Battle Report- Ultramarines Vs. Tyranids

Played a game tonight against the ZombieArchivist as part of a Planetary Empires campaign that's been going in fits and starts. It's supposedly also a bit of an Escalation event, so tonight's game was at 1000 points. Just enough points to fit in a few nasty things, but not enough to take everything.

We played the Seize Ground mission, with 4 objectives, with Pitched Battle deployment. Nice and easy, especially when compared to my 5-6 game streak of only playing Dawn of War deployment. My force consisted of a Captain with bolter and power sword (my cheap replacement for Sicarius in small games), Tactical Squads I and II with plasma guns and missile launchers, Tactical Squad III with a flamer and a missile launcher, 5 Scouts with a power fist for the Sergeant and a heavy bolter, a Dreadnought with an Assault Cannon, and a Vindicator with Siege Shield. Lots of bodies, but with the tank and the Dreadnought to handle any big angry bugs.

The Tyranid force was not quite what I was expecting. I'd been seeing lots of Genestealers out of him lately, and this list was basically the opposite of that. A Tyranid Prime with Rending Claws and Adrenal Glands, 2 Venomthropes, a unit of 30 Hormagaunts with Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs, 30 Termagants, a Tervigon with Catalyst, and a Mawloc. Way more bugs than I'd planned to be seeing across the board.

My deployment was pretty straightforward- I split all 3 Tactical squads into combat squads, while the Scouts got into position on the objective in the near crater with their Scout move. The back halves of Squads II and III (IIB and IIIB) parked on the hill with their missile launchers, while IB got ready to set up shop on the wrecked Rhino with the objective. IIA and IIIA were escorts for the Vindicator, and getting ready to take the far crater objective, while IA ran with the Dreadnought to leapfrog the Scouts and take the objective in the forest on the Tyranid side. At least, that was the theory- we all know what happens to plans at contact.

The Tyranids set up in a couple of huge groups- the Hormagaunts in the forest on my right flank, the Termagants and Tyranid Prime on the hill on the left, with the Tervigon and the Venomthropes in between.

Taking the first turn meant that things were easy for me to start with- everyone moved up as planned, and my shooting phase was tremendous. With Squads IIB, IIIB, the Scouts, and the Dreadnought shooting at the Hormagaunts, I was able to thin their numbers very quickly, and an incredible stroke of luck with the Vindicator obliterated BOTH Venomthropes. All of the A squads ran, moving into position for the next turn.

Turn One for the bugs was not nearly as positive. Awful Difficult Terrain checks left the Hormagaunts swinging in the breeze right in front of the Scouts, and the Tervigon rolled 1-1-2 for his spawning, creating a unit of 4 Termagants and running out of eggs for the game.

In the second turn, the A squads continued to move up, while pouring fire into the Tyranids. The Scouts, IA, IIA, and the Dreadnought continued to lay waste to the Hormagaunts, while all of Squad III and the Vindicator dropped fully half of the Termagants.

In the bottom of the second, the Mawloc showed up, right in the midst of Squad IIIB, easily chowing down on four of their number, the missle-armed trooper just staring up at the massive beast in shock. The Hormagaunts finally remembered that they were hungry, assaulting the Scouts and Squad IA. The Scouts weathered a terrific number of attacks, managing to lose only one of their number, along with one Tactical Marine. Only managing to kill three of the Tyranids, that fight continued. On my left flank, Squad IIIA managed to account for 5 Termagants to no losses of their own, with the additional armor saves from Fearless accounting for 4 more dead Termagants.

In the 3rd turn, Squad IIA, accompanied by the Captain, moved up to support the Marines fighting the few remaining Termagants and their extremely angry Tyranid Prime, while the Dreadnought turned back towards where he started in an attempt to go deal with the Mawloc. His shooting was inadequate, but the two missile launchers on the hill were able to account for a wound on the huge monstrosity. The Dreadnought was slightly better in the assault, wounding the Mawloc twice while being immobilized itself, as the Mawloc failed its attempt at Hit and Run. The Captain and the Tyranid Prime squared off, with the Tyranid scoring one unanswered wound on the Marine hero. The Scouts and Squad IA continued their stalemate with the Hormagaunts, with the other Tactical Marine forward elements accounting for five Termagants, the rest of them falling to extra wounds from fearless, leaving the Tyranid Prime in combat with a full ten marines and the Captain.

