So... after a break due to vacation, my infantry took the field against two combined 1000-point forces from my regular opponent Jeff: Tyranids and Daemons. You could pretty much pick your nightmare and it'd be on this battlefield: claws, teeth, tentacles, giant bugs... you name it!
Let's see how the brave infantrymen of the Darien XIV Volunteers fared:
My Army:
HQ:
Company Command Squad, Regimental Standard, Missile Launcher, Master of Ordnance
Lord Commissar, Powerfist
Troops:
Infantry Platoon
-PCS, 2 Meltas, 2 Flamers
-3xInfantry Squad, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher; 1 Commissar w/Power Weapon
-1xInfantry Squad, Autocannon, Grenade Launcher
-HWS, 3 Lascannon
-HWS, 3 Autocannon
-HWS, 3 Mortars
Infantry Platoon
-PCS, 2 Meltas, 2 Flamers
-3xInfantry Squad, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher; 1 Commissar w/Power Weapon
-1xInfantry Squad, Autocannon, Grenade Launcher
-HWS, 3 Lascannon
-HWS, 3 Autocannon
Infantry Platoon
-PCS, 3 Meltas, Flamer
-3xInfantry Squad, Autocannon, Grenade Launcher; 1 Commissar w/Power Weapon
-1xInfantry Squad, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
-SWS, 3 Meltas
Fast Attack:
10 Rough Riders, 1 Flamer
Heavy Support:
Griffon, Heavy Flamer
Jeff’s Tyranids:
HQ:
Hive Tyrant, Leech Essence, Heavy Venom Cannon, Hive Commander
Elites:
2 Zoanthropes
5 Ymgarl Genestealers
Troops:
12 Hormagaunts
12 Hormagaunts
Fast Attack:
6 Raveners
Heavy Support:
Mawloc
Mawloc
Jeff’s Daemons:
HQ:
Bloodthirster
Elites:
3 Flamers
Troops:
10 Horrors
10 Horrors, Changeling
Heavy Support:
Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, Wings, Doombolt (or whatever it’s called)
Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, Wings, Doombolt (or whatever it’s called)
Mission: 1 objective apiece
Deployment: Dawn of War
I won the roll for deployment and elected to set up first, mainly so I could deploy far forward.
Deployment:
Using the new FAQ which allows a full platoon to count as a single DoW deployment choice, I elected to set up my CCS and First and Second Platoons, which meant I had 8 Infantry Squads (6 in two blobs of 3 each), 2 Platoon Commands, 5 Heavy Weapon Squads, and my CCS on field! I deployed the “loose” Infantry Squads in front on my left and center, with the PCSs behind them, and the blob squads spread out behind those to create dangerous Deep Striking territory for Daemons. The HWSs clustered around my CCS toward my right center. I placed my objective with an Autocannon HWS in front of it and a Mortar HWS around it. The Rough Riders went in Reserve, while the rest of my force would walk on Turn 1.
So...many...men...
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Jeff deployed his Tyrand and Gaunt broods on the left, with his objective behind terrain and Gaunts around it. He wanted his little Daemons to be his first wave, but rolled a 2 and ended up bringing in the big Daemons (Princes plus ‘Thirster) Turn 1. The Mawlocs went in Deep Strike, surprising nobody. The Zoanthropes would float onto the field at the start, accompanied by the Raveners.
Well, this doesn't look so bad:
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...ymentXenos.jpg
The Plan:
1) Focus fire on MCs from my heavy weapons, preferably using Autocannons against the Daemon Princes (no 3+ save on them) and Lascannons and Missiles on the Tyrant, ‘Thirster, and Mawlocs (when they arrive).
2) Use the Mortars and Griffon to blow apart Jeff’s objective-holders. The Griffon is exceptionally good at this sort of mission.
3) There’s no way Jeff’s taking my objective; the Horrors aren’t durable enough to do it, and the Gaunts are too far away. But I need to contain his MCs, and that’s tricky with Mawlocs. The Mawlocs have to die; without them, I don’t think Jeff has a chance of winning this battle.
4) If my initial shooting goes well, I’ll advance on Jeff’s objective with one of my Platoons around Turn 3 or so, hopefully getting there Turn 5 or 6. This will be an unsubtle, frontal assault, as I won’t have time for anything fancy.
