Poland 1939: Action near Dukla Pass After Action Report

Below is a video of the section level game I played solo using a modified version of Operation Squad: Evolution. The briefing is here. The basic Operation Squad mechanics were used with only the addition of card driven activations to make the game more solo friendly. 

After a faltering attempt at forming a base of fire, the Gebirsjäger MG34 team and a supporting team were mauled by Polish resistance. After seeing four of his man fall, Obergefreiter Martin Reiter decided to call it a day and withdraw until heavier force could be applied to the farm and dislodge the Poles. 

Reiter lost four men permanently, lost or missing, and three will sit out the next battle. In addition, he lost his MG34 in the retreat. There isn't a replacement for now. 

Plutonowy Andriy Kohut is the man of the hour, the hero of Dukla Pass. As the Germans retreated he and his men withdrew from the farm, as the German advance has overwhelmed the Polish resistance in other sectors. Father Marius of the church in Barwinek has approached Kohut's platoon commander and begged him to help recover the relics of a local saint that were stolen by the advancing Germans. 

All of this was generated using a combination of Platoon Forward and At the Sharp End by the TooFatLardies, and sets us up for next scenario, where the Poles will be launching an attack of their own!

Death comes to Cardiff, Game 2: Dark Angels against Eldar

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. A mixture of work and Reserve duty has kept me well away from blogging, although the painting continues apace. More of that when I get a chance to take some decent photos. 

I find myself with a little spare time to write up the second game of weekend I enjoyed in Cardiff a while back, against Craig and his 500 point Eldar force. Playing at such a low point value raises problems in terms of table size and even the complexity of the game, but since we both wanted to learn, and Matt and Jim were slaughtering each other a few tables away, we took the opportunity to get a better sense of what our armies were capable of. 

The initial disposition of forces.

In terms of armies, I fielded a Tactical Squad, a Scout Squad and a Squadron of Ravenwing Bikes. This little force was led by a Chaplain. I decided, rather stupidly with hindsight, to combat squad the Tactical Marines, and I picked the Ravenwing Bikes as a way of getting a chance to use bikes for the very first time.

My Scouts deployed just around the corner from the Eldar. 

We rolled Purge the Alien with Vanguard Strike for our mission, so squads eliminated earned points. My Chaplain got target priority as his Warlord trait. Craig won the roll off and got the first turn. Across the table from me, hiding amongst the rocks were his perfidious Eldar which consisted of a squad of Fire Dragons, two Combat Squads of Dire Avengers and an Autarch. Since it seemed unlikely that he would come out and play, I decided to bring the pain to him. I must confess, I had no idea of the capabilities of the Eldar, so with true Imperial ignorance I would learn by smiting. 

The Eldar sit tight in their "ambush".

As I mentioned, Craig won the first turn and decided to do nothing. In response I trotted everything forward. In response the Fire Drake took a pot shot at my bikes, but a jink save meant that it had no effect. And still my Angels of Death advanced into the jaws of death. 

I had thought to swing one combat squad around the right of the rock outcrop on my right flank as a means of enveloping the Eldar, but the squad was met by a hail of Dire Avenger fire and I lost three Marines. The hail of blades rule smashed my Marines, and I realised that despite their relatively short range, they could be lethal. The battle focus rule also allowed the little blighters to move after shooting! Perfidious Eldar indeed! 

My bikes were taking a pounding as I massively mistimed my movements, and I lost two of the three despite my jinking efforts. One thing I hadn't realised was that Bikes are relentless and thus always fire as though stationary, so I had denied myself the right to eviscerate the Eldar from range with the bikes. However, I only discovered this after the game. I did, however, witness first hand the benefits of the Jink rule. The lone Sergeant on his bike passed his morale test. 

After this the details of the game get messy as I gave up on recording things blow-by-blow. 

In short, I threw everything at the Eldar, and slaughtered many, though I lost a squad of marines on my right to the Dire Avengers, in combat! In the centre things went my way, and my Chaplain successfully slew the Autarch in a challenge, at which point he exploded and wiped out most of my men because of some jewel. To make matters worse, he then came back to life with one wound. Tricksy Eldar. The combat ground on, and we called it after six turns. When we tallied up the butchers bill Craig had won by a single victory point.

