On Thursday, March 24th, a friend and I got some practice in for the upcoming "Throne of Skulls" tournament that will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada this summer. Because Throne of Skulls is a 1500 point tournament, we played that amount.
The mission we rolled was a pitched battle, annihilation.
First, my 1500 Imperial Guard list.
Command Platoon w/3 Plasma Guns
Chimera w/Hull Heavy Flamer
10 Veterans w/2 Meltaguns, Shotguns
Platoon Command w/3 Flamers
Chimera w/Hull Heavy Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Autocannon, Flamer
Chimera w/Hull Heavy Flamer
Infantry Squad w/Autocannon, Flamer
Chimera
Special Weapons Squad w/3 Meltaguns
7Psyker Battle Squad
Chimera
Valkyrie w/Multiple Rocket Pods
Vendetta
Vendetta
Manticore
Manticore
My opponent was Aaron Blough (Dobie Gillis) from http://themanypostsofdobiegillis.blogspot.com/
He brought with him his "Shadow Guard" Space Marines
Pedro Cantor
Librarian w/Gate of Infinity, Null Zone
10 Sternguard w/2 Meltaguns, Powerfist
Drop Pod
5 Assault Terminators w/1 Lightning Claw, 4 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun
6 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
6 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
I won the roll to Deploy and go first. I deployed in a "Castle Style" in the center of my deployment zone using Chimeras and the Valkyrie as a sort of "Bubble Wrap" to keep my Manticores safe from Deep Striking Melta.
Dobie deployed his army mostly in the ruins in his deployment zone.
Two pictures of our deployment.
So, I scouted my Valkyrie and one of my Vendettas forward, I hid the other Vendetta behind the Fortress of Redemption.
Suddenly, Aaron steals the initiative!
Turn 1:
Aaron: His only Drop Pod (filled with Sternguard and Pedro) lands behind my Vendetta (carrying my Command Platoon). Aaron has no other movement.
The meltaguns explode the Vendetta. From the Command Squad, my lasgunner dies, two plasma gunners die, and my company commander takes a wound. Devastators take the multi-laser off of the Valkyrie, the lascannon from a tactical squad stuns it. The other squad of devastators explodes the Psyker battle squads Chimera, killing the overseer and 4 psykers; they fail their pinning test. The command squad fails their morale test and breaks away from the sternguard.
Me: The Command Squad continues to fall back. I advance most of my chimeras. The manticores and remaining Vendetta stay put. My Valkyrie moves flat out in front of the devastators and tactical squad in the left ruins.
The plasma gunner from the command squad kills himself.
The Veterans use their shotguns and melta to kill 3 sternguard.
The first Manticore hits the left devastator squad and kills the sergeant and 4 missile launchers, leaving the bolter guy behind. (Terrible rolling on Aarons' part), but sadly, they are not pinned.
The other Manticore opens up on the other devastator squad, killing the sergeant, bolter, and one missile launcher.
The Chimeras and vendetta combine to reduce the sternguard squad to Pedro, the powerfist, and a meltagun.
My veterans assault and kill the powerfist sternguard and do a wound to Pedro. In return, Pedro kills two veterans. Drawn Combat.
Two Pictures from the bottom of turn 1:
Turn 2:
Aaron: The lone devastator boltgunner moves to hide. The Librarian uses "Gate of Infinity" to move himself and the terminators in front of my lines. They run 3 inches.
The lascannon stuns the left Manticore, sadly this was the best Aaron could do in his shooting phase.
In assault, I lose 3 veterans and cause zero wounds, unluckily for me, the vets hold their ground.
Me: I do exactly no movement.
The Manticore fires and kills 4 boltguns, the lascannon, and the meltagun from the center tactical squad. The Valkyrie kills 5 bolters off of the other tactical squad (off of 6 wounds, 5 saves failed). The rest of my army combines to kill 2 ThunderHammer & Storm Shield terminators. No one fails their break tests.
In assault, I lose a vet to the melta Sternguard, do no wounds, and lose 3 to Pedro. I promptly break, and get run down...
Two pictures from the bottom of turn 2.
Turn 3:
Aaron: Aaron moves the center tactical squad out of the building and behind it (blocking Line-of-Sight). Aaron then moves the lone boltgun devastator onto the ground floor of the left-most ruin.
His other missile devs open up and wreck the Chimera carrying my melta special weapon squad. His lascannon immobilizes my Valkyrie. The terminators, in an ill-advised move assault the melta squad through difficult terrain, but roll a "1" and a "2" for distance and fail the assault. Pedro and the meltagunner assault the rear of the Platoon Command Chimera, and whiff the 4+ to hit roll.
Me: I move my far right Chimera forward. I move my Melta weapons squad toward the Terminators. The flamers and meltas are able to kill the lightning claw terminator and put a wound on the librarian. The vendetta kills the melta sternguard (giving me my first kill point)
Some Lasguns and an Autocannon do the last two wounds to Pedro, killing him.
The first manticore fires and kills the sergeant, a bolter, and the lascannon off of the left tactical squad. The other manticore does 4 wounds to the librarian and terminators, but they make all of their saves. My other firepower kills 2 of 3 missile devastators.
The tactical squad on the left breaks and runs 7 inches. The terminator squad also breaks, and runs 7.
Two pictures from the bottom of turn 3:
Turn 4:
Aaron: The librarian attempts to "Gate of Infinity", but perils on a double 6 and kills himself.
The terminators continue to flee, the lone missile devastator whiffs and everyone else hides.
Me: I kill the last missile devastator with 3 lascannons, 2 multi-lasers, and a heavy bolter.
The Manticore kills a boltgun from the hiding tactical squad and a terminator.
The terminator breaks off of the board.
At this point, I am up in kill points and Aaron has ~7 modes left. He concedes.
Two pictures from the bottom of Turn 4:
-Mike