The third turn for the Tyranids was almost entirely done in the Assault Phase. The Tervigon jumped into the fray to defend the Tyranid Prime, while the Hormagaunts were cut down by the Scouts, leaving the two remaining Scouts to consolidate their hold on the flag in the crater, with the Sergeant and Plasma gunner from Squad I making a break for the lightly defended forest objective. The immobile Dreadnought managed to inflict an unanswered wound on the Mawloc, while the fight between the Tyranid Prime and the Space Marine Captain continued to be a tied contest.

Turn 4 was a big shuffle for the Ultramarines, with squad IB moving from the wrecked Rhino forward towards the unoccupied crater objective, while IIB and the lone survivor of IIIB moved to take up their positions in the wreckage. The remaining Scouts, IA Tactical Marines, and the Vindicator collectively only accounted for 3 of the 4 Termagants guarding the forest objective. The Dreadnought managed to inflict a fifth wound on the Mawloc, though it got exploded for it's troubles, while the Captain continued his streak of bad luck, still failing to injure the Tyranid Prime, while it cut down two Tactical Marines. Their resolve held fast, however, keeping the fight going for another round.

With it's mechanical opponent now scrapped, the Mawloc took the opportunity to dig deep into the desert sands, avoiding any hostile gunfire. With a lucky Fleshborer shot, the lone Termagant in the woods managed to bring down the plasma gunner from Squad IA, leaving a lone Sergeant to face off against the vile Xenos. The Captain finally managed to wound the Tyranid Prime, but not without cost, with three more marines killed, while a fourth fell to extra wounds from combat resolution.

Returning from the ground, the Mawloc, eager for vengeance against the Vindicator, attempted to bore straight through the armored behemoth, but miscalculated, missing completely, a move that would take it almost completely out of the fight. The Vindicator, unfazed, brought it's Storm Bolter to bear on the lone Termagant, robbing the Sergeant of a chance to best it in single combat. The Tervigon crushed the last member of Squad IIA, but the Sergeant from Squad III and the Captain held fast, with all four objectives now solidly in the hands of the Ultramarines.

With the random game length forcing the Ultramarines to hold on, they had little to do besides hope that their Captain could hold the Tervigon and the Tyranid Prime in combat. The Vindicator easily obliterated the already wounded Mawloc, but the Captain again failed to wound the thick-shelled Tyranid Prime. The Tervigon had no such problem, eviscerating the Sergeant from Squad III, and feasting on his remains.
With only two models on the table, the Tyranid turn progressed quickly. Now undistracted, the Tervigon easily devoured the Captain, with Consolidation moves allowing the Tyranid Prime and the Tervigon to contest the objectives held by Squad IB and the Scouts, respectively.

Another unlucky turn roll led into turn 7, with nearly every Ultramarines model on the board firing on the Tyranid Prime in hopes of dealing a deathblow. The Heavy Bolter from the Scouts managed to deal a wound, but it was not enough to bring it down. With the Tyranids getting the last chance at assaulting, the Tervigon handily beat the Scouts, with only a single wound from the Sergeant's Power Fist on his way down the Tervigon's gullet. The Tyranid Prime managed to kill two of the five Marines holding the far crater, but the rest held fast as the game drew to a close.

With the Forest and the Rhino firmly in their grasp, and the Tervigon in the near crater, the Ultramarines held the field, two objectives to one for the Tyranids.

