War of the Relics; Fade to Grey

Gunvor fired his Storm Bolter at the Warp Talons threatening the last two members of Marius' Grey Hunters. He did not know if it was his storm bolter or the assault cannon and did not care, he simply felt satisfaction as vengeance was wreaked for the death of the Grey Hunters. Both Warp Talons fell dead.

Marius' Plasma gun and Missile Launcher stopped running and cheered the friendly fire offered by Gunvor.

Luce gestured toward the dreadnought and a Krak missile struck it clearly in front, but the armor defelected it from doing any damage. 
The Dreadnought began making its way through the rubble, firing its Lascannon into Luce's chest, but his armor was as effective as that of the Dreadnought had been.

Zhi recognized he would quickly be surrounded and the pointless long-range fire-fight with the Terminator was accomplishing nothing. He led his men at a run trying to achieve the shelter of the nearby ruins. He hoped to reach them before the rest of his unit got shot to pieces.

Gunvor heard Logan's report over his headset and began moving to set up a fire lane on the approaching Ta Fire Warriors. Marius' Grey Hunters fired a Frag Missile at the Fire Warriors, killing a couple. Logan and Njal fired at them as well and Njal unleashed his Psychic might at them, reducing them to just two remaining warriors. It was too much for Zhi and they began running.

Meanwhile a new unit of Grey Hunters entered the field and began moving toward the relic to Gunvor's right.

The Deathwing moved toward the Ultramarine Dreadnought. This time the Krak Grenade penetrated its armor. Not satisfied, Luce led his men in a charge, and the overwatch fire missed them completely.

 Against all odds he was able to not die to the crushing blow of the Dreadnought power fist.

The Dreadnought, however, was not so fortunate as multiple blows penetrated its armor, killing it outright.

Before he could lead his men back to the relic they were guarding, Grey Hunters appeared to his right. They opened fire with plasma guns and bolters.

The plasma guns were ineffective, as one missed and the other saw the Terminator armor look invulnerable to it. The Bolter fire was more effective and three Deathwing Terminators slumped to the ground.

With that the Space Wolves held the field and the Relics. The cost had been high, but they intended to make sure it was worth it.


Things spiraled out of control. The combination of the order I rolled units to arrive, what units arrived, what their objectives were combined to make this a slaughter. The Space Wolves held the center of the field, had 2 Lord-level characters, 2 full units of Grey Hunters, 2 heavy weapons from one Grey Hunter unit, a couple Terminators...units coming on one at a time would just run into a buzzsaw.

I have learned a great deal about the game, this seemed a good time to end it.

War of the Relics; Chaos still (doesn't) Rock

The Space Wolf Terminators and the Deathwing Terminators resumed their long-range, low-intensity firefight after a round of fire by the Space Wolves took down the Dark Angel Dreadnought, glancing it to death. As one Cyclone Missile launcher crashed to the ground, Luce recalled the others into the shelter of the ruins.

Meanwhile, the Grey Hunters looked at the on-rushing Chaos Warp Talons and retreated to take advantage of the rough terrain nearby to make the inevitable charge less deadly.

Njal took a wound from Batbayor and would have taken more had he not worn Terminator armor, but the armor proved the difference as he fended off blow after blow, finally dealing two of his own that penetrated his enemies armor, killing the Chaos Lord.

 He moved back under cover of the nearby Hammerhead, mindful of the oncoming Fire Warriors.

Logan continued picking off the Fire Warriors but took a wound himself. The Fire Warriors made it into a running battle, firing at him as they moved across the field toward their objective.

The Warp Talons, their numbers diminished by the fire they had taken, did manage to crash into the Grey Hunters, losing one of their own number but taking down 4 Grey Hunters, causing the remaining two to flee. They tried to chase but were eluded.

Meanwhile, an Ultramarine Dreadnought arrived in the ruins, determined to contest Objective 3 with the Deathwing Terminators there.

I ended up playing two consecutive turns and did not take notes. At this point I am thinking of things to somewhat speed up the end. I enjoy this but the piece-meal entry has given one army too much of an advantage to overcome. The rules are coming much easier to me...rending took out a Terminator as he had to save on a 5+ not a 2+.

