An Exercise in Loyalty - Imperial Guard vs Blood Angels (2000 points), ooh pictures!

[Lord Cook]

Having returned from the baking sands of Aylesbury IV much the worse for wear after his repeated battles against the Great Devourer, Colonel Barnaby seized upon the chance of a training exercise against a friendly force from the local Lion Guard Space Marines. Adeptus Mechanicus servitors swiftly set up a training arena from cheap plywood and ceramic containers, strangely mirroring the effect that might be achieved if one or more combatants had forgotten to bring the terrain along with their forces.


Sadly, the Colonel’s light paint-balling excursion had one, rather critical, flaw…


“Blood for the Blood God! Haha! We’re playing the traitors right?”
“Can it Jenkins; any more of that crap and you can drop and give me fifty!”
“ ‘k Sarge.”
“For the Greater Good!”
“Who said that!?”

“Father Curtis, I apologise for the interruption, but you’re the Primaris Psyker today.”
“I’m sorry?”
“We don’t have a Primaris, but he’s here on the exercise roster. Here, take this power sword.”
“I thought it’s supposed to be a force sword?”
“Well, we thought you could just use the normal sword and shout ‘bang’ very loudly if you wound anything with it.”
“And my supposed psychic powers?”
“Well, we thought y…”
“Never mind.”

“Brother Gabriel!”
“Brother Pious, what vexes you? The exercise is about to begin!”
“These Imperial Guardsmen we are training against; they are laughing and drinking!”
“Brother, we have discu…”
“No, it is worse! I overheard some of them shouting heathen slogans! They worship before the alter of the Dark Gods and false idols of freedom and liberation! They are tainted!”.
“Throne! Arm yourselves brothers! Bring my bolter; now.”
“With the paintballs my lord?”
“No.”



We rolled ‘Big Guns Never Tire’ (making all Heavy Support scoring) and received five objectives. Deployment would be along the short table edges, and the first turn would be Nightfight.

Fixer chose Command Traits for Captain Dan (Mephiston) and rolled the ability to pass his Ld10 to friendly units within 12”. The Librarian picked up Crush and Telekine Dome. I also picked Command Traits for Barnaby, getting +1 to all my charge ranges. Yay. The Primaris aimed for Dominate and Terrify and actually ended up with Psychic Shriek and Mental Fortitude. To battle!


9th Ferrosian Guards

Colonel Barnaby [Company Commander] w/ Plasma pistol
Four Veterans w/ 3x Plasma guns
Chimera w/ Multilaser, Heavy flamer

Father Curtis [Primaris Psyker] w/ 2x Telepathy

Ten Veterans w/ Plasma pistol, 3x Plasma guns
Chimera w/ Multilaser, Heavy flamer

Ten Veterans w/ 3x Meltaguns, Shotguns, Demolitions
Chimera w/ Multilaser, Heavy flamer

Overseer w/ 6x Sanctioned Psykers
Chimera w/ Multilaser, Heavy bolter

Platoon Commander
Four Guardsmen w/ 3x Flamers
Chimera w/ Multilaser, Heavy bolter

Ten Guardsmen w/ Commissar, Autocannon
Ten Guardsmen w/ Autocannon
Ten Guardsmen w/ Autocannon

Platoon Commander
Four Guardsmen w/ 3x Meltaguns
Chimera w/ Heavy flamer, Heavy bolter

Ten Guardsmen w/ Commissar, Grenade launcher
Ten Guardsmen w/ Grenade launcher
Ten Guardsmen w/ Grenade launcher

Bane Wolf w/ Heavy flamer, Smoke launchers
Bane Wolf w/ Heavy flamer, Smoke launchers

Leman Russ w/ Lascannon
Leman Russ Executioner w/ Lascannon
______
2000 points





Lion Guard Space Marines

Captain Dan [Mephiston]
Librarian w/ Force stave, Bike, 2x Telekinesis, (possibly other kit)

Command Squad w/ 3x Plasma guns, Chapter standard, (possibly other kit)
Apothecary w/ Power axe, Jump pack
Apothecary w/ Jump pack

