ChrisLS and I got into another scrum today. It seems his IG weren’t very good on randomizing their transportation schedule, and it took very little on the Sister’s part to get the captured informant to talk. This time, however, it seemed that something a little more fishy than brandy was being escorted…

This is the Escort scenario of Chroma’s again. I still used my Adeptus Ministorum v1.1 list against ChrisLS’ IG Steel Legion. My list was the same, but his changed a bit. See, he had a plan. He thought he knew how to beat the scenario, and made some intelligent list building decisions. Did it work? There’s only one way to find out. For us, it was to pound on each other until one of us broke. For you, well, read on already!


Rules Used: Epic: Armageddon GW-2009
Scenario: Escort Duty

Attacker:
Adeptus Ministorum Orders Militant v1.1 with minor changes:

Immolators FF 3+
Exorcists ranged reduced to 45cm

Contingent 1
Adepta Sororitas Convent: 8 Sisters of Battle units, +Palatine upgrade, 2 Dominion units, 4 Immolators, 2 Rhinos, 1 Repressor
Repentia Confessional: 6 Repentia units, 1 Mistress character, +Preacher upgrade, 2 Immolators, 2 Rhinos
Exorcism Battalion #1: 5 Exorcists, 1 Hunter

Contingent 2
Retributor Convent: 6 Retributor units
Adepta Sororitas Convent : 8 Sisters of Battle units
Baneblade
2 Marauder Bombers

Contingent 3
Sentinel Squad: 4 Sentinel units
Seraphim Convent: 6 Seraphim units, +Canoness upgrade
Exorcism Battalion #2: 5 Exorcists, 1 Hunter
2 Thunderbolts
===
3000 points, 11 Activations


Defender:
IG Steel Legion: (right about this time he got smart and started using NetEA lists!)

I don’t remember where all the Commissars went, sorry:
Contingent 1
Imperial Navy #3 : 2 Thunderbolt Fighters
Imperial Navy #4 : 2 Thunderbolt Fighters
Infantry Company
Sentinel Support Squadron: 4 Sentinels

Contingent 2
Steel Legion Tank Company: 9 Leman Russ, 1 LR Vanquisher unit w/Commissar
Imperial Navy #1: 2 Thunderbolt Fighters
Vulture Support Squadron: 4 Vultures

Contingent 3
Regimental HQ: 1 SC unit, 12 IG Infantry units, 7 Chimeras
Storm Trooper Support Platoon: 8 Storm Troopers units with 4 Valkyries
Imperial Navy #2: 2 Marauder Bombers
Flak Support Battery: 3 Hydras
===
3000 points, 11 Activations

Because ChrisLS had the plan, I cunningly talked him into being the Defender again. He chose to leave out the cheapest Contingent #1. Sneaky 

Attacking Contingent #2 arrives at location 5:


You can see the IG turtling up on the road again, but this time the transports were hiding ALL the way back behind those 3-long power generators in the top right. The Leman Russes are leading the RegHQ Chimeras on the road. To their right (our left) are the Vultures, and to our right are the Valkyries of the Storm Troopers. The 3 Hydras are closest to the transports, scanning the skies for incoming hostiles.

And a closeup of my forces:


You can see the 6 Repentia deployed in a line in front of the 8 Sisters of Battle. The Baneblade is tucked up on the hillside, and the Marauder bombers are just behind the infantry.

I hate not having Photoshop, though it does make writing these reports faster. I’ll try getting it back on this weekend. Speed or Pretty? That’s a hard call to make…

A note on the terrain:

Originally I had planned on having the transports arrive at the city, instead of leaving it, but I decided that the likelihood of one or more of my contingents arriving on that table edge meant that I didn’t want to lurk and ambush him at his spot of departure.

I also didn’t really want there to be too much terrain where I could just wait and make him come to me. Since my understanding of the scenario was more of “2 turns shooting up the transports followed by 2 turns of the Defender getting revenge”, I wanted to remove obvious ambush spots as much as possible. This is why a lot of the middle of the board is open.

Turn 1

Imperial Guard win Initiative and force the Sisters to go first.

The Retributors march move to the woods in front of them, planning on setting up an Overwatch ambush should the transports decide to break for it, although already at this point I knew what Chris’ plan was.

”And so it begins.” The IG Thunderbolts fail to go on CAP. Even the SC cannot get them to come out and play. Apparently more than just the Sisters are concerned about whats in those transports…

Foot Sisters also march, past the Retributors, planning on dashing across the road to set up a crossfire. ”Why did the Sisters cross the road?”

Hydras go on Overwatch.

The Sister’s Baneblade doubles forward. Not much cover was available to shoot from, so it sat there relying on its buffness.

