Topic: 1000 Vostroyan AM Vs Mars AdMech

[Wyddr]

1000 Vostroyan AM Vs AdMech--Cleanse and Capture

Captain Oklav Sturmeier lowered his field glasses and stroked his moustaches. "Those are *not* orks."

Lieutenant Stanislav nodded. "No sir."

In the distance, the red robes of the skitarii were like little blots of blood on the snow-covered landscape as they marched in mechanical files through the ruined settlement. Sturmeier could see absolutely no reason the AdMech would have a force of skitarii blundering about in an active war zone, least of all occupying the terrain that High Command had ordered him to pacify. "Have they responded to Vox hails?"

"No sir. And they appear to be jamming out own vox signals back to HQ."

Sturmeier pressed the field glasses into his leiutenant's hands. "This is surprising, lieutentant. I hate surprises."

Stanislav shrugged. "I'm sure there's some logical explanation."

"Indeed there is. They are about to attack us."

The young lieutenant laughed but, when no sign of mirth sprinkled across his commander's face, the laugh quickly dwindled into nothing. "But...but...why?"

Sturmeier brought out an autoquill and penned an order. "I have no idea, lieutenant, but in situations like these, I always heed the advice of Leman Russ."

"Which is, sir?"

"Shoot first and ask questions later." Sturmeier slapped the order into the hands of one of his sergeants. The man saluted and ran off.

And the Hammer of the Emperor came to life.

After a four month hiatus from playing (a new baby in the Wyddr household), I finally got another game in. This time it was Uncle Tungsten's Mars AdMech against my Vostroyan AM. We played a Maelstrom mission--Cleanse and Capture--which will tie in with our ongoing Orthos IV campaign setting. This is the first time the Vostroyans have come across the rogue AdMech elements operating on the planet, and the AdMech is keen to destroy them and keep their presence a secret.

Vostroyan Battalion and Armored Spearhead
Battalion Detachment
HQ
Company Commander w/Kurov's Aquila (Warlord: Master Strategist)
Company Commander

Elites
5 Ratlings
Vet Squad w/ 3x Flamers

Troops
Infantry Squad w/Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/Plasma Gun
Infantry Squad w/Plasma Gun

Fast Attack
2 Armored Sentinels w/Plasma Cannons

Transport
Chimera w/Multilaser, Hvy Bolter

Spearhead Detachment
HQ
Company Commander w/Powerfist

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Punisher w/Hvy Bolter Sponsons
Leman Russ Executioner w/Plasma Cannon Sponsons
Heavy Weapons Squad w/Mortars

Mars AdMech Skitarii Battalion
HQ
Techpriest Dominus w/Macrostubber, Volkite Blaster
Techpriest

Elites
5 Infiltrators w/pistols and taser goads
Datasmith

Troops
10 Vanguard w/ 2x Plasma Caliver, Data Tether
5 Rangers w/ 2x Transsauranic Arquebi, Omnispex
5 Rangers w/ 2x Arc Rifles

Fast Attack
Ironstrider w/2x Lascannons

Heavy Support
2 Kastellan Robots w/ triple Phosphor Blasters
Dunecrawler w/Icarus Array, Data Tether

Mission, Terrain, and Deployment
We decided to do a Maelstrom mission, despite my general disinterest in those missions. Cleanse and Capture would give us 3 objectives per turn and any actual objective cards drawn would count for both sides. Terrain was a bombed-out settlement, with a big forest in the SW corner, two multi-story ruins in the north-center part of the board, a small ruin in the south-center area, and two walls running from the northern ruins southwards. There were some other bombed out bunkers in the east and a few craters scattered around, as well as some razorwire sections.

The objectives landed as follows: Objective 1 in the space just north of the forest. Objective 2 in the NW ruin, Objective 3 in the NE ruin, Objective 4 behind the East wall, Objective 5 in the open in the center of the south, and objective 6 inside the small ruin in the SW.