I think this game was a pretty good example of going in with a well thought-out plan, while remaining adaptable. I had hoped to get my Captain and Squad IIA onto the far crater, but with the Captain's power sword the only real shot at cutting into the Tervigon (with the exception of the Scout Sergeant's Power Fist, and he already had a job to do), I had to play leapfrog with my units on the left flank. The Mawloc was extremely disruptive- during turn 5, I spent my whole movement phase trying to spread out the squads holding objectives in hopes that the Mawloc's return wouldn't blast me off of an objective- really the only thing that kept it from being devastating was Joe's intense hatred for the Vindicator, even going so far as to admit that it wasn't the smart tactical play. There were a couple of rules errors that should have been obvious to me at the time- we misplayed And They Shall Know No Fear for a couple of turns, defaulting the Marines to Fearless when they failed a morale check, rather than after being caught by a Sweeping Advance. That cost me a couple of Marines and probably a few attacks from charging back into the fight, and there's really no excuse for it- I've been playing Space Marines for more than a decade, and ATSKNF has not really changed all that much. I also was panicking over the Tyranid Prime during Turn 7, forgetting that because it wasn't a Troops Choice, it had no chance at taking the objective away from Squad IB, just contesting it. Really, Turn 7, especially the Tyranid half, was a formality- there was no way for the two remaining bugs to contest or destroy enough Marines to keep the victory away from me. My own mental failings aside, however, it was a well-fought game by Joe, especially considering his poor luck early on with the Tervigon, and a pleasure as always. Certainly a worthy game for his debut in the Steamwerks.

Warmachine comeback!

So, after a post-GenCon hiatus, the Usual Suspects have been clamoring for a bit of Warmachine. After feeling a bit burned out on the game, I'm trying to try something a little different from my old Severius and 2 Revengers assassination list. The game ran a little late, so there were a few tactical mistakes, but for the most part, it was back to what I originally enjoyed about Warmachine- tight tactical play and tense fights.

Protectorate Vs. Cygnar (Martha), 35 points, 'Caster Kill

Protectorate Force: High Exemplar Kreoss, Heirophant, Revenger, Crusader, Vanquisher, 6 Knights Exemplar, 5 Exemplar Bastions, 4 Choir, Knight Exemplar Seneschal.

Cygnar Force: Commander Coleman Stryker, Squire, Lancer, Thunderhead, Gunmage Captain Adept, Journeyman Warcaster, 3 Stormsmith Stormcallers, 6 Sword Knights, 10 Storm Guard

The table was set up "competitively", but we ended up fairly symmetrical, with a bit of a road running down the center. This was where most of the bloodshed was going to take place, with a bit more right around the church.

Turn 1 was pretty uneventful for both sides. I went first, with most of my army advancing and Kreoss setting up a couple of upkeeps- Lamentation on himself, and Defenders Ward on the Knights Exemplar, preparing them for a flank run towards the Sword Knights. Martha's force did much the same thing- Stryker set up Arcane Shield on the Stormguard and Blur on the Lancer, to buy it a turn safe from the Vanquisher shelling it, while the Journeyman Warcaster gave the Sword Knights his own Arcane Shield.


Turn 2 started a little bit of violence. The Choir set up the Vanquisher for a fire mission with a little Hymn of Battle, his Flame Belcher killing off 3 of the Storm Guard. The Crusader and Bastions advanced, preparing to meet the remaining Storm Guard head-on, while the Knights, Seneschal, and Revenger continued to position themselves.

The Cygnarans had a bit more going on. The Stormsmiths set up a nice chain of electrocutions on the Knights Exemplar, but only actually managed to kill one of them for their trouble. Stryker attempted to Earthquake the Bastions, but failed (forgetting the ability of the Squire to re-roll a casting roll once per turn). The Storm Guard charged into the still-standing Bastions, killing 3 of the 5, thanks to Sanguine Bond allowing the ones next in line to be hit to be killed instead, minimizing the impact of the Storm Guard. The Gun Mage Captain Adept took a potshot at the Vanquisher, but only hit it for two points, only managing to make it angry.


Going into Turn 3, the Menites were getting ready to bring some pain. The Vanquisher obliterated the Gun Mage Captain Adept with a well placed Flame Belcher shot, smearing his remains all over the underbrush in the copse of trees he was attempting to hide in, while the Crusader smashed a pair of Storm Guard into the sand with his Inferno Mace. He probably only really needed one focus, if any. The Bastions failed to hit anything, probably too busy laughing at the two warjacks massively over-killing their targets. The Seneschal dropped one more Storm Guard, while the Exemplars split their charges amongst the Stormsmiths, completely (and hilariously) destroying them. Old men are not well-equipped to tangle with the finest soldiers in the Protectorate.

Cygnar's response was fairly quick in coming. The Sword Knights managed to kil two of the Knights Exemplar, while Stryker cast Snipe on the Thunderhead, allowing it to zap the Crusader for five points of damage.

