Two new battle reports!

Well, the title says battle reports, but I'll just sum them up. I'm exhausted, both physically and mentally, and in no shape to write a battle report. I also didn't take pictures this time, because I thought there was little point in doing so. Plus I was too busily having fun wargaming to take photographs.

I was fortunate to run into new friends today, who wanted to play (as did I). So I happily joined them to have a wargaming session - finally! - and have fun. They were waiting for another guy, who was supposed to come, but he turned out to be late, so we ended up playing first.

Skitarii versus Ultramarines and Imperial Fists/Black Templars

The first match was a 2v1, because apparently the other 2 guys were beginners, having started Warhammer 40K recently (about 3 months or so, I think). Fair enough, but I seldom play, so I can't say I'm good. We decided to grant them a handicap, and allow them 1,100 points because the Ultramarines player couldn't fit stuff into his list, but somehow I only ended up with 1,000 points. I thought, whatever, as long as it's fun, and so we began.

One brought Ultramarines, and the other brought Black Templars. They were using the Starter set, you know, the Start Collecting! Space Marines set with a tactical squad, a captain and a Dreadnaught. Or something. So multiply that by two, and take note that both formations have the bonus rule of shooting instead of moving (so they shoot twice in the same turn). The Ultramarines player brought an additional drop pod with a 9-man tactical squad, so he had 600 points. The other guy decided to proxy his Black Templar as Imperial Fists as the Black Templar chapter tactics were pointless without Neophytes (no idea what that is, they told me it's the Black Templar version of scouts - sorry, but I'm much more familiar with Imperial Guard and Adeptus Mechanicus, not Space Marines), so he had the Imperial Fists bonus of re-rolling to hit rolls of ones. The other guy obviously used the Ultramarines chapter tactics with devastator, tactical and assault doctrines. Yay. On the other hand, the Imperial Fists guy didn't count properly and only brought 430 points of troops, so it turned out to be 1,030 points versus 1,000. Whoops?

As for me, I brought a small Skitarii maniple with my 1,000 points. I had my 10-men Skitarii Vanguard with conversion field Alpha (turned out to be useless), 3 plasma calivers and omnispex. Then 5 Skitarii Rangers with omnispex, 5 Sicarian Infiltrators, 5 Sicarian Ruststalkers and 3 Onager Dunecrawlers with neutron lasers and an extra cognis heavy stubber. That's basically about it.

They deployed first, but I succeeded in stealing the initiative, so I went first. Turned out to be a bad choice.

The first turn didn't go well for me. My Infiltrators fluffed their flechette blaster shots, and even with Shred, they didn't put a dent in the Imperial Fists tactical squad. The Ruststalkers were too far away to do anything, my Rangers did nothing because their AP4 galvanic rifles did nothing against the Adeptus Astartes' 3+ armor save. My Vanguard again was too far to hit anyone. The only unit that actually did anything was my Onager Dunecrawlers, whose neutron lasers took out a huge chunk of the Ultramarine squad and devastated them with 5 dead or so. Or less, I think they made a couple of cover saves.

My opponents then had their Dreadnaughts move closer, the Ultramarine player had a drop pod land behind my Infiltrators. The Ultramarines chose to hide his first tactical squad in cover, so they didn't do anything. However, the Imperial Fists fired 40 boltgun shots and devastated my Infiltrators. Thanks to 4+ armor save and Feel No Pain, 2 survived, and managed to pass their morale somehow. Ugh. The newly dropped tactical squad and the Imperial Fist Dreadnaught combined to take out 3 of my Ruststalkers. The Ultramarine Dreadnaught hid behind cover to avoid getting slapped by my Onager Dunecrawlers' neutron lasers.

My turn then came again, and my Ruststalkers fluffed their haywire mindscrambler grenades against the Imperial Fist Dreadnaught, with me rolling 2 ones. Yes, snake eyes. What the hell. The Onager Dunecrawlers took a hull point off the Ultramarine Dreadnaught, but him being venerable meant that I was forced to re-roll my Explodes! result, and he was only shaken despite being down one hull point. One couldn't fire because he was hidden behind cover, and the other scattered, so it was a waste. Ouch. The Infiltrators didn't do much with their flechette blasters, and neither did the Rangers. The Vanguard remained out of range of everybody.

