The Badab War Reenactment Society is hosting a gaming day in Sydney next weekend. I managed to organise exactly one (1) test game...
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| typical Imperial settlement on the fringes, with a mix of architectures |
Well, actually I organised two, but my car literally died (RIP Tilda) on the way to the first game. I think Musterkrux and I are cursed. We talk a lot of talk about fighting men, but have only ever had one game. Such is life.
The game that did manage to go off, thanks in part to a loaner car, was against regular visitor to this blog, Jimmy. He brought his horrible pre-Angel Blood Angels (so just the Blood) as counts-as Space Sharks. Their stripped-back pale grey, blood spattered wargear makes them very effective as the fan favourite mass murderers, as does their combat doctrine emphasising melee - so very little counts-as in his army, and a good test for the Badab game.
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| why yes, my keyboard is very dusty |
My own 1500-point list is about bringing some of the cooler things I've painted, rather than being a 'good' or 'effective' list - further hampered by my army design focused on fluffiness rather than effectiveness. The Mantis Warriors are poorly supplied, after all, so they have antique gear and not a lot of it.
This is Ahazra Redth, a counts-as Casatferrum dread, 5 Tranquility snipers, 2 x tactical squads, a camo Rhino, Predator, scout bikers, devastators, and a Land Speeder Proteus. (Really, what is the point of a Land Speeder Proteus? - a single multi-melta is not a very effective use of 85 points. It looks sick though.)
Jimmy took Tyberos the Red Wake, 5 x Red Brethren, an apothecary, 10 Tac marines, 10 Siege assault marines (ie despoilers), 6 x siege assault marines, deredeo dread with aiolos launcher and tummy heavy flamer and a Land Raider.
The Badab War guys are using the Heresy 2.0 rules, with custom-build lists (with which I have some issues but it's mostly very good). This was a little weird for Jimmy and I, playing 40k using Heresy rules, but also the last edition of Heresy, which we barely were able to touch -- and our last game was the new Heresy. Real Oldhammer confusion, mostly just meaning that we almost entirely forgot about Reactions, except for a couple Overwatches and one movement from me.
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| Mantis Warriors Tactical squad #2 |
Mission: Tide of Carnage. Hold deployment zones, etc.
Deployment: Dawn of War. Classic, 12" in, off we go.
Jim then pushed forward everywhere, his Deredeo basically annihilating the devastators (I should have hit them with Mirage to get them Shrouding!) and using his Land Raider as a shield for the second squad of goons. Classic use of combined arms, although I think it's misplaced for Marines, who have such good survivability that they don't really need to worry a lot about most fire.
As the Sharks got closer, I moved to engage them, hoping to wreck the Land Raider. Sadly, when the 'Speeder deployed, it did get a penetrating hit, it only stunned the gunners, leaving the tank on a single hull point.
The Deredeo then calmly wrecked the Rhino, but by then the Tactical Squad were far enough out to start redeploying on foot into the middle ruin and pour even more fire into the battered Sharks Tactical squad. Those guys took so much damage between the scout bikers and that squad, even with the crystal forest preventing my other Tacticals from engaging, but For They Shall Know No Fear prevented them from being completely reduced to ineffectiveness.
The smoking 'Raider managed to move the marines up, ready to engage, but the Phobos isn't an Assault tank, so they couldn't charge. Big problem - five snipers and a Tactical squad's pistols and flamer would severely reduce the squad's ability to do much, and then I charged them. Bam.
Of course, while this was happening, Tyberos and his bullies deployed from orbit and handily smashed the Predator into tiny scraps of metal. Just glancing-hit the thing to death.
I don't have photos of this, but my Furibundus - despite counting as the not-very-good Castaferrum profile - slammed into the flank of the Raider, taking a wound from the pintle multi-melta on the way in. He then ripped open the damaged engine casing, causing a roll-of-8 explosion. Maximum range. Killed I think from memory two sharks and three Mantis Warriors in the explosion. Pure Warhammer, loved it.
Tyberos and his Goons shrugged off a maximum-hit Telepathic attack from Ahazra Redth (stupid LD10) that tried to pin them, and then neatly polished off the lone remaining devastator. The 6-man combat marines piled into my dread but failed to do much, while my surviving Tacticals came in in turn.
You can see the deployment up top. I went hard on the left flank, figuring that the crystal forest might be useful to see how the Mantis Warriors special 'assault from cover' rules worked. Jimmy met my deployment in force, with that very scary Land Raider, while his terminators and insanely good special character deployed in orbit.