Turn 4 was the clear turning point of the game. Dropping all of his upkeep spells and only allocating one point to the Vanquisher, keeping the rest for himself, Kreoss activated his feat, knocking down all of the Cygnarans but Stryker, his Squire, and the Journeyman Warcaster. A blast of Cleansing Fire killed a pair of Storm Guard, while Purification stripped the Sword Knights of their Arcane Shield and the Thunderhead of Snipe. The Bastions and Crusader handily saw off the helpless Storm Guard, as the Knight Exemplar Seneschal took a run (and a Smite) at the Thunderhead, but not hitting him hard enough to knock him into Commander Stryker. The Knights Exemplar tried striking back at the Sword Knights, but even knocked down they were only able to kill two of them.

Reeling from Kreoss's feat turn, the Cygnarans spent this round mostly in damage control mode. The Thunderhead and Lancer each spent focus to shake off their knockdowns, with the Thunderhead managing to zap Kreoss with a 6-point bolt of lightning. Stryker himself managed to hit the Crusader with Arcane Bolt, splash damage hitting the Bastions. The Journeyman Warcaster re-cast Arcane Shield onto the Sword Knights, who then failed to damage the enraged Knights Exemplar.

The fifth turn was the Protectorate's best shot at bringing down Stryker. With an open charge lane due to the Thunderhead ignoring him, he bore down on Commander Stryker, managing to pummel him for 15 points of damage, not quite enough to bring him down, even with the slam taking him straight into the Squire. The Revenger moved to screen Kreoss from the Thunderhead, allowing the High Exemplar to channel a couple of Immolates into it, not doing much damage, but managing to light it on fire. The Bastions charged the Thunderhead, doing a bit of damage, while the Vanquisher took a shot at the Lancer, blowing its shield arm off. The Crusader advanced towards Stryker, while the Knights Exemplar only killed a single Sword Knight.

Another damage control turn for Cygnar, the Thunderhead lucked out on his Fire roll in turn 5, the flames going out without doing any damage. The Sword Knights finally got the best of the Knights Exemplar, but they were still far from the rest of the fight. The Thunderhead managed to catch both the Bastions and the Revenger with an Energy Pulse, for a single point of damage to each, but then crushed one Bastion with a Shock Fist attack. Stryker cut the Seneschal in half for daring to hit him, but again forgot to activate his feat.

Round 6 was really the end. The Crusader beat the Lancer into scrap, while the Vanquisher, aiming for Stryker and missing because of his wooded cover, blew up the Squire. The remaining Bastion managed to destroy the Thunderhead's right arm. Even with it in combat, Kreoss managed to light the Thunderhead on fire again before the Revenger moved to engage it, keeping it from making a run at Kreoss at the buzzer. With the Thunderhead burning up during her Maintenance Phase, Martha surrendered at the start of turn 6.


There were a couple of key mistakes this game (Does everyone forget Stryker's feat?), but overall it was pretty damned close until Kreoss's feat turn cracked the midfield open. The Storm Guard were fairly brutal, though not nearly as dangerous against the tough Bastions as I'm used to them being against softer infantry. The Bastions' ability to move damage around in the squad is much more interesting than I'd thought at first glance- it's not just about keeping more of the squad alive longer, it can very effectively prevent the enemy from having targets to hit in the first place, especially heavy hitters like the Storm Guard. This game did do what I needed it to- remind me that Warmachine is actually a game worth playing occasionally, rather than just a few hundred dollars worth of models sitting in a dusty case. I also just picked up the new Privateer token set, which may merit a review of it's own.

Game vs. Tomb Kings, 6-27-09

Ah, the delay when one has Flickr sets to sort... Or, y'know, is lazy.
Anyway, I played a number of games in preparation for a tourney at the Chicago Battle Bunker this past Monday. This particular one was against John (not of Plastic Legions, though he's a good guy too!) and his Tomb Kings. Those that play against me in WHFB on a regular basis know a basic truism- I *%#$ing HATE the Undead. So any chance to give them a kicking is a good time, though given my record against them, maybe not...



