Battle Report I:
A
BRIDGE TOO GREEN
Armageddon
Campaign Special Scenario
Jim K. & Ken Lacy
The Eagle, Lieutenant of Bravo Platoon, surveyed the battlefield once more as the rumble of the approaching ork vanguard sounded in the distance. The bridge was well blocked and the entire field cleared of trees. His Platoon and the Fox’s Charlie Platoon were hunkered down behind rows of razorwire, sandbags and oil drums. If they could hold this bridge against the ork speed freeks for just a few hours, enough guard would arrive to deprive the enemy of this passage indefinately.
Meanwhile, Warlord Buzzaw kicked his driver in the back of the head from his position in the bed of his personal wartrukk. "Fasta, ya stinkin' grot!" he belowed over the terrible din of Klan Skullkraka tooling full speed toward the 'umies bridge. Finally he was going to see some action in this campaign. A squadron of fighta bommerz roared overhead. In the distance he heard the thunderous racket of their bombardment. At least they didn't bomb his boyz too this time. This bridge would belong to him soon, and then da boyz could just pour into Helsreach proper without resistance.
This battle between the two main forces of the Armageddon campaign, Orks and Imperial Guard, served several purposes. First, it gave Jim an opportunity to field his brand-spankin-new Speed Freek army, as well as to utilize the tables that have been sitting idle in his basement. Second, it would neatly tie into the Warmonger Club's Armageddeon Megabattle, The Fires of Helsreach. Should the Orks win this battle, the Orks & their allies would have the "Sustained Attack" special rule in their favor in the Megabattle. An Imperial Guard victory would prevent that from occurring.
The mission we chose was a Bridgehead mission, taken from the latest issue of the Citadel Journal. It features an attacker with all his forces intact, a defender in excellent fortified positions but with virtually his entire army in reserve, and a chance to play a mission that isn’t in the Main Rulebook. Using most of the Special Scenario rules (Deep Strike, Fortifications, Hidden Setup, Infiltrators, Obstacles, Preliminary Bombardment, Reserves, and Victory Points), it would hopefully provide an interesting and exciting battle that could be turned into an interesting and exciting battle report.
The Imperial Guard (Ken)
Seeing as how (a) I’m lazy, (b) I’m working on other armies right now, (c) this is a battle report and I don’t want to supercheese, and (d) Jim only just finished his 1500 point army, I decided to show up with a nice, flavorful, fluffy selection of units, instead of an army tailored to beat Jim’s forces. Accordingly, I showed up with my Baltimore Grand Tournament 2000 force, which consists of a mass of foot troops, fewer heavy weapons than I might bring to a "competitive" Warmonger tournament, and not one Chimera (for just Ogryn), but two: the second one with an Armored Fist unit. My plan was fairly simple: sit back as far as possible with my infantry units, shoot the Trukks ASAP, worry about the Warwagon later, and pray that my reserves would not only come in early, but also in a good position (the last thing I would want would be my HQ, including my Command HQ squad and two heavy weapons teams, reserving onto the board in the teeth of a successful Ork assault). I was also planning to pile as many Tank Traps as possible onto the near end of the bridge, hoping to force the Orks to spend three turns, instead of just two, getting to my lines (and giving me two turns, instead of just one, to shoot at him more-or-less freely). I was fairly confident that I could shoot Trukks moderately well, but I knew that I lacked the firepower to kill all those Orks with only my Troops choices; I would need my Heavy Bolter fire-support team, and most especially the Heavy Flamers on my Chimeras, to reserve onto the field right away.
|
Name |
Details |
Pts |
|
|
HQ |
Colonel Ran-Lo |
Colonel
with Powersword, Boltpistol, Targeter |
136 |
|
..Fire-Support Team |
.. .. 3x Heavy Bolters, Commlink |
85 |
|
|
..Anti-Tank Team |
.. .. 3x Lascannons, Commlink |
130 |
|
|
ELITE |
Ogryn Squad |
5x Ogryn with Ogryn Close Combat Weapons |
150 |
|
..Led by Preacher |
.. .. Preacher w/Powerfist & Rosarius (& laspistol) |
30 |
|
|
..In Chimera |
..