Ten Assault Marines w/ Power fist, 2x Meltaguns, Jump packs
Ten Assault Marines w/ Power fist, 2x Meltaguns, Jump packs
Ten Assault Marines w/ Power fist, 2x Flamers, Jump packs
Six Scouts w/ Missile launcher, Boltguns
Six Scouts w/ Missile launcher, Boltguns

Predator w/ Autocannon, 2x Lascannons
Predator w/ Autocannon, 2x Lascannons
Vindicator
______
2000 points





I won the roll off and deployed first, with my lighter vehicles taking cover behind the mugs power generators on the left flank and the Leman Russ deploying on the right flank to provide cover to the remaining vehicles there. Most of the infantry split down into individual squads and spread themselves about behind the barricades and chess pawns tank traps. One Bane Wolf took each flank, buried deeply in cover. The Sanctioned Psykers took the centre along with the Colonel and his squad, both units in their Chimeras. At a loss for where to deploy Father Curtis (the Primaris), I stuck him inside the Command Chimera with the Colonel.

Fixer deployed his two Scout squads behind barricades near his objectives, and gave each unit a Predator in support. Captain Dan, the biker Librarian, and the Vindicator were deployed facing my left flank. Each of the meltagun Assault squads was split down into combat squads each with one meltagun. The flamer Assault squad remained as a ten-man unit. Everything with a jump pack opted to deep strike (shockingly).



Turn 1
Infantry units fanned out to create a screening force in front of the Guard lines, while backfilling any particularly likely deep strike landing zones behind the tanks. Pushing into the tank traps on the right flank revealed that the objective there granted Skyfire to all nearby units; an upgrade of blinding irrelevancy. At extreme range there was little that could be done to the approaching Marines, but a few searchlights reached out into the dark, allowing some autocannons to splatter paint all over the front of the Vindicator to no effect. The Leman Russ gunners were just barely able to see some Scouts in the distance, hurling a paint-cannonball that knocked one of genetically engineered super soldiers ass over head in a spray of lemon magnolia. Some multilaser fire at minimum charge created a sparkly light show around the remaining Scouts, who lowered their glare shades and rode out the storm successfully.

The Marines surged forward, revealing both their home objectives to offer +1 to nearby cover saves. The Librarian wheeled forwards at top speed, and Captain Dan was so eager to follow that he rolled a Perils while using his psychic wings. He followed this up with an incredibly lacklustre Run move, regretting those pre-exercise pies. Some lascannon beams hammered in towards the source of the searchlights, rocking a Chimera back with a glancing hit. A shell from the Vindicator detonated against the side of the Russ, not damaging the armour but incinerating several guardsmen in the blast.



--BOOM--
“Sir, the Marines are firing live rounds!”
“Preposterous!”
“Or Campbell’s squad suffered from sudden and highly synchronised spontaneous combustion?”
“... ... ah.”

Turn 2
With a Descent of Angels very imminent, I made the choice to advance off my backline and pushing closer towards the objectives, leaving significant space behind me. This is controversial, but I wanted room to manoeuvre and not to get pinned back against the board edge and further from the objectives. The Bane Wolves remained hidden in cover, while the infantry clustered in to provide cover saves to everything except some deliberate (empty) decoy Chimeras left exposed to attract fire. As the shooting phase opened up, the 20-man autocannon unit on my left hastily swapped out shells of lilac rose for high explosive, gunning down the speeding Librarian with auto and lasfire [First Blood]. The plasma Veterans also fired at full range from their moving Chimera, putting two wounds on Captain Dan after his light jog last turn left him a bit exposed. My remaining fire managed to knock a Hull Point off each Predator, with one of the Chimeras punishing the left-most victim for exposing his side armour slightly.



The skies parted and thirty Marines crashed to ground without nearly enough terminal velocity for my liking. The 10-man flamer unit fell on the extreme left flank, along with a 5-man melta squad. The remainder all came down directly behind the Guard centre, although they insisted on holding hands as they left the Thunderhawk overhead, resulting in them all scattering inwards and landing in a big clump. Within moments two of the Guard tanks went up in smoke, including one of the Bane Wolves, while supporting fire from the Predators stunned the other. Explosions from the Guard tanks killed scores of nearby guardsmen, although Lieutenant Harrison managed to leap behind two of his men and save himself with a couple of lucky “Look out Sir!” rolls. Flamer bursts incinerated at least a dozen guardsmen on the left, including both autocannons. Captain Dan soared high over the infantry facing him, landed with slight stumble, and power walked into the side of the Command Chimera, wrecking it. Colonel Barnaby and Father Curtis stumbled out the back to find three squads of Marines within reach of a light glove slap, and decided that discretion was the better part of valour by throwing their hands up and becoming pinned.