I won deployment and we got table quarters. I picked the SW quarter, as it would put me closest to the most objectives and give me the forest as a cover-laden fall-back point if needed. I deployed both Leman Russ in the forestm shielding the Mortar squad which occupied the very back corner of the board, more or less (about 9.5" from the board edges). The Chimera went just north of the forest, loaded up with the Vets and the powerfist commander, with the vague idea that they would swing north and try to flank the enemy and/or be used to counter any infiltrator attack. The Sentinels deployed at the eastern edge of my zone, just next to the small ruin. The ratlings occupied a crater in the NW corner, mostly placed there to ward away any early infiltrator attack on that flank. The infantry squads deployed forward in a human wave, stretching from the small ruin to the SW to the edge of the NW ruin. My two foot officers deployed in places where the enemy snipers would have no LOS to them.

The AdMech deployed mostly around the NE ruin--the Vanguard occupying the bottom floor, the Arc Rangers behind it, the robots and Sniper Rangers just north of it, along with the Dominus and the Datasmith. The Dunecrawler went behind the ruin along with the techpriest, and the Ironstrider went behind one of the bunkers in the far east. The Infiltrators, of course, deployed in concealment.

Deployment:


My forest base
Ratlings in the crater
AdMech deployment
The eastern ruin

Turn 1
As my opponent finished deploying several units ahead of me, he ought to have gone first, BUT he was not counting on Captain Sturmeier's tactical genius! I seized the initiative on a command point (which, having only *just* gotten Chapter Approved yesterday, I now see is no longer allowed...ah, well). Anyway, I end up going first. I draw cards to defend objective 6 and 1 (sweet--both easily in my DZ) and Kingslayer, which I have no shot of achieving *now,* but probably will be able to get it at some point. Then, to movement.

This is when I first realize just how huge the Vostroyan regimental trait is, since I find just about everything I have has easy range to something in the enemy army. Sweet! Some of my infantry shuffles around (most notably the northernmost squad occupies the NE ruin), mostly to get lasguns in range, and my officers duck from cover to cover to keep order-range to their units. The Chimera cruises north. Everything else stays put. Then we open fire. My opponent selected Shroudpsalm to beef up his units' durability, but it didn't matter that much, given the volume of fire I was putting down. The mortars and some lasgun bolts take out 3 out of 5 sniper rangers, leaving just the arquebi. The Punisher absolutely rips the Vanguard apart with it's almost 50 shots which, along with some lasbolts, wipes the unit out (2 were left and they died in the morale phase). The Executioner nukes one robot off the board (with some help from the Chimera), though 3 plasma bolts ricochet back and damage the tank. The Ratlings put one wound on the Dominus (big whoop--he'll automatically heal it next turn, anyway) and the Sentinels do two wounds to the Ironstrider.

Current score: 1-0, Vostroya (for first blood)

Top of Turn 1


I inch forward
Heavy losses

In my opponent's turn, he draws one objective that gives him a point for making me fail a morale test, one that gives him a point if he fully repairs a vehicle, and one for Objective 3. He moves the techpriest and the Dunecrawler out from behind the ruin and moves the Ironstrider close to the Techpriest to try and heal it up. It doesn't work--he only heals 1 wound. The robot, Dominus, and Datasmith all move south into the ruin. The Robot's phosphor blasters kill 7 guardsmen in the NW ruin (ouch!) and the Ironstrider and Dunecrawler and Arquebi can't *quite* get enough wounds to stick to the Sentinels, doing 5 wounds to one of them. He does, however, score one for a failed morale check (the guardsmen in the ruin) and one for Objective 3.

Current Score: 2-1 AdMech

Bottom of Turn 1


No good targets
Pounding the Sentinels
A lot of dead guardsmen, sliced up by lasers

Turn 2
In my second turn, I score the two Defend objectives, giving me 4 VP. I'm still sitting on Kingslayer since I think it may come in handy in a pinch during the late game. Of course, the way things are going for the AdMech, there isn't going to *be* a late-game. My infantry continues to scoot forwards and everything else stays put. I use Firstborn Pride on the Executioner (just like I did last turn) to lay down the pain on the remaining robot, but it rolls a hell of a series of invul saves, rebounding 2 more shots and still sitting on 2 wounds left after all is said and done. The Executioner crew Jury Rigs their tank to get back a wound to keep them well above. Both CPs spent come back to me as a result of Masterful Strategist. The Punisher pounds the remaining robot with its super cannon, but most of the small arms ping right off and it only takes 1 wound. Still one wound left.

