Further to the previous minigeddon report, the SM and IG rematch. 3K per side. Army lists below (I know, I know. We are using the original GW lists)

Incompertus, 3000 POINTS
Codex Astartes (EA Rulebook Oct09)
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TACTICAL DETACHMENT [475]
6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, Hunter, 3 Rhinos

TACTICAL DETACHMENT [325]
6 Tacticals, Razorback, 3 Rhinos

TERMINATOR DETACHMENT [375]
4 Terminators, Chaplain

TERMINATOR DETACHMENT [325]
4 Terminators

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [300]
4 Devastators, Dreadnought

DEVASTATOR DETACHMENT [300]
4 Devastators, Dreadnought

WHIRLWINDS [300]
4 Whirlwinds

PREDATORS [300]
4 Annihilator

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Fighters

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Fighters


3000 POINTS
Steel Legion (EA Rulebook Oct09)
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REGIMENTAL HQ [550]
Supreme Commander, 12 Infantry, 7 Chimera, Hydra

TANK COMPANY [700]
9 Leman Russ, Vanquisher, Hydra

SUPER-HEAVY TANK COMPANY [500]
3 Baneblade

ARTILLERY COMPANY [700]
9 Basilisk, Hydra

MARAUDER BOMBERS [300]
2 Marauders

THUNDERBOLT FIGHTERS [150]
2 Thunderbolts

SENTINEL SQUADRON [100]
4 Sentinels

Having landed on the remote planet the Dark Angels continue their mission. Despite their previous defeat at the hands of the rebel IG, the Dark Angels are staunch in their resolve. Having been informed of a potential artefact contained within ancient ruins, the SM commander makes this along with crushing those who are heretic and turned from the Emperors light his top priority.

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Walk softly. And carry a big gun.

Setup and Turn 1

Despite the IG's best attempts to communicate with the DA, no response has been forth coming. When the Da near the ruin that is their objective, the traitor IG have set up in defensive positions. It also appears that the IG are making a move on a small industrial complex in the region. The DA cannot and will not allow this to happen.

IG deployment:- Guard deployment. Baneblades in the western corner then the sentinels garrison the objective on the southwestern hill. Basilisks occupy the temple with the tank company to their east and the regimental hq beyond them.

SM Deployment:- The terminators start off table. Supreme commander in the factory, devastators in the town and industrial unit. North of the town are the whirlwinds and to the east of them are the predators and the tactical detachment.

Turn 1

First squad of terminators teleport in next to the basilisks and IG Blitz with no BM taken. SM win initiative - Putting first wing of Thunderbolts on CAP. SC role ensures they retain the initiative and the Terminators proceed to rip the Basks to bits, leaving only 3 alive and fleeing for their traitor lives.




IG Baneblades advance and open fire on the SC in the industrial complex inflicting no casualties. IG retain initiative, fail to activate the Leman Russ Company (also failed SC re-roll) however open fire on the Termies in the temple wiping them off the planet.

SM SC goes on overwatch, and SM predators advance behind the hill ready to pounce.

IG calls in air support (Marauders) to attack the Preds, but the SM Thunderbolts come in and destroy one. Remaining marauder opens fire on preds but does no damage.


SM attempt to put second wing of 'Bolts on CAP and fail

IG move Reg HQ onto objective on their half of the table.

SM move Whirlwinds up beside the predators behind the hill. Tacts mount up and move off to support the SC

IG ground attack Whirlwinds destroying one.

End Phase - SM lose on 'Bolt in disengage to Hydra fire, blast markers removed and Bask's rally

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Walk softly. And carry a big gun.

Turn 2

2nd Squad of Termies teleport in.

SM win initiative, activate the Termies who assault the Leman Russ Company, breaking them and sending them fleeing. SM retain initiative, Whirlwinds open up on the Bask, who break again.



IG - Baneblades continue to advance on the SM SC, SC overwatch doing nothing to slow the advance. Baneblades cause 3 casualties to the SM SC.

