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[BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
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Author:  Hojyn [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
This week saw the first outing of my brand new Siegemasters, fighting against the mighty war engines of commander Flogus' Titan Legion.

Army lists :

BARAN SIEGEMASTERS - 3000 points

* HQ Company
  + Siege Infantry Platoon
  + Sniper
  + Rapiers
* Infantry Company
  + Rapiers
* Infantry Company
  + Sniper
* Infantry Company
* Infantry Company

* Deathstrike Missile Battery
* Shadowsword
* Shadowsword
* Blitzen AA Guns + Transports
* Artillery Battery + Transports
* Artillery Battery + Transports
* Artillery Battery + Transports
* Artillery Battery + Transports
* Artillery Battery + Transports
* Artillery Battery (no transports, as I "only" have 18 !)

Fortified Positions
Fortified Positions

>>> 15 activations (not too bad :) )
>>> 7 commissars

AMTL - 3000 points

* Reaver 1 - 2 quake cannons, carapace landing pad, carapace multi lasers (700 pts, BTS)
* Reaver 2 - 2 vulcan mega-bolters, 1 volcano cannon (650?pts)
* Ordinatus Golgotha (550 pts)

* 1 Warhound - 1 light plasma cannon, 1 light vulcan mega-bolter (250 pts)
* Recon cohort - 4 sentinels (100 pts)
* Paladin Household - 3 Paladins + 3 Paladins (450 pts)
* Mobile Field Guns Cohort - 3 Thuddguns + 3 Chimeras (150?pts)
* Flak Battery - 3 Hydras (150 pts)

=> 8 activations


DEPLOYMENT

As already mentionned, deploying a Siegemasters' army take a looong time.

I split my Fortified Positions into two parts : one around my Blitz, the other in front of the AMTL's objectives. I then garrisoned my HQ company near my Blitz and 2 Infantry companies near the AMTL's objectives and deployed the other 2 infantry companies closer to my table edge. Unsurprisingly, I scattered my artillery along my table edge.

Flogus deployed his Ordinatus (actually a Leviathan "counting as"), Reaver 1, the Warhound and the Thudd Guns near his Blitz behind a hill, Reaver 2 and the Sentinels on my right flank and the Paladins on my left flank.

A few pictures :

Overview


Siegemasters HQ


Well defended objectives
Author:  Hojyn [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:38 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
TURN 1

45 minutes later, I had finished deploying my army. Time to fight !

STRATEGY ROLL: AMTL

Flogus had of course immediately noticed that only 3 of my formations could really hurt his Titans: my 2 Shadowswords and my Deathstrikes. For this reason, Reaver 1 opened fire on my missile battery... but failed to destroy any. He then tried to activate Reaver 2, but the activation roll was a 1. He still managed to kill an Infantry company commander who just happened to stand in front of his troops (and to think I spent 45 minutes deploying the army... ??? ).

Somewhat frightened by the MW barrages of the Ordinatus, I decided to get rid of it and fire at it with 2 artillery batteries, downing 4 shields. I really should have concentrated my fire on Reaver 1 (the BTS objective), but I was too obsessed with the destructive potential of the Golgotha.

With 2 BMs and only 3DCs, the Ordinatus was almost broken already, so Flogus activated it, firing 2 missiles (8BP, MW) at my Deathstrikes and at one artillery battery. The barrage destroyed everything but 1 Deathstrike and 1 Howitzers.

Once again, I fired at the Ordinatus with my artillery, breaking the war engine.

Flogus' Hydra, for lack of any aircraft to shoot at, advanced and fired at another infantry company, killing its commander too! (Note to myself: stop deploying commanders in front of their troops... you moron :p)

One of my artillery batteries Marshalled to remove BMs.

The Sentinels doubled to hide behind the nearby wood, and the Paladins then tripled towards my Blitz. The Rapiers from the HQ company, on Overwatch, managed to destroy 1 Paladin. Nice shot!

