2nd go around with EA, 3000 pts using the army lists from the main EA rule book. First fight on my new table too ÂÂ
(will upload some shots of it, no BR pictures...freakin' batteries died and no replacments readily available ÂÂ
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we took our time as this is new to us and wanted to make sure we understood all that was happening, but even before we started we had cocked up, I was under by 25 points and had too many Terminators and not enough Land Raiders, and my Buddy was short 2 chimeras and over by 100 points...but as it is a fun game, no harm no foul, I lent him two Chimeras and removed 4 stands of Terminators.
I took the initiative and immediately set about securing 4 objectives, leaving the guard to consolidate around one leaving the 6th no ones. other than downing a thunderbolt that got a we bit to close to my thunderhawk that had just deployed 8 assault marines on a objective there wasn't much exchange of fire.
2nd turn I win initiative again and my assault marines decide to engage a group of Ogryn that were moving to assault the objective they just captured....and some freaking how, even thought I outnumbered him, I LOST!!!
 oh the dice were being fickle..8 dice, and not a 3 in the bunch, 1s and 2s...i immediately set those dice aside and marked them as GURPS skill dice.
Now the IG had some lines of fire and they started raining death on my Terminators that had taken the city objective. Now both of us are veteran Space Marine/Titan Legion players, we can quote ranges and to hit rolls from memory, so we both expected there to be a large hole were my Terminators once stood.....to my utter delight not a Land Raider or Terminator fell...my buddy was in shock.
He did manage to vaporize a swath of bikes and Landspeeders so he took solace in that. So 2nd turn ending, it looked grim for me, I couldn't hit anything I shot at with what little fire power I brought to bear, the IG were breathing down my neck and my only hope was my Warlord Titan Vindication....it lived up to its name in the third turn.
3rd turn, again...me first, and the Vindication finally had a target and it lit up the my buddies reaver titan. When the smoke cleared, no void shield, and down to 3 DC and reaching critical mass...of course the rest of my army couldn't hit the dirt they were standing on
, and hadn't it been for a squad of bikes ripping thru the woods and pouncing on the ogryns i wouldn't have done any damage this turn(of course, I managed to kill one bike...picture return of the Jedi for a moment...now imagine it is a Marine on a Bike colliding with that tree....OUCH ÂÂ
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Again fire rained down on the terminators and they finally lost 2 land raiders but they stood fast. Fortunately my bad dice rolls transferred and some failed initiative rolls mean that a lot of the IG wer standing and shooting or making half hearted moves towards my table edge, but it was a losing cause, I had 4 victory conditions (Blitzkrieg, Defend the flag, Take and Hold, They shall not pass) to his 0...the Dark Angels were bloody, full of holes, but had secured a victory.
The conclusion...EA is a great game, there is very little one shot one kill anymore, Terminators are finally what they should be...BRUTALLY tough, when IG want to bring the rain...they can bring the rain.
I felt bad for yet another win (my buddy has only beat me once, in ALL the years we have played) and honestly didn't think i had it. He miss deployed the reaver so it was useless most of the game, and when it finally got to a position to do something my Warlord lit it up like a christmas tree.
It is nice to see a game where tactics mean something...I am going to spread the gossipal, and maybe with some luck I can get some of the diehard 40k and fantasy players there is an alternative to Mathhammer.
