Steel and Doom....

Another weekend....another post!

After a heavy week of work on the Epic Titans last week I decided to go for a battle report this week. However this was a 28mm second edition 40k report as opposed to the 6mm variety.

In this battle my girlfriend and her miniature alter ego; 'Inquisitor Athena' was leading a noble force of Crimson Fists Space Marines on a mission to annihilate my force of Salamanders who were strolling through a nearby city block. The reason for this fight has been lost in the annals of Imperial history; but as these Salamanders were painted as normal humans rather than their recent modification into coal black burns victims it may be the case that GWs IP management had contacted the Inquisition directly in order to prevent them from damaging the current new background...who knows....

Anyway the forces were drawn from the Black Codex (from the original box set) and included a few tactical squads; some assault marines; devastators and terminators backed up by a rhino and predator each. The Fists were commanded directly by Athena; whilst the canon-challenging salamanders were led by a Mk I Space Marine Captain whose complexion was far too pale to fit in with current 40k fluff.

Athena drew 'The Assassins' meaning that she needed to slay my force commander whilst I drew 'Dawn Raid' meaning I was required to get a portion of my troops into her deployment zone.

We rolled to see which force would go first and I won; so I took the iniative and my troops started to head forwards. 

This first turn was carnage. 

My Devastator equipped with the Heavy Plasma Gun turned the setting on his weapon up to 'f*cking dangerous' and let a bolt of bright light shoot towards the enemy rhino. The heat of a sun burned through the side of the APC; killing the driver and all passengers in an incandescent explosion. The Rhino went out of control and screeched 11 inches forwards before flipping on its side. Wow....

To add insult to injury a few more cobalt blue marines were gunned down by sporadic bolter fire and tumbled three stories to die in the mud...

My Assault Marines then ignited their jump packs and powered  a mighty 18 inches and then through some lucky scatter rolls were able to pile into a fists tactical squad for a bit of melee...

This brutal assault led to further Crimson Fists dying as mono-molecular blades punctured the bio-engineered flesh of their post human forms. They may know no fear but these noble warriors died as all men do; in pain and agony.

After that first turn it seemed that I had secured an unbeatable head start....surely there was no way the lackeys of the Inquisition could win now....

However the Salamanders laughter was cut short as the marines in the nearby ruins were slaughtered as entire magazines of explosive bolt rounds were emptied into their position; subsequently shredding their mighty armour as if it were paper...

And the devastators in the high ground also suffered under a volley of high powered ammunition...

The melee in the Crimson Fists lines dragged in more troops as the sons of Rogal Dorn committed an additional assault Demi-squad to the fight; tipping the scales marginally in their favour...

However the scions of the VII Legion still took a heavy pounding and ended up being shaken (Astartes don't break like normal troops in this edition). However they subsequently inflicted heavy casualties back upon their equivalents in green.

The Terminators on the right flank lumbered slowly towards each other in the heavy armour of their respective first companies blasting away a stream of rounds with their twin bolters...

In a show of armoured fury my predator ground forward over a pile of rubble; swivelling it's turret and sponsons to face it's opposing number. The Salamanders gunners lined up their targetters on the enemy tank and then slowly depressed the triggers of their weapons...bullets and lasers speared from my tank piercing the armour and immolating the enemy blue vehicle. The nearby Salamanders cheered; until the turret detached from the burning hull and sliced through their position; decapitating one of the jubilant marines...

Meanwhile the terminators continued their cowboy style shoot out on the flank; I roared in rage as my heavy flamer was exactly a millimetre out of range...

Despite the death of one of her terminators Athena clapped her hands in glee as she realised with a short shuffle forwards her own heavy flamer would be in template range next turn....agggghhhhh

This led to two veteran marines being incinerated by burning promethium whilst another's armour caught fire....bugger.

Then as if history was repeating itself a Crimson Fist Heavy Weapons Trooper slammed a Krak Missile into my Rhinos side armour; this caused a powerful detonation which destroyed the vehicle and killed all occupants.... Things were going badly wrong; particularly as these were the marines that I was planning to use to achieve my objective and win me the game.....

Again my devastators in the ruins were subjected to a further volley of accurate bolter fire...

This cost me my heavy plasma gun and left only one marine still alive.

Having seen the effectiveness of Athena's Heavy Flamer last turn my own terminators grinned as they sprayed their enemy with a gout of fiery doom... Their grins were banished when the flames cleared and they saw the enemy Astartes were all still alive and well... You've got to be f*+king kidding me....

And still the melee in the centre went on, with more Crimson Fist Tactical troops being despatched to support it....

The Salamanders predator decided to even the odds a little by letting rip at the enemy terminators with everything it had on board. The lascannons did a little damage but the autocannon unhelpfully jammed as it's ammunition misfired.

The crew desperately tried to clear this weapon blockage; but were momentarily distracted by the sound of their veteran brothers being slaughtered nearby...

In a death or glory charge my commander and his tactical brothers decide to make a last minute dash across the battlefield in order to try and achieve their objective... It turned out to be more death than glory as accurate heavy weapons fire wounded my brave hero and killed all of his honour guard....

Simultaneously Rynn's Worlds finest warriors finally despatch the last remaining Salamander assault marine in the centre of the table; though they are unable to consolidate as they remain shaken...

Realising that victory is slipping through my fingers I decide to try and recoup some Victory points and so unleash every heavy weapon I have left at the enemy terminators; I pray to the dice Gods for their benediction....

Thank God.... They both die with a krak missile to the balls...

What's left of my army then just shoots at what it can in order to reap some souls for the Emperor....

All I need to do is keep my Commander alive and I can probably score a draw...

F***********CK!

Well with my commander dead it's clear that I have lost; but the question is by how much. A quick tally of points shows that Athena has scored 21 Victory Points whilst my Salamanders have only achieved 13 Points. A considerable victory to the forces of the Inqusition and sons of Dorn (as usual lol). Good play by Athena led to a well deserved victory!!

That was an awesome game; and ran really smoothly; the vehicle rules are lots of fun; and they really change the flow of battle. Now that we're both a bit more used to the rules I'm using more weapon systems and this is great fun as some of them cause mass carnage. 

I can't wait for our next game!!