[Lord Cook]

Turn 3
With Barnaby paralysed with fear at the thought of being forced to surrender his second-best duelling sword, surviving units leapt into action under Commissar Maxwell. The plasma Veteran’s Chimera rolled around the mugs power generators and flipped around to bring its rear firing ports in sight of Captain Dan, while the right flank redeployed to fight the jump troops while keeping most of their frontal armour facing the Predators. A triple blast from Maxwell’s Executioner tank vapourised nine Marines; with several rifle volleys polishing off the survivor. Captain Dan took some plasma rounds in the back and went down for good [Slay the Warlord]. Harrison and his two surviving flamer troops sprinted up to the Command squad and hosed them down, burning a few of the Marines. Seconds later the entire group was hit by a blast from the Sanctioned Psykers, which can be described as ‘tactically optimistic’ at best and ‘wilfully indiscriminate’ at worst, killing all but one of the Marines and both of Harrison’s squad mates. Only Brother Pious the Apothecary survived, who leapt into the air towards Barnaby, revving his chainsword.



The final unit of five Marines arrived, touching down just behind Maxwell’s Executioner over on the right flank. The Vindicator tank shocked a squad of guardsmen aside in order to block the rear access hatch on the plasma Veteran’s Chimera. The 5-man Assault squad on the left leapt over another troops screen to draw a bead on the Chimera’s side facing. The flamer squad jetted into the midst of the power generators, leading swiftly to the tank shocked infantry squad being gunned down by bolter fire and flamethrowers just as they were dusting themselves off. Bolt rounds pinged off the Executioner’s rear Av11 ineffectually, until a melta shot pierced the rear engine compartment and immobilised it. A few paces away some lascannon beams punched through the Bane Wolf’s turret seal and incinerated the crew.



By now the sounds of flaming tanks, dying guardsmen, and the soft dripping of condensing Marines echoed across the training arena. Johnson’s plasma Veterans were sitting tight until a power fist smashed through the side hull plating of their Chimera, and with the back hatch blocked they leapt out of the topside emergency escape just as the Chimera went up in flames. Crashing to earth between the Vindicator and the large unit of Assault Marines, there was apparently little choice but to roll around on the ground extinguishing themselves, becoming auto-pinned in the process. Brother Pious descended towards Barnaby much akin to a very small and rather irate meteor.

“I challenge thee to accept His divine judgement, Chaos scum!”



Resisting a sudden urge to ask “who?”, Barnaby’s finely-honed instincts kicked in when faced with an incoming foe, leaping aside behind a nearby guardsman. Father Curtis surged forward to meet Pious as he landed, being immediately thrown to the ground by an I10 kick that fortunately failed to wound. Pious’ chainsword arced down onto Curtis as he lay struggling on the floor, biting through his robes and tasting flesh, wounding him. A second blow scythed down, battering aside the parry, but just as it was about to finish Curtis for good, Barnaby’s expertly aimed cut-glass brandy decanter struck Pious in the side of the head, throwing him off balance. Seizing the moment Curtis reversed his power sword and plunged it into the Apothecary’s breastplate to the hilt.

“Bang.”

For anyone not keeping up, Curtis failed both his saves and was about to die, until his single re-roll from having five friendly spectators allowed him to pass one of his saves and strike back, killing Pious. Fixer took it very well, all things considered.




Picture limit...

[Lord Cook]

Turn 4
Time was ticking and objectives lay ready for the capture. The Psykers grumpily surrendered their shaken Chimera to one of the Infantry squads, who leapt inside and raced off towards the central objective. Another squad on the right pulled a similar trick, advancing towards the Marine objective on that flank. The combat engineers (Veterans with meltaguns and demolitions) advanced towards the power generators to try and save my precariously held centre. Curtis split off from his squad, limping around the smoking Command Chimera, while Barnaby and his plasma troops advanced more cautiously behind.