Lightning Claws are great against power armor...power fists are great against Terminators. I am definitely learning things like that. Weight of fire matters, too. Just putting out 8 or 10 shots from a unit simply does not do enough damage, and you REALLY have to have stuff capable of taking out stuff like Armor Value 12 Dreadnoughts or AV14 Land raiders or even though they only put out a certain volume of fire, they are impervious to entire units.

au 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 
Space Wolves 40 First Blood, kill points x8, objectives x29, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 10 Kill Point x2, Objective x 8
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics: Njal v Batbayor

Gunvor gestured toward the Dark Angel Dreadnought. "Take it down!" He ordered. His storm bolter joined the Assault Cannon in hammering away at the dreadnought, weakening its armor.

The Dreadnought's front armor of 12 means only the Assault Cannon can hurt it, and then only with a glance.  So long as the Dreadnought does not come in range of the Power Fists, it is in little danger from the Terminators, the 1 glance notwithstanding.

Luce's men again fired Krak missiles at the Space Wolf Terminators, but their armor was proof against the missiles. Luce began considering charging his men at them to protect the dreadnought.

Njal tried to devastate the approaching Chaos Lord with his psychic abilities but could not damage him. The Staff of the Stormcaller proved more effective, wounding his enemy once.

Marius looked back and forth from the Terminators to the Dreadnought. Pure weight of fire might eventually bring down the Terminators, but only two of his weapons, the missile launcher and Plasma Gun could hurt the Dreadnought. Still, the Dreadnought was the bigger threat to his own Terminator brethren. He gestured toward it and the entire unit fired at the dreadnought. The Krak missile appeared to do some damage.

Batbayor shrugged off the incoming fire from Njal's staff and closed to hand-to-hand with him, swinging the Lightning claws with fury.  Neither could wound the other, however.


Logan continued running towards his objective, making excellent time across the field.

Estienne advanced towards the Terminators, firing as he went. His lascannon shot struck a terminator full-on, but somehow the armor shrugged it off.

Guo led his firewarrior team through the long-abandoned bunkers. He gazed at the field ahead of him. Straight ahead a Space Wolf Psyker was involved in single combat with a Chaos Lord. In the center of the field Space Wolf Terminators and Grey Hunters were involved in a fire fight with Dark Angel deathwing terminators and a Dark Angel Dreadnought. Off to his right a monstrous Space Wolf was running across the field.

With him were his 9 Fire Warriors tasked with the mission of crossing the maelstrom of destruction to recover a valuable dataslate buried in the ground. 

He hoped assistance would arrive because his team had little chance of accomplishing their mission unaided.



Tau 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 
Space Wolves 35 First Blood, kill points x7, objectives x25, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 8 Kill Point x2, Objective x 6
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; A feeling of Dread is in the air

Gunvor licked his wounds as he returned to his post guarding the objective. He nodded his gratitude to Marius and his men whose willingness to guard it had allowed him to go after the Land Raider.

Luce directed his men to fire on the Grey Hunters. He had the satisfaction of seeing the frag grenades start causing casualties.

Njal knew how powerful a Chaos Lord could be in single combat. He took a few steps back to give himself the high ground and again cast Shroud on himself, then unleashed living lightning at the Chaos Lord. unfortunately the Terminator Armor stood firm against the mystical onslaught.

Marius gestured his men into position. The fury of a Krak missile took down one terminator but the bolter fire could do no further damage.

Gunfire between units guarding objectives can best be described as desultory. An occasional casualty is done and in an open-ended game like this can be effective. In a 6 turn game I need to figure out wat to make shooting more powerful. For me, at least.

Meanwhile, the actions above are mostly just maneuver to get the right models closest to where fire will come from so key models are late casualties, and also to do some more objective seizing. 

Njal got off 3 psychic powers but all it accomplished was giving him Shroud...and a 5+ cover save does nothing except what his Terminator armor already gives him. he also bounced back to take advantage of Difficult Terrain which could give him an advantage against the Terminator Chaos lord.

Batbayor rounded the corner of the building and charged Njal. The Space Wolf Psyker's raven attacked him but could not penetrate his armor. It did slow him down a bit though.

Estienne could not recall how long ago he had become a Dreadnought. Though he saw the Deathwing terminators to his right, he cared not. Nor did he care one whit about the Grey Hunters he saw ahead of him. Unlike his fellow Dark Angels of the Deathwing, however, he felt no kinship with the Grey Hunters. He triggered a blast from his twin-linked Lascannon, obliterating one Grey Hunter as he advanced towards his objective. It was the bad fortune of the Grey Hunters that his objective lay on the other side of them...