In all honesty this wasn't the most exciting game of 40k I have ever played, but Craig was good fun, and it did teach me several things. Also, there was a certain juvenile excitement in simply battering each other in a stand up fight. I learned that the Eldar are lethal at close range, and that bikes are actually very good, the jink, toughness and relentless rule, making them an excellent fighting platform. I also learned that the strength of the Tactical Squad lies in the concentration of fire power at short range and not combat, though I suspect I didn't fully learn this lesson until the following day. To that end, there is really very little point in splitting a Squad of ten Marines into two squads, certainly not unless there is a requirement to hold an objective or some such thing. Scouts continued to prove their usefulness, though I think I would very much like a squad with sniper rifles and a missile launcher to hurl death from distance. I hope the photos give a sense of just how good the tables at Firestorm Games are.

Death comes to Cardiff, Game I: Dark Angels versus Tyranids

For our first game of the weekend Jim from the Whispers of Chaos blog and I agreed that we should play a thousand point mission, his gorgeously painted Tyranid army against the Emperor's Dark Angels. It was a chance to use my newly painted Zone Mortalis force from the 2014 Hobby Progress Challenge. We rolled on the first table, which are the simpler missions that don't use tactical objectives, and got "The Emperor's Will". And then rolled Dawn of War deployment.

Primary objective: Seize and control the objectives on the table, there were two, which were worth three victory points each. Since we were both using bound armies all our units could score. 

Secondary objectives: Line Breaker, Slay the Warlord and First Blood. These were all worth one victory point.

We used the table as we found it since the terrain seemed fairly laid out. Firestorm Games really is great venue with loads of room and the tables look really good. Jim and I agreed that the lava rivers would count as dangerous terrain as there were rock flows floating in the lava, and we could imagine his 'Nids skittering and leaping from piece to piece. We placed the objective markers in places that seemed logical. A fortified position on Jim's side of the table, and a ruined building on mine. 

At this point we rolled for our Warlord Traits. Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus rolled on the Command table and got "Master of Vanguard" which meant I got an extra inch on charges and run moves. Librarian Turmiel chose Pyromancy for his warp powers. I haven't had any experience with the powers, so I picked a set that sounded interesting. With hindsight a bit more research might be smarter in the future, but I am keen to give all the "lores" a chance. In any event, Turmiel had Molten Beam, Fiery Form, and Flame Breath. I don't know what trait or powers the Tyranids had at their disposal, except that one of his Zoanthropes could give his Tyrant "Feel No Pain", and that they had a Warp Blast power. 

We rolled off for deployment and The Dark Angels had the initiative. One of the things I like about this new edition is the ability to premeasure everything. Frankly, I never understood how your troops wouldn't use scanners, or even judgement, to build a real sense of the battlescape. We deployed and then I placed my scouts in a forward position to try and shadow the Tyranid right flank. I also forgot that they get to make a move before the game starts, which is to be expected when you first use units you aren't familiar with. Blunder number one of many. 

My battle plan was to anchor Tactical Squad Raphael with their Heavy Bolter and Plasma Gun, on the ruined building to use their superior firepower to smash anything that came at them. Tactical Squad Gabriel would advance with the Turmiel and Seraphicus from a defensive position behind some rocky outcrops to try and seize the objective held by the Tyranid Warriors. Meanwhile my scouts would try and shadow the Carnifex and threaten the Tyranid right flank, using the cover on available. 

Just before the game began we rolled for night fighting, since the Tyranids were hoping to use the darkness to cover their advance. It was duly passed, after which the Tyranids tried to seize the initiative and failed, and then the game began. I was surprised how much time was spent actually setting up the game. Again, our inexperience with the rules and just playing in general, probably exaggerates the length of set up, but the upside was that the stage was set for a narratively rich showdown between a compact force of Dark Angels and a ravening horde of monsters from the depths of space.

TURN I - Dark Angels

Squad Gabriel shuffled forward to take up a defensive position behind some barricades hoping to establish a field of fire over the no man's land between the rock outcrop and the lava river. Meanwhile Scout Squad Nehemiel moved and ran into the ruins on the Tyranid right flank hoping to shadow the Carnifex as it swung around the rocks. The idea was to act as a quick reaction force once the Carnifex committed to a path of attack.

Sadly my librarian was also out of range to use any of his powers, so the psychic phase was a nonevent. Meanwhile, Dark Angels shooting was ineffective having no impact on the game. 