IG Marauders come in high over the Baneblade:



Templates are placed over both the Super-Heavy and the foot Sisters and a total of 4 hits were scored. All saves are made.

My Marauders decide to wild-weasel the Hydras. Only one flak hit is scored, but it drops a bomber. The other Marauder kills one Hydra, breaking the last 2 and removing them from Overwatch.

Mutters of “Damn CAP!” were heard…

The Armored Column singles up the road, gaining from the movement bonus, and are able to bring all 10 main guns to bear on my Baneblade. 5 hits require 3 rerolls, and the Baneblade goes up in a column of smoke and fire. At least the Vanquisher’s 2+ gun missed again, as it did last game.

That’s what I get for borrowing Chris’ model!

The RegHQ singles along the road, behind the Leman Russes. The Transports go on Overwatch. Both the Storm Troopers in their Valkyries and the Vultures single forward, ready for all comers.


End of Turn 1:
Hydras fail to rally, remaining broken.
Foot Sisters remove their Blast Marker.

Turn 2
Sister’s Contingent #3 arrives at location 3.


The Seraphim are lines up to the left, with the Exorcists and single Hunter to the right. Note that I did NOT put the Hunter at the back of the formation this time! (it’s the “Predator” up front). The Sentinels are behind them with the Thunderbolts.



Imperial Guard win Initiative.

IG Thunderbolts go on CAP.

The Sisters also place their Thunderbolts on CAP, and a random roll determines that we are going to try playing with CAPping CAPs! Super fun!

IG Marauders come in to ground attack my Exorcists. My CAP stayed put, but the Hunter kills one of the Marauders, and the survivor placed a single BM on the tank formation.

The Retributors go on Overwatch in the woods and catch their breath. I did not type “breasts” twice while trying to write that, I swear! Nobody saw me! You can’t prove anything!

The Transports go on Overwatch. Ugh 

The foot Sisters march across the road to get to the other side, setting up their crossfire from behind the woods.

Suddenly…a faerie giant is seen, dancing for attention!


And THEN…its jealous brother takes a turn!


Order restored, the Stormtroopers double into the same woods the Sisters were catching their…breaTH…behind…


…and deploy into them. 20 shots at my troops resulted in 2 hits and 1 dead Sister.

My Marauder decides that now is the time to run in at the Armored Company. His CAP CAPs. My CAP CAPs his CAP. It’s a brawl!


Somehow my Marauder’s flak gets to go first and shoots an IG Thunderbolt down. The IG then save the shots from the Sister’s Thunderbolts, and cannot damage the bombers in return.

9 potential hits are rolled on the intermingled Armored Company and Regimental HQ, but all 9 whiff .


The IG SC marshals his RegHQ but fails (LOL!) so they end up clearing the BMs but cannot then also move.

Coming over the hill, the Exorcists double forward to support the foot Sisters and place a single BM on the Storm Troopers. Anti-tank tanks weren’t really meant to shoot at footsloggers, I guess…

The Leman Russes require the SC reroll (and isn’t it a good thing he didn’t use it on himself!) to double down the road and fire at the Exorcists.


Same action, different picture:


6 hits kill a single Exorcist, leaving them out of coherency, and now with 3 BMs. Sham-POW!

The Seraphim double up alongside the Exorcists.

Vultures double around the trees and fire into the Seraphim, killing 1.

My Sentinels march forward, putting Zone of Controls over both the Armored Company and the Storm Troopers.


End of Turn 2
IG Thunderbolt dies to flak.
Hydras, Storm Troopers and Armored Company all rally.
Seraphim, foot Sisters and Exorcists all rally.

Turn 3

Sister’s Contingent #1 comes in at location 6.


My Mech Sisters are to the front left, with only the “important” models shown near their transports. All blue Rhinos are Immolators, the black Rhinos are, well, Rhinos, and the old Gorgon is the Repressor. Exorcists past them, with the 4 transports of the Repentia just past them.

An overview:


An essay on why winning initiative on Turn 3 was important to the Sisters:


Imperial Guard win Initiative. Of course they do

Storm Troopers, displaced by the Sentinels, reposition and unload their full firepower, including the rockets of the Valkyries, into all 3 enemy formations in front of them. 3 Sentinels, 5 Exorcists and 4 Sisters feel the sting. Of those hit, 2 Sentinels, 2 Exorcists and 3 Sisters die, plus all three formations get a Buttload™ of Blast Markers and all 3 break. The Exorcists and Sisters fall back to the hill, while the Sentinels join the Retributors in their woods.


Retaining, because that wasn’t enough (lol!), the Armored Company turns and fires into the newly arrived Exorcism Battalion of Contingent #1.


