Assault on Archon IV - Campaign Journal

[ranger]

Ok, so this thread has been set-up so i can post a week-by-week, blow-by-blow account of the campaign we're running here in Mildura over the next month. Results will be posted here. I'd be nice to hear from the other players and members involved too... but i won't hold my breath ;-)

I should note this is a "campaign" not a tournament. As i tried to explain to the horror of some folk last night, it's not intended to be competitive! It's an excuse to play 40k using new and different missions in the "Battle Missions" book to spice things up.

The teams are...

The Imperial Forces:
Aaron Jenner = Black Templars
Mark = Dark Angles
Matt = Imperial Guard

The Alliance of Fate:
John = Tau
Aaron Johnson = Orcs
Matt Eyles (me) = Tyranids

Results for this week to follow...

[ranger]

Quite a successful start to the campaign last night i think!

We had three one-on-one games going...

Winners names are in BOLD.

Matt (Imperial Guard) vs. John (Tau)
Mission: Cut & Run
I'm told by John that the Imperial Guard were slaughtering the Tau and that if the game hadn't ended on turn 5 as it did, the Tau would have been wiped out to a man! (Tauling? Wadda they called?). This must have been Fate, as Matt managed to wipe out an ENTIRE squad of Tau battle suits in a sweeping advance with just one (yes ONE) regular Imperial Guardsman! Unforgettable.

Aaron Jenner (Black Templars) vs. Aaron Johnson (Orcs)
Mission: Ambush
A very short battle for a 1,500pt game involving one of the largest melees i think i've seen in 40k, and i'm a Tyranid player! Aaron Jenner's dedicated assault army managed to cut the orcs down to size with not a single orc left standing (correct me if i'm wrong?). I don't think the game even made it to the end of turn 5?!. The highlight (for the Templars at least!) was one Black Templar armed with a power fist managing to kill the Orcish H.Q with a SINGLE blow?!

Matt Eyles (Tyranids) vs. Mark (Dark Angels) - DRAW
Mission: War of Attrition
So, we both read the mission wrong and set up using the table width-ways when it actually should have been LENGTH ways?! Doh! This gave my Tyranid army quite an advantage as it meant i could assault in turn 2 and cost the Dark Angels a valuable turn of shooting. So, coz i'm a nice guy that doesn't read mission briefings (and let's face it, what self respecting Tyranid general and slave to the Hive Mind WOULD?!) i'm going to call this one a draw. Mark managed to mow down my two tanked up Carnifex. His Librarian survived and cut down my favourite Carnifex "Big Bertha" which was also impressive.

Any members who'd care to do a mission write-up (it doesn't need to be long or even coherent, see above for examples!) please do so in this thread. It would be much appreciated and show Ash that we DO in fact use the damn forums ;-)

Okay, that's Week One. On to week two and more 40k madness!

[FOWnut]

Mar 23, 2010 20:29:05 GMT 9.5 ranger said:

...and show Ash that we DO in fact use the damn forums ;-)

Well said Ranger! Cop that, Ash

;D ;D ;D


Good write up btw

[ranger]

No insult intended there FOWnut, just wanna get our guys using these forums more! ;-D

[blacktemplar]

Heres a short mission report for the Black Templar/Ork battle.

A detatchment of Black Templars on patrol were set to be ambushed by a horde of rampaging Ork’s led by the Beast of Armageddon, Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, the trap was set to be sprung when the Templars auspex’s warned of danger nearby which allowed the Templars to seize the initiative on the Ork’s and ambush the ambushers.

In the first turn the Templars managed to eliminate four Lootas in a hail of gunfire from the Master of Sanctity and his Crusader squad, the assault squad jumped into combat with three Deffkoptas wiping them out much as the Emperors Champion and his crusader squad did with the second squad of Deffkoptas, elsewhere on the battlefield a squad of bikes engage a squad of ‘Ard Boyz, crushing a couple beneath their bikes and losing one bike in return. In the Ork’s turn seven neophytes were obliterated by the Battlewagon’s Killkannon and the remaining Looter failed to hit any of the Crusaders in front of him. Ghazghkull and his Nob squad entered combat with a Dreadnought and Ghazghkull was promptly dispatched with a mighty blow on his metal clad cranium, the bikes and ‘Ard boyz each suffered losses but both combatants were fearless and stood firm.

