Battle Report #28: Imperial Guard vs Iron Warriors

This would have been just another café 40k match, except for the fact that it was the debut game for my new Imperial Guard!  (Warp take that Astra Militarum grox crap.)  I went in expecting to lose (first game with a new army), and hoping for a good and memorable time despite that expectation.

The Iron Warriors were having a lesser debut of their own, as this was my first time using their 30k rules rather then running them as CSM. I had failed to make it clear ahead of time that I would be building my list using the Legiones Astartes list rather then the CSM codex prior to the match. I am greatly appreciative that Gabe was gracious enough to allow me to play my Iron Warriors as the Legion despite the surprise on his part, even if he made it clear to me that he would appreciate clearer forewarning in the future. -Ike

Imperial Guard
Tank Commander Squadron:
Tank Commander (warlord) in LR Executioner w/Heavy Bolter sponsons
LR Exterminator w/Heavy Bolter sponsons
Veterans w/2x Plasma Guns, in Chimera
Veterans w/Grenadier doctrine, 2x Grenade Launchers, 1x Plasma Gun
LR Eradicator w/Heavy Bolter sponsons

Ike's Iron Warriors (30k)
Combined Arms Detachment

HQ: Legio Centurion w/artificer armor, Lightning claws (85 points)

TROOPS: 2 10x Legion Tactical Squads (150 points), each w/Rhino (35 points)

HEAVY SUPPORT: 5x Iron Havocs w/ 5x missile launchers, Sarge w/artificer armor (220 points, warlord)

Legion Whirlwind (75 points)

Mission was Kill Points, deployment was Vanguard Strike, quite cramped on this particular table.  Ike won the deployment roll-off, and let me go first.  Aware that I was not playing reanimating space skeletons anymore, I deployed as far back as I could in my corner.  I kept my footslogging Vet squad in reserve.

Ike crammed his Rhinos behind hard cover, out of my units' LOS.  The Havocs and the Legio Centurion stood a little to the left, out of LOS behind the square building, and he held his Whirlwind in reserve.

  And then Ike went and stole the initiative on me.

Turn 1.  Ike's Rhinos drove out at Cruising speed towards my flanks.  The one to my right got behind the tuna-can building and popped smoke.  The Havocs tiptoed into LOS of the Eradicator, but failed to pen my glorious Imperial AV14 front armor.

I moved forward (unnecessarily, in hindsight) and then goofed up target prioritization by directing my Tank Commander's squadron to shoot at the Rhino that had popped smoke, leaving only my Chimera and Eradicator to shoot at the left-hand Rhino, taking 2HP from it.  I did remember to use Tank Orders, and used the Split Fire one so that the Exterminator could fire at and kill 2 Havocs.

Turn 2.  Ike got his Whirlwind in on his right flank.  His Marines hopped out of his left Rhino and headed for me, and his right Rhino drove adjacent to my Executioner, to...block it from moving?  I think?  The Whirlwind and Havocs shot at my Chimera, took 2HP from it, and got a Shaken result.  The Marine squad assaulted my Eradicator and took 2HP from it as well.

The Vets did not arrive on my turn 2.  I fired back and destroyed the left Rhino, and combined fire killed 6 of the Marines.  Ike had them Got to Ground.

Turn 3.  Ike took his remaining Rhino and had it ram my Chimera...the Chimera penned it instead!  His Rhino was Shaken.  One Marine threw a krak grenade and stripped my Chimera's last hull point, forcing my Vets out on the extreme left edge of the table.

My turn, the Vets came on, I placed them in range of Ike's Rhino.  Tank Orders and Split fire made it so the Executioner killed Ike's Centurion, and the Exterminator knocked 1HP off the Rhino.  Not sure if my newly arrived Vets did anything.  My other Vets attempted to clean up the Gone to Ground Marines, both plasma-gunners fried themselves, but the squad took the Marines down to one model.  I left the Rhino up so that Ike would not be able to charge any of my units on his turn.

