Rebel Grots vs. Oktober Guard Space Marines (1500 pts)
After our return from dinner, I had the good fortune to catch Dwayne (a.k.a. Psistalker) free and open for a game, and immediately challenged him and his infamous Oktober Guard. A Greenville local and regular face on the Forum, he and I had been exchanging a lot of trash-talk over the previous months, and now it was time for each of us to ante up!
Psistalker, upon realizing just how far his newly reserving Land Raider (with Terminators) and Dreadnought still have to go...
We played a Patrol mission on the Arctic table at Borderlands -- an impressive 4x8 board with numerous ice and rock formations, and a scattering of bare-limbed trees and small man-made emplacements. The numerous LOS-blocking formations allowed Dwayne to rush some transports onto my weakly defended right flank, but the Reserve rules of the mission played in my favor; the marine attack was uncoordinated and came piecemeal, and over the course of six turns I was able to shoot a good portion of Dwayne's Oktober Guard (including his two nastiest close-combat characters) to shreds. By then, my right flank had collapsed, but I had managed to last out the game -- final score, Grots @1000, Oktober Guard @400.
Rebel Grots & Catachans vs. Hornets & Greyhammer Space Marines (1500/player)
In what was to be the longest, and most intense battle I played all weekend, I teamed up with Rob (a.k.a. ecclektik) and his all-infantry Catachan army to face the combined crusade of two Marine chapters, Damon's (a.k.a. SpeedFreaker) Hornets, and Carl's (a.k.a. Dr. Fodder) Greyhammers (check out the Greyhammers Home Page on-line!). Undoubtedly the imperialist war-mongering dogs were attempting to suppress the rightous wrath of the oppressed (and the inalienable freedoms of speech being liberally exercised by my Grot Agitators)!
Top of Turn 1: Lord, that's a lot of Marines!
The allied forces complemented each other well. Rob's all-infantry guardsmen operated well with my Grots, who were largely infantry in their composition (with some Rough Riders and an Eversor in reserve), while the two Marine forces not only featured a full three Whirlwinds between them, but also had an assault wing (headed by the Hornets) and a static Fire Support wing (the Greyhammers). The random mission generated was a Sabotage, and on the Urban Ruin table upon which we were playing, it looked like each side would have their work cut out for them! Would the Marines be able to carve a path to the objective with their Whirlwinds and heavy weaponry, or would the massed numbers of the Guards be able to hold them back?
Left: Reserved and refined -- ecclektik in a nutshell.
Right:
Speedfreaker (on left) considers his options, while Dr. Fodder (with beard) offers up a fervent prayer to the Emperor.
Our megabattle was so massive that the players had to take a break for the evening and meet up again the following day! The Marines advanced quickly up the right, posing a serious threat to the weakened defending elements there (damn Whirlwinds!), but to the surprise of all, the assault was jammed up by a unit of Grots for a full turn, and then overwhelmed and wiped out, virtually to a man, by the Catachans that jumped in to help. The last few fast-moving Marine units were blown apart by massive short-range firepower, and the Greyhammers that had been hanging back, shooting the entire game, were forced to begin moving up in a last-ditch attempt to reach the objective...! Unfortunately, they were far too slow-moving, and the game was over before they could get anywhere.
Left: Defenders swarm the assault marines...
Right: ...and 2 turns later, the lone survivor faces the Red Gobbo!
In all, my Grots made some serious blunders, most particularly by paying far too much attention to the Whirlwinds, and only some good fortune and Rob's aggressive moves with his Catachans saved the game for the defenders. Had the Marines thrown everything on one flank, and led with the Predator (with the transports safely hidden behind it), the Marines could have easily won. As it was, they inflicted massive damage to the defenders (especially to the poor Catachans, who took the brunt of the Marine attack) and took substantially fewer losses in return. But happily for the forces of the proletariat, it wasn't victory points that decided this particular mission.
Rebel Grots vs. Tigers of Veda Space Marines (2000 pts)
And at long last, I finally grabbed a game against Kenton (a.k.a. Tiger Raja). Not only had there been some serious trash-talking for months on the Gate forum, but the Tigers of Veda also feature none other than Chapter Master Raja Khandar Madu, known popularly to the Gate community as "The Redhead" (for more, visit The Jungle). A marine Grand Master armed with Lightning Claws and an Iron Halo, the Redhead is notorious -- and I was itching to face her (and her stripey marines as well).
Left: Tiger Raja, sizing up his next victim.
Center: A Tigers of
Veda "stripeypants" marine, up close.
Right: Gentlemen prefer Redheads -- Raja Khandar Madu.
Being the devious, heartless scum that I am, I was quite happy when we not only ended up playing a Bunker Assault mission, but furthermore, I ended winning the Strategy Rating roll-off (despite rolling only a single die to Kenton's three!). I cheerfully accepted the role of attacker, starting off the game facing two bunkers, four Tactical Squads, and the Redhead and her retinue. Over the next six turns, I proceeded to shred the Tigers of Veda, successfully destroying both bunkers and wiping out virtually all of Kenton's infantry (only his vehicles, and two Terminators, were left at the end of the game) -- although the Redhead took considerably more effort! Kenton displayed eerily good rolling whenever it came time for her to make armor saves, fight in combat, or otherwise hurt my poor Grots, and she singlehandedly was responsible for the destruction of nearly four-hundred points of my army, wiping out a unit of Rough-Riders, an Eversor, and a careless mob of Grots! Finally, however, in the very last turn of the game, I was able to drop her with a well-placed shot from a Powerfist wielded by my Kommittee Demogogue (Preacher). The final score, Grots 1614, Tigers of Veda 855.
Then it was finally time to leave, and the gamers split apart, jumped into their various vehicles, and headed back to whence they had come. It had been a great weekend, a fabulous vacation, and you can bet that this Orcboy, at least, will be looking forward to his next opportunity to get out of the Big Apple, head south, and meet up with all the crazy gaming fanatics at Borderlands again. Next scheduled get-together? August of 2001, for Fall From Grace II!
Not only had the gaming been great, but I had managed to get in some practice with the Grots, and get a good idea as to the capabilities (and limits!) of the various units I was using, and the abilities of the army as a whole. Despite the poor fortune I had enjoyed with the Rough Riders, and the ineffectiveness of the mortars in many cases, they were fun to use -- and moreover, fun models to field. But their inclusion certainly makes my Grots a very different creature from the Shooty Armies From Hell I generally favor -- fewer screening units, a need for somewhat more aggressive tactics, and the like. All the same, the Grots are great -- and I'm confident that they will see use a great deal of use in the future.
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