Big Game 2012 Battle Report Part 2

Here is the second part of the Big Game 2012 Battle Report.

At this point in the game we were still just getting started. It was still Friday night. I was just starting to get my army in and I began to dismantle the ork rearguard.



The Ork's main assault had almost reached the guard's lines. The Rock N Rolla Stompa was very close to flattening a bunch of guardsmen.



Meanwhile The Dragonlords and Blood Angels were in position to attack the traitor marines en force.



Led by Astorath the Grim, a huge force of assault marines gather in preparation for the assault to come.



The Ultramarines and the Thousand Sons are now coming to grips and the battle is escalating on their board.



The faster elements of the Ultramarines try to outflank the Thousand Sons.



At around 11pm the world clock stops and we take a break from 40k until Saturday. Some of us just hang out and talk others start playing other board games. I decided to have a few more beers and listen to music and talk about the game.

The next morning we slowly make our way to the battlefield. Here is an overview picture of all of the boards.



As day two begins I renew my assault on the Ork forces.



The Blood Angels and Traitor Marines close the distance and the assault continues.



The Marines Errant and the Space Wolves move out of their defensive positions and take the fight to the Tau.



The view from the Imperial Guard's position. Not a pretty sight.



A view from the top of the Citadel. Notice the awesome lights we added to some piece of terrain. I though it was really awesome.



The Ultramarines and Thousand Sons continue their battle with a land raider lending support.



Asterion Moloc of the Minotaurs is down to one wound and his combat is not going according to plan. 30 Orks boys is nothing to scoff at.



Astorath leads a huge cadre of jump pack troops into the heart of the enemy's lines.



The Marines Errant and the Space Wolves continue their struggle against the Tau and Daemons over the Power Regulators.



More Khorne Daemons materialize right in front of the Space Wolves' lines.



I am down to one terminator in the assault. I have decided to let him die and then that will open up the door for me to eliminate the rest of that ork squad next turn.



Deffkoptas have now reached the teleporter next to the bridge which is bad news for the defenders.



High Chaplain Ivanus Enkomi leads a squad of Vanguard Veterans into the remnants of the Ork squad to take vengeance for the death of his master.



At this point I have the Ork rearguard under control. I am beginning to worry, however, that I have missed an opportunity to stop the orks from reaching the Citadel. I have been focusing all of my efforts to kill all of them, while their main assault lines have begun breaking the Guard.



Next up will be part 3 and it should be the final installment of the Big Game 2012 battle report.

Into the dark, a Scenario for Book of the Arbitrator

This is a scenario in which one or two crews descend into the 'abandoned' underground caves under the 'abandoned' town of Hesper.

Hesper was once a prosperous mining town where many people lived and worked in the mines. They made decent livings and raised families. Around 500 years ago the towns population simply vanished. No one really knows the reason why. And now the residents of the nearby town of Apartros tell ghost stories to their children about the abandoned town.

Hesper is rumored to be haunted by the former inhabitants and there are rumors of strange sights and sounds coming from the underground mines. The entrances as well as the mines themselves are said to be treacherous and in danger of collapsing. These rumors however may just be a story to dissuade people from exploring the old town and the mines. No one in Apartros seems to know for sure but no one there wants to investigate for themselves either.

The following scenario allows for one or two players or three if one of them is a GM. Having a GM would allow the NPCs in the scenario to act more appropriately instead of more randomly.

Scenario:

The board is laid out split in two. Its a 6'x4' board split into two 3'x4' halves. One half is above ground. It is the small abandoned town of Hesper. The other half is beneath the town and is the old mines.

Above ground:

Each crew begins the game by rolling a d6. The side that rolls highest deploys their crew in a corner of the town in an L-shaped deployment zone 6" onto the board and 12" from the corner. The side that rolled lower deploys in the opposite corner. The side that rolled highest has the initiative for the first turn.

There are several significant pieces of terrain on the town board. They are the 2 main entrances to the underground mines and the 3 sealed entrances. The 3 sealed entrances are inside of small buildings. The 2 main entrances are pieces of terrain in their own right.

The 3 sealed entrances must be forced open by moving a model next to an entrance and making a strength test to force the hatch open. Only one test may be made per model per turn. The 2 main entrances are not sealed and do not need to be forced open.

