>I have a lot of battle reports that need writing, so I thought I'd
>warm
>up for the bigger ones by writing up a few (relatively short and
>map-less ones) from the recently completed DexCon 6 (July 2-6) here
>in
>New Jersey. We had three tables of Epic going at once on Sunday,
>with
>one fighting Epic 40k, one fighting Epic 2nd Ed. and one running a
>demo
>of Epic 40k (GW Outrider). 2nd Ed. looked like a lot of fun but
>FWIW
>they got in one game in the time we played two (looked about even in
>terms of size). Everyone was a great sport and we had a ton of fun.
>
>On the Epic 40k table, we were fighting a mini-tournament (there
>were
>three of us fighting it out). We thus played three battles (A vs.
>B, B
>vs. C, A vs. C) and compared victories and morale differences to
>determine the final placing.
>
>I don't have my opponents' army lists, but I will describe as best I
>can from memory...
>
>My army in both of my battles:
>
>Shadow Skulls Space Marine Chapter + Cadian Guard Support
>
>Force Caius
>4x II Company Tactical Squad in Rhino
>2x II Company Devastator Squad in Rhino
>II Company Captain Caius in Rhino
>II Company Librarian Garin in Rhino
>341 Points, 7 Morale, 11 Half Strength
>
>Force Falco (in Drop Pods)
>5x VIII Company Assault Squad
>2x I Company Terminator Squad
>VIII Company Captain Falco w/ Jump Packs
>VIII Company Librarian Urian w/ Jump Packs
>293 Points, 6 Morale, 7 Half Strength
>
>100th Cadian Tank Regiment, Combat Team Yankee
>6x Leman Russ Tank
>3x Hellhound Tank
>253 Points, 6 Morale, 5 Half Strength
>
>Force Barcas
>6x Land Raider Tank
>3x Vindicator Tank
>301 Points, 7 Morale, 5 Half Strength
>
>25th Cadian Tactical Squadron
>3x Thunderbolt Fighter
>3x Marauder Fighter-Bomber
>250 Points, 5 Morale, 3 Half Strength
>
>Warlord Titan Reaper
>2x Heavy Batteries (Front)
>1x Mega-Cannon (Right)
>1x Death Ray (Left)
>555 Points, 12 Morale, 6DC Half Strength
>
>1st Battle (Me vs. Imperial Guard)
>
>My opponent fielded an Imperial Guard army that consisted of roughly
>the following:
>
>2 large infantry regiments, roughly 1/3 of the infantry was heavy,
>each
>had a couple of ogryn stands and a few leman russes as organic
>armour
>support. There were plenty of commanders and psykers spread around.
>
>1 medium size detachment of Ultramarines in support, consisting of
>devastators and tacticals in rhinos, plus some land raiders in
>support.
>
>3 Thunderbolts and 3 Marauders in two separate detachments for air
>cover.
>
>1 Arty company of three heavy and three siege guarded by a hydra and
>a
>few Leman Russ tanks.
>
>1 Leviathan Command Center.
>
>We fought meeting engagement rules for all the battles, with the
>first
>to zero morale considered the loser. I started with 43 morale and
>he
>started with 42. My actual points total was lower, so I received
>five
>fate cards to his four. We decided to both use the Emperor's tarot.
>As we both had a strategy rating of four, we rolled to see who was
>higher. I lost the roll and thus had two chits in the cup for this
>battle.
>
>The board was the same for all games and consisted of an agri-world
>farming colony - thus fairly dense with buildings, silos, vats and a
>bridge over an irrigation canal. A third party set up the terrain
>for
>all the battles and we arbitrarily agreed on sides.
>
>We each placed two take and hold objectives and a capture objective.
>
>Beginning: My Morale: 43 His Morale: 42
>
>Turn 1:
>
>During the first turn the Guard advanced, mostly on normal and
>assault
>orders. An assassin (one of my fate cards) destroyed the artillery
>commander in his Basilisk and put a blast marker on that detachment.
>His right and center were held by the two large Guard regiments.
>The
>Ultramarines advanced quickly on his left and unloaded in buildings
>near the bridge. The Leviathan advanced (slowly) behind the center
>guard regiment, just about in the seam between the regiment and the
>Ultramarines.
