Hagvarian betrayal day one

So, off to the races we go!

Me and my buddy arrived in his car (thanks again bud!) came in, and talked around a bit, people more or less knew each other and i think we were the only real green ones, but after an hour we didn't really notice. Everybody welcomed us.

Now we had all gotten the mission packs aforehand, so we knew what the first mission entailed.

It was basically "get into the enemies zone at the end of the game" and if you shot at anyone that was not your closest target you rolled for Ld to see if you got to shoot at them.

our first opposing team was (i'm sorry i suck at names , and i'll leave em' out in case someone doesn't want to be mentioned cause they lied to get out of work......) An ultramarine player with a spartan, dreadclaw, some venators, and a deepstriking Assault squad with a lot of trimmings. The Anvilus had Suszerains in them and the spartan had a deathstar, he also had some veterans i believe

somehow not our biggest problem.....

 his friend had..... A metric fuckton of artillery. Oh god. So much artillery.

This was the first time i had faced Solar auxilia, and i think i asked the poor guy, like eight times "what's that" "it has how many Hull points" it's cannon does WHAT!"

He was really accommodating. He had one LoW HUEG tank, some dracosan transports. one malcador infernus and some others. Here's a picture

Now,each table was beautifully placed, and each table for all games had six objective markers, each one was one of the following

A) score 1-2 VP immediately
B) blank (get an extra maelstrom card)
C) biohazard, take a S6 Ap2 no cover allowed hit. if you AV you take an instand Haywire hit.

we also had two tactical cards and two maelstrom cards per team.

The tactical cards varied between "return a squad of your choice to the game" "disable an artillery piece" "instantly seize the initiative" and so forth. Really fun, nothing gamebreaking.

The maelstrom were, i believe, some handpicked from the standard 40k ones. which worked well.

As an aside i should probably mention, the first game was the harshest for us. The players themselves were stupendous sports, good fellows and explained what was happening. But we got creamed. To the extent where the TO came over, looked at the set-up and said.

"well, look at it like this, everything after this game will be slightly better"

he was not wrong


So we set up. Each player deploys in a small triangle in their corner. to fit everything in my buddy CRAMPS his guys up. Ass to crotch of iron warriors.

And i do the same, while placing some stuff into ongoing reserves.

So we start off, i move some tanks. Manage to immobilize my sicaran on a small tank trap...yup. i shave a hullpoint of a venator and whiff against the other as the SA player has a shroud bombardment

He moves forward. And we score a point for taking objective 3. We flip it. Toxic release.

Fuck.

My friend loses seventeen marines from two squads of thirty,  one tank and loses two more hull points.

i score another objective and we are up 3 pts.

yay

 Our opponents let loose. And destroy a tank and cripple another of my tanks.

The astra militarum have a tactical card that lets them outflank a vehicle squadron, they deploy three arty tanks against my poor team mate.

Meanwhile the Dreadclaw lands and instantly kills my Scorpius

We shoot a bit and my friends bears the worst of it.

haHA! i have you now my pretty 

turn two, i come on with all my veterans and try to let loose with meltaguns, snipers vets and prepare to charge him ,knowing it will be a vain hope, but might distract him

i accomplish little, but one of my tanks drives straight for the SA players LoW tank.

Oh shiet, they have us now! 

Their turn two, and the UM player counter infiltrates, which was pretty hilarious imagining my smug AL marines, being outmaneuvered by the UM impeccable planning.

I am more or less slaughtered to a man.

My sicaran is killed. And at the end of the turn i play our tactical card, letting me bring it back with one HP. Whereupon i try to brave the SAME rock,. AND DIE AGAIN

My predator manages to tank shock his puny techpriest, thusly earning himself some of my favor.

My team mate more or less engages his SA vanguard troops by himself. Slaughtering two groups of elites, his dracosan and some of the artillery tanks.


GG, well played. We lose by about fifteen points.

But we had a lot of fukken fun, and the other players never got smug or rubbed our faces in it.



The second game was against another Solar auxilia player, and a Raven guards players. This was a really awesome painted SA army ( although to be honest all armies were REALLY cool at this tournament, all closers) with a lot of customization and awesome paint for everything from the simplest footslogger to his two arvus. He wound up winning best painted which was well deserving. The other player had a badass ravenguard army with a lot of fast, mobile infantry with almost none tanks. Really awesome.

WE deploy trying to use the frikking awesome Forgeworld table. My buddy takes up firing lines and even though there is a lot of cover we try to give my assault tanks some space for movement.

