This is quite a long post so I hope you are sitting comfortably!
As I mentioned in my post last week I managed to get all of my painting done (by the skin of my teeth!) and so after making the trip up the night before headed to Warhammer World early on Saturday morning to register and get ready for battle. This was my first proper time (I say proper, I went up once when I was much younger after being a finalist in Golden Demon and being invited up I was 15 I think) at Warhammer World, and for those of you that haven't ever been I can't recommend going enough!
As it was a Badab War Campaign Weekend the games were all themed around the fluff. There were two factions - the Crusaders of Righteousness and the Heralds of Liberation, much like the parties involved in the Badab war you don't find out whether your side is on side of the secessionist or the loyalists until the end! Everyone got a free Badab Hero who would acquire abilities after each battle, and which ability depended on whether you won or lost. The format for the weekend was Saturday - 500pts game with 3 objectives followed by a 1500pts KPs and then a 2500pts KPs. Then in the evening a pub quiz followed by a Zone Mortalis Badab Hero bash. Sunday had a 2000pts KPs game followed by the 4000pts a side doubles match on a 6x8 board. Then lastly the awards ceremony.
Game 1
Passage Of the Unhallowed Heart
Long before the Badab Sector became synonymous with mass betrayal of Space Marine against brother Space Marine not seen since the events of the Heresy thousands of years before, the Astral Claws, then led
by Chapter Master Rovik Blake met any threat thrown originating from the Maelstrom. But then the long
range augurs detected a space hulk emerging from the edge of the Maelstrom known as the Unhallowed
Heart. As it ploughed through space madness erupted all around as within the craft were daemons spreading
palpable waves of emotion and insanity, infecting all those nearby.
This mission represents the introduction of a new hero who enters the fray ready to defeat his enemies and
protect what he believes is vital. As the ship moves from system to system parts of it are raining down on the
surrounding planets. Each side intends to claim these fallen parts, and either place them in quarantine for
close examination by the Inquisition or harvest them in order to further their own power in the coming storm.
Points 500pts
Mission type Seize Ground with only 3 Objectives
Deployment Spearhead
Special Rules: The Maddening Warp is upon us!
At the start of each Game Turn each Objective moves D6” in a random direction decided by the Scatter Dice.
This represents the daemon possessed hull of the Unhallowed Heart wanting to diffuse into reality and
escape the clutches of its captors. (Note – this happens whether an objective is claimed or not!)
Hero Upgrades
• Fearless
• Re–roll Morale and Pinning checks
My army for this game consisted of a platoon with 3 squads (two of which were blobbed together with a commissar), the Highland Veterans, 3 chimera and the Commissar Lord who came with his own Chimera (well he's not going to walk is he!). My opponents were Raven Guard, their army was a unit of scouts with sniper rifles, a unit of bikes with attack bike and a tactical squad with their boss in a rhino.
I won the roll to see who deploys and elected to go first.
I don't seem to have captured any photos of the fighting in this battle but the lack of enemy present in the photos tells the story well. I killed the scouts of pretty much immediately and then picked of the bikes after immobilizing the rhino with the marines in. My army lost the vets chimera before advancing to the objectives and sitting on them while theremaining Raven Guard assaulted me in a last ditch effort to claim objectives. The blob ably led by a commissar became a tar pit from which the bikes couldn't escape while the Commissar Lord and the vets engaged the Raven Guard Hero and his marines in combat. The game ended in a solid victory for the Praetorian Guard.
The game had been a great opener and my opponent was great fun to play against! I picked Fearless for the Commissar, figuring that further re-rolls wouldn't be of much use to stubborn LD10!
Game 2
Negotiations At Shedim
Long after the Unhallowed Heart was destroyed, pyres of the Badab sector are burning bright as the Loyalists and Secessionists are annihilating one another. A parlay is reached which allows a chance to discuss what happens next in this titanic conflict and so bring it all to a speedy end. However all is not as it seems as conflict breaks out between parties, each claiming and counter claiming it was the other who orchestrated an ambush with the deliberate intention of cutting off the head of the snake.
This mission represents your Badab Hero taking the opportunity to eliminate the enemy commander whilst
his bodyguard are elsewhere…
Points 1500pts
Mission type Annihilation
Deployment Dawn Of War
Special Rules: The End of Negotiations
Both Badab Heroes must deploy with 12” of the board centre but no closer than 6” of the board centre (yet
still in their chosen board half) to represent negotiations breaking down and conflict erupting between sides. He may be accompanied by up to two Troops units which deploy normally in their board half as per the Dawn of War deployment rules. All other units must be held off board as per usual Dawn Of War setup (so can come on in the first turn).
Hero Upgrades
• Preferred Enemy
• Hit and Run
For this game my army expanded considerably with the addition of a Banewolf, Leman Russ, Exterminator, Medusa, an extra platoon squad, the Command HQ and Rough Riders. My opponent was a Chaos Marine army which included noise marines a unit of plague marines, slaaneshi terminators, chosen, a land raider and and a rhino.
Our heros set up in the middle, the Commissar staying in his chimera and sensibly as far away as possible from the deamon weapon wielding nutter he had been sent to negotiate with. My starting troop units formed up on a bluff as far away as possible from the noise marines in cover at the far end of the table and awaited the advance of the enemy...
The Guardsmen manage to wreck the rhino and take down a few of the chosen chaos warriors with well timed volley fire.
On the other side of the battlefield elements the banewolf races forward to give the plague marines a taste of the the chem cannon. Meanwhile obliterators appear spelling doom for the Leman Russ.
The brave Praetorians stand firm in the face of the Chaos charge.