SM- Thunderbolts go on CAP. With the help of the SC re-roll the predators wipe out the Leman Russ company



IG - Fail to activate the marauder and it stands down

SM - Tactical detachment moves to the outskirts of the small high rises and opens fire on the Baneblades. Again the shots bounce off. Thunderbolts fail to retain initiative

IG - Reg HQ goes on overwatch. Attempts to attack the termies with his thunderbolts only to have them blow out of the sky by the SM CAP

End phase - Bask's rally again

_________________
Walk softly. And carry a big gun.

Turn 3

So far, casualties have been very one sided to the SM. However the match is tied on Victory points.

SM win initiative. Whirlwinds sustain indirect fire on the reg HQ. IG SC is destroyed in the carnage but the IG stand their ground resolute (I was hoping to break them so I could push them of the objective). Tacticals open fire on the Baneblades again but again no real damage to report

IG - The Baneblades advance on the SM SC. They destroy several units and break the SC tacts which flee meaning the Baneblades take the SM blitz.

SM - Thunder bolts on CAP. Retaining the initiative the Termies walk into the Reg HQ overwatch fire. Unperturbed they open fire on the basks leaving just one on the table (So close the BTS!!)

IG - Marauder refuses to fly again.

SM - Preds move up and take the IG Blitz, securing the ruins for the SM. SM retain initiative and attach the Baneblades with 'Bolts. Causing one critical hit which does no damage, one of the baneblades is now suppressed.

End phase - SM SC rallies, Baneblades shed markers. End of turn, 2 victory points each so it goes to turn 4....

Turn 4

IG win initiative for first time. But the Baneblades fail to activate. Two of them fire on the marine SC but do no damage.



SM - Advance SM SC back to objective, contesting it and taking a victory point away from the IG. SM try and retain the initiative with the preds but fail

IG - Activate the marauder (Finally!) attacking the SM SC contesting the objective. No hits scored.

SM - Whirlwinds sustain fire on IG Reg HQ, do some damage but done break them.

IG - attempt to activate the Reg HQ. They fail, the blast marker they receive breaks them.

SM - Thunderbolts activated, ground attack the IG Basks, destroying the final one to get the BTS. The terminators open fire on the Reg HQ destroying the last of the IG infantry.

Its clear that its all over so the IG Commander runs up the white flag and surrenders.

SM win 2-0 - Blitz, BTS

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Walk softly. And carry a big gun.

After thoughts

IG - Well that was brutal but fun all the same. For me it highlighted a number of things. First there's army selection. I'm not sure a whole company of basilisks was a good idea. I can't say I wasn't warned. They didn't fire a short and were a lot of points doing little. Sure as a break their spirit unit they proved tough to kill but little else. More formations would have given more flexibility and the regimental HQs garrison role might have been done just as well by an infantry company for a lot less points. Deployment is another thing and in particular using scouts to prevent teleport assault of valuable units. It's not as if I didn't know there would be terminators (we shared lists prior to the game). Finally there's unit spacing. It is not a good idea to bunch up your units when the enemy has blast markers. On the positive side though I love baneblades and the game certainly highlighted the resilience of epic forces, even with the heavy losses I took there was still stuff to do and I didn't get that 'there's no point going on' feeling until well into the very last turn although I grant you that may have just been my naïveté. Roll on the next one.

SM - I always try and start a game with a plan, however as in real life theses plans rarely last beyond the first engagement and you then have to adapt and overcome. But on this occasion the plan seemed to work from the off. Defend my turf with the devs on over watch. Destroy the basks and the Russ's with termies, follow up to take the blitz. I will admit to having some better dice rolls than my esteemed opponent which helped greatly (although in our last game the dice gods had abandoned me so I think we are even)

My biggest fear was the basks due to the size of the formation however I think that having several smaller formations of these would be harder to deal with.

What would I do differently next time? Possibly push the advantage and move the devs to counter the baneblades and contest my opponents objectives. Defiantly need to deal with the Blades some how. Maybe a thunderhawk to pick up the termies and assault them. The predators performed far better than I expected so I would consider a second formation of these to deal with threats on a roaming basis.

I look forward to the next engagement where the Dark Angels intentions may be revealed.......

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Walk softly. And carry a big gun.

thanks for the report. I recommend you guys to use enough terrain to almost cover 1/3 of the table though. Makes for more fun manouvering and less big fire lanes.

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