I had my Ruststalkers charge in, and they basically died in combat against the Venerable Dreadnaught, but did take a hull point off it thanks to haywire. Just one, though. Ugh. My Infiltrators fared better, and they reduced 9 Marines to,...I think 7 or so.

The next turn had my Vanguard decimated by the Imperial Fists Dreadnaught's heavy flamer - this was where my Alpha fluffed his invulnerable 4++ save and died to the burning promethium, while the Ultramarines Dreadnaught's multi-melta bounced off the Emanatus Forcefield that protected my Onager Dunecrawlers. The drop pod's storm bolter did nothing to my Rangers, I think. But the Imperial Fists tactical squad laid down heavy fire power that took out two of my Rangers. Ouch. The Dreadnaught failed its charge on my Vanguard. Phew. I lost an Infiltrator in combat, but I cut down another 2 or so, I think. This time, the Space Marines lost combat and ran away like babies. Funny.

My Vanguard moved back to put some distance between themselves and the Imperial Fists Dreadnaught, and fired on the Terminator Captain (Ultramarines), putting 2 wounds on him. The Onager Dunecrawlers finally blew up the advancing Ultramarines Dreadnaught, taking off all his hull points. Hooray! The Infiltrator chased after the fleeing Ultramarines tactical squad and proceeded to kick their asses, wiping them out to just the last man. Can you believe it? 2 Infiltrators kicked 9 tactical marines' asses all by themselves. The awesome thing about taser goads was that even if I fluffed several of my to hit rolls, getting 2 sixes meant I have more hits than what I originally would have anyway. Anyway, they remained locked in combat, with the Infiltrator Princeps taking on the tactical marine Sergeant (or at least I think he's the Sergeant). The Rangers once again did nothing.

The Rangers finally died to a hail of bolt fire, the surviving Imperial Fists Dreadnaught killed another 3 Vanguard to reduce them to just 2 guys with plasma calivers, and...I think that's it for shooting. The tactical squads were all advancing upon my position, but the Ultramarines' multi-melta once again bounced off the Onager Dunecrawlers' Emanatus Forcefields. Field Harmonics are awesome. The Infiltrator slew the last Ultramarine tactical marine from the drop pod and consolidated toward the Imperial Fists tactical squad, hungry for more. Neurostatic aura, combined with taser goads, is a beast. Like I said, it was unbelievable how 2 Infiltrators took on a 9-men tactical marine squad all by themselves and completely wiped them out in combat, not to mention getting them to run away in the middle of it all.

I persisted, and wiped out the Ultramarines tactical squad with my Onager Dunecrawlers, but my Vanguard failed to wound the Captain this time, with him making his storm shield saves. The guy was thinking of engaging me in combat. Ouch. So was the Imperial Fists chapter, who were determined to throw krak grenades into the poor walkers' front armor. Anyway, my Infiltrator charged and died to overwatch from the Imperial Fists tactical marines. So much for a last hurrah. Oh well.

The Dreadnaught advanced, but didn't charge because he was too far away, and so was the Captain who was slowly and steadily approaching my Onager Dunecrawlers, who had backed into a corner. The Imperial Fists tactical squad killed the 2 remaining Vanguard and proceeded to run forward.

With only my Onager Dunecrawlers left, I destroyed the Imperial Fists Dreadnaught with my neutron lasers, rolling an Explodes! result twice despite the other two shots scattering. The Ultramarine captain charged into my Onager Dunecrawlers, and only a single attack made it through as a penetrating hit, but my Onager Dunecrawlers' Emanatus Forcefields held. 4++ invulnerable saves on 3 walkers are invaluable. Unfortunately with only 1 wound left, he died to the 3 S5 attacks from the Onager Dunecrawlers. So the Ultramarines player, with the exception of his drop pod, was tabled. Yay. One down, but the other guy was coming in hot.