One infantry company tripled to move in position in the runied temple.

The Warhound doubled to get closer to the Paladins and fired at the infantry in the temple... to no avail.

I was keeping my 2 Shadowswords in reserve for the last activations, but one of them failed to activate, while the other was unable to do any damage to the Paladins...

End of turn: everybody rallied.

Overview


Paladins incoming


The battlefield as seen from the AMTL's deployment zone
Author:  Hojyn [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:54 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
TURN 2

My army was still in good shape, but I was starting to be a bit worried. My meagre 3 BP shots seemed ridiculous compared to the 4, 8 or even 12 BP MW barrages that Flogus could unleash on my poor troops. What's more, the Paladins and the Warhound were getting dangerously close to my HQ and my Blitz, and it was at this time that I realized how slow the Siegemasters' army is : redeployement was not an option...

STRATEGY ROLL: AMTL

Once again, the Ordinatus unleashed hell: 3 missiles, 12 BP MW. Three templates meant that Flogus could target my 2 Shadowswords and part of the HQ company, as shown below.



1 Shadowsword was destroyed, the other one broken and 3 infantry stands were vaporized by the Ordinatus' barrage. I was in deep trouble : Flogus had just got rid of two of the three units that could damage his titans.

Determined to finish off the Ordinatus, I downed its last two shield with my artillery and destroyed it with my last Deathstrike missile.

The AMTL's Thudd Guns sustained fire on an artillery battery, laying enough BM's to supress the Howitzers.

Realizing that I could no longer hope to destroy any war Engine, I tried to slow them down by firing at Reaver 2 with an artillery battery and at the Warhound with an infantry company. They now had 1 BM each and I crossed my fingers for a "1" on the activation roll.

Unfortunately, Reaver 2 ignored the BM, doubled and annihilated the closest artillery battery...

Reaver 2 was getting too close for comfort, so I decided to try and break it. Artillery again : +1 BM, -1 shield.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Paladins and Warhound attacked my HQ company, killing 4 stands in total and finally breaking it. Hoping to rally, they stayed in the fortifications.



I put a couple of infantry companies on Overwatch, and the turn was over.



End of turn: neither my Shadowsword, nor my HQ company managed to rally. Wanting to avoid total destruction at the hands of the Paladins, the HQ company moved in cover behind the hill. And all the while I'm thinking "I have a bad feeling about this..."
Author:  Hojyn [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 1:09 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
TURN 3

Things were getting desperate and I really thought I was going to be massacred. But...

STRATEGY ROLL: SIEGEMASTERS

Winning the strategy roll gave back me some measure of hope.

The only "vulnerable" targets were the Paladins and the Warhound. Both had BMs and they were grouped together, so I fired at them (twice) with my trusty artillery and, after destorying 1 Paladin, I managed to break both formations ! Against all odds, I had saved my Blitz (well, for one turn at least).



Flogus, passably surprised (not to mention annoyed) by this turn of events, fired with Reaver 1 at my broken HQ company : 8 casualties later, only 3 stands remained out of the original 20... but Flogus had nothing close enough to shoot at them anymore !

My artillery spoke again and put Reaver 2 on the verge of breaking, forcing it to Marshall and shoot at my Infantry instead of moving forward.

We then played a funny little game, each trying to outmanoeuvre the other in order to control/contest objective. But my activation advantage was too important for him and, try as he might, he couldn't prevent my remaining (and empty) Deathstrike and one infantry company to triple and take control of "OBJ 1 sieg." and "OBJ 2 Sieg.".