5) The Rough Riders will hopefully arrive Turn 3 or so, by which time a Mawloc will be available to lance. They won’t kill a healthy one, but can probably get a couple of wounds to finish off a wounded one.
Turn 1
I brought Third Platoon’s blob squad onto my right flank, with the SWS and PCS in the center and the loose Missile squad on the far left (pretty much the only other place there was room on my table edge!) The Griffon trundled into position behind the building in which my CCS and a Lascannon HWS had ensconced themselves. The Lord Commissar joined up with the Autocannons near my objective in the center.
...So little table space.
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Shooting was limited due to Night Fight, but the Commissar’s Autocannon squad did roll boxcars for spotting distance and knocked two wounds off the Tyrant! Commissars have a wonderful ability to focus the attention. Mortar fire knocked off half the Gaunts on the objective as well, so it was a pretty good turn. I Ran with the new arrivals, spreading them out and getting them off the back edge to clear space for the Rough Riders, if necessary.
The Bloodthirster and Daemon Princes dropped down, the ‘Thirster and one Prince near the center of the field, the other Prince scattering back and almost going off Jeff’s home table edge. The Zoanthropes drifted onto the field behind the Tyrant to keep Synapse on the Gaunts in case the Tyrant went down, Raveners snaking alongside them. The Tyrant and one Gaunt brood advanced.
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...Turn1Xenos.jpg
The Tyrant failed to spot anything in the dark, as did the Zoanthropes. The Daemon Princes picked off a handful of Guardsmen from my screening squad in the center.
Turn 2
Unfortunately, the Rough Riders were feeling perky and decided to show up right away, before I had a target for them. I put them in the center and spread them out to await developments. My PCSs converged on the Bloodthirster and Hive Tyrant, getting their Meltas ready. The rest of my army stood its ground and took aim (I forgot to move my SWS as they got visually lost in a big crowd of Guardsmen!)
Forward, in the Emperor's name!
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With the sun up, my shooting was much more effective. Massed Autocannon shells and Krak Missiles wrecked both Daemon Princes. The Tyrant proved resilient, mainly thanks to some very poor Lascannon rolls (no hits, even with Bring It Down) and Melta shots (also no hits), but a volley of Krak Missiles found their mark and knocked it down. The Griffon pummeled the Gaunts on the objective, killing three more. At the end of the turn, I’d killed three Monstrous Creatures and smacked a few little bugs, so it wasn’t bad, but the Bloodthirster and Raveners were in good position to charge.
One Horror unit turned up, as did the Ymgarls, but neither Mawloc arrived, nor did the Changeling’s Horrors or the Flamers. The Ymgarls, it turned out, were in a patch of terrain on my left between two blob squads. They sprang out at one of my PCSs, feeder tentacles waving. The Raveners failed their Instinctive Behavior (a little too far from the Zoanthropes) and ran at my left screening squad, the Gaunts coming for the left PCS and the Bloodthirster piling into my center screening squad.
Yikes!
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...rn2Ymgarls.jpg
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The Horrors zapped my center blob squad, killing 8 men. The Zoanthropes caused minor casualties on my left. Then it was assault time.
The Raveners and Gaunts overran my screening squad and PCS on the left, killing them all, but the Raveners had to go through cover to assault and somehow, the Infantry Squad brought down one of the big bugs with bayonets before being overwhelmed. The Bloodthirster effortlessly swatted Guardsmen aside, butchering my other screening squad. The Ymgarls somehow only killed 2 of my center PCS, who killed one of them in return and, unfortunately, didn’t run. Now I had to figure out what to do about the Ymgarls when I couldn’t shoot them.
Turn 3
The Rough Riders went after the Bloodthirster, as did the Lord Commissar (probably a bad idea, but it seemed fun at the time). If I could knock it down to one wound in the shooting phase, I reasoned, the Riders could finish it off. My center blob squad ran at the Horrors, intending to wipe them out in assault (they’re one of the few things in the game that Guardsmen can charge with reasonable success). On the left and right, I aimed my guns and hoped for the best. My righthand PCS closed with the Gaunts who’d wiped the other PCS.