Through sheer weight of numbers the guardsman pull the terminators down as the Command HQ rushes help. The plucky Highlanders fall to the axes and fists of the Chosen who are then gunned down by the watchful Praetorian armour.
The Lord Provost deals the deathblow to the final Chaos terminator.
After eliminating the terminators and chosen the landraider was the next to fall to the melta bombs of the command HQ. Having secured one side of the table any unit that could tried to lend fire support to the units on the far side. The chaos dispatched the Leman Russ and Banewold before the Rough Riders arrived and charge the obliterators, they managed to take the unit down to one with one wound but couldnt finish the job before being eliminated. The infantry squad in their chimera attempted to evade the chaos but ultimately lost their chimera to enemy fire. My fire continued to whittle down the enemy to the point where there was only the obliterator, a noise marine and the Chaos hero left! At that point the game ended and we were left to count up the KPs...
The result was a draw! despite having almost the entirety of my army still functional the loss of a chimera, rough riders, leman russ, banewolf and highlanders proved costly as despite almost tabling the enemy there just wasnt enough kill points to be had as I had also only scored five (despite reducing him to 3 men!!!).
Nonetheless another quality game with a great opponent who had a very nice looking army. We rolled off to see who got to pick the skill for the Badab hero, unfortunately I lost and was left with hit and run as the Chaos combat monster took preferred enemy.
Game 3
Devastation in the Sigard System
As civil war erupts throughout the Badab zone, entire armies lay waste to one another across dozens of
worlds. Forces on both sides simply vent their rage on whoever is close by whether they are combatants
or not. Loyalists and Secessionists alike vie for control of vital supply areas, allowing them to prosecute their
campaigns further. The battles are frantic and close fought affairs as commanders lose sight of their units
within the confusion and fog of war.
This mission revolves around your Heroes making the best of a chaotic situation. You must learn to evolve
and adapt to changing battlefield situations in order to achieve victory. Go forth and bring fury to those who
oppose you.
Points 2500pts
Mission type Annihilation
Deployment Dawn Of War
Special Rules: The Fog Of War
All units not deployed at the beginning of the game count as being in reserve (and must roll to see when
they arrive as per the reserves rule – Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook p.94), but must enter the table using the
outflank special rule (p.94), as keeping control of units in the confusion becomes difficult. Any unit that must
Deep Strike (eg Daemons or Drop Pods etc) may do so as always, but must re–roll any “hit” results on the
scatter dice and accept the second roll.
Hero Upgrades
• Furious Charge
• Feel No Pain
This game was quite frankly mad. For my army I took everything you see in the gallery and then gave a lot of units pointless wargear (grenades, melta bombs...) just to make up the 100pts I was still lacking. My Opponent had a Tyranid army that had a few units of 30 gaunts, a big brood of warriors led by his Brood Lord (Badab Hero), a Hive Tyrant, a few zoanothropes, a huge brood of gargoyles, a huge brood of stealers and a few tyranofexs, carnofexs and tervigons.
Problem with this game as I would soon come to realised was that I really didnt have enough high strength AP weapons to hurt the monsters and no soon as my tanks roll on some nids will run on right behind them and assault them! Lets see what happened...
There wasn't a great deal of cover on the board and my guardsmen headed straight for what they thought was their best chance of survival against the oncoming hordes.
The big beasties are deployed first and advance toward my bastion as the lasgun fire patters harmlessly off their exoskeleton.
My armour arrives almost exclusively on one side of the table only to be followed by a large brood of gargoyles and some Zoanothropes.
The Leman Russ squadron was elminated almost straight away by the arrival of some unfriendly tyranids.
T-minus 5,4,3,2....1 launc! The Deathstrike missile fires! Too late to save the Russ' but just in time to vapourize the broodlord 6 warriors! Worth every point
As the Tryranid hordes arrive and race towards my lines the storm troopers and another platoon arrive to waylay their advance.
The Rough Riders arrive in time to save the medusa and chimera from the gargoyles claws.
The massed guns of the Praetorians do little to slow the advance of the Tyranid monsters.
The guardsmen hold up the Hive Tyrant and Tervigon in combat for most of the game before dying to a man in the penultimate turn. The genstealers arrive eventually and wreak havoc on my armour while the sheer number of gaunts at the far end of the table spelt doom for all my units there.
The game ended in defeat for the Praetorians. I had been unable to cope with both the size of the units of small nids and the high toughness and wounds of the large monsters. The wacky deployment and reserves all outflanking ultimately meant I couldn't bring enough fire power to bear on any one unit.
It had been good fun facing of against the nids and despite the result I still got furious charge for the commissar as the nids player picked the other for his broodlord. A guardsman S4 and I4 on the charge! Who would ever have thought...
One of the awards for the weekend was the Iron Halo for best Badab Hero, those who wanted to enter were invited to put their Heroes in the cabinet and everyone then got to cast a vote on who was their favourite. Here are a few of the entries.
The winner was announced at the end of the weekend and I'll tell you who won at the end of my report!
In the evening there was a rather frantic hero bash on the zone mortalis board. You had two lives and when you died you can spawn anywhere outside of 3 spaces of another character. Unsurprisingly the Commissar Lord didn't far too well. He managed to get one kill (an instagib of the only other commissar lord by virtue of a plasma gun shot!) but, along with the couple of other toughness 3 characters was a marked man and didn't last long.
That is enough for part 1, its turning in to quite the epic saga! I will post again in the next couple of days with the results of the last two battles, the overall results, the best painted army and best painted hero results!
Cheers!
Brilliant stuff; well related.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right: one thing the Guard can't easily stand against is monstrous creatures.