Shooting was mostly ineffectual. A Psychic Shriek from Curtis did nothing to the flamer Marines (appropriately enough for my narrative), while supporting plasma fire killed only a few. My idiocy in not using Weaken Resolve on the Marines first, rather than Soulstorming them afterwards, turned what would have been a winning move into a limp-wristed slap. The Executioner missed the newly-arrived Marines completely, leaving it to a small Bs3 platoon Command squad to kill three with shooting (!?). The regular Leman Russ took a pot shot at the Vindicator and succeeded in crippling the demolisher cannon, catching several Marines in the blast.



By now the Marines were reduced to assault squads of eight and three on the left and a unit of two over on the right, however they outnumbered the Guard 3:1 on objectives. Brother Gabriel disengaged from the flamer Assault squad and jumped over to land next to Barnaby, wondering at the faint smell of charred power armour and Chateaubriand brandy.

Predator fire destroyed the Chimera advancing on the central objective. The Scouts bickered about which end of the missile launcher was which and continued to mostly miss everything. The right-flank Marine unit leapt up behind the Leman Russ and smashed it into pulp (make that 4:0 on objectives). The flamer squad incinerated much of Johnson’s plasma Veterans, and then multi-charged the survivors and the Psykers, killing the former and not bothering to properly pursue the latter, who escaped. The small unit of three leapt up behind the newly-wrecked Chimera and charged the Infantry squad fleeing from the wreckage, wiping them out and then rolling abominably badly for their consolidation distance.

Apothecary Gabriel charged Colonel Barnaby, his S6 power axe glowing as it whirred breathlessly between Barnaby’s troopers, slaying left and right until only the Colonel was left alive. Gabriel turned to face him. Barnaby fled, only to be struck in the back by a thrown power axe as he ran. A brief flash of light may or may not have been his refractor field lighting up as he fell [Slay the Warlord].



Turn 5
On the right flank my humble guardsman squad sprinted on to the Marine’s home objective, killing the nearest Scout with a well placed krak grenade that put the final survivor more than 3” away from the flag. The meltagun Veterans disembarked into the cover of the tank traps by the ruined Leman Russ and re-secured that objective as well. Their Chimera dashed towards the central objective; the driver eagerly using the shiny new turbo charger that let him move another 6” in the shooting phase as well, blocking the Predator from taking the flag. The last few Marines on the right were killed off by the Platoon Command squad, and a perfectly aimed exploding discus masquerading as a demolition charge wiped out the other small Assault squad. The Executioner tried to kill off a few Marines by splashing them with plasma fire off the front of the Vindicator; a master stroke which killed very few Marines but did shake the Vindicator to death. All of the survivors on the left advanced towards the last Assault squad in the power generators, cutting down several with volleys. One small squad of survivors turned their guns to the right. A psychic shriek once again did nothing.



Curtis was left facing Gabriel. The Apothecary picked up his power axe and turned to face the old preacher. Their eyes met. Wounded and tired, Curtis staggered back against the rear hatch of the burning Command Chimera. Gabriel paced forward, ignoring the stinging in his left cheek. Another hot pin prick in the same spot made him turn to the left, briefly.

The third las shot took his head off.

The Marine response was swift. Some frag missiles from the Scouts exploded amongst my advancing Infantry squad and sent the cowards running, leaving the Predator on that flank in sole control of the objective. The flamer Assault squad, down to about three Marines, burned the largest nearby squad to death while securing the flag in the generators. Another Chimera exploded. One more turn and I would probably be able to kill off the last few Marines, and then hope that the Predator failed its dangerous terrain test as it tried to capture the central flag. A flawless plan, obviously, however the game ended before my strategic genius could be proved in such a manner. Alas.







Result:

Marines 11 - 5 Guard

(Three objectives, Line Breaker, Slay the Warlord) - (One objective, First Blood, Slay the Warlord)

The canny among you will notice that Fixer and I completely forget to use any Overwatch all game. First game of 6E and all that. It could have helped a little, particularly when Mephiston charged a Chimera full of plasma guns when he only had two wounds, and when Pious charged the Command squad in much the same way. All in all though, as the difference in traditional VPs was about 7 (out of 2000!), I lost because Fixer’s support units were doing what they were supposed to (namely, score), while mine where having fun out in the middle of nowhere shooting things. Too much time spent killing Assault Marines and not enough effort put into moving towards the flags will do that to you. Tip my hat to Fixer, and all that.