The mortars and the Chimera finish off the two sniper Rangers way up in the north. The infantry splits its fire--lasguns fire at soft targets (such as the rangers behind the ruin) while the plasma guns try to shave wounds off the Ironstrider or Dunecrawler. Most of the lasguns don't do much (my opponent rolled up Shroudpsalm again), but the plasma guns pay off pretty well. The two southern squads knock 4 wounds off the Ironstrider with two well-placed high power shots. The damaged northern squad blows up the final robot on a keen-eyed blast. Finally the Sentinels knock out the Ironstrider with their own plasma volley. I erroneously used Firstborn Pride a second time that turn (forgot you can't do that), but I don't think it mattered much, if memory serves--I only landed one damaging hit, anyway. The CP, again, was restored thanks to the Warlord trait (I got super, super lucky with that thing this game).

Score: 5-2 Vostroyans

Top of Turn 2


A Steady Advance
The fateful plasma shot ends the ancient Castellan

In my opponents turn, the Infiltrators showed up (finally!), popping up in front of the Armored Sentinels. Their pistol volley killed the lead sentinel, but they failed their charge. The Dunecrawler fired at the Executioner, knocking off two more wounds. The rangers behind the ruin came out and shot down 3-4 guardsmen while the Dominus and Datasmith retreated behind that same ruin. The Techpriest scored an objective by claiming Objective 4. That's about all he had for me.

Score: 5-3 Vostroyans

Bottom of Turn 2


The Infiltrators finally show!

Turn 3
Welp, time to bang the final nail in this coffin. With the snipers dead, there's no longer any reason for my officers to be shy. Also, I draw the objective that asks me to issue 3+ orders in a turn, which is super, super easy to do. The other objective drawn is to claim objective 5, I think.

The infantry move their full rate forwards to get rapid-fire range to the rangers and the Infiltrators. The infiltrators lose 4 to concentrated lasfire and then the southernmost infantry squad charges and kills the last one (also claiming the objective, I think). The rangers are killed by lasfire and also heavy bolter fire from the Punisher. Lastly, the Executioner crew Jury Rigs their tank (fire extinguishers galore!) to get it back to full effectiveness and then uses Firstborn Pride to nuke the Dunecrawler off the board.

By this point, the Admech only has 3 characters left on the board and my opponent concedes the game.

Top of Turn 3


UP VOSTROYA!

Final Score
Vostroyan Firstborn: 7
AdMech: 3

Post-Mortem
This was a good, old-fashioned stomping. I made one key rules error in my favor (I used Firstborn Pride too much to cut down on plasma overheats), but even *if* I didn't use it as often, I don't think very much would have changed. I barely had to expend my resources to prevent the AdMech from getting at me. I had solid dice luck, I was reclaiming CPs every single turn, and I outnumbered and outgunned my opponent by a significant margin. Just on list strength alone, Uncle Tungsten had an uphill battle.

Beyond that, my opponent made a couple errors. Firstly, he did not use his full army to crush any single part of my army. The Infiltrators should have shown up Turn 1, and probably within range of the infantry in the NW ruin (this was what I anticipated might happen, hence the Chimera there to swoop in). His 5-man Arc Rifle Rangers should have been in position to shoot me right away. He also spent too much time shooting my stupid sentinels (whose damage output was modest--about 2 wounds per turn) and more time aiming at either my Executioner or blowing away my infantry.

His robots were clearly his best unit by far. Just that one firing once was enough to make me respect what that unit can do. However, he had no other more immediate threats to occupy my substantial firepower and, therefore, they died by turn 2. It would have been interesting to see what might have happened in I hadn't seized the initative--those things could have shot at *least* twice and probably thinned out my infantry a good bit.

As a final note, the Vostroyan Heirloom Weapons rule is just plain awesome--longer range weapons makes castle building a lot easier, and my lasguns were quite effective overall (considering that they're lasguns). The Sentinels also pulled their weight, which was more than I was expecting. I still think Armored Sentinels aren't that great, but now, at least, I kinda understand their role: a unit of 2 is *almost* as tough as a Leman Russ and carries two heavy weapons, making them *just dangerous enough* to attract enemy AT fire, but not flimsy enough to blow up immediately. That, though, is a pretty niche role.

Anyway, it was a fun game and nice to kick off some of the cobwebs. Thanks for reading and thanks, as always, to my opponent!