3 Exorcists and the Hunter die, and the formation breaks and pulls back behind the hill to their left.

Retributors double out of the woods just to put a non-wounding BM on the Leman Russes.

The Mechanized Sisters then retain and launch an assault on the tanks. Of their 10 normal and 1 MW hits, all are saved by the armored beasts, but 3 Sisters are lost in the firefight.

Fortunately the Rets are in supporting range, and their FF3+ adds 2 more hits, killing a tank! After all that, the Sisters win by 2 and the remaining 7 tanks fled back to the road by their RegHQ.

Hydras single closer to the tanks to provide flak cover to the broken formation. Once in place, they fire into the Mech Sisters, killing the passenger-free Repressor.

In a move I should have delayed, the Repentia doubled after the transports, missing with their Immolators but placing a BM on them. This was one move where I tipped my hand too soon!


The Vultures had a tough choice on targets here, but chose to defend their transports (the other target would have been the Mech Sisters). Lining up a straight shot from behind the woods…


…they score 7 hits on the Repentia transports. All 4 transports are destroyed, as are the Mistress and 1 Repentia. The last 3 Repentia and the Priest fall back behind some ruins.

The IG Marauder retain and hit the broken Repentia. 4 hits kill 1 unit and 2 more via BMs. The lone Priest roars curses as the bomber speeds off.

With their flank collapsing, the Seraphim refuse it and march across the field, coming into the woods by the Mech Sisters.

The Transports marshal and move onto the road.

My Thunderbolts cannot be convinced to take a run in at the broken Leman Russes, not even with the “encouragement” of the Canoness.

RegHQ singles and moves down the road. The troops unload and rip into the Mech Sisters, targeting the transports.


2 hits cause concern, but boxcars saved the formation from breaking!

My Marauder also stands down due to another ‘1’.

End of Turn 3:
The Armored Company fails to rally and falls back (brutal!)
Foot Sisters, Priest of the Repentia, and Sentinels fail. All other Sister formations rally.

Turn 4: At this point, the IG have killed a Baneblade and the Sisters have killed 1 formations of Thunderbolts. Now is the time to make kills!

Sisters win Initiative because of a tie!

Mech Sisters single forward after the RegHQ, unloading their troops, but all 4 Immolator shots whiff.

The Seraphim retain, jumping over the woods and assaulting the RegHQ.


All 5 Seraphim FF shots hit (fried IG Infantry = good!) and 1 Seraphim is lost in return. Then the Mech Sisters get their turn. Devastating firepower pours in, killing the Supreme Commander, 4 Chimeras and 6 Infantry units. The final roll, 17 vs 8, kills the last 9 IG units and the formation looks like:


Note that the Dominions made 2 Chimera kills here, and 2 Immolator hits wouldn’t have without the change to 3+.

Hydras sustain into the Seraphim. 3 hits killed 3 Seraphim, and the broken Canoness jumps back behind the woods from whence they came.

My Marauder drops in on the Leman Russes, not taking any hits from the Hydras, and kills 3 tanks via hits and BMs. Only 4 tanks remain.

”2 can play at that game!” but then Chris rolled a 1 for his own Marauder. His SC had just died…

My Exorcists from Contingent 1, recovered from the mauling the Leman Russes had dished at them, double over the hill to shoot at the Hydras. 1 BM is inflicted.

Vultures double to my Seraphim, skirting the woods, and kill the Canoness via auto-BM-death.

My Thunderbolts lose one to the Hydras but kill one Leman Russ via BM. At this point, I got that “DOH! feeling, as in “WTF didn’t I come in after the transports!” <-- Moron

At the top of the map, the Storm Troopers double around the hill to shoot at my Exorcists originaly broken by their Valkyries. 1 Exorcist and 1 Huunter died, breaking the last Exorcist.

With no viable targets, and nothing else to do, my Retributors go on Overwatch.


End of Turn 4:
Armored Company rallies, Hydras fail but are not broken.
All Sister formations rally except the Priest, leaving him as the sole broken formation.

Game Ends

Final Tally:

Sisters scored:
1) RegHQ destroyed
1) Thunderbolts destroyed
Sisters: 2

IG Scored:
1) Baneblade dead
1) Seraphim dead
1) Repentia broken
IG: 3




This was a really fun one again, I felt. We had some really crazy rolls, on both sides. The averages were there, we think, but they came in waves; all at once or none at all.

There should likely be some incentive for the transports to get off the field, but as Chris was saying, in “reality” the transports would punch it to get away from danger if they were caught. Obviously this is not an “ideal” situation for the Defender, as in, this is an Ambush. You cant always know when the badguys are coming, or where they are coming from, and I know that with his military background, Chris doesn’t like that! I do, however – I think the randomness has some excitement to it, and you cant count on ideal timing or placement and must make due with what you have.

