Ok my friend Josh and I finally got around to playing out the Ultramarines/Sons of Horus battle I set up above. He suprised me by choosing the Sons of Horus and their side of the board.



We used the method of taking turns deploying detachments and he won the initiative. Actually, he won the initiative every round of the game with the exception of 2.

Anyway, I started off forgetting to give my Whirlwinds orders (surprisingly considering the size of the game, yet I did it more and more often as the night went on and I knocked off more beers), so they couldnt even shoot. The first 2 rounds were more about getting into positions, so no real casualties till the third round.





Both our titans were equipped as seen with a gatling blaster, volcano cannon, powerfist, and vortex missile. On turn 3 we each unleashed our vortex missiles. Josh went for a building I had a bunch of infantry in as it was an objective, but missed and it deviated.



I was luckier had sent mine right into a detachment of Sons of Horus infantry and took out 3 or 4 stands and his Medic.

at the end of the turn we rolled for deviations and his stayed put while mine drifted over the rest of his detachment and took out a few more of his guys. It was definately a great shot.

I was after the building along the edge surrounde by the moat. The plan was to stick a detachment of tacticals there and just hold it, then shift everyone else over to my right to deal with his titan.



Josh sent his titan down to the objective in the canyon and we had a pretty epic battle there. He also sent his bikers there but by then I could counter move my other units up so they were pretty much toast after CC was over. Unfortunately, his Warlord eventually wiped what was left of my Land Raiders and Infantry.





This was a pretty critical moment on my right flank because after he lost his Bikes, there was nothing left keeping me from an objective on his corner of the board, and once my Warlord turned right from the moat to go after his, he decided to stay in the canyon to deal with my shifting forces, so using what was left of my rhinos and infantry near the valley as a screen, I sent my Bikes tearing off the side of the board to get behind his units.



We had some terrible rolls with the whirlwinds and indirect fire, but he did manage to bring down a building I had a bunch of troops in, sending my tactical company to near break point.

Hi!

This great, we want more!

Primarch

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Primarch


The Primarchload
Magnetized Titans Tutorial
Net Epic Gold
Heresy Rules

I totally had momentum tho, as Josh was a mess near the river, and after securing the objective on his corner of the board, my Bikers charged off towards the back after his whirlwinds. I made a huge mistake though in deciding to shoot with my own whirlwinds, who I had moved out from cover to fire on his Warlord directly, instead of my own Warlord, and he ended up knocking down my last shields, and blowing off my Volcano cannon. By this point I was like 8 beers in and even forgot to give my Warlord orders at one point. Also, with his vortex hanging around, I had a hard time getting my last Land Raiders in position to fire in him. I had brought these guys all the way over from the other side of the board and I don't think they got more than a few shots off. So with his infantry in the buildings, hq and chaplin, land raiders, and Warlord, he was pouring on fire on my Warlord and despite bringing 5 shields up on one end phase, they were continuously getting knocked down.



He actually nailed my Warlord in the head with his Volcano cannon, but I made the 5+ save luckily, and we rolled for damage just to see what might have happened and he rolled a six, which would have toasted my Warlord. Both of us did take damage to our Warlords reactors but were able to repair them. I also blew off his Gatling Blaster, so that only left his Volcano cannon. Powerful yes, but only one shot.

Around this time he finally broke my Tactical Company too.

Meanwhile tho, my Bikers charges his Whirlwinds in CC and wiped them out, and then Josh tried to reposition some of his Tactical marines and Rhinos to fight my bikers but I killed them too, breaking his Tactical Company, which was finally enough for me to break the necessary 40 points needed to win.



The final score was 42-27.

Lots of other crazy stuff happened thats too much to write, but the Warlords really dominated what we did on the board, and had I not been lucky with my repair rolls, I could have easily lost it. Turning him to run across the board in full view of his units wasnt the best idea. But because Josh had to deal with him, it enabled me to score a lot of points with the Bikers who really won the day. Both titans surprisingly survived till the end though, considering all of the hits they took. It was quite miraculous.

Josh wasnt able to take an objective from me, while I took one of his. He also missed a lot of shots early on too.

Anyway, it was a fun game and we've decided to break out the Orks and Eldar next so stay tuned!