I killed a couple of Space Marines as they continued to charge, but I was unable to delay the inevitable. In the end, all 7 charged in and blew my Dunecrawlers up with krak grenades after several rounds of combat (it took a total of 3 turns, and 6 rounds). Ouch. There. I was tabled.

Well, it was an extremely close game, and it was fun. I completely forgot about the Cognis heavy stubbers on the Onager Dunecrawlers, but with AP6, I doubt they'll do much to 3+ Space Marines. Anyway, it was fun and that was the most important thing.

Cult Mechanicus and Ultramarines versus Space Wolves and Imperial Fists/Black Templars

The last guy had finally arrived while we were in the middle of this game, and now that all were present, we decided to have another game! This time it was 2v2, with 500 points per person. With my Skitarii being tabled, I decided to switch to Cult Mechanicus. The two Space Marine players remained with their 500 points, with the Ultramarines ditching his drop pod and extra tactical squad. The new guy, a veteran player, decided to bring his Space Wolves. Believing he would bring Thunderwolf Calvary, I equipped all my Kataphron Destroyers with heavy grav-cannons. I could only bring the bare minimum with upgrades, so 3 Kataphron Destroyers attached to my Tech-priest Dominus Warlord, and 3 Kataphron Destroyers on their own. I rolled some Exoskeleton for my Warlord Trait, which granted my Warlord Eternal Warrior. As it turned out, that was indispensable.

Anyway, we drew lots and this time I was paired with the Ultramarines player, and we being amateurs were slightly nervous about facing the veteran Space Wolves guy. As it turned out, he brought a Wolf Lord with 2 wolves, a squad of Long Fangs, a Rune Priest as his HQ and 3 Terminators with storm shields and thunder hammers. Did the guy not know what grav could do? Well, as it turned out, he had no experience with grav weaponry because Space Wolves had no access to it. Huh.

The first turn was quite devastating. My ally took out the two wolves following the Wolf Lord in Terminator armor, then killed a single Imperial Fist tactical marine with his Venerable Dreadnaught's multi-melta. I had much more success, with my Kataphron Destroyers killing 2 Longfangs, and the other 3 Kataphron Destroyers decimating the whole squad and taking out 4 or 5 tactical marines, leaving the Captain alone with less than half his squad.

The opponents' turn saw a fierce retaliation as the Wolf Lord lumbered toward the Ultramarines Dreadnaught. The Imperial Fists Dreadnaught put a wound on one of my Kataphron Destroyers while the Longfangs took revenge and killed 2 of them outright. Ugh. Only one Kataphron Destroyer with one wound left. A single tactical squad came in and did not much damage, I think.

In the second turn, I fluffed my shots with my remaining Kataphron Destroyer and my Warlord, and we absolutely dealt no damage to the tactical squad nearby. I rolled ones and twos when I needed threes and above to wound. Terrible rolling. On the bright side, between my other 3 (unscathed) Kataphron Destroyers and boltguns from the Ultramarines, we reduced the first Imperial Fist squad to nothing but 1 tactical marine and his Captain. 2 lonely survivors legging it up toward the Ultramarines Dreadnaught, who fired his multi-melta at the Wolf Lord, hit...only to roll a one with the S8 AP1 weapon. Argh.

The Space Wolves Terminators Deep Struck in, right behind an Ultramarines tactical squad, while the Longfangs fired and killed my remaining Kataphron Destroyer with their lascannons. The missile launchers then fired and hit my Warlord, but he made one save and failed the other, despite having a 2+ armor save from Artificer Armor. This is where Eternal Warrior came in! Even with toughness 4, the S8 missile didn't kill him, and only took a single wound off his 3 wounds. Eternal Warrior is awesome! The Imperial Fists tactical squad, still 5 men standing, fired on the Ultramarines tactical squad that the Space Wolves Terminators Deep Struck behind (why, I have no idea), and either the Ultramarines player made his saves or only lost 1. I think he made all his armor saves. Boltguns suck against 3+ power armor Space Marines.

The Wolf Lord charged, made it in and locked the Dreadnaught in combat for what was an eternity. The Imperial Fists Captain and lone tactical marine failed their charge and stayed where they were. I rolled for It Will Not Die (I equipped the Tech-Priest Dominus with the Arkland thingy) and failed.

