My copy of Codex: Astra Militarum has arrived (with free orders cards) courtesy of the guys at Kirton Games - thankfully just before I go away for a few days. My thoughts to follow,
Wait, out.
Saturday, 12 April 2014
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
428 - 'After the Storm' Batrep Part I - (Drax's Side, incl. Mission)
Sitrep:
Beg leave to report, Colonel, that the God-Emperor in his wisdom has led us to within half-a-click of the sought artefact, and scanners indicate that it lies directly on our axis...as do the foe. First Platoon will advance to contact. Will advise. The Emperor Protects. Out.
Last night, Col. Gravis and I got to play our game...and it was quite a feast for the eyes - at least for me, as I got to gaze upon Gravis's gorgeous minis! There's not much chance that Gravis and I will be able to coordinate our posts, so I'll just present you - by incremements - with what I can remember, punctuated by the poorly-lit photos I snatched. I suspect Gravis's pics will be better. And don't worry - it'll motly be pics, not prose!
Most importantly though, what follows is the actual mission we fought. No, I didn't take it awfully seriously when I penned it [better to open in a different tab]:
Rather inexplicably, I failed to take a picture of the table, but believe me when I say it was 12'x4' and seemed absolutely bloody huge!
Right then. the Lists were published in the previous posts, but here are the forces, whose high, upreared and abutting fronts a perilous narrow 24" gap parts asunder:
That's all for now, folks. Tune in soon for Part II, and keep an eye on Gravis's blog too, won't you?
- Drax.
Beg leave to report, Colonel, that the God-Emperor in his wisdom has led us to within half-a-click of the sought artefact, and scanners indicate that it lies directly on our axis...as do the foe. First Platoon will advance to contact. Will advise. The Emperor Protects. Out.
Last night, Col. Gravis and I got to play our game...and it was quite a feast for the eyes - at least for me, as I got to gaze upon Gravis's gorgeous minis! There's not much chance that Gravis and I will be able to coordinate our posts, so I'll just present you - by incremements - with what I can remember, punctuated by the poorly-lit photos I snatched. I suspect Gravis's pics will be better. And don't worry - it'll motly be pics, not prose!
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| My Beautiful Foemen. |
Right then. the Lists were published in the previous posts, but here are the forces, whose high, upreared and abutting fronts a perilous narrow 24" gap parts asunder:
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| B Coy, 2/24th Cadian Light Infantry; plus. |
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| Hello Sunray? This is Pawn Sacrifice. Sitrep, over? |
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| My Vets, above and below. My 'G/Sgt Harker' is on the left. |
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| Veteran heavy weapons team. Such a weird configuration for me to run with, but more of that later... |
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| The Cadian main infantry force. NB: The HQ and three rifle sections from 1 (Red) Platoon, on the left, acted as my scouting element. |
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| My cavalry reserve. They looked pitifully few on so huge a table. |
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| The Praetorians |
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| Two rough rider sqauds and two special weapon squads |
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| Gravis brought along some of his beeee-eautiful tanks. Check out Mr Malcador there! |
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| A dreadful pic, but this was the central of three [admittedly rather ad hoc] objectives
For deployment we each had 250pts' worth of inf to deploy, 12" in to the central 48" of our sides. I won the roll-off and opted for second turn, mostly because I'm slow and indecisive enough when wargaming without having to anticipate what my opponent will do - I like to take the coward's way out and react. Plus, I totally forgot that fully half of Gravis's main force would bimble onto the table at the start of Turn 1. Doh!
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| A wird angle, but this is just left of my central line - my near-left flank. The PBI were deployed in reasonable cover from Gravis's deployed weapons, but I clean forgot half hs army would arrive Turn 1. stupid. |
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| This 3-level ruin, just right of my central line, was my castle and Coy HQ for the duration. Here, the [horrbly shiny] 1Pl command section edge forward to see what they can see... |
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| ...and this is what greets them: the Praetorians had rolled out a platoon HQ with two sections and a heavy bolter section (annoying and top-left) |
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| Drax takes a punt: Harker gives his squad 'Infiltrate' so thy did. They sat on a ruin hard on the Praetorians' right flank [my left flank]. You can see how close they are to Gravis's table edge: a real enfillading position...if they coud have hit anything. |
- Drax.
Sunday, 6 April 2014
427 - 'After the Storm' - One Last Outing for Codex: Imperial Guard
Situation:
Opposing forces have been widely scattered after violent
atmospheric disturbances in the last twelve hours, with infantry digging-in
deep, naval forces grounded and armoured units being secured within impromptu
laagers. Now though, as the rad-storms and electron blizzards begin to subside,
the ground elements have started to reorganise and get back to the job at hand.
