Opponent: Joe
Opposing Army: Iron Warriors (CSM)
1 Chaos Lord w/ pair of Lightning Claws
8 Berserkers (PWx1)
10 Tactical Marines (PFx1, Iconx1, M.G.x2)
10 Tactical Marines (PFx1, Iconx1, P.G.x2)
2 Rhinos
1 Land Raider
2 Dreadnaughts (PCx1 / MMx1)
1 Vindicator
My Army: Imperial Guards (512th)
1 Company Platoon (M.G.x2, Vox)
1 Infantry Platoon Chimera (EA)
4 Infantry Squads (LCx4, M.Bx4, Vox) + Commissar w/ PW
1 HWT (MLx3)
1 Vet Squad (MGx3, Vox)
1 Valkyrie (MPx2)
1 Hellhound Sqd. (Hellhoundx1, Devil Dogx1)
1 Leman Russ Sqd. (Demolishersx2, LCx2)
Mission: Annihilation
Setup: Line of Battle (Opponent deployed first)
Terrain: 9 | Ruins (A2, B1, C1, E3, E4) / Hills (A3[double], C2, D3[double], E2)
Deployments: I won the roll to go first and gave the opportunity to choose sides to Joe. He picked the side with more ruins and deployed his Land Raider with the 8 Berserkers and Chaos Lord near C1 and the two Rhinos and Vindicator behind the double hill at D3. He reserved his dreadnaughts and passed the baton to me.
Against my better judgments, I decide to do RG with only the combined 37 infantry men super squad, the HWT, and my company command deployed in the ruins at E4.
Turn 1a: Joe’s first turn wasn’t much, he rushed both Rhino up and popped smoke, moved the Vindicator up and shot some blanks, then moved the Land Raider towards C2.
Turn 1b: Despite successfully issuing two “Bring it Down” to my HWT and the super squad, I resulted only 2 hit on the Land Raider and not even a glance. Awesome.
KP tally: J0 – Z0
Turn 2a: Joe’s Dreadnaught showed up at D1 and F1 respectively. He ran them up and moved the rest of his convoy up nearing D3. The Vindicator fired, killing one HWT crew and made the entire sqd fall back.
Turn 2b: Nowhere to run, the HWT was removed and netted Joel 1 KP. None of my reserve showed up, which wasn’t necessarily bad since I only had 3KP (then 2KP) left. I tried to issue some order and shot the Rhinos, manage to stun the one parked at D3 and wreck the one at E2. Yeah!
KP tally: J1 – Z1
Turn 3a: The wrecked vehicles blocked Joel’s Land Raider. Instead of taking a chance by crossing the double hill, he doubled back the Land Raider. The Land Raider at column D decided to do fire frenzy instead and tagged the other one sitting at column F. Both of his tactical squad had disembarked and assaulted the super squad, killing it down to 10 models, after killing 2 marines in return, I decided to assign the PF wound on the commissar and lost the combat intentionally.
Turn 3b: I was joking with my buddies on the side line after he commented my correct maneuver of killing the infantry squad, I mentioned that I would roll a “2” since I did something right. Indeed, I rolled exactly that on the Demolishers and only had my Hellhound squadron arrived. They showed up at B4 and killed 3 CSMs. I moved up my command to the edge of the ruin and fired some melta shots at the Rhino that was still kicking – only managed to stun and immobilize it in the process.
KP tally: J2 – Z1
Turn 4a: Both Joe’s dreadnaught decided to go Hand to hand this round instead of shooting. Good for me. He sent one squad with PG towards the Hellhounds and managed to only glance one. The Land Raider fired some more shots, ended up stacking up stuns on the Hellhound. The remaining CSMs decided to assault the Company command sitting in the middle of E3, only failed at their difficult terrain check.
Turn 4b: The rest of my reserves finally came out (Valkyrie ended up on the wrong side near column A). Trying to conserve more KP since I am behind, I flew the bird over 12” and landed it at B3. The chimera ended up hiding behind the double hill at A3. The pair of demolishers opened fired at the unlucky CSMs chilling at C4, left only the Sgt who cheated death by going to ground. The Company command redeemed itself by finally destroying the last Rhino.