In the third turn, my Kataphron Destroyers turned around and promptly terminated the Space Wolves Terminators with their 18-shot heavy grav-cannons. Even with their Storm Shields, the 3 Space Wolves Terminators were unable to withstand so many wounds on 2+, and promptly withered away. Nice. My ally fired boltguns at the tactical squad and dropped them to 3 or 4 guys, killing 1 or 2. My Tech-priest Dominus repaired himself with Master of Machines ability, then proceeded to charge the Imperial Fists Dreadnaught, who failed his Overwatch.

Thanks to Dataspike, my Warlord had Haywire attacks. His first Initiative 10 Dataspike attack took a hull point off the Dreadnaught, and then he had 2 hits at Initiative 3 because I was using Dataspike instead of the power axe. On the other hand, the Dreadnaught was using power fists, which was unwieldy. I had only 2 hits, but they were enough, and 2 glances saw the Dreadnaught go down in a heap of scrap metal. As for the Wolf Lord and Ultramarines Dreadnaught, they remained locked in combat, with neither able to damage the other.

The Longfangs put another wound on my Warlord, who made 3 saves out of 4 (2 conversion field saves against lascannons, and 1 against missile launchers...only to fluff yet another save against another missile). The Imperial Fists Captain and tactical marine failed their charge against the Ultramarines Venerable Dreadnaught yet again, and combat remained in a stalemate as the two did absolutely no damage to each other. Huh.

My Kataphron Destroyers turned around and moved up again while my Tech-priest Dominus chased the 3 or 4-men tactical squad. The Kataphron Destroyers destroyed the Imperial Fists Captain and the lone tactical marine with their grav-weaponry, as expected, and my Warlord reduced the tactical squad to just 2 men with his macrostubber. My ally proceeded to finish them off with boltgun fire. The Imperial Fists player was tabled, and he left to take part in a Star Wars Armada game or something. But the Space Wolves remained fighting, his Longfangs untouched by our weaponry. And...combat remained in a stalemate between the Wolf Lord and the Dreadnaught.

The Longfangs switched tactics and fired the missile launchers upon the Ultramarines and took out 3 to 5 of them with frag missiles. I think. He fired the lascannon at my Warlord, who took another wound. The Dreadnaught finally pummeled the Wolf Lord, with 1 S10 hit getting through and Instant Death-ing the dude. Well, the guy only had one wound anyway. It Will Not Die didn't work and my Warlord remained injured...for now.

We continued to move up, and I killed another Longfang with my Kataphron Destroyers while healing my Warlord with Master of Machines. With Eternal Warrior, Master of Machines and It Will Not Die, the guy's basically immortal against Longfangs. The Space Wolves responded by taking out another two Ultramarines with his remaining missile launchers, while he fluffed his lascannon shot against the Warlord.

The Venerable Dreadnaught finally came within range and took out a single Longfang. My Kataphron Destroyers also opened fire, and at long last the remaining 2 Longfangs and the Rune Priest fell dead, their bodies crumpled within their power armor as the grav rounds crushed them. With that, the Space Wolves were also tabled. And the Ultramarines player and I won.

For the Omnissiah!

Hmm...isn't grav weapons too strong against Space Marines? Admittedly, had my opponent been playing horde armies like Imperial Guard, Orks, Chaos Daemons and Tyranids, my Kataphron Destroyers would have been absolutely useless against them. Heh. I know Preferred Enemy no longer has effects on blast templates from plasma weapons that Gets Hot! with the new FAQ, but does Presience and Benediction of the Omnissiah still work on blast template weapons that Gets Hot!? They say Twin-linked allows for re-rolls of scatter, and the Space Wolves guy re-rolled his frag missile scatter when he thought it didn't catch enough Ultramarines under the blast template. That was thanks to Presience, the Primaris psychic power for Divination. So it should work. Preferred Enemy doesn't, though. That's so sad. I'm going to believe that Benediction of the Omnissiah will allow me to re-roll ones that I get from Gets Hot! rolls for the plasma culverins.