After a quiet weekend the planned game of Warhammer 40K came round quite quickly after all. I set a fairly simple table up and we went at it using the escalation mission and a growing number of objective cards to gain our victory points. Simply put, we had as many mission objectives as the turn number (turn 1 = 1 objective, turn 2 = 2 objectives… etc…). In a way, as the game progressed, we had more choice of which mission objective to attempt but fewer troops with which to accomplish it!
Coronasan went for a jump pack heavy Blood Angels force with tank and dreadnought support. The jump troops dropping in as reserves throughout the first few turns of the game. Their elite status making for a smaller force.
I went for a larger force, comprised of a large number of basic troops. I knew I would be slower on foot, so I took a Rhino APC to transport at least one of my units into the depths of the table if required. Along with some longer range firepower and a couple of psykers I thought I might be able to pick off a few of the enemy before they had the chance to cause too much of an impact.
With the ability to drop in on any part of the table the Blood Angels were always going to pop up with at least one unit in my rear.
But I managed to keep most of my focus on what was in front of me all the same.
And, after disgorging my transported troopers, I managed to destroy his dreadnought, a unit that also happened to be his only psyker.
One drawback of this edition of the rules is that characters do not join other units. This means that when setting up charges, Coronasan had to first charge a unit into combat then roll again and hope that the character also made it in. If not, they would be out of range for the benefits that they were chosen to provide.
Twice in the early part of the game the units made their charges and the characters just sat at the back and watched…
Without their planned benefits, the units were easier to destroy, and the character was left looking somewhat lonesome.
Throughout the game my main problem was that my Poxwalkers (plague zombies to the uninitiated) and Typhus (think lord and master of all Poxwalkers) only managed to move about 4″ a turn. They were such a slow unit that I would head towards an enemy, only for it to be dealt with before my arrival.
Thankfully my other troops were proving quite resilient. They stood up to the successful charges of the Blood Angels, in most cases holding their own against the elites.
If my Poxwalkers were ineffective, and had an uneventful showing, and my basic Plague Marines were the solid players of the day. My Hellbrute proved himself to be the star of the show. By turn 4 we had a few victory points each, mostly from holding objectives and killing specific units. By turn 5 he had won the game for me, taking out the Blood Angels main tank for a much needed last victory point. He was finished off in the end by a late charge from Coronasan’s Death Company, just before they too were destroyed by my slowly advancing forces.
A good game for me, but I suspect that Coronasan will be looking at how to get his charge dice to be more reliable for next time.
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