I played two games of 40K last weekend and had a blast! My Minotaurs faced off against my buddy Galen's Necrons in a city fight playing The Relic. It didn't take me long to relearn what makes the Necrons so nasty, they slay tanks with ease. Galen and I hadn't played much together since high school, that's over ten years ago! I bet will be doing this more offten now. Here's a we bit of a battle report.
My forces: Librarian with Psychic Shriek and Dominate and the SM warlord trait that lets one squad re-roll missed shooting once per game. two tactical squads in rhinos. One has all meltas and a powerfist/combimelta vet, the other a flamer and a powerfist/combiflamer vet. I have a predator with heavy bolters and an autocannon and a venerable dreadnought with a heavy flamer and multi melta in a drop pod with a deathwind launcher. I also have a squad of scouts with ccws and a vet with a combi flamer.
Galen's forces: Three small squads of warriors, one of immortals, three wraiths, three tomblades, a destroyer lord and a lord on one of those chariot fast skimmer things who got the scoring unit warlord trait.
The Initial setup. I set up fisrt to take the first turn. I plan on droping down with Venerable Lianias, snaging the relic with the scouts, and slamming him with everything else to keep him from the relic. The predator would deal with any flankers.
The plot begins! Lianias drops down and the scouts infiltrate twords the relic.
Initialy trying to drop down and heavy flame his warriors, Lianias scatters far and lands right in front of The Lord. It's fine, he is a scoring unit to deal with too right? I try to MM blast the chariot but roll a 1 to hit! This is the first of a ton of bad luck I would have this game. I shot so many meltas at this thing over the course of the game, it drove me crazy! Lianias and his rop pod were then promptly g;anced to death on Galen's first turn. huge mistake in selection on my part!
The predator wiped out the jetbikes and the flamer squad and librarian were hit by the destroyer lord. His mindshackle scarabs took over the veteran sgt four times in a row! This and some attrocious luck on my part had the combat last for four turns before the librarian finaly put him down. In the center the rhinos move up to block the necron advance as the other lord charged the scouts and the melta squad. The Lord wipes out the scouts but the melta squad manages to stun the chariot (my only penning melta hit of the game!) The Lord has to dismount to take the fight to them as they withdraw with the relic. The wraith charges in as well.
The predator guns down the chariot and the surviros of my tactical squads attempt to pull the relic away. those lords took forever to fight! damn those mindshackle scarabs! My lacluster assault rolls and some luck on Galen's part have his lords prevent my withdrawl and ultimatly cost me the game. His other stuff was inefectual bar the initial destruction of lianias. I can't believe those two lords cost me the game!
The last combat was incredibly close! The Lord survied with only a single wound, but he wiped my men out! The predator attempted to bring him down but failed. He charged it and destroyed it out of sheer spite in the last turn of the game.
Result? Catostrphic loss. Not only was I tabled but Galen has the objective, slay the warlord, and first blood. I had...well...nothing...
Despite this I still think my tactics were sound. I think if I had taken less vhehicles and better alpha strike unit I could have pulled it off. Atrocious luck dosen't help much either!
Overal I had a ton of fun, even if I got tabled! I will gladly face them again, this time with less tanks and more men!
Halfway thought the game my brother Hadi and his friend Wilson showed up. So we played a 500 pt. team game. We played The Big Guns Never Tire, with my Minotaurs and Hadi's Altansar Eldar taking on Galen's Necrons and Wilson fielding my Deff Skulls. This game was a lot of fun but was insanley one sided. The new Eldar book is freaking nuts, and that combined with the Minotaurs close range prowess and a lot of luck saw us dominate the whole game. Some highlights are bellow.
Game Two:
Minos are the above tacical squads and librarian with three land speeder tornadoes thrown in with multimeltas and heavy flamers.
Eldar are a unit of guardians, a unit of dire avengers, a farseer, a wraithlord and a wave serpent (represented by the falcon...)
Orks have a battlewaggon full of boys, a shoota boys squad, and a truck with nobs and a warboss.
Necrons have some warriros, immortals, a lord, and one of those giant forge world centipied things (a tomb stalker?), some scarabs and a tomb spider.
