. My Mech Wolves were reduced to 1 transport and had taken serious casulties. The only ray of sunlight had been the Wolf Scout arriving but out of 14 Wolfen attacks only 1 wounded

[IAMNOTHERE]

Turn 4

Capitolising on their previous success the Ultramarine rhino moved away from the transmiter. This opened up Tac1a who advanced and rapidfired at Svens' Grey Hunters - some appaling dice on my part saw 4 die.

Tac1b opened up at long range and killed the last 2. Whilst the lone survivor of Tac 2b continued to fall back.

Murderous Hurricane claimed another Thunderterm as they flailed around with a 2" move by the power generator. Calgar continued to prove a thorny problem with those damn gloves manageing to kill another Grey Hunter.

As I started my 4th turn I realised the biggest threat was Calgar and co. To protect Boris' Grey Hunters they got back into their Rhino and manouvered around the Generator.

Snorri cast Murderous Hurricane at Calgars squad but 15 hits later they'd passed all their saves. The point was though to keep them slowed down

Moving from the shrine Jeagers Wolf Scouts went hell for leather into the Thunderterms - you can guess the result, a lot of hammered Wolf Scouts - not my best tactical desicion ever. On the plus side anothe rtermy fell to Murderous Hurricane.

Thunders Wrath moved towards the Generator as my Long Fangs targetted Tac 1a behind the tower causing 1 wound.

Losing both my Wolf Scouts and Svens' Grey Hunters had hurt me this turn but I was eating into the biggest threat.

[IAMNOTHERE]

Turn 5

Well the surviving member of Tac 2b regrouped himself and moved back towards his pod. Calgar and the Thunderterms closed with Thunders Wrath wrecking it in assault. Murderous Hurricane continued to do its job of slowing them down.

In the centre Tac 1b continued to target Thunders Wrath in the shooting phase; as Tac 1a came around the transmitter and assaulted the Long Fangs! What really told in this combat is how viatl PFists are, the combat was a draw because of the Tac squads single fist.

In return the Long Fangs tore into the Tac squad but started to really take a pasting losing a further 2 in my assualt phase

Snorri once again set a murderous hurricane on Calgars squad reducing them to a single Thunderterm!

The Rhino targetted the remains of Tac 2b, killing him with SB fire.

more to follow...

[IAMNOTHERE]

The End Game...

We were now into random game length and both objectives were unclaimed.

Tac 1a continued to tear through the Long Fangs with the power fist swinging the combat massively in their favour. After 3 assault phases there were 2 Ultramarines left standing - they were too far from the transmitter to claim it though with a measly 2 inches consolidate.

The Ultramarine rhino rammed the SW rhino but failed to damage it. Tac 1b in the 3 story ruin fire at the rhino as well stunning it with the las cannon.

Throwing caution to the wind and seeing only Calgar and a single Thunderterm left, Snorri and the 4 remaining Grey Hunters piled out of the rhino. With a brief pause for shooting they charged into combat with the chapter master!

Calgar struck first and felled 3 Grey Hunters! Even with a wolf banner it was going to be hard to get through this. A brutal assault phase later and Calgar had taken 2 wounds and the Thunderterm was dead - a drawn combat. As we moved into turn 7 Calgar split his attacks between Snorri and the last Grey Hunter killing both.

Result - 0 Objectives Claimed, SW wiped out, Ultramarines Victorious!

After action report to follow but I'd appreciate comments about how you think the game went.

[scarvet]

I thought models can't split attacks between units....

Anyways, 2 Vindicator is usually underwhelming for 1K on 6'*4'.
And you should have infiltrated the scouts right behind one of the objective....

[IAMNOTHERE]

After Action Report

Mission: The mission is one from an upcoming tournament pack – we didn’t have it to hand so it’s as close as we could remember. Having said that, I should have played the mission rather than just rolling on and brassing stuff up.

Deployment: Getting the roll to go first and giving it away is a difficult decision that didn’t pay off. I should have then set up where his biggest threat wasn’t. Instead I deployed my Long Fangs with poor LOS and spread the rest of my force (a force designed to dominate a small area) thinly. As to the scouts, I intended to infiltrate these guys behind the radio transmitter but instead decided to outflank.

Performance:

Snorri – I never cease to be amazed at just how effective Murderous Hurricane is – 3 thunderterms and slowing them down for 3 turns.
Vindicators – Subpar, they just didn’t perform this game.
Svens’ Grey Hunters – Moved and died. Along with the Razorback, I think a lack of aggression on my part did these guys in.
Boris’ Grey Hunters – Calgar did these guys in. They managed 1 good drive-by before they died then took bullets for Snorri.
Long Fangs – Poor positioning hampered these; they would have been much better placed in the 2 story ruin in the centre.
Jeagers Wolf Scouts – Despite a bad deployment choice, these guy still had a significant effect. Killing Tac 2b took out a scoring unit. Charging them into the Thunderterms was a big mistake, Calgar really brought the pain.

In Conclusion:

From bad deployment to poor target selection I don’t think I could have played a worse game if I tried. I think at this points level I need some fast movers rather than heavy hitters so can see me dropping the Vindies in favour of a pair of Typhoons.

[sun tzu]

Turn 1

The Ultra Marines started with Tac 2 podding in front of the shrine on my right flank. Tac 2a jumped out and made for the Generator whilst 2b went Vindicator hunting with the melta gun. Luckily for me his aim was off and Iron Fang got ready to reply.

I maybe wrong and i don't have my codex to hand to check but i thought that a transport could only carry a single squad.
I don't think you can take 2 combat squads in the same pod.

[IAMNOTHERE]

With Marines and Pods you can combat squad them as they leave the pod.