All of the entrances once they are open may be used by a model moving into base contact with it in their movement phase.

The 3 sealed entrances are ladders that lead down to the mines. Any model using a ladder must make an unmodified move test (rolling equal to or under their movement characteristic on one d6 a model with a movement characteristic of 6 always passes this test) or they will fall and count as being knocked down in their next turn but will be on the other board.

The 2 unsealed entrances are elevators and surprisingly they still work just fine. Once a model moves into base with an entrance they are moved immediately to the underground table and their movement ends. They may not take any further actions that turn unless their I is 6 or above.

If a crew remains in the town for 5 turns without going underground then each player takes a turn placing a mutant model touching each piece of terrain. Each mutant is armed with either a knife or a sword and is strength 4. They move randomly d6" at the start of each turn and will charge the nearest model if they are within charge range of it. Mutants will not enter the underground table at all.

Below ground:

The below ground board has several 'areas' that need to be set up. None of these 'areas' has a direct link to the above ground board. In other words, a ladder or elevator cannot be in an 'area' and line of sight must be blocked from the elevator or ladder into any 'area'.

Area 1:

This area is where there are some old pieces of mining equipment and vehicles. There is a sentinel power lifter and a stash of tools like las-cutters and respirators. The power lifter is very old and will only work if someone enters it and rolls a 6 on a d6. It can be increased by +1 for each Technicana skill the model has. There are a number of boxes and crates stacked up in corners, when a model declares they will search a crate on a roll of a 5+ on a d6 then rolla d10 on a 9 or 10 they find d3 respirators on a 7 or 8 they find d3 plasma cutters which have a profile of a mars pattern plasmagun with no long range.

Area 2:

This is an area that is closed off by blast doors, it is occupied by Under-Magos Delphi and 2 Tech Guard. There are also 3 servitors one with a plasma cannon. The Tech Guard are Imperial Guard with a strength of 4. The Under-Magos is an Adeptus Mechanicus with 3 wounds. The Under-Magos and tech guard will be facing one of the two blast doors. When the first one is opened roll a d6 on a 1-3 it is the door that was opened, on a 4-6 it is the other door.

Objectives of the Scenario

The objective is to burst into the Magos's room and kill him in hand to hand. He will have information that will be useful to the crew that succeeds in killing him. Only the crew that does the final wound counts as killing him. Once he is dead the servitors stop working. The tech Guard will continue to fight until they are killed. The model that killed the Magos in hand to hand must then escape the mines and get back to their deployment zone to win.

+1 exp for the winning leader
+1 exp for the unit who killed the magos
+1 exp for each unit on the winning side
+1 exp for the unit that killed the other crew's model that had the info
+1 exp for killing another crew's leader

If there is a GM for the game then he can control the NPCs in anyway he sees fit. And equip them however he wants, use models that are available or make his own.

Big Game 2012 Battle Report Part 1

This year's big game has come and gone and it was one of the most interesting games I've been a part of in a long time. There were some very cool innovations that I think we will be using in future games. One innovation was the 'world clock' the other was command points.

The World Clock is what we called the passage of real time during the game. This game was set up with a GM who was the impartial judge who designed the table lay out and the rules for the game itself. He had specific events that occurred at specific times as the game went on. These events were preplanned by him and only he knew when they would happen. An example was 5 hours into the game an earthquake would occur effecting everyone on every board making movement and shooting more difficult.

The other innovation which made the generals have more of an effect during the game was the command points. Each general was given a certain number of command points. These points could be spent at any time the general saw fit to use them. They were either the ability to drop templates on any board either the large 10" blast or the cloverleaf-shaped template. The points could be spent to change what entered any of the boards on any given turn or could even be used to move whole armies from one board to another.

Each player had to write down what unit came on at what turn during the game before the game began and how it entered the battle either moving on from one of their 'landing zones' or by deepstriking. The command points could be used to change when a unit came on or by what means it came on by.

Here is a map that was drawn up by the GM prior to the game to show you the basic layout of the boards: (The landing zones are the red lines)



Each board was linked to the main peninsula by a bridge. This allowed each table to operate on its own turn sequence. This allowed many more turns to be played than in a normal big game where everyone operated on the same turn sequence. This is what enabled the world clock to operate.

The main goal of this game was to move 'menials' from each board onto the main board and into the main citadel on the main board. The attackers needed to stop this from happening. Points were awarded by the GM for specific things that happened on each board and on the main board. Only he knew exactly how many points were awarded for accomplishing certain things.

There were other pieces of terrain like shield generators and menial hab blocks that could be destroyed by the attackers. These pieces of terrain when destroyed made certain events happen and had certain points awarded to the attackers and or subtracted from the defenders.

When you combine the fact that each table operated on its own turn sequence, random events occurred during the game, each table had objectives that affected the game when destroyed, and command points, you get a very interesting and enthralling game. That at least is what the GM had hoped would happen. Indeed as you will see with my battle report that is exactly what did happen.

So last Friday I arrive at the hotel with my army, some Wendys and no idea how I was going to deploy. All I knew was that I would be coming on behind the orks somehow. Here is my 6,000 point Minotaurs Space Marine Army ready to go:



I find out from my general that I will begin to arrive on turn 2 from behind the orks. I will need to write down which unit is coming on which turn. On turn two I will arrive off of the pule generator which is a piece of terrain to the right side of the peninsula. One turn two I will place my units on the board within 24" of the generator, they will then scatter d3" and can then move shoot and assault as normal. On turn 3 I have 18" and turn 4 I only have 12" off the of the generator.

The orks, who happen to be commanded by the attackers' general get a change of orders and have to deploy within a 3' x 4' box about 3' from the guard lines.



The Guard deploy:



Here is the view from the Orks of the citadel, the Reaver titan and the Imperial Guard that he will have to munch through:



On one of the side table the Blood Angels and The Dragon Lords Space Marines prepare for a massive fight against Chaos Marines:



On another table the Ultramarines line up to take on the Thousand Sons:



On the third side table the Marines Errant and the Space wolves prepare to defend against an onslaught of Chaos Daemons and those shifty xenos, the Tau:



On the final board we have the Imperial Guard with Imperial Navy Support against Chaos Marines and Traitor Guard:



Chaos Marines and Traitor Guard advance:



The Space Marines drop pod in to give the traitors what-for:



Tzeentch methodically marches forward:



On the main board guardsmen begin to poop their pants as the Ork super heavys advance:



My Minotaurs arrive to reap havoc on the Ork rear guard:



The Minotaurs move forward and disembark ready to unleash hell on the green bastards:



Lord Asterion Moloc and his terminator bodyguards begin to realize they may have bitten off more than they could chew:



The battle of the Blood Angels and the Chaos Marines is now in full effect:



Plague Marines of the Death Guard advance to take on the Dragon Lords Marines:



The traitors reach the Imperial Guard lines:



Daemons materialize out of the warp and attack the Space Wolves:



The Tau engage the Marines Errant:



Stay tuned for part two......

Split-level Gaming For Necromunda and 40k

This past weekend I was consumed by the Big Game and didn't check anything online. I get up this morning and what do I find? Zone Mortalis has been released by Forge World.

Here is the link to the free pdf ruleset: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/Z/zonemortalis.pdf

This has totally re-ignited my passion for small skirmish style games set in a claustrophobic environment. I have come up with an interesting idea for split-level games.

I have a 6x4 foot table in my place with which I will be designing scenarios and terrain for.

The first scenario i want to come up with is for Book of the Arbitrator, the second will be for 40k skirmish games (possibly Killzone or Zone Mortalis).

The idea is to split the table in two so I have 2 4' by 3' halves. One half will be above ground the other below ground. They will be linked by hatches or elevators or both (haven't thought that far in advance yet). These 'links' will allow the forces to travel 'up' or 'down' from one half to the other.

Here is a sample layout I came up with using MS Paint:



I will be coming up with scenarios to utilize this idea soon.

Also coming soon is pictures and a battle report of this past weekend's big game.

Revised Minotaurs Big Game 2012 army list

Ok I had a great conversation the other day with a fellow Imperial commander and we went over my previously posted list and he suggested a few changes. I have highlighted the changes in italics below.

The 2 vanguard vet squads I am not sure of their points b/c I don't have the codex with me at the moment but I am pretty sure I am still right at 6,000 with the changes I made.