Turn 4.  Ike debarked his Marines, they killed 3-4 of my Vets.  The Havocs and Whirlwind were shuffling around in his backfield, not being particularly effective...or were they?  I think one of my Vet squads disappeared around this time.  Ran off the table or got wiped.

I motored my Eradicator towards Ike's Havocs, assuming the rest of my army could kill that 1 Marine model behind it....turns out BS3 couldn't quite accomplish that task.  I reduced the other Marine squad to one model, and now had two 1-model enemy units to finish off.  Easy, right?

Turn 5.  Ike ran his remaining 2 Havocs-one regular model, and his Sarge-warlord–at my Eradicator.  The Whirlwind got its shit together and wiped my remaining Vet squad.  Remember that single Marine model?  The one my Eradicator left for dead?  He ran up behind my Eradicator and took its last HP with a krak grenade.

I now had my Executioner and my Exterminator on the table–in one squadron–and that was it.  I used the Split Fire ordered to take 2HP from the Whirlwind, and kill one more Havoc, leaving the Havoc Sarge-warlord alone.  We rolled for game end, and got Turn 6.

Turn 6.  Ike ran his Sarge behind hard cover, and the Whirlwind popped smoke.  The two 1-model Marine units hid themselves in the wrecked vehicles on my table edge.  I now had to kill the Whirlwind and Havoc sarge to tie the game.  I was too slow to get Line Breaker.

I sent my squadron at the Whirlwind, fired, got crap rolls, got one pen, and the cover save ate that pen.  Rolled for game end, and it ended.  Ike won, 5VP (2 Vet squads, Chimera, Eradicator, Line Breaker) to 3VP (First Blood, 2 Rhinos).

Ike freely admits he won because of stupidly lucky rolls in the second half of the game.  I will forever hold a grudge against those two Chaos Marines, but otherwise had an enjoyable first game with the Guard.  It turned out a lot better than I expected.

Marines of the match.

Me and Nathaniel played another quick game, but it wasn't anything special, just one more variation of "Gabe deploys too far forward against an Assault army and gets tabled turn 3".

Battle Report #29: Lahkers vs Eldar & Medusa Strike Force (ft. Gabe & Ike Double Batrep)

It's all this guy's fault.

This battle took place a while ago.  Ike and Nathaniel teamed up against me in a Relic match.  My commentary is in regular text, Ike's commentary is in italics.

Nathaniel's Craftworld Warhost (auto 6" run)

Guardian Battle Host

3 Guardians W/ Eldar Missile launchers

Farseer W/Spirit Stone of Anath'lan

1 Vaul's Wrath Support Battery W/Shadow Weaver

1  War Walker W/Shuriken Cannon

2 Vyper W/Star Cannon

5 Rangers

Seer Council (Warp charges on 3+)

2 Farseers

5 Warlocks

Ike's Test Force Medusa
Fist of Medusa Strike Force 
(Logical Commander, +1 to FnP rolls and PoTMS in a 12" radius of an Independent Character)

ARMORED TASK FORCE: 355
Techmarine w/ conversion beamer, 2 servitors. 105
Whirlwind. 65 points
Predator w/ TL lascannon and invisible HB sponsons. 120
Whirlwind. 65 points

STRIKE FORCE COMMAND: 340
Chapter master w/ Jump Pack, Gorgon's chain, PF, LC, artificer armor. 250
Techmarine w/ Betrayer's Bane, 2 servitors. 90

HONORED ANCIENT: 135
Dereadnought w/ TL Lascannon, ML. 135

HONORED ANCIENT: 145
Ironclad Dreadnought w/ HB, chainfist, meltagun, Ironclad assault launchers. 145  

TOTAL: 1000

Lahkers CAD
Illuminator Szeras (warlord)
Lord (Nikhyanh) w/Gauntlet of Fire, Solar Staff
2 20x Warrior blobs
5x Immortals
20x Flayed Ones (Marine proxies)
8x Triarch Praetorians w/voidblade and particle caster, in Night Scythe
Triarch Stalker
3x Tomb Blades w/particle beamer, shield vanes
2 2x Heavy Destroyers
Monolith


Warlord Traits: Divide To Conquer, Princepts of Deceit
 Both Ruins within our own deployment zone were bolstered by the techmarines.

