Highland May Tournament Prep part 1

Good news!  I played two more missions in preparation for the upcoming tournament!

Bad news.  I forgot my camera at home, and was forced to use my phone’s camera, which is nowhere near as good.

Oh well.  Here’s a condensed Batrep against Kyle, a foustrandshobby.com veteran!  Please forgive fuzzy pictures.

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Bozeman – Azure Flames Space Marines (Salamanders)

• Combined Arms Detachment
  • Leonidas, Captain of the 1st Company (counts as Vulkan He’stan)
  • Ironclad Dreadnought, Chainfist, replace Storm Bolter with Heavy Flamer, Ironclad Launchers
    • Drop Pod
  • Terminator Assault Squad x5, 5x Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield
    • Land Raider Redeemer, Extra Armour, Multi-Melta
  • Tactical Squad x10, Veteran Sergeant, Power Fist, Bolter-Melta, Meltagun, Multi-Melta
    • Drop Pod
  • Scout Squad x5
    • Land Speeder Storm, Multi-Melta
  • Land Speeder Squadron x3, 3x Multi-Melta
  • Stormtalon Gunship, Skyhammer Missile Launcher

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Kyle – Astral Drakes Space Marines with Imperial Knight Ally (special chapter, counts as Salamanders, but loses master crafted weapons and instead gains ability to take Heavy Flamers and other special units).

• Combined Arms Detachment
  • Special Chapter Master on Firedrake (counts as Wolf Lord with Thunderwolf, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, and throwable S10 AP2 Hammer)
    • Immature Firedrakes x2 (counts as Fenrisian Wolves)
  • Firedrake Cavalry x3 (counts as Thunderwolf Cavalry, 2x Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, 1x Wolf Claws)
  • Tactical Squad x10, Flamer, Combi-flamer, Heavy Flamer (note: this is allowed due to unique Chapter Tactics)
  • Sternguard x5, 3x Combi-Flamer, 2x Heavy Flamer
  • Promethean Rhino (unique unit, counts as a Rhino that gives any infantry model within 2″ the Torrent special rule for any weapon that is a “flamer” according to the main rulebook)
  • Devastators x5, 4x Missile Launchers, 4x Fireball Missile upgrade (special Chapter Tactics missile, S5 AP4 small blast ignores cover, +15pts/model)
  • Scouts x5, 5x Sniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks
• Allied Knight Detatchment
  • Knight Gallant (Knight Chainsword and Power Fist) with Meltagun

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Mission – Right Place at the Wrong Time

Players alternate setting up 6 numbered objectives.  When an objective is first claimed, roll a D6.  On a 1, the objective explodes, causing D6 S5 AP4 hits to the squad that claimed it, and then the objective is removed from the game permanently!  On a 2-3, the objective is removed.  On a 4+, the objective is “real” and is rolled for as a Mysterious Objective, re-rolling all results of 1.

If 3 objectives are removed, the remaining 3 are “real” and if 3 are identified as “real” all others are removed (assume they are deactivated).  Objectives are worth 3 points at the end of the game.  First Blood, Linebreaker, and Slay the Warlord for one point each.

For this game with Kyle, we played with a long board edge deployment.

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Setup

I deployed Leonidas and the Terminators in the Land Raider Redeemer, with the Land Speeders around them.  Kyle had the Tactical Squad and Devastators in a forest, with the Sternguard in the Rhino Promethean.  The Chapter Master and Firedrake Cavalry were to the left of the Knight Titan (from Kyle’s POV).

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Turn 1 – Astral Drakes

The Chapter Master and his Firedrakes move out towards the Land Raider.  The Knight takes cover behind some terrain.

We have 4 attacks for some reason!  Here we come!

Knight seeks cover among the flatiron rock formation.

Turn 1 – Azure Flames

Leonidas and the Terminators charge the Firedrakes.  Lord challenges the Terminator Sergeant and kills him, but Immature Firedrakes die as well as a couple wounds from one of the Firedrakes.  Two other Terminators are killed by Firedrakes.  Ironclad drops by the squads in the forest and kills the Promethean Rhino.  Drop pod kills one Sniper Scout.

Leonidas and the Terminators throw themselves at the counts-as Thunderwolves to slow them down.  They succeed pretty well.

Hey, that was a really nice custom Rhino!

Drop Pods are always so annoying…

Turn 2 – Astral Drakes

Good saves by the Terminators mean only one Terminator dies.  Knight rolls triple 1’s for difficult terrain, and so cannot charge the Ironclad this turn.  Tactical squad charges and a few die, but keeps the Ironclad in a tarpit.  Before the charge, Krak missiles do a Crew Shaken result to the Ironclad.  Scouts charge the Drop Pod and do one glance.

Leonidas toughs it out as the Firedrakes do more damage.

Awful roll prevents the Knight from charging the Ironclad.

Drop pods are REALLY annoying…

Turn 2 – Azure Flames

Leonidas takes one wound from the remaining Wolf Claw Firedrake.  Land Raider and Land Speeders move up behind cover to hold an objective.  Ironclad kills all but one Sergeant in the tatsquad.  Land Speeder Storm arrives.  Drop pod and Land Speeder Storm kill two more sniper scouts, breaking the squad.

Leonidas has lasted much longer than I expected him to.

Waiting to rush the Knight…

The Scouts flee from bolter fire!

The Ironclad still takes on the Tactical squad.

Turn 3 – Astral Drakes

The last Terminator is killed, as Leonidas takes one more wound, just barely hanging on!  The Knight charges the Ironclad, destroying it but taking two hull points with it.

Leonidas barely holds on…

The Titan turns the Ironclad into shrapnel, saving the Tactical Sergeant.

Turn 3 – Azure Flames

Leonidas succumbs to the Firedrakes.  The Land Speeder Storm, Land Speeders, and Land Raider team up and just barely manage to remove the last wound from the Knight!  It explodes and takes the last Tactical marine with it!  The Stormtalon blasts all but one of the Devastators.

The Chapter Master finishes Leonidas and prepares a nasty surprise for the Azure Flames vehicles…

Now THAT’S how you kill a Knight!

Turn 4 – Astral Drakes

Chapter Master charges the Land Raider, doing 3 hull points.  Remaining Sterguard turn their flamers on the Land Speeder Storm, killing it and ALL of the Scouts inside before they can even disembark!  Two remaining Sniper Scouts charge the Drop Pod and take one more hull point.

That Drop Pod…

A S10 Thunder Hammer puts the hurt on the Land Raider

Turn 4 – Azure Flames

Tactical Squad finally arrives.  Shooting takes care of the Chapter Master, Firedrake, Devastators, and Scouts.  Having only one Sternguard squad of 4 men, Kyle cedes.

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Thunderwolf Cavalry is hard, but even a weaker but still hard melee unit can really slow them down and make them less scary.  Knights can also be very scary.  Kyle told me after the battle that I did EXACTLY what you need to do to a Knight; hit it from multiple sides with dedicated anti-vehicle weapons.

Next, I take on Josh and his Tau Markerlight madness!