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We played last night. It was a pretty bloody battle for the marines, and very close.
He used:
Regimental HQ - 500
Mechanized Infantry - 400
Mechanized Infantry - 400
Tank Company w/ Vanquisher - 650
Tank Company w/ Vanquisher - 650
SHT w/ Baneblades - 500
Sentinel Squadron - 100
Sentinel Squadron - 100
Storm Trooper Platoon w/ Valkyries - 350
Storm Trooper Platoon w/ Valkyries - 350
And now typing up this list, I see a major mistake that was made during the game: he told me his BTS was the Baneblades.
Setup
The board was pretty symmetrical, with 8 or 10 buildings on my right, covering most of the ground between DZs, with a road running through the middle. A few hills were to the right of the town. A large hill was in the center of the board, with a few forests to the left.
His blitz was in the center, mine was to the right of the road through the town. M objectives were placed on a crossroads in the town, and one between the large hill and a forest to the left. He placed his objectives on a building near my blitz, and a nearby hill, making a 40cm triangle with the three.
My speeders and scouts garrisoned, setting up near the center of the town. He garrisoned Sentinels and Stormtroopers on my left on the opposite side of a forest from my DZ, and the other Sentinels and Stormtroopers in the town near the crossroads.
MY forces were deployed from left to right: Land Raiders 1, Tactical 2 (w/ Captain), Land Raiders 2, Predators, Devastators, Landraiders on the road withTactical 1 (with FC) behind them, the Whirlwinds to their right in front of the blitz, and the Assault to their right.
He deployed from left to right: Mech Inf 1, Tanks 1, Baneblades, Tanks 2, Mech Inf 2. He got 3 commisars, delpoyed with HQ, Baneblades, and Tanks 1.
1st Turn:
Though I warned him about starting the stormtroopers within their Valkyries to start while being so close to my lines, he took the risk anyway. I won initiative, and had Land Raiders 2 move up and fire at them, kiling 1 Valk. and 1 stand. Not wanting them to escape, the Predators retained, doubled to get to a good firing spot, then made up for the LR's anemic rolling, killing the remaining 3 Valks, leaving 2 Storm troopers alive, who promptly retreated into the woods. Tanks 1 advanced and completely destroyed the Predators and Hunter with just their battlecannons. I knew they were exposed and would take some fire, but that was just ridiculous. Worried about my speeders, he retained with Tanks 2, moved into the town, and got LOS to 3 of them, and destroyed them. The remaining two hid behind a builing on the right side of town. My scouts moved into the middle of the city near the objective on the crossroads, and fired on the nearby Sentinels, killing all but one who then retreated. His Baneblades advanced and took some long range shots at Land Raiders 2, doing no damage. The Whirlwinds fired on his other Stormtrooper formation, doing no damage. The stormtroopers then failed their activation, and marshalled. The Assault det moved into a building near Tanks 2. Mech Inf 2 then moved up and fired at them for no damage. The devastators doubled to the top of the central hill, and fired on the Baneblades, actually damaging the Commisar's tank. Tactical 2 doubled to the left of the Devastators, contesting an objective, and fired at the Baneblades causing a 3rd BM. At some point Land Raider 1 moved up and destroyed 3 of Sentinels 1. Mech Inf 1 doubled to the hill in fron of the devastators, disembarked, and fired on the Devastators, killing 2 stands. Land Raider 3 and Tactical 1 moved up into theleft edge of the city, and fired on Mech Inf 1, doing some damage and causing a bunch of BMs.
Everything but the speeders rallied. His Baneblades got rid of all 3 BMs, making my planned Terminator assault more chancy.
Round 2
I was explaing to some spectators how the game worked, starting with the strategy roll. As I lost initiative, I realized I forgot to place my Terminators behind the Baneblades for some crossfiring and an assault. It was probably for the best, since Tanks 1 was nearby.
