[Epic] My DexCon Epic 40k experiences...

From: Erik K. Rutins <snowdo1_at_...>
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 19:47:44 -0400

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
Received on Mon Jul 07 1997 - 23:47:44 UTC