TURN I - Tyranids

The Carnifex had clearly caught the scent of the scout squad to its right and began lumbering towards the ruins to eliminate the threat. The scouts thought they were safe, only to see the Carnifex lurch in their direction at a fair clip. A Zoanthrope then gave the Hive Tyrant "feel no pain", as it stalked its way towards the ruined factory held by squad Raphael, the hordes of its smaller kin skittering forward too.

The Hive Tyrant and Tyranid Warriors then shot their vile bio weapons at the Astartes who held the barricades, but their ceramite armour protected them from these attacks whilst Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus bellowed curses at the vile xenos. 

On the right flank the Carnifex suddenly lurched into the attack against the scouts in the ruins, who unloaded their weapons at the monstrosity. As the bulk of the beast smashed into the ruins it crushed a shotgun wielding brother beneath its vast bulk as it lashed out at the remaining marines. Veteran Sergeant Nehemiel darted forward slapping a melta bomb onto the beast belly, wounding it and only enraging it further. The Carnifex swiped at the nimble marines, eliminating three brothers in one fell swoop. Despite sustaining horrendous losses, Nehemiel held his squad together and defiantly held. (I rolled snake eyes, although I only needed a six to pass, I liked to think that Nehemiel bellowed "For the Emperor" before redoubling his efforts.)

TURN II - Dark Angels

Deathwing Squad Barachiel was meant to land to the rear of the Tyranid Warriors, but due to a calibration error (read mishap), they were delayed until the following turn. Tactical Squad Gabriel then pivoted around the Plasma Cannon to try and close with the right edge of the horde of Hormagaunts. They unloaded their weapons at long range, and had limited effect, although the plasma cannon vaporised three of the small creatures, they were carried onwards by the hive mind and sheer instinct.

With Sergeant Raphael bellowing "bring it down!", his squad pummeled the Hive Tyrant with all their firepower and inflicted a wound. The hulk brute stumbling but still continuing forward on its rampage. Meanwhile, another scout was slain by the Carnifex as Sergeant Nehemiel tried to strap another Melta bomb to its soft underbelly, sadly the attempt failed, and Nehemiel was now all alone against the vile beast. 

TURN II - Tyranids

A chittering arose on the right flank of the small Dark Angels force as a swarm of Genestealers, led by a Broodlord, emerged from the shadows. Making their way towards the objective in the ruined factory and Squad Raphael. At the same time the tide of skittering 'Gaunts were still relentlessly advancing across no-mans-land towards the selfsame factory. A Zoanthrope unleashed its warp blast at Squad Gabriel, but it scattered harmlessly away, the air crackling with spent energies. Bioweapons flung at the Dark Angels brought down a brother from both Squads Gabriel and Raphael, shortly before the tide of hormagaunts smashed into squad Raphael, who leapt from the upper levels of the ruin to meet the threat head on, whilst pumping bolter rounds into the foul aliens, bringing only one of the little beasts down.

The hormagaunts tore at the marines with 27 attacks, but only one of these penetrated ceramite, and a lone brother fell beneath the sea of chitin. In answer the marines tore apart one of the scythed terrors. With the combat inconclusive both sides piled in yet more bodies. On the Dark Angels left flank Sergeant Nehemiel met his end at the hands of the Carnifex, still hurling insults as he was torn limb from limb. 

TURN III - Dark Angels

The general action was going against the Dark Angels when Deathwing Squad Barachiel teleported onto the battlefield. Encouraged by the arrival of their elite brothers, Seraphicus and his bodyguard surged forward to confront the Hive Tyrant. 

Focusing his psychic energies, Turmiel evaporated a Tyranid Warrior with a molten beam. While the squad Gabriel pummeled them with fire to slay yet another . The Deathwing unleashed the fury of their weapons upon the same group of Warriors to kill one and wound another. 

At the ruined factory squad Raphael was faring poorly, losing three brothers and only dispatching two Hormogaunts in return, but still they held stubbornly. 

TURN III - Tyranids

The Hive Tyrant swung around and lurched towards the Deathwing, and sensing this the Tyranid warriors also made their way towards the heavily armoured marines. By the will of the Hive Mind, the termagants also swung right towards Squad Gabriel, while the Broodlord and his Genestealers stalked ever closer to the beleaguered Squad Raphael. 

The Tyranid Warriors spat biochemical death at the Deathwing bringing down two brothers, before throwing themselves at them reeling terminators, who fired wildly and failed to make any impact on the charging Warriors, who were joined by the Hive Tyrant. 