In the Second turn the Master of Sanctity and his Crusader squad eliminated the last Looter with a hail of bolt pistol rounds, meanwhile the assault squad jump into the path of an oncoming Trukk, managing to immobilise it and destroy its sole weapon. The Emperors Champion and his Crusader squad bear down on a squad of Boyz and wipe them out as they attempt to flee from the righteous fury of the Templars. The Dreadnought fails to wound any of the Nobs it is engaged with as the ‘Ard Boyz and bikes continue their conflict again both taking wounds but both holding firm. In the Orks turn the Battlewagon was less accurate removing only one initiate from the field. And numbers finally take their toll as the last bike is crushed beneath a swarm of ‘Ard Boyz.

In the Third turn the Master of Sanctity lobs the Holy Orb of Antioch into the squad of ‘Ard Boyz, taking out seven of the tightly packed swarm then leading his Crusaders into close combat. The Emperors Champion and the remains of his Crusader squad pile into the squad of Nobs engaged with the Dreadnought, both sides take losses but continue to fight on, the assault squad continue pounding on the Trukk causing little damage. In the Orks turn the Nobs take down most of the initiates but are wiped out with the Dreadnought, the Emperors Champion and a power fist wielding initiate consolidating towards the Battlewagon. The ‘Ard Boyz fight with ferocity but the Templars superior training prevails and the ‘Ard Boyz are cut down as they try to flee.

In the Fourth turn the Dreadnought, the Emperors Champion and a power fist wielding initiate engage the Battlewagon with the Emperors Champions sword piercing the powerplant, destroying the vehicle in a blast that engulfed the attackers but their armour held and they were unharmed. The assault squad are still pounding on the Trukk causing little damage. All that remains of the Orks is the Trukk being assaulted by the assault marines.

In the Fifth turn the assault marines finally blow up the Trukk and the Black Templars praise the Emperor for their victory.

[ash]

Awesome campaign phase report, awesome mission report, awesome reading guys.

This is exactly the type of stuff these forums need!

[bigdave]

Yes, I whole heartedly agree. It is great to see these boards being used with some flare and style.

As a form of communication these boards have been getting a little stagnant of late. I was worried that I was going to have to climb onto the roof with a pair of signal flags and a torch.

[pariah]

I probably wouldn't have taken the farsight bomb if i'd known it wasn't supposed to be competitive.

It should make some sense against the ork player at least ;D

[chucknorris]

hmm bomb + orc + total annihilation

[blacktemplar]

Week two of the Assault on Archon IV saw 200 pt kill teams attacking each other.

Seven Tau in a Devilfish teamed up with a mob of orcs and a deffkopta against five Templar Initiates led by a techmarine with full servo-harness and a squad of guardsmen accompanied by two armoured sentinels.

The Tau hid inside their transport for a couple of turn as the Orcs launched their assault on the marines and guardsmen until the Orcs started to be killed off. The Devilfish didnt survive long after the troops deployment as the techmarine wrecked it and then proceeded to flame the closely packed Firewarriors. The deffkopta took a wound landing in terrain to assault the gaurdsmen and then was killed by a lasgun shot as the Tau took out several of the gaurdsmen with carbine shots. Though the first few Orcs died quickly the remaining Boyz proved to be quite resilient surviving several rounds of combat against Templar Initiates.

Despite superior numbers the Tau/Orc alliance were the first team whittled down to 50% of starting models and needed a Ld 7 test to continue, which they passed, after which they were able to get the Imperium to 50% who passed their Ld 9 test. The Alliance failed their next Ld roll at -1 to hand victory to the imperium of Man.

[pariah]

Yeah, kill teams is fun. I may even take Vespid Stingwings (for the third time ever) if we try that one again in the future.

Next week's battle sounds pretty cool too though.

[ranger]

Thanks for the battle report - saves me having to write one up :-)

Tonight is our final battle in the campaign before our apocalypse game this coming Friday night.

Tonight's game is a tank battle and pitches four super heavy tanks against 2000pts of allied Tau, Orcs and Tyranids!

It's going to be a lot of fun seeing if those tanks can make it from one side of the table to the other!

[ranger]

An entertaining battle this week, if a bit one sided in the end!

Teams: Aaron (Black Templars) and Matt (Imperial Guard) vs. John (Tau) and Matt Eyles (Tyranids) and the 'Hawks of Solomon' Space Marines (played by?)

Mission: Break through (or Line Breaker, or something similar!). Pits 3 super heavies against a defending force.

Set-up: We decided as we had two teams one of two players and one of three, that we'd fight this battle with 2,000pts per side.

Attackers: Three super heavy tanks (consisting of a Baneblade, Stormlord and Hellhammer) and a detachment of 500pts of Imperial Guard deploy 36" from the end of one table edge.

Defenders: Deploy 1/3 of their forces 18" from the attackers. The rest arrive as Reserves.