Here's my standard "castle" deployment. Warmachines on the hill, Thunderers on the flank with a Dragon Slayer to discourage people from just rolling up the thin line of shooters, Slayers on the other flank, and my three major combat blocks filling up the center (Left to right, Warriors, Longbeards, and Ironbreakers). The best laid plans, of course...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/conspyre/3676978951/sizes/m/in/set-72157619335123663/

And the view across the table. Chariots on my left (led by his bitchin' flaming Tomb King chariot), more Chariots, a thin line of Skeleton Archers, two Screaming Skull Catapults, some Tomb Guard, and Yet More Chariots. That many S7-vulnerable units should be a Good Thing for my Bolt Thrower and Cannon, but that remains to be seen.



Turn one was a bit more eventful than usual. The Tomb Kings advanced, with a little magical assistance speeding up a couple of Chariot units, and the Screaming Skull Catapults dropping a couple of Slayers, while the Tomb King's unit reminded me that yes, TK Chariots have bows by killing two Thunderers. The Dwarfs retaliated, powdering a Catapult crewman with a cannonball, and destroying a Chariot between the Thunderers and the Organ Gun.


Turn 2: The Slayers square off against the fast-moving Undead

Turn 2 was a quiet Magic phase for the Tomb Kings, as between a Rune of Spellbreaking and some solid Dispel dice, they didn't see a single spell go off. The shooting phase was a bit nastier for them, with a (obviously huge!) shot from the Screaming Skull Catapult demolishing the Organ Gun, leaving the crew a bit puzzled as to what to do with themselves. Like all good Dwarf gun crews, they ended up parking themselves behind the hill to have a quick pint or five until they were needed. The Dwarf shooting wasn't quite so stellar, with the Cannon failing to hit, though the Thunderers and Bolt Thrower each destroyed a Chariot.


Turn 3: It Came From Below!

As is traditional, turn 3 was Interesting. All of John's reserves showed up, namely two Tomb Scorpions and a swarm of three bases. The last chariot in his second unit attempted to charge the Thunderers, only to be gunned down by their Stand and Shoot reaction. Using my last two Runes of Spellbreaking effectively shut down his Magic phase again, leading neatly into one of the Screaming Skull catapults misfiring. His Tomb King's chariot regiment easily cut down the Thunderers, despite their earlier triumph, and overran into the Dragon Slayer. Despite it landing practically on top of them, the Warrors easily defeated the first Tomb Scorpion in combat resolution, and the Bolt Thrower crew bravely defended their machine against the other one. The Slayers, alone on the right flank, managed to hold up against the Swarms and his right-flank Chariot unit. On the Dwarf side of the round, the Cannon managed to do two wounds to one of the Screaming Skull Catapults. The Tomb Scorpion fighting the Bolt Thrower crew cut them down, demolishing the machine, while the Dragon Slayer found his glorious end against the Tomb King. The Slayers were whittled down by the Chariots and Swarms, the Chariots claiming their banner for the trophy halls of Khemri.


Turn 4: Surrounded, the Dwarfs try to regroup.

After the frenzy of combat in Turn 3, Turn 4 was relatively sedate. The Magic phase was again quiet, while the Skeleton Archers dropped a cannon crewman. The Cannon responded by destroying one of the Swarms with Grapeshot, but otherwise it was mostly preparation for Turn 5, which would inevitably be the decisive turn.


Turn 5: I somehow don't have a good picture. Please enjoy this kitten.

The Ironbreakers got charged by both the Chariot and the two remaining swarms. Again the Magic phase was silent, though I can't say the same for shooting, with four Longbeards killed by airborne craniums. One Tomb Scorpion killed off the Cannon crew, overrunning into the Organ Gun crewmen, while the Ironbreakers fled and were cut down.


Turn 6: The Tomb King and his retinue fight the Warriors.

Without the Runesmith to help with magic (he was killed with the Bolt Thrower crew), the Tomb King was able to advance his unit into the Warriors, while the Tomb Guard got the rear of the Longbeards. The Warriors broke and fled, cut down by the chariots, and the Longbeards fled, running into the Skeleton Archers, leaving the table clear of Dwarfs.


This was a tricky game for me. I'm used to the Vampire Counts, where if you can stymie their magic, they're in a great deal of pain. In this game, John didn't get very many spells off, but his Chariots were still more than enough to crush my infantry blocks.