>
>I advanced my forces towards cover on assault orders. Barcas' land
>raiders were on my left, intending to take up positions amid some
>buildings in front of a small field one of his regiments would
>likely
>have to cross. The tanks of Team Yankee advanced near the bridge on
>my
>right, supported by Force Caius, most of my chapter's second
>company.
>The Warlord Titan Reaper advanced behind Team Yankee and Force
>Caius,
>heading towards my right flank.
>
>His artillery opened up on Force Caius, still advancing in its
>Rhinos
>and not yet in cover. The basilisks were not yet in range, so two
>siege artillery (one being negated due to the blast marker) opened
>fire. In a storm of shells, the lead three rhinos were scattered by
>fire and shrapnel. Ten devastator marines failed to evacuate their
>rhinos, but my Captain's team made it out alive along with the other
>ten devastators. The long range fire of the tanks of Team Yankee
>and
>the Warlord Titan scoured the Ultramarines from the building near
>the
>bridge, causing them moderate casualties and a large amount of
>disruption. The Land Raiders of Force Barcas then managed to pick
>off
>a lead Leman Russ from the flanking regiment.
>
>The assault phase saw me complete my moves into cover with Force
>Caius
>unloading into a building directly in front of the advancing central
>Guard regiment and Leviathan. Reaper advanced through the canal
>near
>the bridge, fording the difficult terrain with ease. There were no
>assaults or firefights, yet.
>
>The rally phase saw my opponent fail to remove any blast markers
>other
>than the one on his artillery detachment. I removed all blast
>markers
>on my force and prepared for what I knew would be a critical turn.
>
>End of Turn 1: My Morale: 43 His Morale: 34
>
>Turn 2:
>
>The flyers and my drop pod equipped assault marines would arrive
>this
>turn and since I lost the initiative, I would be revealing my hand
>first. The assault marines dropped behind a building to the rear of
>his Ultramarines and prepared to assault them. I did not suffer any
>casualties from the drop, but one stand of terminators ended up only
>a
>few centimeters from the edge of the board.
>
>My flyers chose Ground Attack and his chose Intercept for the
>Thunderbolts and Ground Attack for the Marauders. Our airforces
>virtually nullified each other for the rest of the battle, with the
>only significant impact being my airstrike this round on his
>artillery,
>which destroyed the remaining two basilisks (one of my marauders was
>destroyed, the other damaged). Therefore, I will ignore them from
>now on.
>
>Forces Barcas and Caius went on Overwatch. Team Yankee also went on
>Overwatch as the Reaper continued to advance. I began by badly
>shooting up his Ultramarines with Team Yankee. He returned fire
>with
>his central Guard regiment, which destroyed my Hellhound support but
>no
>Leman Russes. I then fired with Force Caius at the Guard and
>battered
>their forward units. He responded with artillery on my assault
>marines
>(at this point I realized that I had forgotten to actually move them
>after the drop so the were quite tightly packed - I also forgot that
>siege artillery fires every other round, so even though his
>basilisks
>were gone, the arty fired every round afterwards). The shells fell
>on
>closely packed marines and nearly broke their assault (three BMs and
>2
>stands short of losing morale). The Reaper blasted more
>Ultramarines
>and Force Barcas and the flanking regiment exchanged shots. Two
>Land
>Raiders fell to the enemy fire, along with two Leman Russ tanks and
>an
>Ogryn.
>
>In the assault phase, Force Falco jumped into combat with the
>remaining
>Ultramarines and dispatched most of them. The broken and
>demoralized
>remnants fled towards the Leviathan and the central Guard regiment,
>too
>disrupted to have any hope of rallying.
>
>The rally phase saw my opponent shrug off quite a few blast markers,
>but I had managed to gain a take and hold objective and a capture
>objective with my assault marines and Team Yankee. I destroyed the
>capture (thus causing him to lose 4 morale) and gained 1 morale from
>the Take and Hold. His Ultramarines were almost completely gone and
>terribly suppressed, however. It was impossible for them to rally
>as
>there were still more blast markers on them than they had remaining
>troops. For my part I rolled about average and lost around half of
>my
>blast markers.
>
>End of Turn 2: My Morale: 33 His Morale: 18
>
>I could smell blood and knew that with the demise of the
>Ultramarines
>his flank was open to my attack. I left Force Falco to guard the
>objectives while I hunted the Leviathan with the Reaper and Team
>Yankee. Force Caius would engage the central regiment while Barcas
>continued to try and hold the flank.
