Today's game represented the culmination of the Octarius System campaign's first phase, stage 4, a mission called Break the Stalemate, from War Zone Octarius book II. This was a two on two game, where my White Scars were paired off with the campaign master's (Sam) Thousand Sons against the same Necrons I played last time paired with some Chaos Knights.
The Thousand Sons:
The Chaos Knights:
The mission is an interesting one where it's Dawn of War deployment (on the long edges), and five objective markers are put in a line down the middle of no man's land, representing the front lines of a battle. In your command phase, you can move the objectives you control 6" toward your opponent's deployment zone, as though pushing the battle line back. You get VP each round based on how many objectives are pushed in this way.
We were defending, so we went first in deployment. We were also both using the entire side of the board, so our forces were intermingled. The field was pretty limited in terms of terrain, so to try to avoid deploying in the kill zone of the big Knight Tyrant, I put my Centurions over to the other side of the board, obscured from that one model. My Terminators were in striking distance of an objective, and the War Dogs, as well. I had a combat squad of Tactical Marines in some ruins where their heavy bolter could pick targets of opportunity, and my other combat squads and bike squad were poised to head toward other objectives and hopefully harry some necron warriors. My Stormseer Librarian was with the Centurions, and my Captain was with the Terminators to help them hit with those power fists.
Left side deployment:
Right side deployment:
Sam deployed a bunch of Tzaangors, a Defiler, some Rubricae, and some Scarab Occult Terminators, along with an Infernal Master and an Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeench.
The enemy lines:
We won the roll-off for first turn, and decided to take it. In the first turn, I moved everything up but the one combat squad in cover. Most units advanced, so there wasn't much shooting, and no charging done this turn. I cast Ride the Winds on my Centurions to help them with mobility for the next round, and I did Smite three wounds off a base of scarabs on the necron side, and also kill another with a single Centurion's meltaguns (the other two were out of range). There was a lot more psychic from the Thousand Sons, of course, and some shooting, as well. I couldn't tell you exactly what of either, because we were taking our combined turn at the same time, and sort of loosely calling out shots and agreeing on what to focus down where it really mattered.
The Thousand Sons had the brunt of their force over on the left side, out in front of my Terminators and Centurions. Probably due to them being faster, even though I had advanced my stuff up 7 or 8 inches each.
On the enemy's first turn, the Knights moved up.
As did the Skorpekh and Lynchguard and necron warriors.
As did the Skorpekh and Lynchguard and necron warriors.
The Defiler and my combat squads look small beside the Knight Tyrant.
The War Dogs went melta-crazy on my Centurions, killing two of them. The necrons' Chronomancer killed the third. New unit curse confirmed! There went a lot of our answer to the Knights!
The Tyrant then charged one of my combat squads and stepped on them in combat.
My bike squad has also been mostly wiped out by the Tyrant and nearby necron warriors' ranged attacks.
Back in our turn, I double up on mortal wounds spells with my Librarian, and the Thousand Sons also chip in some, and we burn down one War Dog.
My single biker moves over to maybe distract the Tyrant or chip away at one of the necron units nearby.
In combat, my Terminators do what they're paid for, and get to work with power fists on heavy armor, killing the other War Dog.
I choose to charge my biker into the nearby unit of Immortals, and the Tyrant Heroically Intervenes into him. I think I killed a model or two, but the Knight smooshes the biker.
Terminators are saying, "Yeah, you just mosey on over here and see what we got for you."
The Tyrant decides to instead charge into another combat squad who were on this objective by it.
If they'd have survived, I would have used a melta bomb on it...
In my third turn, it's now Assault Doctrine, and the Terminators and Captain have flown across the board and into combat with the Tyrant.
The Tyrant takes 18 wounds from my Terminators, but kills three in return, then tries to fall back.
I use the Butchered Quarry stratagem to pursue with my Captain, so he can't get too far away.
On the enemy's fourth turn, the Tyrant charges my Captain again, and kills him, but! I saved CP, so Only in Death Does Duty End, and my Captain fights back, dealing the final 9 wounds to kill it right back!
In the end, we have tabled the Knights at least, though there are still more necrons around. They win on VP, probably. We called it a little early, but that's how it looked like it was going. My Captain actually got the final blow on a War Dog as well as the Tyrant, so he was awarded Marked for Greatness this game.
Too bad the Centurions couldn't contribute much this time out, but they did each soak up a meltagun and thermal spear each from the War Dogs, and another meltagun equivalent from the Chronomancer.
The Thousand Sons did a lot of fighting with the necrons throughout, but I was not really involved too much in those skirmishes. Though that combat squad that was in cover ended up charging and finishing off some Lynchguard in the fourth round.
By the end of the game, I think there were two small and depleted squads of Rubricae and his Infernal Master left. I'm not sure what was left of the necrons, but I imagine some Immortals and some warriors and probably a Skorpekh or two, as well. Maybe even his Overlord and Chronomancer, also.
No comments:
Post a Comment