Squad Raphael turned the tide on their objective, reducing the Hormagaunts to a handful who ran due to being beyond the reach of the Hive Mind. Sergeant Raphael redeployed his squad to face down the Genestealer threat. 

Having dispatched the Hormagaunts, Squad Raphael turn to face the Broodlord and his 'Stealers.

Across the river the Hive Tyrant clove two terminators in half, whilst the Warriors tore apart two more brothers. Sergeant Barachiel dealt a wound to a Warrior, but they were now a spent force. 

TURN IV - Dark Angels

Squad Gabriel under the direction of Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus sprinted towards the rapidly ending combat, firing as they went. But their assault stalled as they failed to make the distance to save Barachiel and his Deathwing, who were finally overwhelmed.

Barachiel and his men go down swinging.

Back at the factory, Squad Raphael slew two Genestealers and almost fatally wounded the Broodlord dealing him two wounds. 

TURN IV - Tyranids

Sensing that the end was near, the remaining Tyranid forces surrounded Squad Gabriel, the Zoanthropes threw their Warp Blasts at the knot of Dark Angels, while biochemical weapons spat at them. 

The last image of Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus, Librarian Turmiel, and Squad Gabriel, shortly before contact was lost with survey drone DRV-185.

+ Survey Drone Data Ends +

At this point I gracefully surrendered the field, as it was clear that the Tyranids had won the field. Time was ticking by and at this point I was happy to concede to Jim.

Analysis

Obviously nobody likes losing, but I was satisfied that the game had been entertaining and very cinematic. I hope that my efforts above have imparted an element of the excitement I experienced playing. Jim was a sporting opponent who was very patient with me as I muddled my way through the rules. Although, there are some parts that still baffle me, for instance how blast wounds, once the number of hits are determined, are allocated. The game seems to emphasise the shape of formations and placement of individual figures within it which is different from how I remember the game. But I like the overwatch rules and the ability to run and so forth. 

My plan for the battle was silly from the start. I think that I honestly have the Horus Heresy idea of a Space Marine, striding across the battlefield dealing death, in "reality" they are far more dainty than that. I should have focussed more on keeping my small force together and using units to support each other. That said, I am still getting a feel for the game, and only playing more will make me more comfortable with what my troops can and can't achieve.

Of course I have several more games to chronicle, and although I would love to get them on the blog, I am unfortunately away for a fortnight with the Reserves starting tomorrow. However, I shall certainly be working on the drafts as much as time allows, and thinking of what I want to say. All in all though, seventh edition gets a big thumbs up from me. 

+ LOYALTY & HONOUR +

A Brief Sojourn to Cardiff to Visit Friends, and a Game!

I departed from Oxfordshire on my long and dangerous journey through the torrential rain towards Wales on Monday, wondering if I would ever make it. The gusting winds and lashing, heavy rain pounded my little Mercedes as I headed towards a part of the British Isles my phone's satnav would only describe as "Here Be Dragons". After being extorted by a harridan to pay a toll to cross a rather large bridge (possibly over the Styx, though equally likely the Severn) I was in Cymru, where I have not set foot for many a year.

A large bridge into Wales.

The ostensible reason for my visit was for a get-together with some fine, and long-suffering friends, fellows of the Dark Pact. Sadly the Dark Pact has ground to a halt, they blame me, though I suspect the real reason is the short attention span of grown men when tempted by shiny new toys. As Chris Rock once observed, "a man is only as loyal as his options." Upon my arrival at Chez Jim et Craig, I was met by Jim, writer of the Whispers of Chaos Blog, who I whisked away for a romantic late lunch of Nando's, before we set off to Firestorm Games for a game of Battlefleet Gothic. Firestorm is what a Wargames store should be, they stock almost everything, and would even order in Wargames Factory if you want it! What's more, they have a large gaming area at the rear of the store where one might make battle. Living in the UK with its tiny little houses means that clubs or locations like Firestorm are absolutely essential as venues for friends to meet and enjoy their favourite games.

We basically had the whole place to ourselves, Monday afternoon at 1600 is hardly a peak time, Besides us, there were a few guys playing fantasy on the other side of the hall. As neither of us had played in years, and I hadn't had a chance to really read the rules over the weekend (H wouldn't let me) Jim was guiding us through the Cruiser Clash scenario. For those who have never played Battlefield Gothic before, get the rules for free from here, and then get hold of some ships from here, and play. Though I had brought all my stuff, we only elected to play with two cruisers apiece, I chose a Gothic Class Cruiser and a Dominator class. Jim chose some vile Chaos ships. The key difference was that he move faster and shoot further, I had better prow armour and at close range should have outgunned him.