WHFB Battle Report, 6/22/09

I played a game on Monday against Anthony to test out a list for a staff tourney I was invited to, as while I'm not really staff anymore, they needed someone else to beat on (I kid, I kid!). The tournament is 2250 points, which is just a touch larger than I like playing in WHFB (I'm a firm believer that the game is balanced for 2000 points on the nose), but it's not so big as to make it impossible to get at least a good chunk of my Dwarfs sorted before then.

My list was an expansion of my 1000 point list from the store tourney, adding a BSB, an Organ Gun, a Bolt Thrower, a unit of Longbeards, and a unit of Ironbreakers. Dwarf Battle Standards are absolutely fantastic. The runic item system makes it so that if you want to spend the points, you can make a truly insane swiss-army knife banner that does damn near everything. In this case, the main use for the BSB is to carry the Master Rune of Valaya, which adds +2 to every dispel roll, and also automatically dispels any Remains in Play spell within 12" at the start of each player's Magic phase. The Longbeards are a second line unit, intended to help the Warriors stick in with the Old Grumblers special rule, and do a bit more smashing with their Great Weapons. The Ironbreakers are a bit of a comprimise. I think Hammerers are probably the better unit, but I don't own any, and I don't have the $100 for a unit of 20, so currently I'm using the Ironbreakers as a hard flank to my force. The war machines are also kind of a mixed bag. The Bolt Thrower is arguably my favorite war machine in the army, kitted out with a Rune of Seeking and two Runes of Penetrating, making for a pretty unholy one shot killer for any chariots running around (Black Coaches, I'm looking at you!), and a very reliable shish kabob maker for light to medium infantry. The Organ Gun is a new one for me. I like the idea of being able to shoot the bejesus out of anything that gets close, on the other hand, I'm not sure I like that they have to get close first.

Anthony played a very tough, compact Lizardmen list. One block of Temple Guard with the Slaan Mage Priest, two units of Skinks with a pair of Kroxigors each, a small unit of Skink Skirmishers, and a pair of Ancient Stegadons with Skink Priests riding them.

Initial Deployment:

I ran a pretty classic Dwarf castle formation- pop the war machines up on the hill, park the big infantry blocks in front, and let them come to me. On my flanks were the Slayers, hopefully to stop his Skink Skirmishers off on that flank, and the Thunderers on the other to provide a cross fire, and maybe tempt him to present the flank of a unit. Anthony set up dead hard, with his Slaan hiding off in the woods, and the Stegadons set up inside the Skink units. His Skirmishers are out of the picture to the left, hiding behind the watchtower and waiting to sprint across the board.

Turns one and two were fairly uneventful, the only major casualty being my Organ Gun- to itself. Hard to see what a new unit will do when it blows itself up the first time it's in range of the enemy. Oh well.

Turn three started to see the first few casualties. After pretty much locking down the Lizardmen magic phase, a Skink priest managed to get a bound Thunderbolt off to kill my Dragon Slayer. I didn't have much luck returning fire, most of my shooting bouncing off the Stegadon approaching on my right flank.

Turn four was not good for our vertically-challenged heroes. The Slaan got Spirit of the Forge off, killing 8 of my seemingly invulnerable Ironbreakers, while the Stegadon that the Thunderers failed to dispatch easily killed them off.


Turn 5 saw the other Stegadon finally hitting my lines, running down the unit of Warrors with the Runesmith and running into my Longbeards, which was part of the plan, with my Dwarf Lord set up to smash the hell out of the big lizard. In the bottom of the turn, my Cannon finally saw off the Stegadon on the right, greatly lessening the effectiveness of that group of Skinks, and giving my Ironbreakers a fighting chance to hold the right side. The Lord did a fantastic job, easily wounding the Stegadon 4 times, allowing the Longbeards to hold their position.

Through all of the carnage in the center of the table, Anthony's skinks on my left flank were doing a little dance, trying to bait the Slayers into a fight. Turn 5 was finally their undoing, with the Slayers easily breaking the Skinks, and running them off the table.

Turn Six was mostly mop-up. The Dwarf Lord and his Longbeards finally broke, fleeing off-table, and my two remaining war machines both misfired, bringing the match to a close.

The final score left little question, with the Lizardmen scoring 1602VP to my 678VP, for a solid victory to the Lizardmen.

(How much detail do you guys want to see in batreps? Turn by turn pictures and movement, or just general impressions? Let me know!)