The necron themed terrain was decreed during setup to be both Difficult and Dangerous area terrain which granted a 5+ cover save to occupying models.

Test Force Medusa elements deployed the Ironclad Dreadnought and Betrayer's Bane techmarine along the right flank, with our Master of The Forge and 1st Whirlwind taking up position in the central ruins of our own deployment zone, the 2nd whirlwind being placed specifically to deter Infiltrators. The Predator, Chapter Master, and Lascannon Dreadnought were deployed to the left flank, as it lacked bolstered ruins and had comparably few alien gauss sponges. 


Facing us were a unit of necron Immortals to our left, along with a blob of warriors attached to Szeras. Front and center there were several Destroyers who had taken fleeting shelter in the AV 10 building right next to the Legolith, with a trio of Tomb Blades cowering behind them. The Flayed Ones infiltrated just barely outside their own deployment zone.

I deployed the Legolith at the center of my line, shielding the Stalker, with the Tomb Blades sitting behind the building.  I parked both Destroyer squads in the (AV10) building, and had my Warrior blobs sit on the flanks, with the 5 Immortals bolstering the right flank.  Szeras was in the right Warrior blob, the one with +1 Strength, the most meh of the three upgrades (others were +1 BS or +1 Toughness).  I then Infiltrated the Flayed Ones onto the left flank, intending for them to either shield the left Warrior blob, or popping through the Legolith's Eternity Gate to grab the Relic.

I made a passing comment about instadeathing Ike's Techmarine in the ruins with my Heavy Destroyers.  It was part serious, part banter.  He took it absolutely seriously, as you will see soon.

Turn 1

Movement in the first turn was a fairly direct advance on out part. The Predator moved the full 12" and the rearguard whirlwind moved 6" while both dreads walked their full 6". After some psychic sparks few off from the Eldar the Chapter Master called in his Orbital Bombardment & nukes the Monolith and two warriors, with the secondary explosion for the Monolith killing two more. Strike Cruiser gunnery crew commended for excellence. The MoTF, having heard the Destroyers talking shit from across the battlefield, fired at the building they were occupying and scored a catastrophic beach which reduced the building to AV8. This opening allowed for the Eldar to breach it twice again, bringing it down to AV 7 and then AV6 for an easy finish. The buildings collapse wiped out one squad of Destroyers and damaged another forcing them to snapfire. Whirlwind barrage ineffective. The Ironclad and forward techmarine killed a combined total of three flayed ones. The Eldar had also used this turn to have their Guardians escort their Warlord to the objective at maximum warp, losing one of their own to a failed dangerous terrain roll.

As Ike describes, he and Nathaniel advanced on the Relic.  Nathaniel got his Farseer squad to the Relic first and grabbed it.  Nathaniel did his Psychic phase, gave his Seers in the ruins a 2+ cover save, and used Eldritch Storm to kill off 9 Flayed Ones.
We went to Shooting, and the first thing Ike did was have his Chapter Master drop his Orbital Bombardment on my Legolith.  The blast scattered slightly and ended up hitting the Legolith and the building.  Ike penned (obviously with the building, it was the Legolith I was concerned about) and blew up both targets.  The building collapsed and killed one of the Destroyer units.  I was salty about that, I'll be honest.  Losing the Legolith or a Destroyer unit (both integral to my plan to keep enemies away from the Relic) would have been bad enough, losing both of them was a major blow to my morale.
That was the opposition's most successful attack during Turn 1.  Further losses were nothing worse than a couple Warriors, but I had lost my only large blast weapon and half my dedicated anti-tank.

Flayed Ones and Warriors continue to advance on our right flank, with the necron Immortals on our left doing the same as the remaining Destroyers huddled in the crater where the monolith was until a moment ago. Venerable Dradnought stunned. The Necron warlord and his unit opened fire un the guardian squad holding the objective and killed 10, followed be the Stalker destroying the Guardian squads weapon platform and the jetbikes finishing off the last of the unit.

