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3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion

 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:13 am 
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Hi.

Had a game on Sunday with wargame_insomniac at the Night Owls club in Leeds (friendly bunch of people, certainly). It was intended to be a full battle report, but unfortunately time pressure mounted up so we didn?t get a chance to finish off, or take sweeping battle photos, but we were almost certainly on the last turn (it was all over barring the screamings and mass executions for incompetence on my side really?well no it wasn?t, but we didn?t have the twenty minutes more we needed!).

Apologies for any format mistakes, this is my first battle report.

Rules Used:

Nealhunt?s Change Docs
Hell Talon Stats proposed on SG site (the 200 points for 2 ones)

Forces:

wargame_insomniac?s Imperial Guard

Leman Russ Company (+ Demolishers, + Hydra)
Regimental HQ (+ Hellhounds, + Hydra)
Sentinels
Sentinels
Rough Riders
Rough Riders
Stormtroopers
Shadowswords (+ Hydra)

BTS: Leman Russ Company

Kleomenes? Black Legion

Armoured Company (6 Land Raiders)
Retinue (+ 4 Rhinos)
Retinue (+ 4 Havocs)
Forlorn Hope
Raptors (7 Raptors, the Warlord)
Chaos Terminators (4 Terminators)
Chaos Terminators (4 Terminators)
Decimator
Decimator
Feral
Hell Talons

BTS Land Raiders

Objectives:

Imperial ? The Missle Silo was their blitz (next to the Reg HQ in the pic below), and the two take and hold objectives were the lone farm building (held by two forlorn hope CSM iin the pic below) and the bunker on the hill on the Black Legion left flank.

Black Legion ? The supply dump (just behind the Feral in the pic below) was their blitz, and their two take and hold objectives were the temple in the valley on the Black Legion left flank (the beige SM1 building), and the bunker at the base of the hill among the rocks in the centre.

Deployment:

Check out the picture here (can't work out how to add images! Its the deployment one dated 13/01/08)





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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:19 am 
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Turn 1:

The two Chosen formations teleported onto the flank of the Imperial guard main body, threatening the Leman Russ company but gaining 2 and 1 blast markers respectively.

Black Legion won initiative.

Relishing the chance to crush the heart of the Imperial army in one stroke, the Chosen formations declared a combined assault on the Leman Russ company, declaring the Shadowswords intermingled. Unfortunately, they only slew 3 Leman Russ, 1 Demolisher and the Hydra and lost an entire formation in return. Losing the combat, the other formation was hacked down (I chose to think of it as ?teleporting out?).

When Terminators Attack!!!

The Leman Russ company activated next, licking its wounds and pressing forward with a marshall action which shed all its blast markers.

Someone forgot to turn on the Chaos servitors loading the Hell Talon?s bombs, and so the aircraft didn?t show up for this turn.

The Rough Riders on the left flank marched forward heading in a wide arc around the Folorn Hope, heading for the Black Legion?s blitz.

The veteran marines of the Folorn Hope sustained fire on the sentinel squadron nearby, unfortunately they had decided on staying stealthy and didn?t manage to score any hits, only placing a blast marker.

The Regimental HQ company mounted up and sped to behind the main ridgeline near the temple, staying mounted as they were obscured from the vision of the bulk of the black legion forces.

The first Decimator, sensing a juicy target, doubled forward over the large rocky hill on the chaos left flank and opened fire upon the Regimental HQ, destroying a chimera and the troops inside, dropping 3 blast markers on the formation.

The Storm Troopers doubled forward to attack the Decimator, and their firing caused 2 DC and broke the machine, which retreated back up the hill to the rocks at the southern end.

The foot retinue doubled forward, under fire from both the sentinel squadrons, but taking only 2 blast markers for coming under fire. Their return fire wrecked three of the squadron on the Guard?s left flank, the remaining machine fleeing to behind the waterworks in the left corner of the IG deployment zone.

The Shadowsword company advanced onto the high hill in the IG deployment zone, and opened fire on the other decimator, easily destroying it.

The Feral titan doubled forward and sprayed fire at the closely packed Shadowswords, but only placed a blast marker.