Flamer time:
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All but one Ravener were shot to pieces by combined fire from my blob and lone Missile squad. The PCS obliterated all but one Gaunt with Flamers and Melta shots. Some good Frag Grenade shots from my moving blob on the right killed about half the Horrors. But there the good news ended, as the Bloodthirster made 6 armor saves and 5 Invulnerables, remaining totally uninjured. Yikes! Making matters worse, my Mortars and Griffon both managed to miss Jeff’s objective-holders.
I gritted my teeth and charged it with the Rough Riders and Commissar anyway. This proved a fairly poor idea as the Commissar was pulped before he could strike. The Rough Riders did get two wounds on the beast with their lances, but despite the reroll from the Regimental Standard, they fled the monster. If they’d only held it for a turn, it might’ve been worth it. The PCS charged the lone Gaunt and ripped it to pieces, which did make me feel a little better in a small, mean way, but the Ymgarls shredded my other PCS and prepared to find new targets. The blob squad on my right center charged the Horrors and overran them, bayoneting the abominations and banishing them back to the Warp with the Emperor’s cold steel.
Eeep...
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...GEndYmgarl.jpg
"Retreat! Retreat!"
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...Turn3IGEnd.jpg
The other Horrors arrived on my right, the Flamers making a risky drop right into the center of my lines beside the Ymgarls. One Mawloc popped out of the ground on my right, directly into the middle of the righthand blob squad. Five Guardsmen died in the process. The Bloodthirster sprang at the Autocannon HWS on my right, the Ymgarls moving on the Lascannon squad on my left and the Ravener going after my last PCS in the center.
Bloodthirster rampage continues:
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...urn3XenosC.jpg
The Flamers wiped the SWS out and the Horrors shot up the depleted center blob some more. It was now well below half strength but still fighting hard. The Zoanthropes did little damage.
The Ravener slaughtered the PCS but was wounded in the process. The Ymgarls wiped out my HWS, but a Lascannon team lived long enough to crush a Genestealer’s head with a battery pack. The Bloodthirster bludgeoned his way through the Autocannons, wiping the squad.
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...urn3XenosL.jpg
Turn 4
I’d taken heavy losses last turn, but was in position to do some damage of my own. The Rough Riders, unfortunately, were within 6” of the Bloodthirster and couldn’t regroup, so they fled 14” and left the field. I moved my lefthand blob to multi-charge the Ymgarls and Flamers, aiming to tie down (and hopefully wipe out) both units. My righthand blob surrounded the Mawloc and fixed bayonets for a glorious charge. The understrength blob up front moved toward Jeff’s objective, hoping to get there and grab it before being shot to pieces by the Horrors. All other units took aim and hoped.
That's it. Those bugs are going DOWN:
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...2/Turn4IGL.jpg
A Krak Missile from my lone, forgotten Infantry Squad on the far left blasted the Ravener to smoking fragments. The Griffon landed a perfect shot on the Changeling’s unit, annihilating over half the unit. The Changeling himself took the form of the mother of one of the nearby blob’s Grenade Launcher troopers, but unfortunately for him, that trooper had apparently had a complicated and difficult childhood, and shrapnel from the forthcoming Frag Grenade sheared off the Changeling’s head. After the dust had cleared, only three Horrors survived. The Bloodthirster was tough and durable, but Lascannon beams, point-blank, spelled his doom and he finally fell.
In assault, my blobs rushed into combat on the left and right. The Ymgarls and Flamers tore down five Guardsmen, but in return the humans beat down all the Ymgarls and two Flamers, tying the combat and surrounding the last Flamer. On the right, the Mawloc gutted a pair of Guardsmen. Undaunted, their comrades fiercely stabbed at the beast’s lower body with their bayonets, scoring two wounds of their own. The Mawloc failed to Hit and Run, and combat would contine.
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The other Mawloc arrived, erupting from the ground next to the ongoing combat on the left flank (it scattered badly and didn’t actually come up under anybody). The Zoanthropes and remaining Horrors moved to threaten my understrength blob in the center. Other than that, Jeff was pretty much out of models to move.
The Shooting phase was focused on my luckless center blob, which was reduced to just the Commissar and three Grenade Launchers. The Commissar was forced to execute one of the Grenade Launchers in order to maintain order, so there were just three models left.
