500 Point Vostroyans Vs Ultramarines: The ScouringAbout a week back I got in another game against the "Ultramarines" (a friend of mine using my Imperial Fists as proxies). Another learning game, mostly, but it was quite entertaining. No story this time around, though--a bit pressed for time and there are only so many ways I can work up a way for the Ultramarines to shoot Vostroyans without it being a Whole Thing. Consider this battle another
in the long line of Ivan stories told among the Vostroyans to each other.
Vostroyan Patrol AM Combined Arms DetachmentCompany Command Squad w/3x Meltaguns, Carapace, Officer (Carapace)
--in Chimera w/Hvy Flamer
10 Grenadiers w/ 2x Plasma, Autocannon
10 Grenadiers w/ 2x Plasma, Autocannon
Armored Sentinel w/Plasma Cannon
Armored Sentinel w/Plasma Cannon
Made some minor tweaks to the list this time out. Swapped out the Voxes and Meltabombs for a pair of Autocannons, just to give me a bit more reach.Ultramarine Forward ElementAstartes Combined Arms Detachment, Ultramarines ChapterTelion
9 Scouts w/Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles, 1 x Missile Launcher
10-marine Tac Squad w/Meltagun, Multimelta, Vet Sarge w/meltabombs
--in Drop Pod
5-marine Assault Squad w/Jump Packs, 2x Flamers, Vet Sarge
He went a totally different direction here, more in keeping with how he wants to play.Terrain, Objectives, and DeploymentFirst off, I forgot that Telion has Storm of Fire built-in as his Warlord Trait and therefore my opponent rolled on the Strategic Table, getting Night Attacker (or whatever it was). It's just as well--we always forget to roll for night-fight anyway. It may as well be night sometime. I, meanwhile, rolled Conqueror of Cities which, given the terrain, was going to come in mighty handy.
The board was set up as a ruined city. Some forests and craters ringed the edge of the board. The center, running diagonally from NW to SE, was an ancient "main street" across which was strung barbed wire and tank traps in various places. There were four principal ruins. The "Duplex" was a side-by-side four story ruin. Across from it was the "cafe"--a one story, narrow ruin. Then the two main ruins--two stories and three stories respectively--were in the middle.
As this was the Scouring, objectives weren't revealed until after deployment, but just for simplicity's sake, here they are: 1-point in the three-story ruin, 3-point in the two story, 2 points in the cafe, 2-points in the duplex, 3 points in the NW, and 4-points in the SW crater.
Deployment was Vanguard. I won the roll-off and picked the southeast corner, since it seemed there were more objectives closer to me, and my army is anything but mobile. One batch of plasma vets went in the duplex, the other in the cafe. The sentinels and Chimera held main street. Opposing them was the assault squad behind some tank traps and the scouts and Telion holed up behind a wall just behind the two-story ruins.
Deployment:
Vostroyan DeploymentScouts!Proxied Assault MarinesTurn 2The Marine's drop has left the Sentinels with a target rich environment--if they can't perform here, they won't perform at all. I march the Sentinels around the corner of the café and support them with the Chimera. The idea is to have the Sentinels blow away the marines while a pair of meltaguns from the hatch will take a shot at blowing up the drop pod. The café Grenadiers get a Get Back in the Fight so they pop up, ready to shoot (this drives my opponent nuts--his first encounter with this kind of thing). Despite the hoopla, the Grenadiers don't do much of anything (my plasma guns have a habit of rolling 1 to wound this game) and kill 1 guy. Once sentinel lands his shot, killing another 4 marines (respectable) while the other scatters off target and blows up the Drop Pod quite by accident (hey, I'll take it!). This gives the Command Squad not much to shoot at, so they fire some lasguns from the Lasgun Array at the encroaching Assault Marines by the duplex. They don't do anything.
The Duplex Grenadiers get a "First Rank, Second Rank" command, but flub their roll. They fire normally, but only manage to kill 1 marine (one of the flamer guys). Looks like I'm getting assaulted next round.
Top of Turn 2
The Marines declare their Assault Doctrine this turn, because assaulting is what they're going to do. The Tactical squad lobs a grenade and shoots bolt pistols then charges the Grenadiers in the café. Overwatch does nothing and then all of them die in the ensuing assault. The Marines occupy the café unscathed. The Assault marines, meanwhile, charge the other Grenadiers. I get lucky in overwatch and kill one with a plasma gun on the way in. In the combat, I lose three but kill one (!). I lose combat and flee, but the Marines are unable to sweep. I figure they're bound for off the board, but they only flee 4"--just enough to stick them outside the ruin.
My lucky streak this turn continues as Telion, speaking carefully into the ear of the missile launcher, manages to explain to the young marine how to completely miss the back armor of a Sentinel even with a crazy high ballistic skill. The sniper rifles do nothing, either, because they're sniper rifles.
Bottom of Turn 2
The Marines find they have been stuck with the bill.The Assault Marines forcibly evict my guys.Turn 3Okay, so that turn hurt, despite my stokes of luck. There isn't a whole *lot* to my army, and if I lose all my infantry without taking out more of his guys, I'm not going to have a lot left to work with. To start with the fleeing grenadiers don't rally. I figure that's the last of them, but they only roll another 4" and, miraculously, remain on the board. What's even better is that they're *just* close enough for me to pull some more order-related shenanigans.