The other Rough Rider platoon marched along the front of the Black Legion force to surround the exposed foot retinue.

The Land Raiders raced up to the top of the rocky hill on the chaos left flank with a double action, their hasty fire still destroying 2 valkyries and 2 stands of Stormtroopers.

The Raptors marched to the mausoleum, lining the slopes as the Warlord readied himself to swoop into the attack on the Imperial Guards commander next turn.

The mounted retinue moved up to be in a position to assault the stormtroopers next turn, and opened fire meanwhile on the sentinels on the IG right flank, destroying one and placing a pair of blast markers.

End of Turn:

All Imperial formations rally
The Decimator doesn?t rally.
The Chaos Warlord decides to shoot the Decimator crew if they ever detach themselves from their biomechanical machine hell.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:20 am 
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Turn 2

The situation at the start of Turn 2

Black Legion win initiative.

Cackling with glee, the Warlord prepares to swoop in with his raptor body guards upon the vulnerable Regimental HQ, still mounted in its vehicles. But first, he decides to order the foot retinue forward to support his attack?yet, still upset at having come under harassing fire from sentinels (?idiots?) and being threatened by Rough Riders, the chaos marines, veterans of ten thousand years of bloody conflict, decide to hunker down and open up at the horsemen, killing three stands and laughing as the rest ride off. Not that this pleased the warlord at all?(snake eyes!)

In response, the Imperial Guard Regimental HQ extracts itself from the nasty pincer it had found itself in, moves south and dismounts with an Advance action and opens up on the foot retinue, cutting down two stands of chaos marines and one of havocs, placing four blast markers.

Retaining the initiative, the Shadowswords hammered the feral titan, blowing it to bits.

On the Black Legion?s left flank, the chaos marine mounted retinue assaulted the stormtroopers, overrunning them in hand-to-hand combat and wiping them out for the loss of two stands of marines.

The sentinels on that flank failed to activate, and shot at the mounted retinue with their hold action, placing another blast marker.

The Forlorn hope marines fired at the rough riders on the IG?s left flank, and destroyed a single stand, placing two blast markers.

Fresh, the Leman Russ Company rumbled forward and fired at long range at the mounted chaos marine retinue, destroying a single rhino and placing two blast markers.

The Hell Blades, finally loaded up, screamed across the battlefield and dropped their fiery munitions upon the rough riders on the right flank, killing two stands and causing the rest to flee back to Imperial lines.

The single sentinel hiding behind the waterworks, when ordered out into no-man?s land again, failed to activate and skulked back into cover, broken once more.

The Raptors leapt forward to engage the broken Rough Riders on the IG right flank in a firefight. Three broken Rough Rider stands rallied to their won defence and killed a stand of raptors for the loss of one of their own stands, but the combat was lost and the remainder hacked down automatically.

The Land Raiders rumbled forward on a double action, deep into imperial territory behind the temple objective, and their firing destroyed the sentinel squadron on this flank.

End of Turn:

Raptors and Decimator don?t rally
Mounted Chaos Marine Retinue rallies.
Imperial formation rallying not recorded.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:22 am 
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Turn Three

Black Legion win initiative.

The Land Raiders rumbled forward, doubling and moving into close range of the Regimental HQ, opening fire and destroying a hellhound the hydra and a stand of guardsmen.

The Shadowswords opened fire, rather ineffectively, on the Land Raiders, destroying a single tank and placing two blast markers.

The warlord and his raptors then swept forward to assault the guardsmen, confident that the support fire from the land raiders and nearby foot retinue would overcome the imperial numbers?but it was not to be, as he forgot to tell his men to turn their chainswords on. All six stands were killed by the guardsmen, including the warlord and two other stands in hand to hand combat. The Imperial Commissar killed the Warlord himself, although he was mortally wounded in return. With the raptors wiped out, the assault stalled and the support fire didn?t come in, and the IG, who had lost four stands and a chimera, were left with a lot of blast markers but unbroken.

And thus ended the life of one of the most incompetent of Abaddon?s generals, and this battle report ? we ran out of time at this stage, and had to debate as to what the result would be. There was a chance the Black Legion could have got both their objectives and the blitz this turn, but it was more likely that they would have failed this and all things being equal, would have thus been ground down in turn four by the imperial armour.