In assault, the last Flamer didn’t have a chance and was mercilessly trampled by a cluster of angry Guardsmen. The Mawloc fared a little better, as it didn’t actually kill anyone, took one wound, then another from combat resolution, but it at least remained alive. It chose not to Hit and Run, as this would have only meant getting shot.
Turn 5
My blob and Heavy Weapon Squads on my left took frantic aim at the Mawloc there. The center blob (well, what was left of it), under their Commissar’s direction, angled toward the Horrors.
Mortar fire killed all but one Gaunt on Jeff’s objective, but the Griffon missed again, and there was still a scoring unit on his objective! The game could easily end in a draw if it ended this turn. The Mawloc on the left was very nearly killed, but remained clinging to a single wound.
The Commissar and comrades assaulted the Horrors, one casualty being inflicted by each side and leaving two Guardsmen facing two Daemons. The Mawloc in the assault on my right, continuing to be pretty incompetent, crushed a Guardsman and lost its next-to-last wound in return, for a tie combat. Once more it failed to Hit and Run.
I'll get him yet:
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...IGAssaultR.jpg
Jeff was down to two single-wound Mawlocs, the Zoanthropes, a lone Gaunt, and a pair of Horrors, of which one Mawloc and the Horrors were locked in combat. He didn’t have many options. The Zoanthropes floated around the center of the battlefield, looking for a target, and settled on the Autocannons in my center. The unengaged Mawloc Burrowed, intending to come up on my objective in Turn 6. The Gaunt huddled behind cover and hoped not to be noticed.
The Zoanthropes’ shooting was not effective.
The Horrors and Commissar/Grenadier were not able to damage one another, the Horrors making some saves and failing to damage the Guardsmen. The Mawloc in combat killed a Guardsman and escaped harm, but the Guardsmen scented victory and did not break.
We rolled for game’s end, with the game still being a technical tie, but got another turn.
Turn 6
I had little to do this turn but aim my guns. The Zoanthropes bore the brunt of my shooting, one of them surviving with a single wound thanks to dismal to-hit rolls and good 3++ saves. The Gaunt did not escape, however, as the Griffon finally got its range spot-on and dropped a shell literally on top of the beast’s head, obliterating it.
The Mawloc flailed at the Guardsmen, slaying two, but the Commissar saw his moment, stepped inside the reach of the claws, and hacked at the monster with his Power Axe, cutting it clean in half! (2 hits, double-6 to wound, actually causing a point worth of overkill!) The tiny remnant of my blob squad in the center failed to finish off the Horrors.
Got him!
http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...IGAssaultR.jpg
Jeff’s Mawloc erupted from the ground, but scattered 5” away from the objective, failing to claim it. It did chomp a couple of Guardsmen from my lefthand blob when it came up, but this made little difference as it was blocked from contesting the objective by the bodies of my men.
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The Zoanthrope fired a spiteful Warp Blast, the Commissar and his faithful Grenade Launcher trooper traded blows with the Horrors, and with that the game ended. Given one more turn, I’d have probably finished off the Zoanthrope and Mawloc.
Result:
Imperial Guard: 1 objective
Tyranids/Daemons: 0
(Kill Points: 10 for the Daemons, 10 for the IG; in terms of survivors, I had him whipped, with the better part of two full platoons still reporting for duty, plus some extra men).
Imperial Guard victory!
Thoughts:
1) I’m not sure I deserved to win this game. Frankly, on Turns 5-6, I got lucky. If the game had ended Turn 5, or if the Mawloc had come in on target, the game would’ve been a draw.
2) What went wrong? I failed to kill the Mawlocs on arrival; that was the main thing. The Ymgarls and Bloodthirster caused major disruption in my lines, each of them wiping out two of my units before being stopped. There wasn’t much I could do about the ‘Thirster; when your opponent makes 11 straight saves, you’re not going to do much killing. But the Ymgarls could’ve and should’ve been more of a priority. I just got temporarily overwhelmed on the left flank, got too many targets (the Raveners were also a priority) and couldn’t kill everything fast enough.
3) That said, I still very nearly tabled the enemy army, and in another turn quite possible would have. So it certainly wasn’t doom-and-gloom; more of a close call. A good and close game!
Originally Posted by Atrahasis
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).
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So I've been building Flames of War forces instead, lately. I know, I know, apostasy and all that... I expect an Inquisitor's going to put a bolt shell through my brainpan one of these days.
