Sides selected for battle were done so in honour of Dogtrooper and Ulrich's enthusiasm for these forces...

Imperial Guard:

Shadowsword Company: 500 pts
Baneblade Company: 500 pts
Predator Company: 600 pts
Vindicator Company: 450 pts
Heavy Company: 600 pts
Gorgon Company: 500 pts
Artillery Company : 600 pts
Leviathan: 350 pts
Deathstrike Missile Battery (2 Warp & 1 Harpoon Missile): 250 pts
Hellhound Firethrower Squadron: 150 pts
3 x Ogryn Platoons: 300 pts
Beastman Platoon: 200 pts
7 Commissars: Free


Squats:

Iron-Breaker Squadron: 900 pts
Air Attack Corps: 700 pts
Iron Eagle Gyrocopter Wing: 550 pts
Golliath Super-Heavy Artillery Battery: 450 pts
2 Land Train w/ 1 set of battlecars: 1,100 pts
2 Collossus: 1,000 pts
Squat Thunderers: 300 pts

Special Rules: Destroyed vehicles are not removed from the battlefield, wrecks can block movement (nicked from Chroma's EA "Cityfight" scenario).

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The Battlefield

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Squat Deployment (left to right)

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Imperial Guard Deployment (left to right from their perspective)

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Turn 1 (Post-movement)

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1st of all, god I like this old school battle reports
The roads are homemade right?
Cause they look really good
Did you use terrain rules for roads(speed increased by 5cm)?

Turn 1 Report:

The two sides plodded slowly toward one another. Without any transports, infantry struggled to move into position. A lack of bikes or cavalry meant that there was no opportunity for close combat. The turn was all about ranged combat - and proved to be pretty destructive!

A company of IG Predators and Leviathan faced up to a Squat Collosus (who in turn had some support from a Goliath Mega-Cannon). The Leviathan's shields took a pummelling but still had one left after the dust settled. The Collosus responded by reducing three Predators to molten slag and the building housing a supporting Commissar to rubble....

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Turn 1 Report (Cont.)

In the centre of the board the Imperial Guard "droo furgst blud"** as a viscious Volcano Cannon vapourises a Overlord airship. Bombards blow an imposing building to smithereens, instantly wiping out an entire unit of Thunderers! Undaunted, the Squats return the compliment, this time destroying a building housing a IG Heavy unit!

There are a few other exchanges of fire, but nothing too significant as most units continue to move into position...


**That's "drew first blood" from anyone not familiar with the first Rambo film...

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Turn 1 End Phase

Squats: 20 VPs
IG: 24 VPs

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Turn 2 (Post Movement)

On the Squats' left flank not much movement occurs; Leviathan's and Collosus edge slowly toward one another, while troops on both sides continue to move into position. IG heavy troops are careful not to ALL move into the same building for cover! Some go inside, but others take their chances out in the open! Those missiles are now a real threat to the Squat force. Next turn they should be finding their target! Most movement occurs on the Squats' right flank where Beastmen break cover and Tactical Troops spew out of their ponderous Gorgon transport vehicles.

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Turn 2 Battle Summary:

Things go VERY badly for the IG this turn. Despite their best efforts, they only succeed in knocking down a few shields on those huge Squat war machines. Frustratingly, the airships seem to evade the shots which "hit" and the best chance of raking in some points passes by. The biggest loss for the Squats is when the artillery manages to total another building (on the Squats' left flank, killing (from the IG point of view)a pleasing amount of infantry).

But for the Squats, life is dandy. Their shot-resistant Collosus picks off a few more Predator tanks and breaks the company. More barrages from the Mega-Cannon and the Land Trains do enough to also break the IG company. Most grieviously though, is the targeting of a Rhino by a Land Train on the Squats' right flank. The Rhino is parked right next to a wood packed full of Ogryn. HEADS UP!!! A rad-bomb detonates on the Rhino and the Ogryn are slaughtered en-masse!

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Turn 2 End Phase

The End Phase puts the final seal on IG defeat as morale checks fail all over the place; Predators, Heavy Troops and beastmen are in full retreat. The IG commander acknowledges that defeat is inevitable and waves the white flag...

Squats: 36 VPs
IG: 24 VPs

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Hi Ulrich,

I'm delighted you enjoy these reports!

Yep, the roads were all home-made. I bought some decent quality black card from an art shop then cut the card into different size sections, corners, t-junctions and cross-roads. I used the old card sections from GW's Space Hulk as the template for these roads, from memory (I made these a few years back), the card sections are the same size as their equivalents in Space Hulk. The highways were also stolen from there, these are equivalent to the old "concourse" sections in SH. Once the card was cut, it was a case then of taking a tipp-ex pen and a ruler and hand drawing on all of the lines. I also invested in some grey card to hide the usual greenery of my battlefield and make the roads stand out more. It was all pretty straightforward and I'm quite pleased with the results - glad you agree!

I should have used the road rules - particularly because movement was slow for these forces - but didn't!

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Battle Conclusion:

I'm really not as good at this game as I used to be! This is my 4th battering in succession! Revenge is long overdue!

In the "escalating assault" scenario (because of points constraints) I had a very limited Squat force and was utterly destroyed because I had no heavy vehicles other than a solitary Leviathan. With 5k to play with, my opponent was able to afford enough goliaths to level the city. I was aware that the Squat player had decided not to take any bikes or trikes so I left the rough riders and bikes at home. I knew they would serve no purpose as Praetorians can no longer be overwhelmed by cavalry and also because the only vehicles they could have a reasonable fight against - gyrocopters - were skimmers who could ignore them.

My infantry was a waste of time. Against the overwhelming cannonfire of the Squats, the normally safe buildings were deathtraps! Also, can someone please tell me how to effectively use the Gorgons?!

This brought the whole thing down to a shooting match. Quite simply I didn't get enough of my vehicles into good positions. I should have thrown most of it down one flank to try and pick off the Squats Collosi & Land Trains one by one. This would have left one flank hideously exposed, but given that the Squats cannot move quickly unless they have their bikes, I probably could have held on to objectives in my own half for some time.

If I was to fight against a similar-sized Squat army, I'd be looking to maybe mix the IG with Marines to get a few Titans or Land Raider company to add to the firepower. Other than that, I'll neeed to buy another couple of Baneblade & Shadowsword Companies!

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Nice board and report !

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."