Until next time…


“Where are you taking that force sword my son?”
“To the new Primaris, Father. He’s just getting some of the mold lines on his kit removed now.”
“Give it here.”
“Err… lost in transit Father?”
“I wouldn’t know. I was never here.”




.

[Starkey]

A good read was actually lol'ing at some parts. You got any changes planned for ur army for your next game

[agurus1]

entertaining battle report! loved when the "Primaris Psyker" killed the Apothecary lol

anyway, suggestions as the highly decorated Colonel of the Vostroyan 18th Heavy Infantry Regiment:

1st: get some more basic Leman Russ Battle Tanks, S8 AP3 pie plates are a DoA list's biggest nightmare, hull lascannon makes them good vs tanks too (and the new Ordnance rules)
2nd: consider using Straken with so many boots on the ground, with two platoons his counter attack and even furious charge make your blobs a bit of a scarier prospect to attack.
3rd: to me banewolfs are meh... there are many things that can take out armour better, from longer range and are more survivable. Consider Vendetta, or even some lascannon heavy weapon teams (more scoring units never hurt!)

[ColShaw]

Good times, good times.

[brightblade]

A highly enjoyable report, sounds like your games are sprinkled with just the right amount of daft! Like ours!

Good on yer!

[Thornz]

Lord Cook,

Your battle Reports are by far the best I have read. Please keep up the good work.

[PANZERBUNNY]

Duct tape on the floor? Bet it left a mark.

Glad to see the age old "make do" scenery mentality still exists. Books and green felt/any fabric make great hills in a pinch.

[Cap'n Facebeard]

Stuffy British officers just never stop being funny. Great rep, you should post more of them.

[Fixer]

Such vile propaganda from Col. Barnaby there. The marines shooting with live rounds first? Preposterous!

I seem to remember the Librarian Leinad being splattered across the terrain by a 'paintball heavy bolter' in the first turn. Or was that him smashing his bike into the plywood after being dazzled by a laser light show to the eyes?

Whatever the case, I'm sure every act of violence we undertook was perfectly justified.

[Dylius]

Excellent battle report! The paintball idea was very original.

[BrotherOfBrass]

Always an absolute hoot Lord Cook - I was avoiding reading 6th ed battle reports, as I don't have the rulebook yet, but this was definitely a worthy exception.

[Fox Of 9]

Brilliant best Battle report I've read for ages, constantly made me snicker. (ohh and the Britishness of the whole guard armies comedy was brilliant.)


David.

[lunawolves]

A most excellent battle report! Loving the pictures too! Brings it to life!

[kalspriggs]

Great battle report, really loved the conversions, and the dry sense of humor woven through the entire thing really made for an excellent read.

[Lord Cook]

Thank you for all the kind words of praise.

You got any changes planned for ur army for your next game

I'm just using a bit of everything at the moment and seeing what sticks.

3rd: to me banewolfs are meh... there are many things that can take out armour better, from longer range and are more survivable.

That's true, but Bane Wolves offer reliability. A Russ can easily miss, and a Bane Wolf won't. And against Marine infantry, lascannons just don't have the shots. That said, the survivability of Bane Wolves clearly leaves something to be desired if the enemy is gunning for them. We'll see...

I seem to remember the Librarian Leinad being splattered across the terrain by a 'paintball heavy bolter' in the first turn. Or was that him smashing his bike into the plywood after being dazzled by a laser light show to the eyes?

PsyOps and cunning disinformation from the Marines! I took the first turn, and if Leinad was killed midway down the board as he turbo-boosted forward, it must have been the second turn in which he was killed. No, I'm very confident that the first casualties of the match were the two Scouts, as described, followed by some ineffectual anti-tank fire on both sides and then the combusting Guardsmen from the Vindicator shell.

[Jwhitehead333]

Hey great battle report. One of the best Ive seen.

[Francis]

Lovely batrep, you sir have once again made me laugh.

[Tradition]

Not to Necro, but this was too good not to comment on - really a nice battlerep and written in the true tongue-in-cheek WH40k style.

Ciaphus Cain would be proud.