Tau 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 
Space Wolves 33 First Blood, kill points x7, objectives x23, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 7 Kill Point x2, Objective x 5
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; Is this the end for Stumpy?

Gunvor gestured to the Chaos Chosen. "With no Storm Shield to protect us, we cannot take the Land raider. Lets kill some chosen." Assault cannons and Storm Bolters opened up, killing a couple Chosen.

Stumpy thought momentarily he had destroyed the land raider but then he noticed he had not even damaged it.

 the return fire was a bit more impressive as the Bolters tore through his partner and the lascannon tore him in two.

Well, I guess that answers that question...the land raider outshot the Long Fangs. It took quite some time, 1 penetrating hit and one glance on the Land raider, but it took out all 5 long Fangs. Even more impressive, using the Power of the Machine Spirit rule, it also shot down the Wolf pack leader from the Grey hunters.

"Fire!" commanded Luce. Once more Frag Grenades streaked forth, killing 4 of the Chosen, leaving just one who finally had enough and took off through the nearby brush.

Marius gestured to his missile launcher wielding troop. "Hit the land raider! the missile streaked out but missed wildly.

The Land Raider is a real problem. With armor of 14 the Power Fists of the terminators and the Krak Grenade all need a 6 just to glance, no other weapon is a threat to it at all. It is threatening to run amok on this game right about now...

Zhi ignited his jump pack, landing squarely in front of the Deathwing terminators. The fusion blaster took one out, but they proved tough enough to withstand the other hail of fire from his team. Very aware of the power the Terminators could bring to bear, he led his men in jumping back to safety.

Gaanbatar saw the Deathwing and knew if they saw him he would be slain. He needed to get all the way across the field. Choosing stealth as the better part of valor, he began working his way through the ruins hoping to avoid notice.

Tau 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 (pending)
Space Wolves 26 First Blood, kill points x5, objectives x18, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 6 Kill Point x2, Objective x 4
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the relics; Chaos returns

With Ingvar dead the Long Fangs were going to need even more assistance. Yet Gunvor knew he could not leave his post. no matter how much he wished to leave his post the needs of the Wolves as a Chapter meant more than his desire for personal glory. His men edged ever closer to the edge of disobeying orders but remained in place...for now.

Stumpy took careful aim. Triggering his Lascannon mere moments after the krak missile bounced off the tank and his partner's laser went wide, he found a chink in the armor. The tank veered but kept coming on.

Ovidius shouted for a damage report. The stuttering of his crew's response let him know they were shaken but they managed to trigger their weapons, albeit a bit less accurately. Still, they managed to slay the missile launcher which sent the last two Long Fangs running off the hill. Satisfied, he began searching for a new target.

The Land Raider shot pretty well for firing only Snap Shots, hitting 3 times though only wounding once. Still, the Fangs fled...4". Had they fled 4-1/8 they would have been gone.

Luce directed his cyclone missile launchers to fire at the Land Raider again but they both missed widely.

Marius led his men at a run towards Gunvor. "We will hold this, you go take down that Land raider before it kills us all!"

Batbayor led his men onto the field of battle. Quickly he identified the best target for his men and led them running straight towards the Space Wolf Grey hunters. Soon battle would be joined.

VP
Tau 3 objective x 3
Space Wolves 19 First Blood, kill points x5, objectives x11, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 4 Kill Point x1, Objective x 3
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; Enter the Stormcaller

Gunvor ground his teeth in frustration. He so desperately wanted to engage the Land Raider..or the Dark Angel Terminators...and he was here babysitting some unknown relic. Still, wisdom was the better part of valor. He redeployed his men to take care of the difficult terrain and fired a few harmless shots at the back of the terminators.

Ingvar meanwhile watched as the Krak Missiles and Lascannon blasts bounced just as harmlessly off the mighty armor of the Ultramarine Land Raider.

Ovidius looked at the bodies laying around the field. Ahead of him were the Terminators, but closer and far more dangerous were the Long Fangs on a nearby hill. Turning to face them, he smiled as his Lascannon blasted one of them clean off the hilltop. Their armor was proof against his Heavy Bolters, but he had begun inflicting casualties and was pleased.

Commander Tai gestured his men deeper into the ruins. He knew full well his men could not stand up to the Deathwing Terminators in front of him. His men's fusion blasters could not penetrate their armor, however, nor did the cannons. He knew he was in trouble.