I desperately wanted revenge on the Chapter Master, but had no reliable way of hurting him (damn Gorgon's Chain).  I decided to kill off anything that approached the Relic, and grab it with my Praetorians when they came on.  In hindsight, I should have tried to kill the Techmarine, or the Whirlwind dropping barrages on my troops.  Instead, I moved towards the Relic, wiped out the Farseer and his squad (got Slay the Warlord for the Farseer), and took 2HP off the Ironclad Dread.

Turn 2

Ironclad Dreadnought and attendant techmarine advanced through the ruins on our right side while our rearmost Whirlwind advanced a further 6". Venerable Dreadnought and Chapter Master advance on the objective while the Predator navigated the forest to better cover them. Second Whirlwind kills three Flayed Ones and two Warriors. Immortal squad wiped out by Eldar and the Flayed Ones unit is devastated. Lone survivor of  hostile jetbike unit flees the battlefield. All eligible units pass their IWND rolls, units commended for fortitude.

Nathaniel's forces coasted to a stop in cover for the most part.  Ike's Dreadnoughts and Chapter Master headed for the Relic.  Eldritch Storm and multiple blasts killed more Flayed Ones and Warriors, Reanimation rolls saved a few.  I had a laugh when Ike's lascan-missile-launcher-Dread managed to miss my Stalker completely, even with Twin-linked rerolls.  The Tomb Blades were either killed at this point, or failed a morale test and ran off the board.

Flayed Ones move toward remaining Guardian squad on right flank as the Warlord's unit heads for the objective. Necron Praetorian squad drops onto the objective and loses two whole models to failed Dangerous Terrain tests. Splat! Eldar war walker destroyed be fire from Stalker and superficial hull damage sustained by all Dreadnoughts.

My turn, the Praetorians came in on the Night Scythe.  I had them drop onto the Relic immediately.  Another mistake; I should have dropped them back by the Whirlwind and eliminated that first.  Instead, I now had my Praetorians in the middle of the board, vulnerable to everything.  The Flayed Ones veered towards the Guardians in the ruins.  The Stalker killed the War Walker, and the Flayed Ones charged, fought, and wiped the Guardian squad.

Turn 3

Victory is within reach, two Praetorians are killed be the Eldar's Psychic Shriek and the remainder are wiped out after their Lord refused the honor of single combat. Flayed Ones wiped out by Ironclad.

Nathaniel Periled in his Psychic phase, and his (other) Farseer lost the Eldritch Storm power.  I was amused by that, and even more amused when Ike's Dreadnought failed to hit my Stalker for the second time in a row.  Massed fire wore my Warriors and Flayed Ones down.  The Ironclad got into my Flayed Ones and wiped them, and the Chapter Master made it into the Praetorians and I believe he wiped them out as well.

I moved in on the Relic, doomed as I was.  I think I gaussed the Ironclad to death, and then focused everything on the Chapter Master.  Not a single wound got through.

Turn 4

Objective taken, geneseed contaminated but successfully denied. Extraction transporter dispatched. Task Force losses minimal. Ironclad Dreadnought rendered inoperative but salvageable, occupant survival rated very likely.

Nathaniel and Ike had their turn of shooting at me, I believe I conceded at the end of their player turn.  Szeras survived, at least I didn't give them Slay the Warlord.

I've run into a gunline before, and I've had it end badly before.  This wasn't the worst at all, but this one hurt, right in my heart, because that damn Chapter Master had to one-shot my Legolith.  Screw the Relic, my precious proxy model never got to fire a shot.

However, the fact that my biggest concern about the battle is so petty, it makes it easier to forget about it.  Except for Maxkillan and the Chapter Master.  There will be a day of reckoning for them.

Extra Pics:

These Flayed Ones take flesh trophies, they wear flesh, like suits. Grimdark taxidermists.

Flayed Ones attempt to buy the army some time, would have succeeded if it hadn't been for that pesky Ironclad.