First of all, apologies to The Wolf's Lunch as this has been clogging my inbox for a while, and haven't gotten to posting it!
Hey Fester! (Not Kirby this time, I anticipated the email juggling and sent it straight to you this time). Well now that I had my terrain back I thought it would be good to have another battle, so I invited some friends over for a game. Unfortunately it wasn't as challenging as I'd hoped (that's right Alan, I know you're going to read this, become a challenge :P) due to the enemy hardly moving, and all of us taking forever to complete our turns. But I decided to make it a bit narrative like the last one. The guy playing the Daemonhunters is the same guy from my battle against the Orks from way back. Enjoy!
Kage had been training the three young Rune Priests for many months now, and they were beginning to show their talents. The Tau clones they had been training against weren't truly enemies, but they weren't truly friends either. No shots to kill had been made, but to prevent anybody from slacking off during the battle, all ammunition was live.
The two forces were training in one of the old Imperial cities that was once functional before the exterminatus had hit Vekta. The city had been hit hard by the force of the exterminatus, many buildings being obliterated by the shock-wave that eradicated the life that once lived on the planet. Some smaller buildings survived by being in the shadow of the larger buildings, others due to having better structural integrity.
The training session was interrupted by a loud crack overhead. Great beams of energy raked across the city, narrowly missing the bulk of the Tau and Wolf forces. Defensive blasts followed in the opposite direction, firing upon the craft assaulting the dead planet. There were bright flashes as a power core was struck and large portions of the attacking vessel erupted in silent explosions.
Drop Pods and Thunderhawks burst through the atmosphere, hurtling towards the ruined city, eager to discover what was waiting within its walls. They were followed closely by debris from the large ship they had not long disembarked from which hurtled through them. A not so lucky Thunderhawk was wiped out by what looked like a falling Land Raider. Obviously they had not expected such resistance and as such it had cost them dearly. Two drop pods were plucked from the sky by more defensive fire, leaving just a skeleton force to face the inhabitants of the planet.
As they attacking forces approached the battlefield, the Space Wolves and the Tau ceased their practice and deployed ready for a fight, the stealthsuits creeping forward to get better looks at the enemy. The kroot copied on the opposite flank. The enemy appeared in the distance, Imperial Fists and members of the Inquisition.
The Long Fangs climbed the damaged buildings and readied their Rocket Launchers. On the right flank the Tau Broadsides bunkered in a tower below one of the squads of Long Fangs which also contained one of the three Rune Priests. Meanwhile in the middle of the battlefield, the other two Rune Priests mounted in the Rhinos with their Grey Hunter brethren and rumbled towards the enemy. The Crisis Suits hid behind the Fire Warriors' Devilfish for cover as it crept forward.
A Thunderfire cannon was hoisted into a building on the right, which was reinforced by many snipers including a Vindicare Assassin. In the building's lobby, two squads of Grey Knights readied their weapons. In the centre a Land Speeder Tornado and a Rhino with Tactical marines inside took their places ready to advance forwards, and on the western flank another Rhino, a 5-man Tac Squad and a Twin-Linked Lascannon Dreadnought took place behind a small but intact building.
The Grey Knights hiding in the lobby open fire on the kroot cutting them down despite their best efforts to hide from the volleys of gunfire. The Vindicare fires one of his special ammunitions and easily wounds one of the Broadsides, who staggers but stays standing with one wound left. The Sniper Scouts fire on the Western Long Fangs, cutting down a couple of Fangs. Sternguard pile out from the Rhino which was rendered useless the turn before by the Stealth team. The Librarian casts null zone before charging the Stealth Suits. Multiple crisis suits are cut down by the Sternguard and the Librarian targets the Shadowsun, but only manages to cause two wounds, one of which is saved even through the reroll. Due to having already cast Null Zone, the Librarian is unable to make full use of his Force Weapon. The Tau stay in combat.
The Wolves kept rumbling forward, striking out with their lightning and dropping a wound off of the Vindicare. The Long Fangs on the East readied their Rockets, but were unnerved by firing through the Tau. The Pack Leader snatched a Rocket off of one of the Fangs and fired a single Krak Missile. It hurtled through the whirling combat and slipped through the windows of the small building, crashing hard into the Dreadnought's front armour and knocking the torso from it's legs. Lightning and Rockets from the Western Fangs destroyed the central Crimson Fist Rhino, and also the Inquisitorial Land Speeder, both erupting in great gouts of flame. The explosive trend continued as one of the Broadsides managed to erupt the Inquisitor's Chimera transport. The survivors of the Chimera explosion were then fired upon by the central Stealthsuits, reducing them to just four members. The Kroot leapt into the building and struck down the entire squad of Sniper Scouts before bracing for a charge from the nearby Grey Knights. On the Eastern flank, all of the remaining Stealth Suits were struck down, but the Shadowsun struck down the Librarian, once again passing all three invulnerable saves, even with the rerolls (all in a day's work).
The Crimson Fists and Grey Knights stayed relatively still to get the most out of what was left of their firepower, and as a result the kroot were halved in number, but not much other shooting was effective. The Kroot were wiped out in combat with ease by the Grey Knights, but the Sternguard had no such luck with the Shadowsun, who yet again passed all of her saves.
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| Kroot before... |
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| Kroot after |
After a moment's notice, the Wolves broke formation. The front Rhino disembarked it's crew and smashed through terrain to park itself between the central Tac squad and the Inquisitor and his retinue to provide a road block if they tried to back up the Tactical Squad. Both Grey Hunter squads disembarked and made their way for combat, popping their wolf standards. One of the Rune Priests fired his lightning at the Vindicare but he saved it. In an act of defiance the Stormbolter on the front of the Rhino whirled around and struck the Assassin unaware, striking him down from atop the building. One hit, one kill.
The game ended here when the other team conceded as the wolf combat loomed. That and CoD beckoned. The match was a custom match with 3 Killpoints for each person. My Killpoints (wolves) were the two Hunter Squads and the Yellow Rune Priest. The Tau's were the Fire Warriors inside the Devilfish, the Crisis Commander, and the Broadsides. None of which died. The Opponent's were the Assassin, the Inquisitor, and the Grey Knight squad with the most gold on them, and the Dreadnought, Librarian and the Thunderfire Cannon. I'm not sure whether or not we got the point for the Thunderfire as the Techmarine didn't die, but the Assassin, Librarian and Dreadnought all bought the farm so it was at least a 3-0 victory to the Wolves and Tau.
I'm not sure what were the specs of the other armies but of all of them the Tau were my least favourite (it's frustrating when trying to tell someone that Fire Warriors suck, Shadowsun sucks, Stealth Suits suck, and you should never buy everything you can for your Crisis Commander.) My teammate was pretty much trying to field a 1500pt army which I had to drop as much as possible from. Overall a good match, a bit long and arduous. It helps when people plan what they're going to do before their turn, and actually communicate effectively ("Ok, that's all my shooting, are you done?" "Done what?" *facepalm*).
Anyway, until next time, I'm still The Wolf's Lunch and I'm probably still fester Unfortunately.