Two objectives are in each deployment zone (graveyards and big buildings) and one is in the center.
We set up second and so have good deployment, and my brother steals the first turn! He then blows up the truck and slays some nobs. My forces advance and pot shot the battle wagon to no effect.
The battle cintinues with some attrocious ork luck. The battle wagon high centers on a baracade and the boys must disembark to get to the fight. The land speeders line up to hit the scarabs and the sluga boys. The wave serpent and wraitlord slay the nobs and warboss as they tried to move up the field.
The landspeeders are glanced to death, the guardians kill the remaining slugga boys, the minos move to grab the center objective and assault the crons. The tomb stalker is killed by mass fire after hiding in the cenetr building. I didn't even get a photo of it because it was so inefectual and I kept forgeting to take photos. What a shame!
The Minotaurs have their revenge!
On the last turn most of the shoota boys are killed by mass firepower. After this our opponents concied. We would have tabled them given a few turns and it was getting late!
We had fun but i felt kinda bad about the game overall. It was Wilsons first game of 6th ed and all he got to do was kill tow eldar and two land speeders, fail some critical rolls and remove orks by the handfull. And Galen never got to use his Stalker for anything other than movement and glancing a rhino to death. Kind of a lackluster game overall. I honestly think we won because of two diec rolls, stealing the initiative and willson imobilixing his battle wagon. Perhapse next time will be more exiting?
What a weekend! I gamed for over nine hours straight! I can't believe I had forgoten how much I love this hobby!
What follows is a picture book post I have made for The Steel Spines. You may noticed I switched their nick names! I decided I like them better swapped, as this squad is all about stubborn resistance and squad Kalath is all about arogant assault. Hope you enjoy it!
Tactical Squad Nispul
2nd Squad, 2nd Company
"The Steel Spines"
The Astral Claws are a chapter noted for their tenacious tendencies and the second companies second tactical squad, known as "The Steel Spines", have a particularly long history of staunch stubbornness and exceptional courage under fire. During the Badab war this tenacity would see their reputation magnified tenfold. Many members of Squad Nispul stubbornly refused to fall back despite facing overwhelming odds, and though they always took a large toll on the attackers, their inevitable deaths lead to a high rate of attrition amongst the squad. The constant replacement of losses created disunity between squad members, with new recruits maintaining a high degree of individuality and autonomy. The intense arrogance of The Astral Claws lead to a small core of veterans developing into a tight inner circle which new members could only break into after repeatedly proving their individual worth in combat. This occurrence would spread throughout the entire chapter as high losses saw squads replenished with members from both the "shadow chapter" and the astartes members of the Tyrant's Legion.
Here The Steel Spines are pictured towards the end of the war, as they fought in the dence of Isin, bolstering the Tyrant's Legion stationed there. Minotaurs Assault Squad Tarquinius charges in as The Steel Spines repress them with disciplined firepower, figthing over a shatered shrine to the fallen of the Imperium. The majority of the members would survive the engagement and eventually join Venerable Amru's defense force on The Astral Claws Star Fort Sentinal Sigma during the defense of The Ring of Steel. The Steel Spines were initially recorded as destroyed in the engagement, but the remains of several squad members were never conclusively identified and the absence of several star fort escape pods have lead some to suspect that they were amongst the Astral Claws that withdrew to Badab Primaris once the fort was deemed lost.
Notable Squad Members:
Veteran Sergeant Nispul "The Lion Hearted"
Veteran Sergeant Nispul lead The Steel Spines for over five decades before the outbreak of The Badab War. His refusal to withdraw despite overwhelming odds earned him the title "Lion Hearted" and forged costly victory from the hungry flames of certain loss in innumerable battles. This staunch tenacity nearly lead to his death during many of these actions and it would ultimately be his undoing. Durring the invasion of The Ring of Steel he lead the Steel Spines in defense of Sentinal Sigma's weapons batteries. When overwhelmed by insurmountable numbers, the last remaining members of The Steel Spines deemed the fort lost and requested to withdraw to the surface and continue the fight in defense of the system elsewhere. He denied the request and came to blows with his brothers. The "Lion Hearted" Veteran Sergeant's grim determination was forever ended in an act of savage mutiny.
