Last Game of 5th Edition

For our last game of 5th edition we decided to do a throwback to 4th edition - namely, the starter kit - The Battle for Macragge. It was also a great chance to try out our freshly built snow-terrain board.

We played with a deployment similar to apocalypse (split the table down the middle with a 12" no-man's land) and with kill points. There was a special objective too - a techpriest was standing near the crashed aquila lander. Every turn we rolled a d6 and added the turn number. On the roll of a 5+ he would retrieve the fusion core. If he could bring it back to the Imperial "Snow Fort" the Space Marines scored a kill point. If he was killed before he could, the Tyranids scored a kill point.

Space Marines (About 1600 Points) - Bobby and Giovanni

Tyranids (About 1600 Points - John

(I apologize for the picture quality, it was taken with my camera phone)

Deployment:

Unfortunately for the Space Marines, the Tyranids deep struck their entire army except for their Hive Tyrant...

Turn 1

With most of the Tyranids in reserve and the Space Marines holding back in their line, turn 1 was fairly uneventful. Thanks to a roll of a 6, the techpriest managed to retrieve the fusion core and was ready to begin his flight to the fort (he couldn't move that turn).

The Hive Tyrant shrugged off a missile launcher, assault cannon and plasma gun, only to take a wound from bolter fire, prompting Bobby to suggest that he was shot in the kneecap while he was dodging the missile. John replied that his Hive Tyrant couldn't be an adventurer anymore.

Turn 2

As the Techpriest began his dash to the fort, Giovanni's assault marines turned towards him for his proverbial running of the Olympic torch before heading off to engage a squad of genestealers and their Mycetic Spore (unfortunately represented by a can of paint because we only have two...) that landed near by...

Meanwhile, Bobby's Tactical Marines, Sternguard Veterans, Captain, and Venerable Dreadnought moved to engage the Tyrant and newly emerged Trygon, both of which managed to shrug off a significant amount of shooting, taking only 3 wounds between the two of them Before the trygon was reduced to one in close combat by the Dreadnought and Captain...

Turn 3

With the techpriest ready to reach the fort in the Marines' next turn, John revealed his one unit that hadn't come in the previous turn - The Deathleaper. Appearing directly in front of the techpriest, the leaper lashed out with his flesh hooks - but failed to wound. Unscathed, the techpriest rolled his one d6 of difficult terrain... and rolled a 5, just enough to scramble up to the fort.

While Giovanni's assault marines finished off the genestealers that had landed nearby with his flamers, a squad of genestealers reached the tactical marines holding out at the techpriest's initial position and shredded the majority of the marines, who held out only thanks to their stubbornness (Giovanni's HQ was Bobby's Pedro Kantor conversion, see above).

On the front lines, the Captain, Dreadnought, and Trygon all made bitter ends just as Giovanni's terminators arrived to join Bobby's tactical squad against the Tyrant.

Turn 4-5

The last two turns went quickly, as the Space Marines consolidated back towards the fort with the Tyranids on their heels. Giovanni's assault marines cleared out two of the mycetic spores before being overrun by a squad of genestealers. The techpriest engaged the deathleaper, managing to avoid or shrug off its attacks and, incredibly, scored a clean, instant-death hit with his servo-arm, ripping the monster's head from its shoulders.The tyrant lost the rest of his guards to fire from the razorback, sternguard, and one remaining terminator, after tearing apart the rest of the terminators and proceeding to slay the sternguard veterans. The few remaining imperial forces made it back to their line, gunning down the last few genestealers. When the battle ended only the wound Hive Tyrant, one Mycetic spore, and a Broodlord remained of the bugs, while Pedro Kantor, A single Assault terminator, the razorback and rhino, 2 assault marines, and the techpriest stood at the fort.

Final Score - 10-6

Well that's it! Both for the battle report and 5th Edition! See you soon as our planetary Empires Campaign on Verona IV picks back up in 6th!