Tanks 1 started the carnage, moving to my left, and firing on Land Raiders 1, completely destroying them, and leaving his Baneblades with nothing around them. The Whirlwinds continued the slaughter, destroying half of Mech Inf 1, who broke and retreated over behind Tanks 1. The Baneblades fired at Tactical 2, destroying a Rhino and a marine. Stormtroopers 2 failed to act again, and marshalled again. Tactical 1 doubled almost to his board edge, and desembarked behind his the Baneblades. Mech Inf 2 stayed in the Chimeras and fired at the Assault Det, giving them a blast marker. The scouts fired at Tanks 2, and I explained why to the 2 guys watching, saying it would be easier for the Assault det to engage, and would get +2 to the resolution because of it. Having telegraphed my move to him, he moved a surviving Sentinel up and fired on the Assault Det, for a second blast marker. So much for the +2. Hoping for a miracle, they assualted anyway, killing 1 tank before dying to a man. Tanks 2 then failed their initiative, and did nothing that I remember. The Devastators and Land Raider 2 all fired at the Baneblades, for 1 more damage to the Commisar's tank and 3 more blast markers. His 2 Storm troopers that had been hiding in the woods jumped out and fired on Tactical 2, destoying a vehicle. Tactical 2 returned fire with the 2 units no suppressed, and broke the Storm troopers again. The 2 Speeders moved over to the building with the other objective near my blitz. At some point Land Raider 3 doubled over in front of Tactical 2 and fired on the Baneblades, no damage.
All but the storm troopers rallied. The Baneblades shed their 3 BMs again.
Turn 3.
The Terminators telport in behind the Baneblades. I was determined to destroy them because he had told me they were the BTS objective. If I could do this and keep the objectives I had, I would win the game as long as he didn't destroy Tactical 2 (my BTS) and take either my Blitz or the second objective.
Land Raider 2 went first (they were nearest to Tank 1 and I didn't want to waste their activation if they got destoyed by them), and fired on the Baneblades, no damage, even with a crossfire. I retained and combine assaulted with Tactical 1 and the Terminators. Two tanks were destroyed, leaving the Commisar with 1 damage left, while Tactical 1 took 3 casulaties. The Ciommisar retreated over to my left, near Mech Inf 1. His Leman Russes doubled around a forest, and fired on Tactical 2 (my BTS). They had previously moved in among the Land Raiders and all had cover. All but 3 stands were killed, though they weren't broken. Tanks 2 doubled to the hill objective near my blitz, and destroyed all the Whirlwinds that were stationed by my blitz. I moved my 2 landspeeders to picket around my blitz, preventing his Storm Troopers from marching to claim it. However, he could still move them to take the other objective on the nearby building. So my Devastators retained and sustain fired at his Storm Troopers. The Hunter and Razorback each killed a Valkyrie, and all 4 storm troopers failed their save, breaking the formation. Mech Inf 2 advanced near the scouts holding the crossroads objective and shot at them, but did no damage.
So at this point I had Blitz, Take and Hold, and Break their Spirit (or so we thought...). He had none. At the time we thought he had 1, but it was pretty late, so we weren't thinking straight apparently.
I had lost a Land Raider Detachment, the Assault Detachment, the Predators, and the Whirlwinds, 3 speeders, most of a Tactical detachment, 3 land speeders, plus 50% casualties to the Scouts, Devastators, and Tactical 1. He lost his Baneblades, half of Mech inf 1, most of his Storm troopers, and most of his Sentinels. I have no idea what his HQ did, I don't remember them doing anything at all. I think Mech Inf 2 was actually his HQ, and he forgot to deploy his 2nd infantry.
It was a tense and bloody (for the marines at least) game, that came down to a Hunter and a Razorback killing 2 Valkyries, and 10 Leman Russes failing to kill 5 tactical stands, a Rhino, and a Hunter.
Marines heavy on armor can do alright, but they still need to make use of their high mobility and get into assault. The Land Raiders really didn't do much other than give out blast markers, and look threatening. I'll need to play a few more games when we've both gotten used to the rules again to get a better idea of how well the list can do.
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