Brother Arboghast
Originally a member of The Tiger Claws, Brother Arboghast was promoted from the unofficial ranks of the chapter to membership in The Steel Spines by order of Captain Corien Sumatris. Sumatris gradually promoted individual Tiger Claws into the ranks of the second company as opportunity allowed, bringing the most skilled and loyal of his brethren under his command. Towards the end of the war, when secrecy of such things was no longer necessary, Arboghast and his brothers repainted their shoulder pualdrons with their chapters original livery, proudly fighting as Tiger Claws once again. Chosen for his exceptional zeal and intense loyalty to Summatris, Arboghast hounored his captain to the bitter end, slaying many Exorcists aboard The Ring of Steel's Star Fort before finally succumbing to the focused bolter fire of overwhelming enemy numbers.
Brother Armon "Lion's Eyes"
A longstanding member of The Steel Spines, Armon had a reputation for exceptional accuracy with his favored weapon, the squads lascannon which has earned the monicker "Tyrant's Lance" while in his use. In opposition to the instructions of the Codex Astartes, heavy and special weapons duties are not regularly rotated amongst squad members of The Astral Claws. Instead the honor of wielding these weapons is granted to the most accomplished with them, the competition and focus creating exceptional specialized skill at the cost of individual tactical flexibility. Armon held the position of Lascannon bearer for over two decades before The Badab War, during which he earned the title "Lion's Eyes" after slaying a pirate Eldar Wraithlord while his squad was advancing. Armon arrogantly lauded his Lascannon expertise over his brothers and had bested several of them in contest to retain his position. Brother Armon is recorded as having destroyed the Exorcists Ironclad Dreadnought Darik during the boarding of Sentinel Sigma. Though his remains were never identified, it is likely that he perished, either in the fort or elsewhere in the system.
Brother Dragar
Originally a marksmen instructor amongst the Tyrant's Legion Garrison on Kyro, Brother Dragar withdrew from the planet amongst the forces lead by Venerable Amru. While stationed on Sentinal Sigma, Dragar became a member of The Steel Spines, Amru's praise of exceptional marksmanship earning him acceptance. Before even seeing combat with the unit Dragar bested the squads plasma gun bearer in a marksman's duel and won rights to the weapon, earning him the begrudged admiration of the other Steel Spines. Guided by his hands and eyes, the gun slew numerous invaders, Dragar's exceptional skill slaying even those who cowered in cover. Dragar was never accounted for amongst the squads slain.
Brother Hagarth
By far the most dour and taciturn member of The Steel Spines, Brother Hagarth was a ruthless and efficient killer, always able to spot the weaknesses of his opponents with but a moments observation. In Hagarth the aloof arrogance typical of The Astral Claws manifested as a cold and silent contempt, his piercing gaze judged all, oft finding failings of friend and foe alike. On the rare occasions when he spoke Hagarth offered invaluable advice on how to slay the squads foes and during the war he quickly earned a reputation as a peerless astartes slayer, teaching his squad mates to target the weak points in power armor. Blessed with a supply of poisoned alchemical rounds by Armenius Valthex himself, Hagarth aimed for his foes hip and gorget joints, the later of which he aptly dubbed "bullet traps." If even a fragment of his round penetrated the armoured ribbing of the joint, the virulent alchemical poison would incapacitate even the enhanced physiology of an astartes. When he deemed the Sentinal Sigma lost Hagarth was the first to suggest a withdrawal. Veteran Sergeant Nispul stubbornly refused, threatening to execute Hagarth for cowardice, siting an astartes duty to "fight and die for what they have sworn to defend." As Nispul turned to face another squad member, Hagarth drew his combat blade and stabbed his sergeant through the neck. He and the other survivors then made their escape in a small vessel, withdrawing further into The Badab System.
I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Tomorrow my brothers and I are having a St. Valentines Day Kill Team Bro-down, as my girl works and they are both single! I'll be taking The Steel Spines as my kill team now that I have worked up so much background for them! I'll post some pics from that later on!
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