The Hydras were just a couple of cms too far from the objective, giving me the "Take & Hold" point



End of turn:

Siegemasters - 3 (They Shall not Pass, Defend the Flag, Take & Hold)
AMTL - 0

A completely unexpected victory, but all the sweeter for that. Had the game gone to a fourth turn, I would probably have been wiped out, but thanks to a few lucky dice rolls and an all-important activation advantage, I managed to barely win that game. ?:D
Author:  Ilushia [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 1:18 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Flogus had of course immediately noticed that only 3 of my formations could really hurt his Titans: my 2 Shadowswords and my Deathstrikes. For this reason, Reaver 1 opened fire on my missile battery... but failed to destroy any. He then tried to activate Reaver 2, but the activation roll was a 1. He still managed to kill an Infantry company commander who just happened to stand in front of his troops (and to think I spent 45 minutes deploying the army...  ).


Ah... imperial guard... 45 minutes to deploy. 45 seconds to kill.  :laugh:
Author:  stugmeister [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 3:08 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
That was a damn fine bat rep mate! Good job!

Looks like it was a great game. I'd have been mighty scared going against AMTL with my Siegemasters.
Author:  dafrca [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 3:11 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Looks like it was a great game.

Thanks for both the AAR and the Photos.

dafrca
Author:  The_Real_Chris [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 4:15 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Ah yes, the set up time!

Did you ever see any of me and General_Ng's AMTL vs Siegemaster battles. Try as we might, with either side, we could only ever get draws :)

You will find as you play more you are a bit light on AA. Air Assaults, fighter bombers etc rip siege rt to shreds (being lv and if not emplaced a sitting duck).

Top tip for siege opponents - place objectives on sides of table 30cm from siege baseline. This forces the army to split and it is too slow to redeploy. Then mass on the side you want and if WE'ed to the nines assault the little sods.

Finally targeting priorities withe siege go
Deathstrikes
Artillary
Fast moving units

Without these three the army is pretty much crippled.
Author:  Hojyn [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 4:31 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Quote (The_Real_Chris @ 10 June 2006 (16:15))
You will find as you play more you are a bit light on AA. Air Assaults, fighter bombers etc rip siege rt to shreds (being lv and if not emplaced a sitting duck).

Yes, I know, but we both knew what we were playing against, so I wasn't expecting too much aircraft.

Turned out we both took AA for nothing. Both formations even ended shooting at each other towards the end of the battle (with no effect, though). :p
Author:  The_Real_Chris [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:05 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
He could have surprised you with the 4 strong t bolt fomration :) Devestating against LV's, it delivers 8x4+ and 4x5+ (or 5 and a bit hits).
Author:  clausewitz [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:02 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Great batrep Hojyn.  Fantastic looking terrain and models.  Your pics are superb.  Many thanks for posting :)

An interesting battle of the artillery, numbers versus shear power.  Looked as though winning initiative on turn 3 was a real turning point.
Author:  Flogus [ Sat Jun 10, 2006 10:48 pm ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
I thought about taking some Tbolts, but Tbolts cannot take objectives. And with so few activations, I couldn't afford me the luxiury of an a formation unable to take objectives.
Author:  Hojyn [ Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:42 am ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Quote (Hena @ 10 June 2006 (15:04))
How many units you got in that army? My normal for bugs is around 100 :D. Usually I just start deploying and say to my opponent, that you can deploy next, this will appear here in a big pool of bugs :p.

Well, by my count there are 110 models in the army. Not too shabby, eh?  :)
Author:  Hojyn [ Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:45 am ]
Post subject:  [BatRep] Siegemasters vs. AMTL - 3000 pts
Quote (clausewitz @ 10 June 2006 (20:02))
Great batrep Hojyn. ?Fantastic looking terrain and models. ?Your pics are superb. ?Many thanks for posting :)

Thanks a lot, although the pics are not mine but Flogus'.  :)

An interesting battle of the artillery, numbers versus shear power.


That's actually an excellent summary of the battle. My artillery was crap compared to the AMTL's, but sheer numbers tipped the scales in my favour.

Looked as though winning initiative on turn 3 was a real turning point.

It was. I would almost certainly have lost the game if I had lost the initiative on turn 3.
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