He hadn't realised that he could teleport regular marines, thanks to Tyberos, which probably would have been the best move. I'm not sure I would have been able to do much against that!
I didn't get as many photos as I'd like, but the game was fairly straightforward. I concentrated a lot of fire where I could, damaging the Land Raider but not quite able to wreck the damn thing. Snipers eliminated the apothecary, sergeant and several marines from the Tactical squad, pinning and then causing them to Fall Back. The mounted Tactical squad went around the flank, hoping to be ignored so that they could get into Jim's deployment zone, while the 'Speeder went into reserve.
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| Devastators. These were some of the first painted, years ago! |
I didn't get as many photos as I'd like, but the game was fairly straightforward. I concentrated a lot of fire where I could, damaging the Land Raider but not quite able to wreck the damn thing. Snipers eliminated the apothecary, sergeant and several marines from the Tactical squad, pinning and then causing them to Fall Back. The mounted Tactical squad went around the flank, hoping to be ignored so that they could get into Jim's deployment zone, while the 'Speeder went into reserve.
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| Furibundus dread Kamacuras deploys in cover |
Jim then pushed forward everywhere, his Deredeo basically annihilating the devastators (I should have hit them with Mirage to get them Shrouding!) and using his Land Raider as a shield for the second squad of goons. Classic use of combined arms, although I think it's misplaced for Marines, who have such good survivability that they don't really need to worry a lot about most fire.
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| Kamacuras emerges from cover |
As the Sharks got closer, I moved to engage them, hoping to wreck the Land Raider. Sadly, when the 'Speeder deployed, it did get a penetrating hit, it only stunned the gunners, leaving the tank on a single hull point.
Meanwhile the 'Raider's fire managed to get the Predator badly damaged, but also failed to penetrate - but you know who is going to win in that exchange of fire in the longer term...
(It's also a situation where we both should have remembered about Fire Reactions, as he probably would have taken it out on that second turn of fire.)
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| Turn... 2 or 3, I think. Action is about to begin in earnest! |
The Deredeo then calmly wrecked the Rhino, but by then the Tactical Squad were far enough out to start redeploying on foot into the middle ruin and pour even more fire into the battered Sharks Tactical squad. Those guys took so much damage between the scout bikers and that squad, even with the crystal forest preventing my other Tacticals from engaging, but For They Shall Know No Fear prevented them from being completely reduced to ineffectiveness.
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| Marines spill out of the damaged Raider |
The smoking 'Raider managed to move the marines up, ready to engage, but the Phobos isn't an Assault tank, so they couldn't charge. Big problem - five snipers and a Tactical squad's pistols and flamer would severely reduce the squad's ability to do much, and then I charged them. Bam.
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| Tactical squad #1 'Renegade' deploys, the wreck of their Rhino aflame behind them |
Of course, while this was happening, Tyberos and his bullies deployed from orbit and handily smashed the Predator into tiny scraps of metal. Just glancing-hit the thing to death.
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| A devastating volley of fire from the Tactical marines before they charge |
I don't have photos of this, but my Furibundus - despite counting as the not-very-good Castaferrum profile - slammed into the flank of the Raider, taking a wound from the pintle multi-melta on the way in. He then ripped open the damaged engine casing, causing a roll-of-8 explosion. Maximum range. Killed I think from memory two sharks and three Mantis Warriors in the explosion. Pure Warhammer, loved it.
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| Tyberos leads his men to gut the remaining devastator |
Tyberos and his Goons shrugged off a maximum-hit Telepathic attack from Ahazra Redth (stupid LD10) that tried to pin them, and then neatly polished off the lone remaining devastator. The 6-man combat marines piled into my dread but failed to do much, while my surviving Tacticals came in in turn.
We weren't able to go past Turn 4, as is traditional, but the board was pretty set. We each held the other's deployment zone, the middle ground was contested, but it was pretty obvious that the remaining non-Terminator sharks weren't long for the world. The Deredeo would live on, but I would clearly get the 1 VP for having more surviving units.
VICTORY: Mantis Warriors.
A great game - always is, with James - and it let me become at least a little refamiliar with the rules before travelling to Sydney next week. I think I played okay, and the list isn't too bad in the end. I can definitely see ways to improve it, but I think it's very fluffy and shows off models of which I'm really proud -- and that's all I really want from it.
Look forward to getting the wooden spoon next week. I'll let you know.
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| Veteran Mantis Warrior © Dan Morrison, 2020. Used without permission. |
