This is the battle report from my wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable match a couple of weeks ago against Fallen 73rd over at Unforgiven Angels. My army list can be found here and 73rd's will be added to this post soon. It was 1500pts and a chance for me to field a detachment from the Cadian 24th's 1st Battalion - basically all of my light vehicles (less the W-i-P Wyvern)!
But here's the thing, and I've a feeling that some of you purists out there will disown Drax for this:
we played online.
Yes. 73rd is an absolutely marvellous opponent: thoroughly sporting, a proper gentleman and up for a laugh...but I've never met the chap. He lives over 200 miles away (for those of you in the States, 200 miles is a huge distance over here!) and I live in the deep countryside with no car and busy weekends. [Seriously: even when we hire a car (like today) it still takes us over half-an-hour to reach a road with two lanes!]
I don't understand any of it, and I simply cannot use the right technical language, but there's a program called Vassal which replicates (extremely well) a 2-D game of 40K with all the requisite pieces, as you can see below. I've played 73rd like this thrice now, and each game's been a corker, but this latest one was simply superb!
We're usually happy to forgo technicalities for the sake of cinematic style, and boy, did we get it in this one! From the hapless Dark Angel missiles pinging off the chimera hulls to the final what-the-hell showdown between his terminator chaplain and my heroic young officer, this was Good Fun. Add in a sentinel bonking a Deathwing terminator on the head with a multilaser and you've just about got an idea of the joy of it - even in inglorious 2-D!
The details and a commentary will be added bit-by-bit, and I'll let you know when I have...but here are the teams, and the screenshots follow:
1500pts IG armoured column NB: All vehicles have smoke.
HQ:
Salamander
EL:
2 hellhounds, each with basic armament + extra armour [I’ve always thought it makes no sense for hellhounds to be FA]
TP:
Full platoon as follows:
HQ: Jr. Officer with Honorifica Imperialis, melta bombs, p/wpn, bolt pistol; vox; vet medic; 2 grenade launchers
1 sect: sgt; vox; plasma gun
2 sect: sgt; vox; melta gun
3 sect: sgt; vox; grenade launcher
4 sect (r): sgt; vox; flamer [NB: They share HQ section’s chimera]
4 chimera transports, comprising: 2 with T-L heavy bolter; 1 with multi laser; 1 with autocannon
FA:
2 sentinels w. multi laser 2 sentinels w. lascannon
HS:
Griffon Basilisk with indirect fire.
Total: 1504pts.
Note that man-for-man the Guard are outnumbered!
DARK ANGELS:
HQ:
Interrogator Chaplain - Terminator Armour - 120 pts
Elites:
Deathwing Terminators - Cyclone Missile - 245 pts
Troops:
10 Marines - Sergeant PPistol - Flamer, Missile Launcher - 210 pts
10 Marines - Sergeant PPistol - Flamer, Missile Launcher - 210 pts
10 Marines - Sergeant PPistol - Flamer, Missile Launcher - 210 pts
Fast Attack:
6 Ravenwing Bikes, 1 Attack Bike, 1 Landspeeder - 2 Flamers (Bikes) - 380 pts
1 Ravenwing Landspeeder - Typhoon Missile Launcher - 75 pts
Dedicated TransportsRazorback - 50 pts
Razorback - 50 pts
TOTAL = 1490 pts
Oh yes - by the way: the men of the 1st/24th won...
- Drax.
I am impressed Drax. Good report, I know you probably wish it was an inperson game, but as an alternative it seems pretty cool. Do you have a link to the program you used? It would be interseting to be able to play tabletop 40k with some people acrosst he pond.
ReplyDeleteYeah that looks quite interesting, be good to test out lists aswell before buying the models, basically playing blanks but hey!
ReplyDeleteAlso makes taking pictures easy as you just use screen-shots, okay really a link... now!
lol my word verification was just Sedishag heh heh heh... i'm so immature :P
ReplyDeleteYou're right: it's a fantastic program to test things out - it's also been a means for 73rd to learn the ropes of 5th Ed.
ReplyDeleteAs for links? - err...I'll have to get 73rd's expert technical advice; but here's part of his original email to me explaining stuff: please note that it's been updated a little since he wrote this...:
"Ok first things first... make sure you have the newest version of java, if not www.java.com will help. Then go on to www.vassalengine.org and on the left of the page click 'quick download' then download that in its pre-determined folder, and leave it at that. Then go on to www.vassal40k.com and click 'modules' and then download version 5. Believe me it sounds longer than it actually takes. Once done, open the vassal engine which you would have saved earlier somewhere on your computer. The shortcut may even have appeared on your desktop. Once it's open, you should see its front page, with a few cartoony pictures including a space ship from star wars. Under those pics, click the button that says 'play module', and find the module you saved last called V40k_5_0 or something like that, and it will open 40k online. It will ask for your nickname and password, so just create those, but the nickname sticks with you as far as I know, so create something memorable, like say Admiral Drax!"
Thanks as aye to 73rd;
- Drax.
I couldn't have said it better myself haha!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great game, and a great win for the 1/24th, and I actually enjoyed losing as the game had so many memorable moments. Expect an update soon including my army list.
73rd
This program looks really interesting. I might be able to use it to play my brother on the other side of the country... how easy is it to use?
ReplyDeleteI'd heard about this, but couldn't figure it out before. Now that I know someone who has used it with good results, I'll have to try again. Cheers, Drax!-Andy
ReplyDeleteJennifer and Andres:
ReplyDeleteThe program's really easy to use: hell, even I could manage it! Good luck with it if you try it - I've been very pleasantly surprised by it.
Let me know if you try...
- Drax.