I swing the Chimera across the main street, backside facing the fleeing grenadiers, which puts me just close enough to issue a Get Back in the Fight that pulls my guys to their sense and they pop up, ready to rumble. Well, sort of. The plan now becomes for them to run as fast as their little feet can carry them to see if they can make it to the 4-point objective in the corner of the board. In 2-3 turns, if I get decent run rolls, it is entirely possible. I forget how far they run, but it's a serviceable distance (not sure if the map reflects it).
The CCS then issues a "Fire on My Target" to itself, allowing the remaining meltaguns to wipe out the remaining assault marines without cover interfering. The Armored Sentinels try to do more damage to the tactical marines, but one of them can't get past cover and only kills one while the other overheats and manages to do to itself what the missile launcher couldn't--it loses a hull point. So, basically, they continue being the underwhelming Sentinels I know and love.
Top of Turn 3
My newly rallied squad prepares for a mad dash.Chimera to the rescue!All that Plasma, not much payoffIn the bottom of three, Telion revises his instructions and the missile launcher guy with the scouts kills the damaged Sentinel. The other sentinel gets blasted partially in the side by the remaining tac marines, losing a hull point.
Bottom of Turn 3
The Tacs attempt to flankTurn 4While the Grenadiers scurry for all they're worth (they make it to a crater) towards their distant goal, the Chimera swings back across main street and disembarks the Command Squad ("The Wrecking Crew," I dub them) and, issuing another Fire On My Target to themselves, atomize 3 of the four remaining tactical marines. The last Sentinel backs up and tries to contribute, but it
overheats again, but no hull point (I SWEAR, Gets Hot is SO FRUSTRATING).
Top of Turn 4
The blue die is where they're running to.And then there was one...In the bottom of the turn, the lone tac marine dives back into the café and sprays the command squad with bolter fire, but kills no one. Telion and the snipers pick of two of the remaining four guys in the Grenadier squad. Two guys remain--the sergeant, and the autocannon gunner (his loader is already dead, as the base has one wound).
Bottom of Turn 4
Nothing like dodging sniper fire while dragging a heavy weapon, eh?The Marine tries to disguise himself as a really big coffee makerTurn 5My Grenadiers churn their little legs as fast as they can go and get a 6" run, getting them in range of the 4-point objective in the SW crater (note: the map didn't show them move in turn 3, so they didn't actually move *that* far this turn). The Company Command Squad uses Fire on My Target to obliterate the last tac marine and occupy the café themselves. They Chimera and the Sentinel move in on the Scouts. I throw the Sentinel forward to mess with the objective there and force him to move. I keep the Chimera a little further behind, ready to swoop in and roast them if needed.
Top of Turn 5
Frustrated by the grenadier's resilience, Telion splits off from his squad to try and snipe the last two guys on the SW objective. He spends this turn getting into position. The Scouts, meanwhile, shoot and charge the Sentinel but, for a lark, the Sentinel actually kills one and takes no damage in return--they flee! Of course, being marines, they will rally, but still it's a pretty rare occurrence.
Bottom of Turn 5
Turn 6We roll for another turn and get it. The current score is 11 to 1, but the marines can get 4 points and take away 7 of my own, which would make the score 5-4 in his favor. All he needs to do is kill my Sentinel, claim the 3-point objective in that ruin, and knock me off of the 4-pointer in the south. With Telion's sights trained on my two guys down there, that isn't impossible.
To prevent this, the Chimera churns up and blasts the Scouts with the heavy flamer, roasting 2. The Sentinel, of course, misses the mob with his plasma cannon. Why? Because Sentinels suck.
My autocannon gunner drops his big weapon on the ground in the SW and takes aim at the distant shape of Telion. Fires twice, both miss. Telion's a slippery one.
Top of 6
In the bottom of the turn, the Scouts surround and destroy the Sentinel with a well-placed Krak grenade. They have 1 point for killing the Sentinel and 3 for claiming the objective. Now for the last part.
Telion takes careful aim and fires two shots. Both hit. He rolls to wound. He rolls a pair of 2s. My opponent curses the heavens.
Telion's shot knocks the hat off the autocannon gunner to reveal none other than the legendary Iron Ivan of Vostroya!
Bottom of 6
Turn 7Yes, Virginia, there is a 7th turn. I roll the Chimera up and roast some more scouts, killing another 3 or so. Ivan tests the wind, mutters dark curses under his breath, and sends two autocannon slugs down range. He hits twice, he wounds twice, and Telion fails both cover saves. Bam! Ivan wins the sniper's duel. Good times.
Top of Turn 7
This is a looong range shot.With good grace and only two scouts on the board, my opponent concedes.
Final ScoreVostroyans: 9
Ultramarines: 5
Post MortemThat was a fun game, especially for one of this size. There were two keys here on my side: firstly, the Command Squad was crucial. Its capacity to cruise around issuing orders and its cover-denying meltaguns were clutch in several instances. Second was the miraculous flee rolls my other grenadiers made--only 8" over 4D6" of distance is very, very lucky. That earned me 4 points I wouldn't have otherwise scored and, in a very real sense, earned me the game. It was also awesome to have a sniper's duel.
That said, snipers are lame, as I have often believed. My opponent really wanted to try them out, but I don't think their damage output is sufficient to justify the increased cost over a basic scout. I guess maybe if you play against a lot of MCs, I could see it. In general, though, they just don't pay off. Still, another learning game and my new opponent her is getting better, so that's good news. He is, however, leaning towards trying out the Orks next time, so that could really be fun. Orks are always a fun game. Well, usually. So long as the 5th Edition Kan Wall never comes back, anyway.
Thanks for reading and thanks, as always, to my opponent!