Unfinished battles

Well, I'm too tired to write full battle reports, especially since it's late and I had 2 of them...both unfinished. So I'll just summarize briefly and let you guys appreciate the pictures.

First battle was a 2 versus 2 game, with each player bringing 2,000 points. For some reason I ended up allying with a friend who plays Space Wolves. So you saw an unlikely alliance of Space Wolves and Thousand Sons (with Prosperine Spireguard) against Ultramarines and Orks. Wait, what? Yeah, I know. That was just weird. Anyway, the Ultramarines brought a Baneblade along with a Land Raider and a bunch of infantry and a random Leman Russ Punisher (because the kid thought tanks were powerful). The Orks brought lots of Boyz, Flash Gitz, Grots, Nobs and a Warboss. I brought Thousand Sons with Prosperine Spireguard, so basically a Daemon Prince, 2 Exalted Sorcerers, Ahzek Ahriman, 3 squads of Rubric Marines, a Terminator Sorcerer, 2 Renegade Commanders, 3 Renegade Militia squads, a Leman Russ main battle tank with heavy flamers, a Leman Russ Punisher and a Valkyrie assault carrier.

Thousand Sons with Prosperine Spireguard allies

The Orks and Space Marines went first but they failed to do much in the first turn, and it was the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves who scored First Blood by destroying the Land Raider, a squad of Boyz and the Leman Russ Punisher. The Orks and Ultramarines retaliated, killing a Leman Russ Punisher, a squad of Rubric Marines, the Stormfang, and the Thunderwolf Calvary if I'm not mistaken. I think we killed a Librarian in return. We managed to kill more Boyz in the 2nd turn, but I don't know, I only played until the psychic phase because I had arranged another game with another friend and he arrived.

Thousand Sons and Prosperine Spireguard allying with Space Wolves of all people...

The second game was me playing a pure Astra Militarum list against Blood Angels, Imperial Knights and Astra Militarum. My opponent brought a Blood Angels Captain with Thunder Hammer, Gabriel Seth, a Company Ancient, 2 scout squads, an Intercessors squad, a Predator Annihilator, Devastators with 4 lascannons and Sanguinary Guard in his Blood Angels Detachment. He then brought a Knight Paladin and 2 Armiger Helverins in his Knight detachment. Rounding them up were 2 Company Commanders and 3 infantry squads, all with mortars. As for me, I brought a single Brigade of 3 Tempestors Prime, 3 Tempestus command squads with plasma guns, 3 Tempestus squads - 2 with 2 plasma guns, and 1 with 2 hot-shot volley guns, 3 infantry squads with plasma guns, 2 Armored Sentinels with lascannons and 1 Armored Sentinel with plasma cannon, 2 Leman Russ Executioners and 1 Leman Russ Annihilator. Attached to the Brigade was one Shadowsword in a super-heavy auxiliary detachment. The game was Secure and Control, and we had 2 objectives in total. We got the weird slanted deployment zone (the 6th one in the rulebook).

That's a beautifully painted Blood Angels army (with Imperial Knight and Imperial Guard allies).

I rolled prettty badly this game. First off, my opponent had first turn, and I failed to seize the initiative. He destroyed a single Leman Russ Executioner and claimed FIrst Blood. He killed 7 Guardsmen and put 12 wounds on my Shadowsword. 1 Guardsman fled to morale, leaving just 2 in that squad. Oh well. As I said, I rolled pretty badly and fluffed most of my Shadowsword's shots. I failed to kill the Knight, and probably only did 10 damage in total despite my Shadowsword and Leman Russ Annihilator shooting at it. My Armored Sentinels and remaining Leman Russ Executioner took the Predator Annihilator down to 4 wounds. I put 2 wounds on the Armiger Helverin, but a 1 meant the plasma gunner killed himself. Ouch. The Sergeant tried to charge, but was slain in overwatch.

Draconian Armored Defenders with Shadowsword, Leman Russ squadron and Armored Sentinels, bolstered by Kamikaze Troopers. That's a lot of plasma!

The Captain and Sanguinary Guard Deep Struck in and tried to destroy my Leman Russ Execcutioner. I think I lost a Tempestus squad with plasma guns to the Armiger Helverins, and my Shadowsword ate a few more wounds to drop down to 12 wounds. The Leman Russ Executioner survived combat with the Sanguinary Guard to have 4 wounds left, while the Armored Sentinels survived the Knight Paladin's Titanic Feet, one having 1 wound and the other having 5 (I think). I did lose a single Armored Sentinel to the Devastators, though. Ugh. I tried to retaliate by having my Tempestus command squads Deep Striking in the backfield and slaying the Devastators and 1 Scout squad with supercharged plasma, and putting 4 wounds on Gabriel Seth. I think, I know he only had one wound left. The Armored Sentinels ran away from combat and finally my Leman Russ Annihilator destroyed the Knight Paladin. Needless to say, my Shadowsword fluffed all his shots and did absolutely nothing (or minimal damage). The Knight blew up, took out one Sanguinary Guard but dealt 6 damage to my Armored Sentinel with 5 wounds left and killing him. What?! That isn't fair.

The Draconian Armored Defenders face off against the Blood Angels.

My opponent then charged Gabriel Seth and the Ancient into my Tempestus command squads, killing 2 of them. I think the Captain charged and failed again, whereas the Sanguinary Guard charged the Leman Russ Annihilator and were wiped out in overwatch thanks to defensive gunners. The Armiger Helverin charged the infantry squads and killed maybe 1 or 2 poor guys. But that's about it. I killed Gabriel Seth with my plasma command squad, and the Company Ancient with my normal squad with plasma, but that's all I was able to do. I did like 8 or so damage to the Armiger Helverin with my Leman Russ Annihilator, and despite firing everything he had, my Leman Russ Executioner failed to kill the captain, only doing 4 damage or so? Or 3? He had 1 wound left. Ugh.

The Blood Angels with their oathsworn Knights are really scary!

We had to call the game because the store was closing, so that was it. Well, it was fun, and I hope to have more games like this! It was so close! I don't know if I could have survived a bit longer, but I did my best. I wished my Shadowsword did better this game, but...yeah. He fluffed his shots and did pretty badly. That was kind of sad. :(

Anyway, it was great to play with my Imperial Guard again after spending a few weeks playing Thousand Sons. I do miss the psychic phase, though. Can't wait to bolster my Thousand Sons with Prosperine Spireguard!