Tie break points would have been: IG 1460, Chaos 850 (although I was 1 kill off getting the Reg HQ to half strength I think!). Either way, a close game, with the balance tipping to the IG.

Comments:

The Black Legion Army seemed very tough in this game. Big units of 4+ save infantry can take a lot of pounding. But the effect of BM?s is quite brutal on these high cost units, they can be quite brittle morale wise if not deployed in numbers (as a first impression).

Unit by unit, I was impressed with the chaos marine retinues, they seem value for money, and not useless at all ? in fact without the snake eyes on turn two I would have been singing their praises!

The Raptors seemed quite good for their points, they got abysmal rolls and yet still did well. Certainly were as good as the mounted retinue yet many less points. This just further supports previous play testing.

The Decimators and feral were rubbish, but I think that was due to facing shadowswords, they were either picked off before getting a chance to do anything, or before getting a chance to have their bad rolls made up later.

I was impressed with the land raiders, they had a lot of firepower for their points. They didn?t take much fire though, and I don?t know if 8 would be too much of a points sink at 600. Undecided

The terminators ? I gambled and I lost. If they had won they would have broken twice their points in a single combat ? I would expect there to be a reasonable chance of it all going tits up so no complaints here.

The Hell Talons only made 1 sortie, which is somewhat disappointing. Their firepower seemed about right, they attacked infantry in the open and I was aware that if they were raiding dug in infantry their results wouldn?t have been much worse, and would have been better if attacking mechanised infantry. I felt they were about right but too little to go on really.

The Imperial Guard certainly seem to be a balanced force. Nothing seemed hugely overpowered ? other than I hate shadowswords! They have to be dealt with correctly, certainly.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:58 am 
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Hi Colin

Thanks for writing up such a thorough bat-rep. The pad certainly seemed to help. And the photos came out pretty well. Especially as this was from camera phone. ?

Was a good fun game. I was surprised how quickly the time went. Although me getting hopelessly on the way and taking the scenic route around Leeds and surrounding area certainly did n't help. I think some more time would help.

I enjoyed the game. You were right it could have gone either way. I was hopeful of breaking your Land Raider formation although it might have taken both mechanised company and Land Raiders to do it. If so your Raptors could have swooped down unopposed. Balanced on a knife edge!! Although I think you had forgotten the upgrade of 3 demolishers when thinking you were close to breaking my BTS. Having 14 tanks, 13 with RA certainly makes a tough unit to crack unless you have TK or MW.

I think forgetting to activate the Hell Talons on first turn was a lucky break for me. Especially as I has set up with my main units so close together - a bit too blase about your lack of artillery- I had forgotten your artillery was airborne. A few blast markers with a first turn strafe would have cramped my style.

I'll say again how unlucky your were with your combined termie assault. I have seen how deadly termies can be having both faced them & fielded them. But it took 1400 points to rout you- that was what- double he cost of both squads of termies. Did cause me to read the interlinking rule mo9re closely- so thanks for showing me first hand why you should n't set up so close together. That is the thing about deepstriking- need to be on your toes even when setting up.

For me I think the 3 companies (Leman Russ, mechanised & SHT) all did well. The sentinels are just dirt cheap and so useful both as cheap activation and also for dispersed formation to limit enemies choice. I could n't believe how 1 sole sentinel could disrupt you so much, forcing you to use decent formation to kill him off.

I was less enamoured of rough riders. For 50 points more than sentinels you do get 2 more stands, which means less likely to break. But taking away their extra attack has meant that have less punch in CC. And the one time I lined them up to charge a unit I had just shot, your first decimator ran away. I have never been so frustrated by unit breaking. I think you were right that I should have moved up the stormtroopers and then shot at something else- but I did nt think 6 rough rider could take out Decimator in CC without having dropped some BM's on it first.

I don't think that was the best game I have ever had with Stormtroopers. Although they broke one Decimator they did nothing else apart from slow down the chaos flanking manuever by clogging up the tracks of your rhinos as you advanced. I shall have to use them more wisely next game.

