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| 3000pts of horde guard + 4x4 table + narrow no-man's land = CARNAGE! |
Had a game with Aaron of Skies of Flies, Ground of Rust. We had arranged a game using the basics of the "Evacuation" scenario from the back of the hardback rulebook. Basically, one side tries to escort a model to the evac point, the other side tries to kill him. KP mission, with the special model being worth 3KP (if defender gets him away, he earns them, if attacker kills him, he earns them).
We took 1500pts a side, with me as the defender, trying to escort the governor to the evac before the traitors could finish him off. Aaron's Pilgrims of Rust Chaos Guard would be attacking, trying to kill or capture him.
Company command squad
2 x 3-squad platoons
ML squad
Lascannon squad
Mortar squad
Hellhound
2xRusses
Eradicator
The evac point is on top of the building in the top right of the pic here. I had to start in the middle. In the original scenario, it had to be more than 18" from an edge; due to the small size we made it 12". We also ignored the extra rules for fighting on an airless moon. I decided not to blob my own squads as the list isn't really built to optimize them, and counted on the ability of the front line to sacrifice themselves allowing for close-range return fire.
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| The Governor prepares to move out, escorted by a platoon HQ. |
Aaron took:
Straken command squad
2xplatoon blobs with commissars, one 30-strong, one 40-strong IIRC
Autocannon squad
Mortar squad
Squad in Chimera
Hellhound
Squad in Vendetta
2xRusses
Some closer shots of the Pilgrims of Rust:
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| "My plasmagun gives me the warmth I never got from the Emperor!" |
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| Cadians, FW Vraksians, mutants, Wargames Factory Greatcoats, Pig Iron and more are cobbled together in the traitor hordes. |
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| "F Company...for FREAKS!" |
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| "Sweet Celestine, there's too many of them!" |
The traitor turn is more eventful, with the blobs charging forward into the Imperial lines!
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| "I told you we should have mined that road." |
Traitors surge forward as Russes pound the lines further back.
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| The other locals often came by, shocked by two guard armies with one Chimera between them. |
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| The traitors wash over the Imperial front line. |
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| On the Merkan right, fewer traitors manage to come to grips, but it's still too many, especially with Straken's bonuses. |
Traitors are over the wall!
End of turn one, above. Furious-charging traitors sweep picket squads on both flanks. Traitor hellhound burns down half of the middle picket squad, but they hold firm. A battlecannon round takes out the company commander and standard bearer, causing the squad survivors to flee for their lives. The governor slips out of the ruins and heads towards the evac point, shielded by Leman Russ tanks.
Turn 2 - Merkans pound the blobs to more manageable sizes.
Thinning isn't as successful here, but the blob was bigger to start with I believe, as well as more spread out.
The Imperial left is blasted away, as traitors move up next to the crater where the Hellhound used to be.
Concentrated fire and an assault by platoon HQ finishes off the right-hand blob.
Meanwhile, the governor trudges towards the evac point and other forces collapse in to cover his retreat.
Oh no! Enemy mortars manage to pin the governor and his escort! Will this delay be fatal?
Traitor armor pushes up on the Merkan left, less the traitor Hellhound which met its end from lascannon fire.
Things have thinned out quite a bit from the beginning!
Chaos Vendetta arrives and fires into a Russ flank, shaking it and blowing off the battlecannon. In return, the Merkans shake and stun the flyer.
The governor is passed off to a different squad and makes it to the building, but still has a climb ahead of him. Mortar squad decides not to risk scattering off target and charges the remainder of the traitor blob, tying it up in assault while platoon command squads form a grenade launcher firing line.
Straken joins the assault with the mortar teams, dispatching them easily. Meanwhile, concentrated fire blasts the governor's squad repeatedly, finally laying him low. Victory for the Pilgrims of Rust!
We didn't count up KP, but it was pretty clearly in Aaron's favor. If I had managed to get the governor out, I might have been able to get back in the running, but that extra swing made it too much to overcome.
Aaron also put up a narrative version on his site HERE.
So many bodies, I couldn't wrap my mind around the situation when I first looked over. It was a little easier to understand after lunch when you both had about five units left. Good battle report Jim.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we had around a 100 bodies and four tanks on the field to start...each. The hordes do thin out fast though!
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