Heavy Flamer (turret), Heavy Bolter (front) |
93 |
|
|
TROOP 1 |
"The Eagle" |
Lieutenant
with Plasma Pistol, Targeter |
77 |
|
..Squad Akira |
.. Sergeant w/Lasgun, 1x Lascannon, 1x Flamer |
83 |
|
|
..Squad Varaig |
.. Sergeant w/Lasgun, 1x Autocannon, 1x Meltagun |
83 |
|
|
TROOP 2 |
"The Fox" |
Lieutenant
with Bolter, Targeter |
69 |
|
..Squad Antiope |
.. Sergeant w/Laspistol & CCW, 1x Heavy Bolter, 1x Plasmagun |
78 |
|
|
..Squad Redemption |
.. Sergeant w/Laspistol & CCW, 1x Heavy Bolter, 1x Gren. Lnchr. |
78 |
|
|
..Squad Stalwart |
.. Sergeant w/Laspistol & CCW, 1x Heavy Bolter, 1x Meltagun |
78 |
|
|
TROOP 3 |
Armored Fist Squad |
Sergeant w/Lasgun, 1x Missile Launcher, 1x Flamer, Commlink |
83 |
|
..Led by Preacher |
.. .. Preacher w/Powerfist & Rosarius (& laspistol) |
30 |
|
|
..In Chimera |
..
Heavy Flamer (turret), Heavy Bolter (front) |
105 |
|
|
FAST 1 |
Sentinel Alpha |
Multilaser, Searchlight, Improved Comms |
66 |
|
FAST 2 |
Sentinel Beta |
Multilaser, Searchlight |
46 |
Kult of Speed (Jim)
After months of comverting, painting and procrastinating, I was finally done with my speed freeks army (more or less). The force consisted of three units of trukk boyz, my warboss and his retinue on a trukk, and a battlewagon with 14 skarboyz and a Big Mek. I threw in a Fighter-Bommerz Raid and beefed up my retinue to fill out a few point which will be taken by the 5 skarboyz I still had to paint for my final army. My plan was simple. Make it across the bridge right quick and get into close combat with those nice soft umies. I was more than a little leary of the scenario, as it allowed Ken to completely set the stage for the battle. I knew he'd block up the bridge with tank traps, delaying my assualt until turn three at the earliest, and would pile his guard behind cover, sandbags and razorwire as far from the bridge as possible, leaving a veritable killing ground of open terrain immediately over the bridge. I figured he would also place the mines and booby traps at the foot of the bridge which would mean lots of blown-up trukks.
I held out hope that, with a good deal of his army in reserve and a little luck, I could wipe out his troops in close combat quickly and deal with the reserves as they arrived. However, this only being my second game playing orks and Ken having roughly ten years of experience with IG I knew it would be a tough fight. Orks aren't much for contemplation though, so I just gunned my engines and let out a mighty WAAAGH!
|
Name |
Details |
Pts |
|
|
HQ 1 |
Buzzaw |
Warboss w/bionic arm, power claw, 'eavy armor, iron gob, bionic bonce, cybork body |
129 |
|
8 Nobs, Mek |
6 w/ 'eavy armor, sluggas and choppas, 2 w/ megarmor, mega boosta, 1 combi-skorcha, 1 more dakka, shootier Mek w/ kustom force field, choppa |
343 |
|
|
Da Boss' Trukk |
big shoota, red paint, grot riggers, armor plates |
48 |
|
|
HQ 2 |
Big Mek |
Kustom force field, choppa, mek tools (rides with skarboyz in battlewagon) |
49 |
|
ELITE |
Skarboyz |
13
skarsw/ 3 burnas, nob w/ claw and 'eavy armor |
226 |
|
TROOP 1 |
Skwad Blue |
9 trukk boyz, burna, nob w/powerclaw, iron gob Trukk, big shoota, red paint, grot riggers |
181 |
|
TROOP 2 |
Skwad Black |
9 trukk boyz, burna, nob w/ iron gob Trukk, big shoota, red paint, grot riggers |
156 |
|
TROOP 3 |
Skwad Red |
9 trukk boyz, burna, nob w/ iron gob Trukk, big shoota, red paint, grot riggers |
156 |
|
HEAVY 1 |
Battlewagon |
Zzap gun, red paint, grot riggers, searchlight, armor plates, 3 bolt-on big shootas |
181 |
|
FAST |
Fighta Bommerz Raid |
30 |