Battle for New Panama - W40K
After a battle, I usually go into my fantasy world and write a fictional story. However, this past Sunday's battle with Mike Willner deserves a real life report. It was a battle fought tooth and nail, without a clear winner, every turn fought. We had agreed on a 1850 point game between Imperial Guard and Orks; needless to say, lots of figures were on the table. We had kind of a late start since we brought our kids over and they needed obvious parental attention. Mike had to exercise his vice-presidential obligations and attend a prospective new member until other members arrived to assist as well. I knew it would cost us later in the battle as far a the time frame Mike had and it did; such is war. We rolled the worst scenario possible for two armies with so many figures; annihilation. The winner had to have more kills points than the other. No tactics, just kill units. We ended up having to setup in a dawn of war deployment, with turn one having night fighting rules. I am always ready for that slight chance of night fighting and had searchlights on my battle tanks. So far so good. We could only setup 1 HQ unit and 2 troops choices in the beginning and Mike chooses to let me setup first when he won the dice roll. First mistake in my own humble opinion. He had to setup at least 18 away from my units and I placed them as far as I could to deny him any units in cover in turn one.
Turn one
My army and tanks come in, and illuminate two of his units. His troops take heavy fire but survive the turn, passing morale checks. Orks roll in and immediately target strong veteran unit in a terrain piece in the middle of the board. They take a lot of fire, but make it. I see he is going for a large building terrain on the corner of the table. I hold this building strongly though, so I know this is where the battle will be decided.
Turn two
Paratrooper time! Two trucks with Ork troops are attempting to flank the building I hold by charging up the middle. I intentionally left this area wide open and covered from far with a lascannon squad and a Hellhound flamer throwing tank. I successfully roll all my units and drop behind and to the side of two trucks. When I rolled for scatter, they could not do wrong. They were deployed exactly we I wanted and I fried his trucks. Sure, they die later as a result, but their mission was done, halt the assault and create targets for my long range bombardment. The disembarked Orks charge the valiant paratroopers and kill them to the man. The veteran unit in the middle dies. A unit of some kind of Mech Orks with a 2+ save relentlessly charge towards the building, backed by many Orks.
Turn three
I begin to concentrate on killing entire units. I wipe out a unit of choppers racing up the middle-right. Mike planetary bonus of making me re-roll my scatter dice begins to annoy me. I see a biker squad racing to my HQ unit and I dwindle it down a bit. The bike reaches my HQ squad, the Mech Orks reach the building ground level and all hell breaks loose. My HQ squad is almost wiped out, but my Commissar pulls out a last man standing power-fist swing and destroys the last bike. The Mech Orks chew up my ground level squad and take the elevator to the second floor. An Ork truck with troops and a power klaw rush my 2nd Hellhound and destroy its weapons. Damn!
Turn four
My tanks back up and blast the unit that killed my hellhound; two guys left. I wipe out a unit of Orks backing up the Mech Orks. I wipe out a squad of vehicles sneaking up the rubble in the middle. Some Orks units break and retreat of the table. At this point we Mike sees that its late in the day and we agree to end the battle at the end of the botton of turn 4. The Orks press the down button on the elevator instead and decimate a Sentinal, the commissar and the lieutenant squad. The kill points rack up.
Summary
The Imperial Guard win by one kill point. I realized that I used every tactic I could muster to pull this one off. Mike almost had me. The kids were a bit distracting and dice roll luck varied for both of us. I believe sacrificing my airborne troops and original deployment may have tip the battle. This battle is by far one of the most enjoyable I have had in a long time. Mike's son, Sam, was very pleasant to share the game with. His knowledge of the game and his great demeanour made those long hours on my feet endurable. My son left the club with with a greater passion to play his Space Marine army as soon as I paint them. First advice, "Son, avoid those Orks. You are not ready!"
Imperial Guard conquer New Panama!
Turn one
My army and tanks come in, and illuminate two of his units. His troops take heavy fire but survive the turn, passing morale checks. Orks roll in and immediately target strong veteran unit in a terrain piece in the middle of the board. They take a lot of fire, but make it. I see he is going for a large building terrain on the corner of the table. I hold this building strongly though, so I know this is where the battle will be decided.
Turn two
Paratrooper time! Two trucks with Ork troops are attempting to flank the building I hold by charging up the middle. I intentionally left this area wide open and covered from far with a lascannon squad and a Hellhound flamer throwing tank. I successfully roll all my units and drop behind and to the side of two trucks. When I rolled for scatter, they could not do wrong. They were deployed exactly we I wanted and I fried his trucks. Sure, they die later as a result, but their mission was done, halt the assault and create targets for my long range bombardment. The disembarked Orks charge the valiant paratroopers and kill them to the man. The veteran unit in the middle dies. A unit of some kind of Mech Orks with a 2+ save relentlessly charge towards the building, backed by many Orks.
Turn three
I begin to concentrate on killing entire units. I wipe out a unit of choppers racing up the middle-right. Mike planetary bonus of making me re-roll my scatter dice begins to annoy me. I see a biker squad racing to my HQ unit and I dwindle it down a bit. The bike reaches my HQ squad, the Mech Orks reach the building ground level and all hell breaks loose. My HQ squad is almost wiped out, but my Commissar pulls out a last man standing power-fist swing and destroys the last bike. The Mech Orks chew up my ground level squad and take the elevator to the second floor. An Ork truck with troops and a power klaw rush my 2nd Hellhound and destroy its weapons. Damn!
Turn four
My tanks back up and blast the unit that killed my hellhound; two guys left. I wipe out a unit of Orks backing up the Mech Orks. I wipe out a squad of vehicles sneaking up the rubble in the middle. Some Orks units break and retreat of the table. At this point we Mike sees that its late in the day and we agree to end the battle at the end of the botton of turn 4. The Orks press the down button on the elevator instead and decimate a Sentinal, the commissar and the lieutenant squad. The kill points rack up.
Summary
The Imperial Guard win by one kill point. I realized that I used every tactic I could muster to pull this one off. Mike almost had me. The kids were a bit distracting and dice roll luck varied for both of us. I believe sacrificing my airborne troops and original deployment may have tip the battle. This battle is by far one of the most enjoyable I have had in a long time. Mike's son, Sam, was very pleasant to share the game with. His knowledge of the game and his great demeanour made those long hours on my feet endurable. My son left the club with with a greater passion to play his Space Marine army as soon as I paint them. First advice, "Son, avoid those Orks. You are not ready!"
Imperial Guard conquer New Panama!
posted by Alex Lopez at
10:06 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the detailed battle report. It was one of the most enjoyable games of 40K I have played thus far. Alex is a great sportsman, and we managed to resolve several sticky rules questions with mutual respect and fairness. I actually think the excellent dice rolling of Alex Jr. swayed the battle in his dad's favor! :)
The tale of Waagh Big Mik is not over, though, since we have another battle to resolve.
Ha Ha!
How could I leave that part out! My son started rolling my dice in an attempt to participate in the fight. He was doing awesome!!!
When he got tired and left, my rolling sucked!
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