Monday 13 August 2018

Siege of Adronberg - Bludhaven


Planet: Bludhaven.
Region: Seraphon Sector.

Death Guard vs Orks.
1500 points.
Mission: Spoils of War.
Deployment: Front-Line Assault.

The Siege of Adronberg was fought over a six month period with the Ork horde surrounding the hive city and trapping the forces of Nurgle within. The city defenses were considered undefeatable by the lords of the Death Guard. The final battle consisted of night time bombing by the Orks before the outer wall was breached by gargants and other large siege devices. With the green tide pouring into the streets, the Death Guard forces moved into engage and halt their assault.

So this game was played at home rather than down the club for a change. My opponent was Gary D who turned up with his Ork army. I had set the table up beforehand so we got right down to it and rolled our mission. Spoils of War against Orks was going to be tough but fun match.

As I recall we both set up our armies so that everything was behind some sort of cover to limit incoming fire as much as possible. I decided to give the Orks the first turn in case I was able to use my last turn and secure victory. It seemed like a good idea at the time anyway.

The Orks began by moving up the right flank under cover of large terrain and the killa kan's marched forth up the center of the table. Of everything on the table, the Kan's were my biggest fear. Sure, I could try and bolter some shots off but if they managed to get into combat with my plague marines then I knew that DR was not going to help me. Thankfully I had the right unit on the left flank to try and handle them. Gary's psychic phases for the first few turns was all about jumping big boyz squads up the table where they were able to assault my lines much earlier than I had anticipated.

From a mixture of shooting and all too soon assaults I had lost both my rhinos and eventually my land raider. Thankfully my deathshroud terminators and lord of contagion were no match for those ork boyz but my main means of dealing with the killa kans were gone. The Orks laid down a lot of firepower and Gary knew what he was doing with his conga line to get the best out of his forces. I lost my cultists very early on and one plague marine squad was swiftly decimated.

Oddly the killa kans were not so much a problem as I had thought. A lot of lucky bolter fire, plasma guns and a meltagun turned out to be what I needed to whittle them down. They did get a good way against the table but I was lucky enough to avoid combat with them. Eventually however, the Orks proved more resilient than I needed them to be. It was the number of boyz and their hammering assaults that ended up taking out my infantry.

If I remember right the game got to turn 6 before it came to a sudden end. Neither of us had much left on the table other than a handful of infantry. Counting up the points it was a close match but Gary had just pipped me to seize victory.

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After match thoughts...

This game was rather odd. The point of Spoils of War is that you can snatch the objective holding cards of your opponent but we never saw any. Everything that came out of our decks had nothing to do with the objective markers. It was all cast psychic powers, assassinate a warlord, kill units in combat...etc. Very unusual but made for an interesting match up.

I've normally had good luck against Gary's Orks in past games but this time around he had the upper hand. Looking forward to seeing what the Ork Codex (when it turns up) can do for his army.

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The Kult of Speed approaches!

The battlefield laid out before us.

A Call to Arms!

A smash of Ork boyz.



Thursday 9 August 2018

Shock And Awe - Cerberus

Planet: Cerberus.
Region: Cerberus sector.

Death Guard vs Blood Angels.
1500 points.
Mission: Sealed Orders - Night Fight.
Deployment: Vanguard Strike.

Despite their victories over the Death Guard, the Imperium was spread thinly in an effort to engage the enemy on all fronts. The Astra Militarum did not have the manpower to initiate an offensive against the Death Guard fortress at Salazon. Following a successful campaign in the south, the Blood Angels under Mephiston swiftly redeployed to launch an attack upon the chaos forces present.

I haven't had a game against Jon for a while so when the opportunity came up I took it. He asked what army I would like to face and since I haven't played a lot against Blood Angels under 8th edition this seemed like that opportunity.

John rocked up with a nice Death Company list. He even spent some command points to make his captain a member of the Death Company. Nice and thematic. As I have over the last few games, I have have continued to use the same list in an effort to perfect it. In hindsight, perhaps I should have perfected it beforehand.

Considering the deployment I decided not to take the first turn. By looking at it Jon would need to come towards me and I'd have a chance to try and burn his army down before he could. Again, in hindsight, I should have probably tried to go first. A lot of Jon's army stayed put assault marines and the stormraven moved forwards. I weathered a fair bit of firepower from both the aircraft and his long range predator tanks but I lost the hellforged contemptor and more than a few wounds from my transports. It wasn't long before his firepower took out my transports and cost me a few plague marines inside.

I didn't do well at all. My dice did well when I wanted to hit but they did not want to wound or pass DR rolls. This became very clear once my Death Guard were swarmed in assault by death company assault marines supported by Mephiston. I put up a good fight but the dice and the Emperor were with my opponent. He battered his way through everything I had pretty much until I was left with my lord of contagion on the third turn I think, if I remember right. That was quite a brutal fight with Mephiston and the Lord smashing the blood and snot out of each other but despite the suppurating plate and a man-reaper, Mephiston remained standing and decapitated my remaining model. I didn't even bother counting up the victory points - not that I had many anyway.

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After match thoughts....

I don't think I've ever had much luck against Blood Angels in any edition and a mixture of good choices and Jon's usual skill ensured that I was going to chalk up another loss. But it was still a good game and I may have learned something about facing this sort of army again. I probably had the wrong army list for what Jon brought to the table but I still enjoyed the match a lot.

Also, apologies for the shortness of this report. Due to work and real life it has been early a month since this match was played and a lot of the details have fled my memory.

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Normally I post my list but I've been playing the same list a lot lately so for a change here is Jon's list:

Battalion detachment:

Captain with jump pack, stormshield and The Hammer of Baal (1cp for Black Rage).
Mephiston.
5 man scout squad.
5 man scout squad.
5 man scout squad.
6 man death company (sergeant with thunder hammer).
10 man death company with jump packs (two with power fists).
Furioso Dreadnought with heavy flamers.
Predator with HK missile, and lascannons.
Stormraven with stormshrike missile launchers, assault cannons and twin multi-meltas.


The Blood Angels maintain air superiority.

Our deployment and table.

Cultists hiding from the naughty men in red.

Crusade Battles catchup

 It's been a few weeks since I last updated and in that time I have played a further three Crusade games. I am really enjoying playing C...