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| Drax's force before the mission... |
I've taken my cue here from the parallel post from Col. Gravis [link], who has been kind enough to agree to play me in one final 'hurrah' for the Imperial Guard in its current incarnation.
As I'm so out of practice, and as - quite frankly - I feel massively intimidated by the huge amount of rules and units I just don't understand in 6th Edition, I penned a wee scenario specifically for a roughly equal clash of two similar but individual forces. More particularly, I wanted something which would work visually too, and that required a good 'ol clash of Guard no-frills infantry.
The scenario calls for flyers and artillery to be left at home, and for the army to be broken into two core elements: the main infantry force of 1500pts, and a more rapidly moving cavalry group of 1000pts, which will arrive from scattered reserve as the game goes on.
You can see in the good Colonel's parallel post [link] his force's composition, so here is mine (with some explanatroy notes afterwards for newer readers):
Main Force - comprising core elements of B Coy, 2/24th Cadian Light Infantry:
HQ:
(70pts) Coy Commander (basic) with 4 veteran snipers
TP:
(440pts) 1 Platoon
- HQ w. 3 gren, 1 flamer
- 1 Sect w. plasma
- 2 Sect w. melta
- 3 Sect w. gren
- SWS w. 2 melta, 1 demo charge
- HWS w. 3 autocannon
- Mortar Squad w. 3 mortars
(430pts) 2 Platoon
- HQ w. 3 gren, 1 flamer
- 1 Sect w. plasma
- 2 Sect w. melta
- 3 Sect w. gren
- SWS w. 2 gren, 1 flamer
- HWS w. 3 missile launchers
- Mortar Squad w. 3 mortars
(415pts) 3 Platoon
- HQ w. 3 gren, 1 flamer
- 1 Sect w. plasma
- 2 Sect w. melta
- 3 Sect w. gren
- SWS w. 2 gren, 1 flamer
- HWS w. 3 autocannon
- Mortar Squad w. 3 mortars
(150pts) Hardened Veterans w. G/Sgt Harker, gren, flamer, sniper, h/bolter team
= 1505pts.
Cavalry Force - Comprising Atts & Dets from 1/24th and IVth Cadian Armoured Regt:
(No FOC Requirement)
(35pts) "Stephenson's Horse" - Scout Sentinel w. multilaser
(145pts) Hellhound, "Cerberus" w. inferno cannon, h/bolter, h/stubber and smoke
(145pts) Hellhound, "Helios" w. inferno cannon, h/bolter, h/stubber and smoke
(140pts) Devil Dog, "Gelert" w. melta cannon, m/melta and smoke
(185pts) Leman Russ MBT w. battle cannon, hull lascannon and h/bolter sponsons
(165pts) Leman Russ Annihilator w. T-L lascannon and hull lascannon
(180pts) Leman Russ Exterminator w. exterminator cannon, 3 h/bolters and h/stubber.
= 995pts.
(sorry about the garish light blue, but there's a thematic reason!)
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| The three platoons recive their briefings and blessings before kick-off... |
(NB: Should anyone want links to older posts detailing these points, just ask. I don't anticipate a rush!)
Inf Company: this is my core army, and I've gone for it in its absolute standard configuration - I've not changed a thing.
HQ - in his 'marching order' - not how he poses for pics. For the last two years I've run my CO with four snipers...almost always disastrously. His team is comically ineffectual, but I've grown rather fond of them.
The three platoons: I know some of the weapons load-outs seem weird, but they're designed with an element of low-level tactical self-sufficiency, and this is how they've played for years. It's not usual for me to take the demo charge SWS (1 pl) but this game isn't about sound, fighty list choices, is it?!
Veterans: I've taken Harker, because I love the slight awkwardness of his rules and I haven't fielded his model in an age, and eveything else from that squad is there simply because I like the figures!
Stephenson's Horse: Only my most dedicated readers will know about this fella (presented herein his vanilla guise) --> [link]
The Hellhounds: I love my hellhounds. Love 'em. And there'll be a few targets for them to toast too, methinks.
The Devil Dog: Yes, I do KNOW that it's the worst anti-tank unit in the Imperium, but I just love the way it haplessly bimbles around the tabletop missing everything with high-powered weapon!
The Leman Russes: I thought I'd pick the three models (as in, types) of Russ that I like best. So there.
Overall, it's more of a whimsical list than a fight-y one, and - as usual - I haven't nearly enough serious anti-tank...but then, this is a game about wholesale slaughter really, not of anything too sensible!
Right then.
Until tomorrow night...
- Drax.
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