Battle Report: Learning 6th Event: Game 1: Guard Vs. Guard Action!

Finally got out to an event over in Rochester, NY yesterday at Millennium Games.  It was not really a tournament but a set of three games to let people learn to new rules and see how theirs lists would work out under them.  Multiple lists were allowed and prizes were handed out by a raffle at the end.  

The format was 1500pts with three 2.5 hour long rounds.  Since this event was really just for fun and learning I wanted to try something that I had not really done before, bring a list with a minimum of vehicles and large number of infantry.  With the reduction in cover saves I really didn't know how this list would work out, last edition 4+ saves were good, but I was a bit worried about the 5+.  I also wasn't sure how this list would react to different armies.  I've used a vehicle heavy Guard army since I started playing in 3rd edition.   I just love tanks. 

Here's my list:

HQ

Company Command Squad(Power Fist, Med-Pack, Standard,Vox, Plasma Gun) + Chimera

Fast

Vendetta Gunship

Troops

Vets 1 ( 3Plasma Guns, Grenadiers, Power Fist) + Chimera

Vets 2 ( 3 Meltas, Demolitions, Power Fist) (In Vendetta)

Infantry Platoon

Command Squad (Vox, Power Sword, Commissar, Power Sword, Standard)

5 Infantry Squads (2 Commissars, 7 Power Swords, 2 Vox, 3 Flamers, 2 Grenade Launchers)

Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Lascannons)

Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Missile Launchers)

Special Weapons Squad (3 Sniper Rifles)

Special Weapons Squad (3 Grenade Launchers)

Vehicle Count: 3

Infantry Count: 101

I don't think I ever made a list without a Leman Russ before, and with the new Squadron rules taking a pair of them isn't so bad, even with the limitation of having Hull Points.

Now, I planned on doing a little more in depth battle reports this time, but the pictures to do so did not really turn out all that well.  I had my camera set to macro all day and so most of the times I tried to take a full table shot it turned out very blurry.  So I will just be posting some summaries and thoughts on what I or my opponent may have wanted to do differently.  

Battle #1

My first battle was against "C4" with a list that was somewhat similar to my own, here's an approx:

HQ

Company Command (Vox, Standard, and I think an Autocannon)

Troops

Vets with Meltas in chimera

Vets with Meltas in chimera

Infantry platoon 

Command Squad with 4 Grenade Launchers

2 Squads; 1 with Lascannon and GL and one with Autocannon and Grenade Launcher

Heavy Weapons Team with Autocannons

Infantry Platoon

Command Squad with 4 Flamers

2 Squads; Both with an Autocannon

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Battle Tank with 3 Heavy Bolters

Fast Attack

5 Rough Riders

Scout Sentinel

Mission 1 was Dawn of War Deployment with Purge the Alien objectives.  We both set up a nice defensive line with infantry and vehicles in good cover.  He gets first turn and we don't have night fighting so I roll to seize but I fail.  Here's the best picture I have of our deployment.  

Turn 1 he begins by advancing his Chimeras and a couple of the infantry squads.  For shooting he focuses on my snipers and my 2 heavy weapons squads.  With the Leman Russ he shoots the snipers and kills 4 along with a few men from the large blob.  Autocannon and las fire kill 2 of the Lascannon teams, and heavy weapons wipe out all of the missile launchers. Neither of my units fail morale. He gets First blood and ends his turn 1 with 2 VP.

I move up my lest side chimera with the plasma veterans as well as the grenade launcher squad.  Everything else stays put to fire at his units now in the open.   I order bring it down against the Chimera and first rank second rank on the blobs.  The Vet chimera fails to pen on the side of his own chimera but the plasma vets inside manage to rapid fire it to death.   The men disembark and the center blob fires at them and kill a few. The grenade squad fires at an infantry squad and manages to kill 4 or so but they pass morale.

I've got 1 VP for the Chimera.

Turn 2

In this turn C4 tries to finish off the snipers and Lascannon squads.  Battle cannon and las fire kill the sniper and some more men from the center blob and he manages to kill the Lascannon team with plasma and las fire from the infantry and veteran squads on the right hand side.  He also kills off the three riflemen from the grenade launcher squad on the left and strips a hull point from the veteran's chimera. I pass all my morale checks so he gets 2 more VP. His scout sentinel comes in on my right and shoots at my platoon command, killing one man.

I shift more men into firing positions now that losses are taken from the front.  My Vendetta comes in on the right side but fails to pen the side of the Russ,  I rolled 2 1s.  The multi laser from my chimeras fails to do anything to his remaining Chimera.  I return fire again with infantry and force a couple more morale checks on 2 infantry  and one veteran squad.  2 of them fall back but only a few inches.

Turn 3

He shuffles more troops forwards and finally brings the Rough Riders out from behind a rock.  He was hoping to bring down the Vendetta and then assault any survivors.  He begins by firing a lot of heavy weapons at the gunship,  I think in all it was about 10-12 Autocannon shots, with 6 of them rerolling from bring it down.  He rolled a six with the ordered unit but failed to pen.  He then shoots some melta and his chimera at it as well, it continued to zoom on unscathed.  The Leman Russ shifted a bit and shot at the 20 man unit doing a lot of damage, only a few men remained.  Other losses are negligible.  He assaults my platoon command with the sentinel but fails to wound, I win combat due to my standard,

He remains at 4 VP.

I try again to destroy his Russ and remaining Chimera as they should have been the easiest to kill with what I had to fire, however I fail to do anything to either of them.  So, my grenade launcher squad fires on the right and finishes off the infantry squad they had been targeting all day.  I shoot some other units but they all either pass morale or fall back only 3-4 inches.

It was a slow game with all of this infantry and C4 was not the fastest player, so we ran out of time at the end of my turn.

Summary

C4 brought a lot more long range firepower than I did and it really showed.  He was able to bring that fire to bear and take out my vulnerable units early on which led to his victory.  I am not sure why he advanced so much,  he could have held fast and forced me into the open while firing with all of his heavy weapons.  However, once he began moving up I felt as if I should just hold and fire from cover.  Had I moved up I certainly would have gotten more kills, but would have also sustained more losses.  I'm not sure if it would have balance out for me.  

From this game I learned that I definitely did not have enough  long range heavy weapons to face a battle of attrition like this one was.  It was still fun to play.

Next summary should be up tomorrow and is against 'Nids.  It was also a fun game.