>
>In the movement phase the Reaper lumbered into the center of his
>army,
>the Leviathan and the infantry within its sights. Team Yankee kept
>to
>the side as the Leviathan was their prime target. Force Falco took
>cover in the ruins by the Take and Hold Objective, while Caius
>stayed
>on Overwatch. Barcas also stayed on Overwatch.
>
>He moved his Guard regiments forward. The flanking regiment went on
>assault while the central regiment attempted overwatch and failed.
>They thus stayed on normal orders and took cover in a plantation
>forest
>next to the Leviathan.
>
>The artillery fired ineffectively at Barcas. Team Yankee then
>stripped
>the Leviathan's void shields one by one until the last one blinked
>out.
> The flanking Guard regiment continued firing at Barca's Land
>Raiders,
>destroying enough this turn to break the morale of the detachment
>and
>leave my left flank vulnerable. Caius hammered the lead Guard
>troops
>with unusually accurate fire and detonated the last Leman Russ in
>the
>central Guard regiment. The central Guard regiment fired back and
>stripped two void shields from the Reaper. Finally, what remained
>of
>Force Barcas picked off the remaining heavy weapons troops from the
>flanking Guard regiment.
>
>The Reaper then fired at the Leviathan and the central Guard
>regiment
>(the mega-cannon was targeted on the Guard). The Leviathan shook as
>the shots pounded into its armour, the volcano gun finally tearing
>into
>the mega-cannon itself and disabling it (1 damage left on the
>Leviathan). The guard meanwhile tasted the mega-cannon and the
>trees
>of the plantation did not avail them as twenty of them (four stands)
>were mowed down. The leviathan fired back what it could at the
>Reaper,
>stripping another shield and nothing more.
>
>My opponent had the first assault phase and promptly failed his
>leadership test to assault with the flanking guard regiment. He
>then
>noticed that the Reaper was in firefight range of his Ultramarines
>and
>Leviathan. With the condition of the marines and the Leviathan, the
>Reaper won the firefight handily, leaving the Leviathan a smoking
>wreck
>shattered by internal explosions and the marines (sans one more
>rhino)
>running away again.
>
>In my assault phase the Reaper moved forward to engage the central
>Guard regiment in yet another firefight. In short order this too
>was
>won, leaving the Guard disrupted, demoralized and broken. The only
>unbroken Guard detachment in my center and right was the artillery
>company, now terribly exposed and in range of the Reaper and around
>a
>company of Marines.
>
>In the rally phase my opponent did not remove enough blast markers
>to
>avoid his army coming to the conclusion that retiring from the
>battle
>was the best remaining choice. For my part, though my army had been
>bloodied they were victorious and in command of around 80% of the
>field
>when the enemy decided to withdraw.
>
>End of Turn 3 and End of Battle: My Morale: 22 His Morale: <0 (we
>stop at zero as a house rule)
>
>At this point my opponent played the third player who also had a
>largely Space Marine army. The battle lasted five turns and I was
>eating lunch for most of the duration. I can say that at the end of
>turn 3 my opponent had 10 morale and the other player had 2. At the
>end of turn 4 it was 4 to 1. At the end of turn 5 it was 0 to 0,
>thus
>the other player had managed to squeak out a draw in the end despite
>getting hit hard very early.
>
>The third game will be in the next battle report (probably tomorrow)
>and was between me and the other Space Marine player. If I could
>win
>this battle, my overall victory was assured. Any other result and
>we
>would be counting morale points to determine a victor.
>
>Hope you enjoyed it.
>
>Regards,
>
>- Erik
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>"Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever
bubble
>up, if you will ever dig."
>- Marcus Aurelius
Impressive...
Is an Imperial army (I mean Space Marine + Imperial Guard + Adeptus
Mecanicus) not too powerfull? I'm one of these fundamentalists who
believe that the only way is a total Space Marine army or a total
Imperial Gard army. OK perhaps with some Titans or Heavy Vehicles
from the Adeptus Mecanicus. What do you think about this?
Francois Bruntz
Apprenti MIAGE (Universite Paris XII - IBM France)
Please visit my Epic page :
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/2370/
_______________________________________________________
Get Private Web-Based Email Free
http://www.hotmail.com
Received on Tue Jul 08 1997 - 07:19:29 UTC