I umdecided about the merits of taking upgrades for companies. Adding a single hydra is good as it caused you to be careful with choice of attack targets for Hell Talon.

Adding the hellhounds to supreme commander mchanised company and adding the demolishers to Leman Russ company though was quite expensive. It made both formations more resilient. The hellhounds helped when your infantry was in cover. And the demolishers FF certainly came in useful in first turn CC. But it did mean that once you had killed both Rough Rider Platoons and both Sentinels I found myself out-activated by Black Legion.

I would like to get in some artillery- a battery of 3 Manticores is always good for placing blastmarkers. The Stormtroopers in Valkyries should do better next game and does give me some maneuver capability. I might keep the Sentinels and drop 1 or more unit of Rough Riders.

Decisions decisions!!

Anyway good to get in first game of the year. And always nice to play against such a sporting opponent with excellently painted army. I reckon a few more game of using Steel Legion and I will be ready to give Armoured Company playtest list a go.

Am looking forward to purging more heretics this weekend. Whether they are cultists or traitor marines they shall feel the wrath of the Emperor's flashlights. Well that and a few battlecannons.....

:D

Thanks again Colin

Cheers

James

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:09 am 
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Thanks for the report! How long did the game take?

And what's the deal with that cool looking ork structure?

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:49 am 
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(Kleomenes @ Jan. 17 2008,00:13)
QUOTE
it was all over barring the screamings and mass executions for incompetence on my side really

I read this and thought that you were playing as the IG.

Strange how the imperium and chaos are so similar :D

Thanks for the great battle rep.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:48 pm 
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We started setting up at just after 10:30 am, and first turn started about an hour later. Game time was probably just over 3 hours, we had to be packed and out by 3pm. We probably only needed another 30 mins or so.

The orky building is a resin thing I bought at Games Day in the early nineties. I was about eleven I think...dont really remember who the manufacturer was. I use it as 'farm shacks' as I have no orks, although that may be about to change.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:48 am 
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Nice battle report.  Good idea with the raised edges around the table, that would have saved a few minis at our house over the years from plummeting to the floor.

can't work out how to add images!


If you upload images to www.photobucket.com they provide a link for forums using using square brackets around the start code of IMG and end code of /IMG.  Usually you can just copy the image location for most files and put the code around manually but that doesn't seem to work with the Wiki files.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:10 pm 
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Nice batrep.

The Decimators and feral were rubbish, but I think that was due to facing shadowswords, they were either picked off before getting a chance to do anything, or before getting a chance to have their bad rolls made up later.

This is pretty commonly my experience.  If they survive they can wreak havoc, but it seldom works out that way.  I also noted that even if the Assault Company was moved to the WE/Air point restriction, this would have been a legal army so that was encouraging.

It sounds like it was pretty even fight overall, although the Shadowswords clearly tipped the balance on "points-killed" considerations.

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 Post subject: 3k Steel Legion Imperial Guard vs. Black Legion
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:24 pm 
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(nealhunt @ Jan. 21 2008,21:10)
QUOTE
I also noted that even if the Assault Company was moved to the WE/Air point restriction, this would have been a legal army so that was encouraging.

Glad you spotted! It was mostly intentional (as in I decided to do it like that, then changed my mind and worked in another feral, then decided I wanted more land raiders instead anyway!). Hopefully the report thus provides some feedback on that issue.

I would take the fact things looked pretty even with a grain of salt though - it could just be because I am rubbish/inexperienced. A wiser commander wouldnt have let all his war engines get shot to bits perhaps!

But that said, I've had three games with the Black Legion and so far nothing feels /very/ broken in them. However, this was the first game I played with the BP table change.

For the record, moving the decimator and the death wheel to the war engines section seems a nice solution to me, but I could also see the feral lose MW and go down in cost slightly (275?) as then its firepower would be of warhound standard.

The Decimator is meant to be a shadowsword equivalent, I think it needs MW at least. The shift to WE allowance may be enough of a negative for it. Otherwise, raise its cost marginally. Cant actually comment on the Death Wheel yet, as I havent used it.





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