Objective: The attackers must break through with their tanks and exit the far table edge. The game only ends when all 3 tanks are destroyed or have exited the table. At the end of the game, roll a d6. Add +1 for each tank with an intact main weapon or ordinance weapon. If the attackers score a 7+ they win!

Highlights...

Turn 1: The cunning servants of the Emperor used their superior tactics and deployed all 3 super heavy tanks horizontally along the very edge of their deployment line. This meant that the defenders could not fire upon the rear of the tanks in turn 1 but even better, once the tanks turned to face the table edge they needed to get to, they gained about 3 inches! Sneaky humans!

Turn 3: The 40 odd Imperial Guardsmen in the Stormlord did a "drive by" on one of my Carnifex. However in two rounds of sustained fire, they only managed to inflict one wound.

The Baneblade fired it's demolisher cannon on the Hawks of Salomon terminators killing two. They failed their Ld check and fled for the nearest table edge! (later rallied)

The first tank to be destroyed was the Hellhammer, having taken three turns of fire from the Tau Broadsides and then been assaulted by "Big Bertha" the Carnifex. Although it suffered four penetrating hits it didn't set off an "apocalypse explosion" much to everyone's disappointment!

Turn 4: The Imperial Guard Company Commander made a courageous last stand and survived three rounds of assault before finally being dragged down by a a squad of Gaunts and a single Tau Fire Warrior. He put in a good show, taking a number down before falling.

Turn 5: By this time the two remaining tanks were being pressed in upon on all sides. The Stormlord was immobilised by a squad of Hawks of Solomon marines and Big Bertha. The Baneblade survived a round of assault from the remaining terminators and "Crab Claws" the Carnifex. It struggled onwards towards its objective and was now only about 8" from the table edge!

Turn 6: The final super heavy, the Baneblade had both weapons ripped off it and its drive damaged. "Crab Claws" delivered the killing blow, disabling its engines beyond repair.

In the end, none of the attacking Imperial tanks made in through the gauntlet.

Personally, i was expecting the super heavies to cream us! But the Tau rail guns took their toll, as did the Carnifex up close - they seem to chew through tanks with alarming speed! On reflection, there were a few things we changed that tipped things in the favor of the defenders. Firstly, the defenders were made up of three separate forces. This meant we all had 3 Heavy unit choices each - a big advantage. Also, in the original mission its 3 Baneblades attacking, with a main weapon and ordinance weapon each, this gave the attackers up to a maximum of +6 on their final dice roll. However, as we went with a mix of 3 different tanks with different weapons, this number was cut down to just +4.

Still, a fun game. Maybe next time we'll go with an army vs. Aaron's Titan!

Don't forget, tomorrow is the big Apocalypse game! Two massive armies of 15,000 points clash - the devastation shall be HUGE!

[ranger]

The dust has now settled on the battlefields of Archon IV - the Imperium of Man were the victors!

The two massive armies were Black Templars, Eldar & Imperial Guard vs. Tau, Orks Daemon Hunters & Tyranids - 15,000 points per side. The armies clashed on a table 15ft. long and 6ft. wide. We did the proper Apocalypse style diagonal deployment, combined with Matt & Aaron's buildings for terrain the battlefield looked a treat. The game went for 6 turns from 8pm Friday night to about 6am Saturday morning.

It was quite a closely fought battle throughout. The 17 or so tanks for the Imperial forces and Eldar put out some SERIOUS firepower. This included a Shadowsword and a Hellhammer, they also fielded a Warhound Titan too. It was looking like a draw for a while there, but in the end it came down to just one objective in the corner of the table and a single Assault phase.

Two black templars Chaplains managed to not only survive the assault by three units (Tau Fire Warriors, Stealth suits and a unit of Gaunts), but in fact defeated the enemy and forced them to flee!

This left the objective in the hands of the Imperium and won them the day! A very entertaining battle overall.

Final victory for the campaign l goes to the Imperial forces. Thanks for playing all.

Time now to come up with some ideas for future events.

[ash]

Sounds like it was a very fitting end to your campaign!

Were there any photos taken of the event?

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your next major club event.

(edited PM sent instead)

[blacktemplar]

Dont forget about the Thunderhawk flying around dropping bombs.

[pariah]

It was a good game in that the ending roles would literally determine whether the game was a win, loss, or draw. More entertaining than a slow kill everyone knows is coming.

We had just finished focussing fire on one of the other objectives held by Matt's Eldar in the same final turn, which caused the morale test they fortunately failed.

There was also a deffkopta in that final melee, before we got there. I didn't consider the possibility that the three units might actually run away and lose us the game

No cameras present, but iirc it looked something like this: