Campaign Battle 5 : Objective 4

Imperial Guard & Daemon Hunters

vs.

Death Mages

Mission: Capture & Control

Once again, Thomas take his Imperial Guard and Daemon Hunter allies to the barren north. Last time he fought for objective 4 on the "no terrain" table, it ended with a tie against the Angels of Ecstasy. In his second attempt he fought Lynell's Chaos Marines, the Death Mages.

After slugging it out with the Death Mages, the Imperial Guard could still not win the objective. The game ended with another tie.

Campaign Battle 4 : Objective 2

Dark Angels vs. Iron Warriors

Mission: Seize Ground

It seems the Iron Warriors have developed quite a grudge against the Dark Angels. After having denied them the capture of North Point, the Dark Angels have truly angered the Iron Warriors. Not long after their previous battle, Chaos picks another fight with the Emperor's first legion.

I wasn't there during the whole thing, but from sporadic visits to Sam and Scooter's table, I can tell things were very bloody between the two.

From what I've heard, The Iron Warriors were inflicting a lot of damage to the Imperials. There were Dark Angel casualties strewn all over the field.

However, despite the huge amount of loss to his army, Sam was able to secure 1 more objective more than Scooter. The game ended with the Angels just barely hanging onto one objective high in the ruins of a building. If it had gone one more turn, Sam admits he probably would've been tabled.

Stay tuned for Sam's actual account of the battle to be posted later.

Campaign Battle 3 : Objective 1

Dark Angels vs. Iron Warriors

Planet Strike

The Dark Angels moved into the defensive perimeter around North Point to secure the communications array. Soon after, the Iron Warriors started their bombardment on the fortified structures. Before the dust cleared, the war machines of Chaos marched toward the Dark Angels and unleashed their awesome firepower.

In the end, the Dark Angels held firm and defended North Point. Although they were many battle brothers that died that day. The cost of victory was high.

Campaign Battle 2 : Objective 4

Imperial Guard & Grey Knights VS. Angels of Ecstasy

Mission: Capture and Control - Set Up: Pitched Battle

So soon after fighting the Dark Angels, the Angels of Ecstasy were once again called into battle against the Imperials. This time, my opponent was to be Thomas and his Imperial Guard (with some Grey Knight allies). I think I've only faced the new Guard once or twice since their new Codex. Plus, I've never really played against Thomas that often. So, on top of facing a new foe with new rules, there is the added extra challenge of the scenario. Fighting for Objective 4 means there is NO TERRAIN!

Actually, I wasn't too worried going in. After all, my heretics are all protected by power armor. Right? Well...

A little apology here, my army still isn't completely finished being painted and to top it off, I had to borrow some of Jay's models in order to make 1850 points.

Luckily, I get first turn. As my armored vehicles go forth, my Havoc Marines open fire with their mighty arsenal of four lascannons! Does it do anything? Nah, I think I just shook a Leman Russ a little. On the Guard's first turn after mine, the two Basilisks in the northwest corner drop their ordnance accurately on the Havoc Marines. The result, 260 points of my army gone in a flash. Yeah...uhm...having no cover is gonna hurt me a lot too.

Well, I knew the Basilisks were gonna be a problem, that's why the Vindicator started to head off in their direction supported by Marines with two melta guns, power fist, and a Rhino. Their mission, destroy those Basilisks!

In the meantime, most of my troops went straight up the middle while a separate force inside a Land Raider peeled off to the right to deal with the twin Leman Russ tanks. Having to deal with Ordnance firing weaponry placed on opposite corners really makes you split up your force. What could I do? Ignore them? Not likely. This is when having deep striking Raptors would've been handy. Or Obliterators.

Well, things are starting to get blown up and my advanced is stalled in the middle of the battlefield. Some Guard veterans hope out of their Chimera transport and pop the Land Raider. Although, the Land Raider was able to destroy one Leman Russ before it's own demise. My troops disembark from their transports and start laying down fire and assaulting the forward moving elements of the Guard. I gotta keep them from getting to my own objective as I head toward theirs!
Despite losing my pricey Havoc Marines in the beginning, everything else seemed to be going okay. Well, that was until the Grey Knights started to show up. One squad of Grey Knights helps out the Storm Troopers on the right flank. I was gonna mop up those suckers until the Grey Knights got involved to lend a hand. When attacking a tough foe, I like to overwhelm them and stack the odds against the other player. My plan was to throw in both of my Chaos Terminator squads against his Grey Knight Terminators when they showed up.

Unfortunately, the Grey Knights Termies hadn't shown up yet and I had no idea of where to put my own to counter act them. So, one squad of Chaos Termies had to go and help out the regular Chaos Marines fight off the regular Grey Knight Marines over by the Storm Troopers. The other Chaos Terminators deployed as close as they could toward the enemy objective. They were to get rid of the HQ squad sitting on the objective and contest it. In a weird twist of fate, the Grey Knight Termies do show up later but, accidently deep strike close to their own objective. Which is bad for me because now they can babysit the objective. Grey Knight Termies protecting an objective isn't good news for me.

Well, in the end, the team sent off to destroy the Basilisks in the northeast didn't do so well. They only got one Basilisk. The Vindicator didn't end up doing anything at all. It was destroyed before it could make any meaningful contribution.

In the center, my Chaos Terminators did destroy the rest of the Guard's scoring units on that side of the battlefield, but my own were also killed by his Grey Knight Termies. No one was able to claim the Imperial objective. The remaining veterans in the black Chimera had gotten to park themselves on top of my own Chaos objective threatening to win the game for Thomas. Luckily my own troops jumped back in their Rhino transport, drove back over, and also parked on the objective. As last turn ended neither player owned any objectives. The game was a tie. If the Imperial team wants the orbital defense satellite, they would have to play this scenario again.

Stay tuned for when Thomas goes for this objective again!

Campaign Battle 1 : Objective 6

ANGELS VS. ANGELS

Mission: Annihilation - Set Up: Spearhead

So here we go. The Dark Angels have chosen to take Objective #6. It's up to my Angels of Ecstasy to stop them. Well, I gotta admit, I felt a sense of dread going into this battle. Sam's has been doing a pretty good job of turning his Dark Angels army into something pretty scary to face on the tabletop. I think there's the overall consensus in the 40k community that the Dark Angels Codex is rather gimped. Yet, some hardcore fans of the Lion have been able to brainstorm and come up with some nasty lists. Having faced a few of these newer and nastier lists Sam has been using, I knew that things were gonna get bloody.

There was also another factor that was making me have doubts. The scenario set up for this particular battle involved the table being covered with one third ruined buildings. My whole trick to dealing with Terminators is to hit them with a lot of AP2 weaponry. How is this plan going to work if there is so much 4+ cover everywhere?

So, the game started and right off from the start the Dark Angels have me on the defensive. The Land Raider full of Terminators boldly guns it down the main street of town. My rather expensive unit of four lascannon Havoc Marines were unable to stop it. Yeah....uhm....I think the key to reliably bring down high armored vehicles is no longer with lascannons. I truly think meltas are the way to go from no on.

After disembarking, Belial in Terminator armor, Chaplain in Terminator armor, and a bunch of Deathwing Termies rush into the ruined building on the left flank and slay my Havoc Marines. I guess I should've but them further in the back field. Well, I did want them to be the focus of the Dark Angels, but sometimes having things go your way doesn't always mean....uhm....things are going your way. Sure, now I know where to focus my counter attack, but actually launching it successfully is a whole other matter.

I try though. I rush in two squads of Chaos Marines in armored Rhinos backed up by lots of support fire. Does this inflict the kind of casualties I want? Not at all. Belial and his squad are hard as nails and they shrug off our counter attack and nearly decimate an entire squad of mine as well. That squad ends up retreating despite my orders. The highlight of this has to be when, before charging in, Belial's squad was shot up by my second Havoc squad armed with four plasma rifles and I forced him to make 6 (5+) invulnerable saves! What does Sam do? He makes ALL SIX SAVES!

face/palm

So things were looking pretty grim. Sam was winning the war of attrition. I knew there had to be some major sacrifices in order to get rid of Belial, but I didn't expect the cost to be so high. Plus, he and his Chaplain are still on the field. At this point, should I ignore them and concentrate on easier targets or keep spending troops and resources to killing them? Well, I decide to keep concentrating on them. A little foolhardy, but I've already come this far and I really can't afford to have them run around on my side of the battlefield unchecked.

Fortunately, as the last half of the battle starts, things start to go my way. The Daemon Prince, finally sees the right opportunity and joins in on the battle versus Belial and his friends while they are occupied with regular Marines. The Daemon Prince starts to do massive damage. I gotta say, everyone talks about how awesome Lash of Submission is (which it is), but my new favorite psychic power has gotta be Warp Time. With everything in slow motion, The Daemon Prince has an easy time hitting his opponents and causing lethal damage in battle. He defeats Belial and then goes onto take out the Chaplain too. I can't believe how the battle is turning! Things are actually swinging in my favor. Ah, the Chaos gods must be smiling on me now.

In the end, (if my memory is correct) I win with the score of 4 to 2. The Angels of Ecstasy defeated Belial, the Chaplain, their retinue of Deathwing Terminators, and a bike squad. The Dark Angels, while inflicting a lot of casualties, still had not finished off a few squads that had one or two guys left in them. Their score comes from destroying one Rhino and a Havoc Squad.

AGRONA CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

There are EIGHT OBJECTIVES on the planet Agrona. Each time players get together to play (doesn't have to be on Monday nights), pick an Objective and play a game. The player who wins the game also wins the objective for their team. Each objective adds a stratagem that your team can use during the final Apocalypse battle. After all eight objectives have been fought over, we play one big Apocalypse game. That game represents both sides coming together to duke it out over the final prize. Obviously, the side who has one the most objectives will have the bigger advantage during the final fight. If your team has one all 8 objectives, then they get to go into the final battle with 8 extra free stratagems!

Here are the rules for fighting over each objective:

1.) Agree on a point total. You may play a campaign game with any army list between 1,000 to 1,850 points. You do not have to stick to one list during the whole campaign. You may change lists every time you play if you wish. So long as they're are still legal of course. :) Your opponent is allowed to look at your list any time after you pick your game's objective, style of play and mission.

2.) The Imperial Player chooses an Objective for the game:

Due to winning the Agrona initial planet assault games (the first two Apocalypse games), Imperial Forces have won the ability to choose where they fight.

3.) Both pick the style of play. Either Regular (main rulebook missions), Cities of Death, or Planet Strike. Due to the nature of all three styles of play, both players must agree on this. No quiz or rolling dice. Would suck to force a guy, who doesn't have a variety of models for his army, to engage in a battle where he cannot tweak his list to compensate/adapt.

4.) Choose a Mission & Play Style. Both players pick a mission, if you disagree, randomly roll for one. If an objective has anything under Special Conditions, then you must play using those restrictions written. Winner of the mission gains the objective for his side. Any battles that end in a tie mean that the objective goes to no one. Both Imperial and Chaos players must play another game for that objective again.

5.) Report on who won. Tell Cundo or I who won the objective so we can record the progress of the campaign.

Okay, now that you know the rules about fighting over objectives, here is the list of the objectives:

CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

Objective 1 - North Point Communications Array
In the cold and windy north mountains lies a large complex dedicated to controlling communications from the ground to the network of satellites in low orbit.
Special Conditions: None. Choose style of play and missions as normal.
Reward: Winner receives the "Jammers" Support Assets Stratagem (p.189 Apocalypse book). Also, the side that has this objective also is immune to the "Jammers" and "Disruptor Beacons" stratagems.

Objective 2 - Bloodstone Island Missile Defense Base
Near the southwestern coastline, Bloodstone Island's military base has weathered the passage of time well. Their stockpile of long range missiles are still in operational condition.
Special Conditions: None. Choose style of play and missions as normal.
Reward: Winner receives the "Scheduled Bombardment" Support Assets Stratagem (p.189 Apocalypse book), except the barrage is STR 9, AP2.

Objective 3 - Archeotech Find: Omni Shield Generator
Agrona's colony must thrived during the Imperium's golden era. Found within one of the larger cities is a large device of lost technology, the Omni Shield Generator.
Special Conditions: Players must play the Seize Ground Mission in the main rulebook. (the d3+2 objectives are various vital components to the Omni Shield Generator)
Reward: Winner receives "Shield Generator" Front Line Assets Stratagem (p.188 Apocalypse book), except the distance is 8" from shield marker and the save is a 3+ invulnerable.

Objective 4 - Orbital Defense Satellite "Emperor's Light" Control Center
Hidden among the many other satellites in Agrona's low orbit is the "Emperor's Light". A control center nestled in the frozen arctic region commands this powerful laser.
Special Conditions: The terrain is a featureless plain of snow and ice. Players play Capture & Control or Annihilation (main rulebook mission), any Deployment, no terrain at all on the whole board.
Reward: Winner receives "Emperor's Light" Campaign Strategem. During the Apocalypse game, a player picks one spot on the battlefield (does not have to be centered on an enemy model, but cannot be centered on a friendly model). Then, an intense beam of energy from the sky shoots down and hits the marked spot. "Emperor's Light" is Strength 10, AP 1. The beam hits without deviation if within LOS of any friendly HQ model. If it isn't in LOS, then roll deviation dice plus 2d6 inches (no modifier for ballistic skill). After the beam has hit, roll a deviation dice. Whatever direction is rolled, the beam scorches across the terrain 10" in that direction. The beam is one inch wide. Any model that comes into contact of the beam as it moves is hit. If a direct hit is rolled on the deviation dice, the player gets to choose the direction. After beam is done moving, it stops and disappears. Place laserburn terrain along path of "Emperor's Light" beam.

Objective 5 - Archeotech Find: Mammoth Teleport Platform
Another wondrous find on Agrona, a hidden complex holds a large teleporting platform of a size that rivals any of its brothers on Mars.
Special Conditions: None. Choose style of play and missions as normal.
Reward: Teleport as many models that fit within a 6" radius circle, 10" high, off the battlefield and then back onto the battlefied on the following turn (as if deep striking in from reserve. All models that were teleported arrive at the same time on following turn. Pick one model as the center model, roll for deep strike deviation for that one model. After that model is placed, put down the remaining models that were teleported within a 6" radius of that center model in any way you choose. If center model suffers from deep strike mishap, it is destroyed but the other models teleport down normally around the location it was destroyed.

Objective 6 -Treasury of the Royal Palace
Within the capitol city lies a large magnificient palace. Although much of the upper levels are now ruins, deep below the foundations of the palace lies a special vault. Upon discovering the vault's treasures, you see that the old royal family kept many priceless artifacts from the legendary crusades that forged the Imperium.
Special Condtions: Players must play Cities of Death, Planet Strike or a regular game where one third of the table is ruind buildings type terrain.
Reward: For the final Apocalypse battle, equip up to five HQ or Elite unit models with Relic Blades (Current Space Marine Codex version).

Objective 7 - Xenos Tech: Gem of Eternity
As various xenos ruins in the mist shrouded east are examined, a cysteal gem of dazzling beauty is found. Upon mental command, it projects an dazzling energy field around the person wielding it.
Special Conditions: Any mission, but during the entire game a mysterious mist covers the entire battlefield. Use Night Fight rules during all turns.

Reward: the Gem of Eternity is a piece of Wargear that can be given to any HQ model. The model with the gem has a 2+ invulnerability save. The model using the gem must hold it in one of his hands. Therefore, if the model has a boltpistol and power sword, he has to drop one in order to hold the Gem of Eternity and benefit from it's effects. This may result in models losing an attack or some models not being able to wield two handed weapons.

Objective 8 - Xenos Tech: Hand of Fate
To the west of the capitol city, deep in the jungles, lies another location of Xenos ruins. Within, you find another curious artifact. A large humanoid crystal statue with a glowing hand. Your adepts remove the hand for further investigation.
Special Conditions: Regular missions from main rulebook except that the terrain is 50% woods/jungle pieces.
Reward: Unlike the Gem of Eternity, the Hand of Fate is too large to be wielded as wargear. Instead, your adepts keep it securely somewhere off the battlefield and bring it in to activate it when you call for it. Once during the Apocalypse battle, during any phase (your own or your opponent's), you can invoke the power of the Hand of Fate. This power allows you to re-play an entire phase of a turn, of your choice for any one unit (a phase during your turn or your opponent's, any phase: movement, shooting, or assault).

If the unit chosen for Hand of Fate is in an assault against the enemy, and the assault phase is the phase chosen to be re-played, the opponent involved in the assault must replay it as well. This may even include multiple units. Assaults are the only way this power can effect multiple units. They must all be in the same assault together for the Hand of Fate to effect them all.

Remember, you can even pick an enemy unit during one of their own phases. If, for example, an enemy unit has a great phase of shooting that kills too many of your own troops, you can invoke the power of the Hand of Fate and make that unit replay its entire shooting phase.

Apocalypse Battle 2 - "Howling City"

The sprawling ruins of Agrona's capitol city has now become a hellish battlefield for the stalwart forces of the Imperium and the corrupt legions of Chaos. Both sides now unleash their most lethal weapons upon each other in order to obtain six valuable objectives.

Imperial Forces:

Cadians

Elysians

Ultramarines

Dark Angels

Ebon Sun Marines

Chaos Forces:

The Fallen

Death Mages

Angels of Ecstasy

As we started, we sort of suspected something was out of place. All the players were unpacking their armies and setting them up off to the side. Jay (playing the Fallen) had kept one rather large box unopened to the side. Then, he waited to the last moment to unveil his latest hobby purchase. A friggin Imperial Reaver Titan!

I admit it. I had a huge smile on my face. Before now, none of Chaos players had any super heavies to throw against Cundo's Baneblade. Now, Jay brings a Reaver to the battle! *Ahem* newly turned traitor by the seductive whispers of Chaos of course....

So the game began. Chaos had a ton of firepower on their side and they used it to hammer the Imperials turn after turn. The traitor Titan made the Baneblade on the right flank a priority. Soon, it was destroyed. Then, the Reaver started to turn its massive guns on smaller targets.

Tank Commander (last words): "You will bow down before me! Both you and one day, your heirs!"

Meanwhile, on the left flank, the Ebon Sun Marines planned to rush forward and grab the objective near the river. Unfortunately, things weren't going their way and their charge was being stalled by mass anti-tank fire.

Yes, things were looking very nice for Chaos. However, looking at the clock, they realized that time would soon run out. They needed to start grabbing some objectives away from the Imperials! A tie would be unacceptable. The Angels of Ecstasy were already well aware of this and had started to push forward on the right edge early in the game. Now, in addition, the Fallen dropped in their Raptor jump pack assault troops behind the Imperial lines in an attempt to cause some mayhem there and grab the furthest objective. The only thing in their way, some frail Guardsmen. Surely the Imperials were now doomed. Right?

Well, you gotta admit, things weren't looking too good when a bunch of Ravenwing bikers got annihilated by an orbital bombardment as they tried to ride across the river. (see picture below)

Although, as veteran players know, you can still make a come back in the fourth quarter. So don't count the Imperials out yet. Sure enough, a timely arrvial of fresh Imperial forces started coming in from reserves at just the right spots to counter the Chaos push and turn the tide. From the back edge, the Ultramarines enter the fray and engage the Fallen Raptors. On the right flank, even more Ultramarines arrived to push the Angels of Ecstasy off the objective near the pond. Then, screaming in from the sky, Elysian Drop Troopers landed right by an objective on the Chaos side of the river. Right underneath the Reaver Titan! With the aid of Sentinel walkers and Tarantula sentry turrets (also dropped in), the Elysians laid down a withering storm of lethal fire that cleared the area of any Chaos Marines near the objective. Even before the smoke cleared, they ran into the nearby ruined building and seized the prize.

Most of the Chaos players weren't worried though. They still had plenty of manpower and firepower left to counter the Imperials. A Defiler and two squads of Chaos Marines were on their way to take back the objective from the Elysians. Also, the Reaver Titan was still unharmed and ready to continue decimating the worshippers of the corpse Emperor. Right?

Well, that's the thing about Apocalypse games. You gotta watch the clock. Time had run out and even though Chaos still had plenty of lethal units on the battlefield, it didn't matter. In the end, the Imperials owned four objectives. The Ebon Suns finally seized the objective by the river, the objective by the Ultramarine Land Raider on the right flanked remained in Imperial hands, the objective that the Angels of Ecstasy held by the pond was being contested by a handful of surviving Ultramarines, the brave Elysians held the Chaos objective in the ruins near the Reaver, and finally . . . the far objective that the Fallen Raptors were after was still perfectly safe in Imperial hands. Which is good, because it was secretly worth double points! Chaos had only a hold of one objective. A crude alter to the left of the Reaver, not far from the Elysians.

FINAL SCORE

Imperial Forces: 4

Chaos Forces: 1

Lessons learned? Well, I believe this was the group's third or fourth Apoc game since that ruleset came out. At the time, we hadn't gotten the flow and feel of how Apoc games tend to go. Lately, I've noticed in our newer Apoc games, we hold a lot more back in reserves in order to surprise the enemy and deploy reinforcements where they're needed. Keeping less deployed on the table also means less things getting blown up from crazy pre-game bombardments. Also, a three and a half hour Apoc game isn't going to allow you to play out a full dramatic epic battle. It's not really an Apoc game. More like a Mini-Apoc game. We know this, but sometimes you are limited by the schedules of players and where you can play. It happens. The whole thing was still loads of fun. Hopefully we can have the final Apoc campaign battle be a full 6-8 hour epic.