<-- From Galaxy in Flames. This is what our minis would of looked liked after this bloody, bloody battle.
So anther Vassal practice game this time against Kyle’s Wolves. I once again used my Blood Hammer as I used Tyranids against him last time and we rolled up mission 2 (KP -> TQ -> Objectives with Dawn of War setup). We choose KP and I picked the two melta Rhinos and the LasPlas Rbacks whilst Kyle choose all of my Priests, a Dev Squad and the small 5 man ASM squad. I feel he should of picked the larger ASM squads to discourage me from combat squadding or not allowing my to deploy 20 ASM on the table due to DoW and picking the Priests which can run and hide can make getting my KP very difficult. I decided to run a little gamble since it was DoW deployment and I got 2nd turn and my big ASM weren‘t KP. Kyle deployed two Troop rhinos with his RP in one whilst I deployed my ASM squads and Libby to get in his face early so my Sanguinary Guard could roll up and smash face. Remembering Objectives are last in terms of scoring so I was aiming for a KP win since I was pushing my Troops early. Basically this was a gamble. I had 4 meltas + blood lance and I essentially needed to pop 1 or 2 of those Rhinos to and engage what was inside. The TWC would counter-assault a unit and likely wipe it out but if I could essentially trade one or both of my squads for the majority of his midfield presence I was quite happy with that as it would give me time to bring in my Sang Guard.
Deployment:
Space Wolves Turn 1:
So Kyle brought everything on in a pretty standard fashion, jumping Grey Hunters into the empty Rhinos and bringing a LasPlas Razor, small GH squad and the TWC behind them with the rest of the fangs/LasPlas and GH going for the central building. Oddly he moved some of his LF into the woods via disembarking from their LasPlas which opened them up to me spanking them with my ASM. His shooting did…nothing. <3 night fight! Looks like the gamble may pay off, especially since his Rune Priest suffered perils and Tempest was not cast.
Blood Angels Turn 1:
So my turn saw me move my two large squads up and bring one of the SG squads w/Priest and all of the Devs on. I left the other SG and ASM w/Priest in reserve via DoA. The Devs took position in the ruins across from the LF to gain clear LoS to anything moving between terrain and the SG moved up in the wake of the ASM squads. So with my movement over I had 4 melta weapons and a blood lance to shoot at two Rhinos…and I caused an immob! Woot. Both squads assaulted and dropped the Rhino with the Rune Priest in it whilst the Pink ASM were able to kill all but one Long Fang and shook the Rhino they had engaged. Gamble failed which puts me in a very poor position. If however I can disable the LasPlas and somehow get the SG to charge the TWC, things should be okay. Those are unlikely however and I've put myself on the back foot. However, since this is a tiered mission and objectives is the last tier, I can work towards attaining all of my KP whilst protecting mine if I cannot recover.
Space Wolves Turn 2:
Kyle had nearly 20 Marines just sitting in front of his lines waiting to be munched to pieces. With some reshuffling two Razorbacks moved across to the forest with the disembarked GH squad with Rune Priest loading up in one (Tempest cast successfully). The TWC and large pink GH squad set up assaults on the two ASM squads which were exposed after the failed gamble, all nicely bunched up in front of some Rhino hulls! The final LF squad also got into firing position by disembarking from their LasPlas Razorback. Kyle shot at the Devastators with his LF and any Razorbacks which could fire but failed to cause any damage thanks to cover and we quickly entered the assault phase with the TWC and pink GH launching assaults. The TWC and Wolf Lord were unable to shift the ASM killing a combined four whilst the ASM were able to deal 2 wounds to the Lord and the Libby dropped the two puppies. They passed their Ld and combat ensued. Pink GH on the other hand devastated the pink ASM and wiped them out completely but not before they stunned the Rhino they were in BtB with.
Blood Angels Turn 2:
Well that was unusual. One expected to lose the Black squad not the Pink squad who could be supported by a FNP drop! I was happy with dealing two wounds to the Lord though but it would of been nice if my PFist could hit! (both of our rolls were horrible pretty much all game btw. They came in spurts for each player like Kyle smacking around my Pink ASM). So reserves. I failed both and on re-roll got the orange ASM w/Priest in and they scattered off the table in the top left. Luckily they were only delayed. I made another huge gamble on the left flank with my Sanguinary Guard as I moved them towards the Wolf Lord combat. I wasn't going to be in range this turn (I was about 8" away) but if my guys somehow held, I would be in prime position to pounce the turn after (1 SG died from Tempest). My Devs killed 4 fangs from the black squad and failed to damage any of the tanks. In combat the Wolf Lord killed four ASM and the Libby failed to even wound the TWC (leh sigh!) who promptly smushed him in return. My PFist went...and missed again. I therefore needed a 3 to stay in combat and I rolled...a 3! Gamble paid off as I now had a beater unit ready to pounce on the TWC next turn.
Space Wolves Turn 3:
More repositioning of LasPlas Razorbacks ensued to ensure LoS to the Sanguinary Guard on the left flank whilst the Pink GH (labelled purple for some reason) loaded up in their Rhino which...immobilised itself. The remaining Razorback and Grey Rhino re-positioned themselves behind the ruins to minimise LoS to their armor facings to ensure cover from the Devastators. The combined shooting of some bolters, storm bolters and LasPlas Razorbacks dropped one of the Sanguinary Guard whilst the Long Fangs weren't able to scratch my Devastators thanks to cover. In combat the Wolf Lord made short work of the PFist Sarge and they consoled 5" back. Tempest was successfully cast again.