Back in Action

Phew, ok its been awhile since we've posted anything, nearly forgot about this in fact.
Anyways, we're starting up a new planetary empires campaign, with fluff below. Additionally we've crafted our own Codex: Inqusition with the help of several veteran gamers and the guys at Bolter and Chainsword. It will be posted fairly soon.

As for the Campaign:
Necron of Verona IV: The Necron of Verona IV seem to be searching for something, tearing apart fortresses and chapels, and delving into their darkest corners, with a lord personally entering every captured building for some unknown purpose.

The Iron Wolves (Space Wolves): Continuing their search for the fabled personal rhino of Leman Russ, the Iron Wolves arrive on Verona IV to find Necron arriving in force to attack the planet. Nail Griffensen, head runepriest, believes that he was guided to the planet because the Necron Overlord had encountered the rhino, and seeks to contact him.

Tyranid Hive Fleet: Perhaps drawn by the same psychic anomaly that led the Iron Wolves and Necron to Verona IV, a tyranid hive fleet arrived in the system shortly after both of the aforementioned armies and set upon the human populace of the planet.

The Ghost Brigades (Space Marines/Dark Angels): After receiving reports of Necron activity on Verona IV, the Ghost Brigades arrived in the system to find, to their luck, that their other hated foe, Tyranids, were also setting upon the planet. Attempts to ally with the Iron Wolves broke down when the Iron Wolves insisted the capture or attempts at a non lethal confrontation with of the Necron Overlord.

The Graxxis Campaign Concludes

There's two more battle reports coming up to give the details of the conflicts, but the Graxxis campaign has reached an end through two battles:

The Battle of Founder's Plains
With a string of victories removing the immediate threat posed by xeno forces, Chapter Master Leerca decided to take the oppurtunity to counter-attack. Contacting the Thundering Wolves, Leerca and Bjorn the Fel-Handed laid a plan to crush the orks on Graxxis once and for all.
The orks were already headed towards the planetary capital and a large plain lay on the outskirts of the city. Bjorn and Leerca mustered their troops on the plains outside the city, hoping to lure the orks towards them and away from the city's ill-equipped defenders. At the ready were assault marines, terminators, and drop pods, prepared to deliver a devastating counter-attack.
The Orks, seeing a more powerful foe emerge, ran headlong into the space marine forces, falling straight into the trap, but as the Space Marines began their counter-attack, a new, unexpected threat emerged. Necron forces, drawn to the battlefield by the slaughter taking place, began teleporting or rising up from the ground and attacking the Imperial line. At the head of their assault was a Doomsday monolith, eradicating vehicles and infantry with its overcharged particle whip.
Bjorn himself, leading several of his dreadnought bretheren, assaulted the monolith, ripping into its hull with his claw. With a tremendous groan the monolith tipped forward and smashed to the ground. As it collapsed the air filled with the scream of drop pods and space marine reinforcements began to fall around Necron and Orks alike.
Even the sudden appearance of the Necron could not undo Bjorn and Leerca's plan, and the Ork forces were crushed. Although Warboss Wurrgrod escaped, most of the ork forces were left scattered and leaderless. The Necron ceased to appear on the planet, and disappeared without a trace.
After the battle The Ghost Brigades and Thundering Wolves also left the planet, each force's mission on the planet accomplished.

The Assault on Els Heights
While the titanic battle took place across Founder's Plains, a second battle of equal import was occuring at Els heights. A shadowsword, looted from the planetary armory, led an armored contingent of Chaos space marines towards the main base of operations of the Glacians. With most of the forces infantry deployed elsewhere, it fell upon the tanks of the army to halt their advance.
No less then 4 dozen armored vehicles, accompanied by infantry and walkers, took part in the battle. While the Chaos forces succeeded in breaking through to the Glacian HQ, their own rearguard was destroyed by a contingent of hellhounds and veterans aboard a vendetta, who also destroyed the Shadowsword in a titanic explosion that enveloped the center of the battlefield, eradicating traitor and loyalist alike.
With the Glacian HQ overrun and the chaos forces stretched thin, the major conflicts of the Graxxis campaign came to an end, although there will be many years more of conflict between the chaos and imperial forces on the planet, both sides crippled but not yet defeated.