Luce watched the cowardly Tau slink away. Doggedly he gestured his men forward, picking up speed to crash into them. The Terminators were not bothered by the snap shots taken by the Tau Stealth team as they went in, nor were the flailing blows of any concern, even though many hit. They counted on their armor to withstand the blows and the thunder hammers to squish the Stealth Suits. Both assumptions proved correct as they surged forward to take the objective they had been given.

It was the bad luck of the Tau to come on by objective three, needing to get to objective one, only to run into the Deathwing scattering to between them and escape, needing to get to objective 3. Again I see the power of the no-armor save power fist. Fully 13 wounds were dished out, and with only cover saves, which you cannot take in cc, the Stealth Team was just another stain on the field. The battle took place on the objective, so the Deathwing got a two-fer, and with 8 left they are going to be tough to dig out of that objective.

Njal knew multiple units of Wolves were on-planet. He was not particularly surprised to see Gunvor holding an objective impatiently and Ingvor involved with a Land Raider. He advanced to his objective and looked around for a target for his mighty psychic powers. Seeing the Deathwing, he unleashed the wolves, killing one terminator, but the power of the warp was so strong he took a wound. He then shrouded himself.

In a fortuitous roll, Njal came on the board by his objective. Hiding behind the wrecked Hammerhead and shrouded, in Terminator armor, he can stick around a while picking up cheap points.


VP
Tau 3 objective x 3
Space Wolves 15 First Blood, kill points x5, objectives x7, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 2 Kill Point x1, Objective x1
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; Exit the Ultramarines, enter the Ultramarines

 "Guard the objective" snarled Gunvor. Still smarting from the loss of 60% of his command, he was chafing to get into combat and the never-ending task of guarding an objective whose value he did not know was only exacerbating the situation.

Unfortunately, the only target in sight was the hapless remainders of the Ultramarine tactical unit. Gunvor and his men fired away but their fire was ineffective. For the moment he would have to satisfy with himself with the knowledge he was accomplishing his mission all but uncontested.

I considered bringing in 2-3 units from each army, but the purpose of this game is to get used to moving, shooting, learning rules like pinning, morale, and seeing how effective...or ineffective...any given weapon is so I elected to just keep doing it the way I have been. On the bright side, it keeps the turns quick and easily managed...on the dark side, the Space Wolves are dominating.

Doggedly the Ultramarines advanced to seize the objective, with the Plasma Gun moving to a better firing position. His movement jostled his aim and he missed, as did the captain, but the missile Launcher hit the stealth unit hard. Only one drone was knocked out of commission, however...

Casualties had taken away their holding the objective and taken them out of squad coherency. I found that by moving the captain forward and shifting the Plasma Gun I could fire the missile launcher Frag grenade and still snap shot with the Plasma. 

The Grenade did 4 wounds due to how crowded the Tau Stealth team was, but only one was not saved.  In a way it was a glorious last stand...they had done nothing of note since wiping out the Hammerhead, though they had held the objective for quite some time.

"I saw your pathetic shooting, Gunvor" radioed Ingvar. "A shiny new Storm Bolter on whether my boys can outshoot you?"

Gunvor accepted the bet and started laughing as the two missiles sailed way over their targets and one Lascannon buried in the crumbling walls of the ruins sheltering the Ultramarines. His laughter stopped as Stumpy fired and took out the Ultramarine captain. The damage proved too much for the beleagured Ultramarines and they turned and fled.

The Long Fangs are sitting alone on a hill with good line of sight to virtually the entire field. With nobody threatening them they are able to plink away. Having their Frag Grenades scatter 10 and 11 inches limits the damage they do, and the ruins gave cover from the Lascannon, but they still have been the MVP so far, blowing up Land Raiders, running off the rugged, stubborn Ultramarines...I am learning the power of the Long Fangs.

Commander Tai chuckled gleefully as the blue-clad Ultramarines took to their heels. "We have company, boys, and they did part of our work for us. Lets go find some enemies."

Waving his arm, he led his men running through the ruins that hid them from view of whoever had fired on the Ultramarines.

"Ovidius reporting for duty". Captain Ovidius of the Ultramarines had heard the distress calls from Captain Aelius and his long-time friend Decimus as well as a third unidentified man, someone who was leading a unit of tacticals to recover some bit of tech. He had thundered his Land Raider toward the field of battle as quickly as possible, yet now that he should be in radio range, all he heard was silence over the com.