Our chosen ships, setting up the game.

Sorry guys, you don't get to play.

 I had more in boxes too, including orbital things, but we let those lie. If I had been allowed to field everything I had I would have crushed Jim. However, because it was a fair fight I never had a chance. We rolled off and I got the first turn after we deployed. The Imperial Fleet deploying prow forward to the Chaos fleet, the Choas fleet abeam. We randomly generated our leadership values, and true to form I got a Ld 7 for the Gothic and 6 for the Dominator, Jim did a little better with a 9 and a 7.

Turn I - The Imperial fleet moved forward tentatively, and began to perform a wide angled right turn, since the maximum turning distance was 45 degrees for my ships.The Imperial plan was to swing right and then turn into the Chaos fleet, in hindsight Admiral *Data Expunged* should have rushed the Chaos ships to engage them at close quarters. Ineffective Nova Cannon fire, and a spread of torpedoes from the Gothic headed towards the Chaos fleet. The Chaos fleet drifted forward, and began to turn into the Imperial fleet, before launching a flight of three Bombers and a squadron of fighters. The fighters swiftly intercepted the torpedoes destroying the threat before returning to their carrier for refuelling, whilst the bombers lumbered toward the Gothic, from where Admiral *Data Expunged* commanded the small battle group.

Turn II - The Imperial fleet lumbered forward, trying to bring its guns to bear on the Chaos ships but failed dismally. In the Imperial Ordnance phase the Chaos bombers flew through a hail of defence turret fire to deliver their lethal payloads, delivering a critical hit on the Gothic class cruiser, smashing the bridge and killing Admiral *Data Expunged* along with his cowardly coterie of advisors and toadies. [Note: What I should have done was brace for impact, you can see I am rusty.] The ship was now crippled as it only had half of its Hit Points, reducing its guns and shields to half for the remainder of the action. Normally damage can be repaired, but not a smashed bridge. Also, the Gothic now had a leadership of 4.

The Gothic in the lead getting totally smashed.

The Chaos fleet tried reloading its ordnance, and a double 6 meant that it not only failed, but that it couldn't reload ordnance for the rest of the game. The bomber pilots were too busy celebrating their success with feasting no doubt. The Chaos guns were ineffective.

Turn III - The Imperial fleet, now leaderless, powered forward, trying to close with the Chaos ships. The short range of their guns a real impediment to getting to grips with the enemy contacts. However bad luck meant that the Imperial fleet only took out a shield. The Chaos admiral then tried to Lock On, but failed, this was followed by some more ineffectual fire.

Turn IV - The Imperial 2IC tried to take control of the situation, attempting to reload the torpedo tubes on the Gothic, but with Leadership 4, chances were slim, and the attempt failed. The Dominator managed to rake a Chaos ship with weapons battery fire take down its shields, but failing to inflict any real damage. The Chaos admiral brought both his ships about preparing to finish his annihilation of the Imperial cruisers. 

End Game - The Imperial fleet flailed wildly about seeking to inflict some damage on the Chaos cruisers. But on turn 6 it was all over, the crippled Gothic taking yet more damage, and with another critical hit, its Plasma Drive overloaded erupting in a ball of plasma vapour.

Ouch! Plasma drive overload.

The remains of the Gothic.

Fire poured into the Dominator removed three hit points.

The Dominator got pounded by fire, suffering a critical hit which resulted in a bulkhead collapse and a crippled ship. The Dominator tried escaping, but true to form the leadership test came up double six. However, the Chaos Admiral decided to let the Corpse-Emperor's lapdogs limp home and spread word of his victory. "Death to the False Emperor!!!"

Post Game - I made some huge mistakes in this game. I should have advanced more directly, prow forward without deviating to bring the Imperial guns to bear. Trying to manoeuvre was an abject failure which Jim capitalised on. Although I got smashed, I thoroughly enjoyed my last game in the UK for a while. We headed back to Jim and Craig's for a game of Relic. You can get the game here, and I highly recommend it. We played late into the night, sipping on Whisky, a great end to a busy and enjoyable day.