<deleted>

More action shots:



Things from his point of view...



The objective in the lower left corner is where I sent my Bikes initially before they went on their rampage behind enemy lines...

You're making me want to play a game right now. Thanks for all the pictures, and for taking the time to write down so much of what happened. It's great to see SM2 back in action .

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Thanks yeah its been fun. Painting like a mad man when i have the chance.

I just was thinking about what my Bikers pulled off... For a unit costing 150, they captured a objective for 5 points, wiped out the whirlwinds for 2, and then finished of enough of his tactical company to score me 8 points. Thats 15 points!!! Had they not ha that great run, and my friend was able to knock out the Warlord when he had the chance, the outcome would have been different.

I am trying to capture the feel of SM2, so thats why my board looks the way it does. But it looks really aged. Actually most of my terrain is more than 15 years old. Might have to upgrade them soon.

This was a delight to read, thank you for taking the time to share this!

Bikes can be incredibly powerful, especially if you are up against a force that is slow at manoeuvring. Stealing objectives can make a huge difference to the game and bikes are so flexible that if you are on charge orders they are usually in reach of several different ones. There objectives can be so important that there are times when I almost go on suicidal missions - even if you do get battered the points for the objectives make it worthwhile doing!

You'll often find that at the end of a game you can recognise a few big moments and how the battle could have ended differently. It's one of the things I find most fun, particularly if something really unlikely happened, there's nothing better than having a laugh and joke during the match post-morten. The fact that the outcome can be quite unpredictable is one of the beauties of the game!

And I think you're capturing the feel of SM2 beautifully! Nothing wrong with that terrain in my eyes!

Hope you continue enjoying the game and I look forward to reading more!

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Clickable links for more Epic goodness:

Life of Die Channel including Epic Podcasts and Battle Reports

Epic 40K Players Page on Facebook
Net Epic Evolution Rules
Net Epic War! Campaign Rules

By the way, you may want to post future battle reports in the Net Epic Battle Reports section. I do appreciate that there are differences between SM2 and NetEpic but to all intents and purposes they are similar enough that if you mention at the start of your report that you are using SM2 rules people will fully understand and follow it no bother. I'm fairly certain other people have done exactly that before.

I really hope there is more to come, love it!

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Clickable links for more Epic goodness:

Life of Die Channel including Epic Podcasts and Battle Reports

Epic 40K Players Page on Facebook
Net Epic Evolution Rules
Net Epic War! Campaign Rules

This board is the SM2 board, so pure SM2 stuff goes here in my view. It's great to see this board being used again.

My terrain for Epic is years old too. I have all the original SM2 buildings, and the Titan Legions terrain, and I still think that they look the part. The trees, hedges, and other foliage date back even further than that. Back to when my dad used to play WWII games in the 1970s and 1980s.

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We're a ways away from doing this, but I was re-reading the rules for Titan Legions, and in particular the rule about only weapons with a save modifier of at least -1 affecting Titan Void Shields, and it got thinking how that made tons of infantry less effective in games involving titans, and made units like the Warlord more powerful, without any change in their point cost. In the last game I just played, my friend's marines in the buildings were taking all sorts of pot shots at me, and nearly broke my Warlord. In a game this size, with the units we had, I dont think I would want to play with that Titan Legions rule. The Warlord would have only worried about a few units, and once they were eliminated, the Warlord would have had no fear over anything.

And it certainly helps the Imperator!

I actually prefer the rules change regarding Void Shields. I didn't like how any weapon, even a lowly Bolt Pistol, could strip a Void Shield.

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

Hi!

My old game group house ruled this right off. We were glad to see it was made official later that only weapons with at least a -1 TSM could bring down a shield.

Companies of tactical IG were way too good against titans without this rule.

Primarch

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Primarch


The Primarchload
Magnetized Titans Tutorial
Net Epic Gold
Heresy Rules

Agreed that the -1 rule makes more sense and that I prefer it, however, there's no doubt that when that rule was introduced that I stopped using Tactical troops.

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Clickable links for more Epic goodness:

Life of Die Channel including Epic Podcasts and Battle Reports

Epic 40K Players Page on Facebook
Net Epic Evolution Rules
Net Epic War! Campaign Rules