Blood Angels Turn 3:
Both of my reserves came in this time and both landed relatively on target (orange scattered 3", Black SG landed spot on). This gave orange a perfect shot at the exposed purple rhino (a KP) and the Sanguinary Guard could protect the ASM from LF shooting and were generally in cover themselves from the LasPlas RBacks. The Sanguinary Guard walked towards the TWC and setup their assault. Their shooting was able to kill the TWC (phew) and orange whiffed on the Purple Rhino in the trees. Luckily the Purple Devs were able to wreck it but rather than firing the other Devs as the clumped Grey Hunters, I attempted to remove the central Razorback from action to minimise the damage it could do to my Sanguinary Guard but only immobilised it. The Sanguinary Guard ran to try and get as much cover as possible whilst providing cover to the orange ASM. In the assault phase the Sanguinary Guard assaulted....and completely failed to do any damage to the TWC who was only able to kill 1 SG in return.
Space Wolves Turn 4:
With the white Sanguinary Guard locked in combat a lot of firepower could be put into the other Sanguinary Guard squad. The disembarked Pink GH moved through the forest and setup an assault on the Orange ASM. Both the red and brown GH also got out in the top-left to assault the Sanguinary Guard in combat with the TWC. The three LasPlas RBacks opened fire on the Sanguinary Guard in the open but were only able to drop one whilst the Long Fang fire dropped 2 of the Devs from the light blue squad (KP). Pink also killed an orange ASM with a melta shot. During the assault phase the pink GH wiped out the ASM squad but the Priest lived. In retaliation orange + the priest dropped 4 of the pink GH. Up in the top-left after passing 7 saves on the squad, the Priest was able to kill the TWC whilst the PFist SG dropped a single member from the red squad. The brown squad broke and eventually fled off the table whilst the red GH stayed in combat.
Blood Angels Turn 4:
I was rapidly running out of mobile units and had lost all of my scoring units but my remaining mobile units were deadly in combat and there wasn't much which could stand up to them anymore other than the LasPlas RBacks (KPs). I moved my un-engaged SG squad in midfield to help out the surrounded Priest and that was the extent of my movement. The combined fire of the Devastators removed the plasmagun on the immobilised Razorback and exploded the central Razorback. That was the extent of my shooting so we went straight to the assault phase with the black SG assaulting the pink GH. On the charge they were able to drop all but the Wolf Guard w/PFist and two GH (one with Wulfen). The Wulfen was able to drag down the Priest but not before he took the two GH with him. The Wolf Guard failed to cause any damage and the SG PFist killed him with the SG consolidating into the forest and behind a destroyed Rhino hull. In the top-left corner the SG killed all but one of the Red GH but they killed the PFist SG before he hit and passed their Ld. Combat continues.
Space Wolves Turn 5:
Not looking good now for the Wolves. Their best bet is to force the game down to objectives as Kyle still had scoring units left whilst I did not. He also had the mobility advantage with three mobile transports left so Table Quarters was also a viable option (I also quickly did the math at this point and our VP were pretty even at about 1000-1100 each). Kyle recognised this and packed up all of his Rhinos and mobile Razorbacks and moved fullspeed towards objectives and table quarters, popping as much smoke as he had available. Here was his 2nd major mistake by leaving his Long Fangs unsupported as the Grey Rhino (KP) left them alone. If he had maintained the position or moved through the ruins he could have threatened any tablequarter and three objectives with the Rhino/GH and counter-assaulted the SG if they made a move towards the LF. In combat, the SG killed the final red GH and consolidated into the forest.
Blood Angels Turn 5:
Since I still had the majority of my firepower remaining and my combat power I had a distinct advantage as long as I was able to stop Kyle's mobility now. I couldn't let him get any tank shocks off on my Devs and force a large portion of my army out of position or off the board. I moved the black SG with newly attached Priest out of the forest to the exposed Long Fangs and lost one member to a tree on the way. The other Sanguinary Guard walked behind a Rhino wreck and took aim at the smoked Rhino. The blue Devs also made a break towards the bottom right Table Quarter in case it went to TQ. My firepower was very effective as my Devastators dropped both the immobilised LasPlas (KP) and Grey Rhino (KP) with the Grey Hunters ending up pinned. My lone Sanguinary Guard also stunned the remaining Rhino.
Kyle called the game at this point as it was 4-2 on KP and he had no real ability to get two of my KP (blue Devs and Priest with Purple Devs) as his mobility had been hamstrung. The SG would have been able to take the Long Fangs this turn and since his GH were pinned, would of been able to either avoid them or move up to them and most likely deal with them without too much trouble.
So in the end a victory for Blood Hammer on KP (4-2) with TQ tied at 2-2 (top left quarter was 450 VP to 420) and we both held zero objectives. VP was quite close with 980 for Kyle to 1135 VP for myself (9% difference).
It was a very close game with some terrible dice rolls on both sides (again). My intial gamble failed pretty poorly as I couldn't pop a tank and it looked like the game was over but I got a lucky break with my black squad holding for so long and was able to drag the game back to an equilibrium. From there it became a race to see how long my Sanguinary Guard could out attrition his army and my dice kinda turned on T4 as I actually landed a significant amount of his in combat and was able to effectively control the top left corner even though Kyle had more VP there. My Devastators came through on T5 to drop most of his mobility and tally up some KP and essentially sealed the game. Kyle played well but made the early mistake of exposing one of his Long Fang squads and doing the same in the final turns with his remaining Long Fang squad well. He reacted solidly to my ASM deployment and was able to countercharge them forcefully which if not for bad rolling, should of killed most of them and given him a distinct advantage. Some work needs to be done on picking Kill Points though!
Again, good game Kyle. The Ice Claws won today and claimed their planet back! hehe