Its not a bad idea that the transports wait until the ambush is dealt with. Parking them where they were COULD have meant that the IG would have had no chance of getting the transports off the board for points had the ambush been crushed, but it also meant that a smarter player (read, not me) could have shattered the transports with air and then pulled back defensively, mission accomplished.

I want to try it again, and I will admit:

I think the scenario is perfect as is!

Then again, I haven’t had to Defend yet…



Oh, and I guess I really need that Tripod!!!

Where is your club?

As Kealios said, I had a plan to break the scenario, and you saw how it worked out. Basically, I was thinking I'd apply massive force to whoever got close to me while hiding the transports behind AA cover. Unfortunately for me, between my terrible rolling and Kealios' amazing armor saves with his Sisters, it seemed like even applying about 2000 points of troops to less than 1/3 of his army didn't get the job done. Except on the Baneblade. That was awesome. The disruption was also great, but with the Sister's high initiative, I couldn't count on the breaking holding.

One way or another, I think this is the only way for the defender to win the game. If I'd sent the transports down the road, up one side, or up the other side, they would have been murdilated. Yes, that is a technical term. Kealios probably should have sent his planes after the transports instead of the combat troops, particularly when my Hydras were broken. That was my plan if I got the attacker position - put air in each contingent along with a "killer" squad (tanks, Vultures, Valkyries paired with Marauders), lay waste to the transports, then just turtle and leave the air off the table entirely.

Either way, I still maintain the problem with this scenario is excessively delicate transports (which requires the defender to turtle if they want to have a chance) and the random deployment, which also discourages movement of the transports. The scenario becomes a "defend the objective against superior forces" scenario, which works, but isn't what is intended by the author.

Hmmmm... quite the road trip for us Bay Area guys, but maybe during the summer when I'm not working. Of course, the wifeies have to approve of this plan as well. Kealios, what do you think?

Here is my argument against complete random deployment - the scenario can be completely ruined due to poor rolling on deployment. Some sample conditions:

1) First deployment is #1 or #6. Defender, with many more activations, jumps the isolated troops, assaulting them in their deployment zone and destroying them when they have nowhere to flee. The battle now becomes an even points match (or possibly even worse, if the defender was smart about list building with the contingent rules considered). Defender waits until the beginning of turn 2 to start moving the transports, considering where Attacker contingent 2 comes in.

2) All deployment rolls are #2-#5, and the Attacker just turtles along the far board edge. Combine with air power or another long range attack to hammer the transports, and this is a boring scenario.

3) Defender tries to break to one side, but the Attacker rolls that side's deployment zone for Turn 2 and focuses everything on the transports.

4) Defender tries to go down the road, but Attacker gets a side deployment and focuses everything on the transports. This is particularly bad if the Turn 1 deployment was in zones #2-#5 and they just block the back edge.

5) Attacker gets every roll on one side of the board while the defender goes down the other side. Without really long range weaponry this is almost impossible to win.

The very uncertainty of the scenario FORCES the Defender to turtle. Any other choice has a really good chance of resulting in every transport being dead, particularly with them being LV and not being able to March. I don't want to play a scenario that is won or lost depending almost entirely upon a couple die rolls that force the player's hand.

Different ways to break scenario:

A) Attacker builds a list very heavy on air power and possibly some long range weapons like Manticores. They jump the transports, then keep all of their air off the board for the rest of the game, preventing the Defender from killing them and gaining kill points. This is particularly bad when combined with Space Marine Air Assaults for killing the transports in assault.

B) Defender completely turtles with lots of AA and hopes for a lucky break on deployment rolls. This was what I ended up doing, which resulted in a pretty good game, but not the kind of game that was intended.

@AoC: Im sure Chris and I can come up with a weekend to come down. Midweek might even work as well. Late July and on would probably work for me, but no guarantees.

@Chris: Very good points, as always.

The thing about this scenario is, while it may not be perfect, it DOES make for some very interesting scenarios, and I dont think any one tactic will always work because of the very random nature you decry. Ive enjoyed both games we have played.

Also consider that this is part of a book, one designed to "show up at the club, bust out a random scenario, and play something other than the tournament scenario". I really doubt you'll see these scenarios in a tournament (thus the name of the other scenario!), but can they work in a friendly one-off environment? I think so. ESPECIALLY if, upon showing up to the club, you randomly choose one of thirty scenarios, and randomly determine scenario level. Talk about some replayability factor!

Chroma may need to put some minor tweeks into these as written, but if there a book in print, I'd already own it and be playing out of it regularly, interspersed with the tournament one for variety (and sanity!).

Just to let you know, I am reading (and thankful for) all your reports and am taking notes.

I'll comment more fully in the near future.