In this game we designated four pieces of terrain, and at the end of the game they were worth 3 pts each.

The sound of cycling guns is the only sound heard from the iron warriors. 

The phosphex being loaded, preparing it's deadly cargo for a sweet caress. 

The alpha legion takes position in a bombed out church, it's fading vestiges providing little faith and no salvation. 

Our opponents had first turn and made the most of it, the raven guard had used the terrain masterfully and as the sons of corvax ran from house to house they closed with the resolute men of the IV'th legion.

As you can see he deployed mor deyhthan and veterans in rhinos and made a beeline for my friends quad mortars. A bold strategy, but, a wise one?

Probably. He disabled them by turn two but was punished by a fussilade of phosphex and his HQ was driven into a empty house.

Meanwhile the Brave men of the Solar stand a lonely vigil of a stratetgically important building. Defended by their malcador 

So turn one, they focus on removing my scorpius, my team mates quad mortars and basically anything that can dig them out of their fortified positions.

We weather the first turn pretty well, the exception being a tactical squad that was slaughtered to a man by the mor deythan (once per game they can get shred and rending on their shots) since they were protecting the quads.

the grav cannons immobilized my scorpius and took some hull points.

The RG player said he went for Grav quads as he didn't want to default to Quad mortars. Good man. Wish i was one ;)

Meanwhile, in our turn, we tried to bombard the living hell out of them and thin them out a bit as we had to dig them out. For the first time i realized that 60" of four shots per quad is good. Like, REALLY good. we grab a point or two, and the game is tight. My Landraider storms forward trying to close with his command team, mostly since his banner and commander makes all the auxilia fearless.

My rapiers proved themselves by shaking a malcador defender.

bit of a pickle to be fair 

On their turn two everything goes topsy turvy

no less than four flyers arrive. Two Primaris lightnings, one for each player, and two arvus lighters, shockfull of elite solar auxilia storm sections cycling up their volkite and ready to grip order from the chaos of battle.

And the solar proved that not only marines descend on the wings of angels. 

So this is what the field of battle looked like at the onset of turn two, the solar auxilia depending on the kindness of ravens to weather the storm, and taunting us to assault them.

The alpha legion's hubris would not disappoint them in that regard.

Arvus being precariously placed.

The aux player had a keen understanding of tactics, so as to isolate my terminators he deployed twin strike teams to deny us a clear approach.

The lightnings then made short of the land raider, as well as one of our other tanks. While the remaining flyers and tanks fired vicious S10 weapons into my terminators. leaving but two standing by their praetor.
while the raven guard, on the backfoot after being phosphexed generously into a building ,and eating scorpius fire to make him blend into the shadows. Charged the remainder of the quads.

The noose tightens

In our turn two I managed to take down one lightning with a Predator. Which was pure luck, but i'd take what i could get by now.

the pred in question.

my praeotr charged the raven guards grav guns, and cleared them out, he then consolidated into the command squad building of the aux.

Praetor Votan "steal-breaker" charges the fixed guns

Meanwhile both of my veteran squads arrived in the enemies backfield, braving lasfire to give accurate mortar fire and clear out a tactically vital building. And another of my preds makes a arvus locked into a straight path denying his troops to bail out and shoot at me.

The worm turns yet again. some solar aux strorm troopers bails out and makes short work of the remaining lagging spearhead. While my brave, brave! predator took another VP form an objective, he was slaughtered in turn three. 

In the corner The Solar aux and the raven guard cordinated their assault and started hailing shots at my veterans and rhinos

 His remaining veterans did an about turn out of their phosphex filled hidey-hole and made for my veterans, two troops with implacable advance taking terrain was enough to make them decide to focus on me. Which was a welcome break for my team mate.

In the meanwhile his malcador and dracosan had free fields in going into our deployment and mopping up

All the houses with the stupendously beautifull azure dices are tactically important. and grant 3 VP at the end of the game.

In turn three my Avenger comes in, shoots EVERYTHING (gary oldman style) at the raven guard veterans and does nothing. I am reduced to a paltry two rhinos, and my rapiers and quad mortars, the rapiers prove themselves once again and take out another malcador (!) while my avenger tries to crash into my opponent in one last, hatefilled moment of spite.

My praetor duels his commander, whiffs 4 out of 7 attacks, decapitates him with a last one, and only his standard bearer remains. And makes it into combat for another turn. A fukken hero that one.

Last turn my team mates domitar iron circle get overwatched to death by volkite and his praetor ignobly killed by a paltry techpriest.


we lose by ten points but, by the uncaring laughter of the dark gods it was epic.