The Graxxis Campaign Continues

With the final battle of the campaign drawing near, here is a summary of most of the other battles fought during the Graxxis Campaign:

The Thundering Wolves fight their way into an entrance to the Necron Tomb, set charges that collapses that entrance and crushes scores of Necron (BM: Implacable Advance).

A Necron assault into the city of Karil's Bluff is halted by a counter-attack from the Froststalkers of the Ghost Brigades (CoD: Domination).

The Thundering Wolves perform a surprise attack on an Ork column, throwing back the counter-attack and overrunning the orks (BM: Cut and Run).

Chaos forces succeed in taking a small village outside of the capital city only to be attack and cut down by Necron emerging from the ground (Seize Ground, Pitched Battle).

The Thundering Wolves and Chaos clash in a small agri-village. The wolves retreating after taking severe losses (Spearhead, Annihilation).

Outpost 26-C

When an unmanned listening post on the east side of Graxxis' mega-continent went quiet, Librarian Argentus believed it was his first chance to engage the Necron he believed were on this planet. Though the attack on the outpost bore no signs of a Necron attack, Commander Leerca allowed him to take a number of first company veterans in a drop assault on the area immediatly to prevent their enemy from escaping. Argentus landed to discover not Necron but Ork looters, pillaging the equipment of the outpost and burning it. The Space Marines took the ork completely by surprise, landing all around them and pouring bolter fire into their ranks. Orks being orks, they were completely unphased by the sudden attack, launching themselves into battle.

Ghost Brigades vs. WAAGH! Wurrgrod
1500 Points, Surprise Attack (Battle Mission)
Battle Report Writer: Bobby

Before I begin the report, let me say this was the first battle of the campaign, and one of the bloodiest. The score came down to the wire and almost nothing was left on the field. That being said, here's the break down of the game:
As per the mission special rules, every Space Marine unit deep struck, and by chance I had chosen to use my new all-deep striking list. I knew Shaun's counter attack was going to hit me hard, so I set about making sure there wouldn't be much to counter attack me with, cutting down about 30 boyz, a couple lootas and destroying a trukk. My vanguard veterans ambushed the burnas coming out of the trukk, cutting them down to a man.

The Ork Deployment

Space Marines Deep Strike around the orks

As I expected, Shaun's counter attack hit me hard, killing my vanguard veterans, an entire squad of tactical marines, and 2 terminators. I took minor solace in my ironclad dreadnought's victory over his killa kanz, destroying both of them before they could attack.
The battle then quickly devolved into a close combat slaughter, with all of his units piling in on top of mine. When the dust settled my left flank was gone, having lost all of my tactical terminators and tactical marines on that side, even my ironclad (who took Shaun's warboss with him). The right flank was mine though, with my assault terminators butchering a squad of warbikers and tigirius and his tactical squad eliminating a squad of boyz. Now the remainder of both forces converged on the center of the battlefield...

When the dest settled all that was left was a handful of boyz, who were then sent running by my drop pods. But the game ended before they could flee of the board, and so the game came down to kill points:

Final Score: 17-14, Space Marien Victory

Just barely, I had eliminated enough of Shaun's units to win. It was bloody, and an excellent start to the campaign!

Space Marine MVP: Ironclad Dreadnought. My Ironclad Dreadnought took out two killa kanz, a squad of lootas, and Shaun's warboss before finally taking a power klaw from a nob to the face and exploding, taking two more nobz with him!

Ork MVP: Boyz Mobz. Shaun's Mobz did their job of tarpitting most of my guys, and more often overrunning them in combat with their sheer numbers. One squad in particular, the onyl one left on the board at the end of the game, kill 6 terminators, 2 tactical squads and a drop pod.

The Graxxis Campaign

The Agri-World of Graxxis has remained relatively untouched by the other battles and campaigns on the eastern fringe. This changed when strikes broke out in the larger cities on the planet. As conflicts between local law enforcement and these workers escalated, it appeared there was something more than disgruntled factory workers behind the strikes. As the situation continued to worsen, reinforcements were requested to aid in quelling what was becoming riots and threatened full-scale rebellion.

The Thundering Wolves
Player: Griffin
Commander: Runepriest Darkfur
Having strayed from the line of duty during the Pelorian Massacre, the Thundering Wolves of the Space Wolves Chapter were sent to put down the riots on Graxxis as a disciplinary action. After a few skirmishes, the young runepriest leading the force found that there was something more sinister than strikes driving the rebels on Graxxis: the taint of Chaos.

The Glacian 42nd
Player: Jack
Commander:
When the taint of Chaos was found among the rebels on Graxxis, the Glacian 42nd was rerouted to deploy onto the planet. Renowned for their adaptibility on the battlefield, the Glacians were expected to be able to assist the Thundering Wolves in putting down the rebellion in a matter of days. But as the strength of the worshippers of Chaos grew, they began to call aid from beyond the material realm.

The Krieg 72nd
Player: Justin
Commander:
One of the only Krieg regiments in the history of the Imperium to turn traitor, the Krieg 72nd appeared alongside the Alpha Legion shortly after the arrival of the Glacians on Graxxis. Highly mobile, they proved even a match for the Thundering Wolves at mechanised warfare and fought the Imperial forces to a standstill while the numbers of Chaos worshippers continued to grow.

WAAGH! Wurrgrod
Player: Shaun
Commander: Warboss Wurrgrod
Carried to the planet by the warp, the Goff Warboss Wurrgrod was at first dissapointed to see the world the currents of the warp had taken him to. With many mekboyz and death skulls under his command he had hoped fortune would take him to an industrial world filled with things to loot. He was happily surprised to find a number of armies already doing battle on the planet. Maybe there'd be plenty to loot after all.

The Ghost Brigades
Player: Bobby
Commander: Master Leerca
Carrying refugees from the Ursk evacuation Chapter Master Leerca had hoped the land on Graxxis to restock and quickly move on in pursuit of his previous opponents. Finding the world embattled by Chaos, Captain Raphael insisted on aiding the besieged Imperial forces. Chief Librarian Argentus also claimed that he felt something more than Chaos on this planet, something that would require the Ghost brigades and their particular area of expertise to combat.

The Graxxis Tomb
Player: Lucas
Commander: The Graxxis Lord
As the forces of every army began to mobilize and deploy, one final threat to Graxxis revealed itself. From deep beneath the planet, Necron warriors began to arise, assaulting Imperial, Ork, and Chaos forces indiscriminantly.

Bio - Bobby

Guess It's time I put up a full bio. I'll try not to bore you guys. I also won't say anything about my personal life like the other guys.
I've been playing 40k about 6 years, although I didn't really get good until about 2 years ago. I started with Space Marines, but I have since also started Wood Elves, Space Orks, Witch Hunters (and technically Dark Angels, but I don't play them much)
I enjoy storylines and games the most, though converting and scratch building is fun for me, if not frustrating sometimes (my dog ate my looted devilfish). If there's one thing to say about my strategy, its that I prefer blandness. I know most Space Marine players would rather hit you with their big, flashy Vanguard Veterans and Thunderfire Cannons, but for me its all built around my core of Tactical Marines and Dreadnoughts. My lists for other armies are similar (Though I get a bit flashy with my Orks because they're fun like that).
I think I'm the unofficial leader of this group, mostly because I made this blog and we play at my house when not at my local hobby shop, but if anything I'm the least interesting one out of all of us, so I'm looking forward to everyone else posting their opinions and such.