KP tally: J2 – Z2
Turn 5a: The dreadnaught at column D decided to go crazy again this round. And this time it managed to damage the other dreadnaught by immobilizing it. The combined fire powers between the Land Raider, the Vindicator managed to only make a box out of the Hellhound – leaving the Devil Dog still able to shoot. The CSMs in range of the Company Command assaulted, killing my company command.
Turn 5b: Taking chances and playing to win, I flew the Valkyrie over and unloaded the Vet Sqd. Two melta shots later, I wrecked the Land Raider, and moved on killing the last CSM in the original squad. This time the game looked a bit in my favor with me having the most KP claimed. But I dread of going to next turn, as I still have plenty soft targets out there”.
KP tally: J3 – Z 4
And the game went on, it seems every time when I wish that the game would end early, it would end late instead.
Turn 6a: The Dreadnaught at E3 went crazy again, but had no targets to shoot at, the other Dreadnaught, however, inched toward the Valkyrie and still missed its target by 2 inches. His lord and the remaining Berserkers charged the Vets, managed to let 3 vets escape since they were unable to sweep advance due to the Lord’s Terminator armor.
Turn 6b: The Demolishers played tag with the Vindicator and stunned it. Good thing Joe wasn’t running Demonic Possessed Vehicles, or else it would hurt a lot. I moved my Chimera to B4, trying to intercept the falling back Vet next turn. I fired the rest of my shots at the small Berserkers, trying to eliminating them via shooting. Luckily, one left for Joel, denying the KP that I much needed.
KP tally: J4 – Z4 (counting falling back Vets)
The game would finish with a draw right now, but it seems fate insisted that we go another turn.
Turn 7a: Joe’s other Dreadnaught at E3 ended up “Firing Frenzy” again and forced Joel to hide his last Berserkers and the Chaos Lord. He ran the CSM at E4 to F4, trying to stay out of the range of my Demolishers.
Turn 7b: The platoon squad got in range and rallied the fallen back Veterans. The rest of my shooting awry, failed to gather up any KPs. But the rallied Vets denied Joe’s easy KP and ended the game with one in my favor.
Final KP: J3 – Z4
After thoughts
I personally feel that IG is not as smooth at 1500 pts as 1850. Or at least I shouldn’t field a 40 men squad at such low points (it is not very efficient at taking down vehicles). I might try using 2 commissars and run 2 squads of 20 instead in the future.
Mechanized CSM is quite tough to get much KP from, but then again, so is IG. The combined super squad and vehicle squadrons proved their worth yet again at such a mission.
Though I played a tactically sound game despite how RG backfired on me (no fire supports when I needed), I feel the true medals of the honor should go to Joe’s Dreadnaught. Thanked to their “Fire Frenzy” and “Fleeting Advances”, Joe was half occupied with them instead of my units. I suggest after the game maybe he should drop one of them and add Demonic possession to his Land Raider, Vindicator, and/or Rhinos for future games. Had Joe came to this game with those options, I doubt it would be a win in my journal.
Thanks for writing up the great battle report of last nights game (other adding that extra letter to my name
. As great as my dreads can be when they work right there are the times like last night where they do nothing but hurt me. In fact last time I was in the plasma dread completely destroyed one of my troop squads.
[...] I need to rethink my list. I played against one of the store owners with his IG list (you can read his battle report here). Moral of last night’s battle: don’t take two Chaos Dreads at 1500 points. These guys [...]
Your name fixed.
I think that Defiler will do you more good than harm. Plus the fact most time you just deploy it to intimidate folks and it will draw ALOT of fire. Enough so the rest of your forces and sneak by.
Best luck Sunday!
[...] I need to rethink my list. I played against one of the store owners with his IG list (you can read his battle report here). Moral of last night’s battle: don’t take two Chaos Dreads at 1500 points. These guys [...]