The Drona Steppes - Vigilus

The battle of the Drona Steppes followed the Imperial attack on Mount Drona. The Black Templars, led by High Marshal Helbrecht and Grimaldus, a counter attack against the cultists pouring from the tunnels beneath the local industrial buildings. Although outnumbered, the space marines fought through to the heart of the Cult in the region.

1500 points.
Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Space Marines (Black Templars).
Mission: Strategic Gambit.
Deployment: Search and Destroy.
Battle Zone: None.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jamie challenged me to a game and brought along his Black Templars space marines. I was really pleased by this as I didn't think we had anyone at the club who played this specific chapter. To make things even better for me, Jamie included both Helbrecht and Grimaldus in his list.

At this time I had not had an opportunity to play any of the missions from Chapter Approved 2018 so Jamie picked one that he thought sounded good. We rolled Search and Destroy as our deployment which I thought considering the amount of LOS blocking terrain would actually do me good. Unfortunately the Space Marines got the first turn and I was extremely surprised at how quickly they got around the cover to be able to get some shots off at me. Once again I really found myself locked into my own deployment zone. Unless the dice gods were with me I would fighting to just hold my position.

As the first few turns progressed, the Templars charged down my right flank and assaulted the rockgrinder trundling towards them. They did some damage but the sturdy construction managed to absorb more wounds than the odds would have allowed. It didn't stop them bringing it down soon after though and although I used a stratagem to detonate the bombs on board it only succeeded in killing one marine.

On my left flank the main body of the space marine force was advancing forwards under cover of fire from a land raider crusader. That beast of a tank was decimating my brood brothers like they were nothing. Where the Templars charged my poor forces were cut down with ease.

Once I had the opportunity to bring in some reinforcements I figured I could at least do some damage even if the game was in the hands of a superior opponent. The genestealers, patriarch and primus clawed their way out of the sands behind his marines on the left flank although in an awkward position, and using a stratagem I popped up my hybrids 4 inches behind Helbrect, with their hand flamers pointed directly at him.

Molten premotheium poured from the hand flamers at the leader of the Black Templars. I rolled 21 wounds and even though Helbrecht has a 2+ armour save I expected to do something. Instead he passed every single one. In retaliation the mighty space marine commander sliced them down in assault. The genestealers did not fair much better. I charged but I could not make much in the way of saves and a handful fell on the way in. I did well in cut down a few marines but their attacks back decimated the genestealers and then the space marines turned all their firepower onto the remaining primus and patriarch.

Victory to the Black Templars.

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It was a good game but I don't think I really got to explore the mission as I was too busy fending off brutal assaults. This was another game where my dice let me down so many times while my opponent's dice were working entirely in their favour. It's hard to do anything when the game is against you like that. Even so, it was really good to play against Black Templars again - the last time was under 4th edition!

The Drona Conflict - Vigilus

The Drona conflict was a military campaign fought by the Imperium against the uprising Genestealer Cults. It took place around the industrial sites at the base of Mount Drona. 
The Imperium initially launched a series of artillery attacks against the Cult's fortified positions before sending in a large tank formation.

1300 points.

Genestealer Cult (Twisted Helix) vs Astra Militarum (Catachan).

Mission: Cleanse and Capture.

Deployment: Dawn of War.

Battle Zone: None. 

I this battle faced the might of Charlie and .. well, at the time I wasn't sure what he was going to be bringing to the tabletop. In the end I was surprised by a rather unusual Catachan tank detachment. Not at all what I was expecting.

Deployment was along the long sides of the table facing one another. I let Charlie have the first turn as I wanted to know where he was looking to move his horde of tanks and I wasn't 100% confident on where I had placed my blip tokens. I had deployed my vengeance weapon platforms on either side of my side of the table to cover whichever way Charlie came at me but he was focused on one side of the table only. Charlie did put firepower into one of my weapon platforms reducing it down a little bit. I lost a handful of models as well but not as badly as I first feared.

On my turn I was able to take out one hellhound by a mixture of shooting and ramming it with my rockgrinder. A few wounds where taken off a couple of his tanks but I didn't have the means to much more than that. This turn I wasn't in a position to move forwards either which didn't help. Like most of my recent games I have been forced to remain locked largely in my own deployment zone.

The next couple turns were largely the same with Charlie blasting my weapon platforms into dust and just burning out my troops from their positions. When I did bring my hybrids and genestealers in I was able to finally do something. The hybrids just drew fire but the genestealers and patriarch tore through a couple of tanks before they inevitably went down to massed firepower.

I think by turn 4 I had been decimated to the point of not being able to continue so the survivours fled back into the sewers and I conceded the match.

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First off, apologies for the shortness of this report. It was three weeks ago and I've just had chance to sit down and try to recall it. Had two other games since then and things are a bit fuzzy.

It was a good game and gave me the opportunity to see how I would or wouldn't handle a mechanized list. I guess I knew that I couldn't handle it but the fun came from seeing how well I could do it. I just could not do enough damage nor could I get out of my deployment zone to do anything else.

I'd really like to play a proper Catachan list. One more infantry based though as Charlie's list to me, wasn't all that fluffy. But as everyone else around here plays Cadian regiment I was happy.

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