It seemed likely the targets he was picking up on the instruments had something to do with the radio silence. He did not know who they were but it mattered not. He would wreak a terrible vengeance on them.

VP
Tau 3 objective x 3
Space Wolves 12 First Blood, kill points x5, objectives x4, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 0
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; Long Fangs and Stealthy Tau

Gunvor could not see the tank but he heard the chatter of fire and its treads crushing rubble underneath. The warrior in him felt a bit of regret for the Ultramarines now caught betweeen him and the tank which was making it clear it was not a friend to the Ultramarines.

Still, he would have expected no mercy had he been in that situation and he owed them the respect due them as warriors. He would honor their courage and skill greatly if they found a way out of their predicament. He led his men closer, while still maintaining his post guarding whatever treasure was buried in the ground. The 3 remaining ranged weapons of his company fired at the beleaguered Ultramarines, though their shots had no effect.

In a fit of good luck, the Ultramarines made 6 or 7 saves. Still, another easy VP for the Space Wolves. I am definitely seeing the power of a rugged unit sitting on an objective. It is a good way to pile up points and if you can protect it, so much the better.

It was obvious the Tacticals could not threaten the Land Raider in front of them as only the Krak missile from the launcher could even penetrate the armor. Stoically, they advanced towards their objective, hoping to at least take the pesky fire of the Space Wolves out of the equation and perhaps shove a krak grenade down the hatch in close combat with the Land Raider. They considered firing at the Raider but decided instead to run for cover.

A Land raider is a tough nut to crack for tacticals, and one snap shot needing a 6 to hit and another 6 just to glance seemed pretty pointless so I hoped instead to get them as much out of sight as possible. A whopping 2 for distance was technically not enough to get the 2 guys to the second level...but they have already suffered so much...

The Dark Angel commander Florent looked with disdain at the Ultramarine cowards scurrying for cover before the might of his mighty land Raider. He considered slaying them all simply to demonstrate his superiority, but his navigator pointed out the dangers of toiling through ruins. Even a Land Raider could throw a track.

Nodding acquiescence, Florent pointed through the nearby wall. "Lets get out of these ruins and head towards our objective."

The mighty Land Raider shuddered as it crashed through the wall into the open and turned toward the objective.

Florent checked the coordinates and looked at his instruments. There was no doubt about it, there were 4 Space Wolf Terminators squarely on top of his objective. He smiled gleefully. He would accomplish his mission while taking out the arrogant pups.

I think I actually played this a bit illegally. I went "flat out" instead of shooting to clear the ruins. I think the rule is no flat out in dangerous terrain. I only realized this after playing another turn, however...so be it. I also made the choice because  only the Hurricane Bolters on the right and Assault Cannon in the turret had line of sight and they could not even take out Power Armor...not liking their chances against Terminators.

As an aside, I think a Land Raider without at least one AP2 or better is wasted points. You HAVE to be able to take out tough targets. I think it is poor against any Space Marine or equivalent. Sheer volume will do a few casualties, but I would rather have effective shooting...

Ingvar smiled gleefully as the Land raider hove into view. "Target practice, boys!" Almost before the echo of his voice faded two crack missiles thudded into the Land Raider's front armor but were deflected. One lascannon missed entirely but the one-handed Stumpy was more effective. The bright ruby laser found a chink in the armor and the land Raider instantly exploded, tearing itself apart  in a fiery wreck. Stumpy raised his fist in salute to his vanquished foe.

Well that was...uh...lucky. A 3 to hit, 6 to penetrate, and 6+1 for high AP on the damage table equals one dead Land Raider. The Wolves are starting to run amok.

Commander Tai signaled to his stealth team. They nodded acquiescence and slowly worked their way through the ruins to line up the hapless Ultramarines in their sights. 

So skilled were his men that the first the Ultramarines knew of their presence was the unleashing of gunfire. Two marines fell to the Fusion Blasters, but their armor was proof against the remaining fire of his unit. No matter, Tai would wipe them out, advance to his objective, report back and then find out what had happened to Commander Bau.

The poor Ultramrines just cannot catch a break. Any roll but a three and the Tau would not have encountered them. Instead they are squarely in the path the Tau need to take. One might guess they are not long for this game...

VP
Tau 3 objective x 3
Space Wolves 10 First Blood, kill points x4, objectivesx4, Overwhelming Firepower
Ultramarines 7;  kill points x2, objective x5
Dark Angels: 0
Chaos Space Marines: 0