I present to you an Assault Space Marine Army that is not Blood Angels, Space Wolves, or Black Templars, I present The Minotaurs:

HQ -

Lord Asterion Moloc Master of the Minotaurs
235

High Chaplain Enkomi
145

Siege Master with Relic Blade and meltabombs and a teleport homer
185

Elites -

7 Assault Terminators
280

in Landraider Crusader with multimelta
260

Troops -

9 marines multimelta and meltagun
1 sarge with powerfist
in rhino
235

9 marines multimelta and meltagun
1 sarge with powerfist
in rhino
235

9 marines flamer missile launcher
1 sarge
in rhino
205

9 marines flamer and multimelta
1 sarge with teleport homer
in rhino
220



Dreadnought Talon
3 Ironclad dreadnoughts with chainfists and 2 hunterkillers each
465

Fast Attack -

9 vanguard vets with 4 power weapons
1 sarge with power fist
??pts goes with Enkomi

9 vanguard vets with 5 meltabombs
1 sarge with power fist and meltabombs
??pts goes with Siege Master

Heavy Support -

Land Raider Redeemer multimelta
250

Land Raider Redeemer multimelta
250

Land Raider Achilles
325

Land Raider Achilles
325

4355 points


This is the additional points from the Chapter reserve:

HQ -

Librarian with terminator armour, storm shield, nullzone and the avenger
140

Librarian with vortex of doom and the avenger
100

Elites -

5 sternguard 3 combi-plasmas and 2 plasma guns
160

7 assault terminators
280

dreadnought with multi-melta
105

dreadnought with multi-melta
105

Landraider Proteus with multimelta, twinlinked heavy bolter, extra armour, armoured ceramite, dozer blade
290

Fast attack -

Land Speeder multimelta and heavy flamer
70

Land Speeder multimelta and heavy flamer
70

Land Speeder multimelta and heavy flamer
70

Land Speeder typhoon missile launcher and heavy bolter
90
Land Speeder typhoon missile launcher and heavy bolter
90

Heavy Support -

Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolters
85

Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolters
85

Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolters
85

6,000 points total


Some thoughts:

I will have the two vanguard vet squads in the two Land Raider Redeemers. The Teleport homers were added for my Deepstriking assault terminator squad which will have the terminator armoured librarian attached to them.

I took out a marine squad I was going to combat squad and put in the 2 Land Raider Achilles. That squad equaled 2 Land Speeder Typhoons so I put them in the list instead.

I put Vortex of Doom on the other Librarian who is going with the Sternguard inside the Land Raider Proteus.

My plan is to hit em hard and hit em fast!

Minotaurs Big Game 2012 Army List

I have the army list nailed down now. I am still finishing up the models and should have everything completely done tonight except for 9 marines which should be about half done.

This first portion of the list is built from Forgeworld's Space Marine Vanguard Siege Army list:

HQ -

Lord Asterion Moloc Master of the Minotaurs
235

High Chaplain Enkomi
145

Siege Master with Relic Blade and meltabombs
170

Elites -

7 Assault Terminators
280

in Landraider Crusader with multimelta
260

Troops -

9 marines multimelta and meltagun
1 sarge with powerfist
in rhino
235

9 marines multimelta and meltagun
1 sarge with powerfist
in rhino
235

9 marines meltagun missile launcher
1 sarge with combimelta
in rhino
220

9 marines meltagun missile launcher
1 sarge with combimelta
in rhino
220

9 Marines with flamer
1 sarge with combi-melts
180
(these guys get combat squaded and ride in the land raider achilles's)

Dreadnought Talon
3 Ironclad dreadnoughts with chainfists and 2 hunterkillers each
465

Fast Attack -

9 vanguard vets with 2 power weapons and 2 meltabombs
1 sarge with power fist and meltabombs
280

9 vanguard vets with 2 power weapons and 2 meltabombs
1 sarge with power fist and meltabombs
280

Heavy Support -

Land Raider Redeemer multimelta
250

Land Raider Redeemer multimelta
250

Land Raider Achilles
325

Land Raider Achilles
325

4355 points


This is the additional points from the Chapter reserve:

HQ -

Librarian with terminator armour, storm shield, nullzone and the avenger
140

Librarian with null zone and the avenger
100

Elites -

5 sternguard 3 combi-plasmas and 2 plasma guns
160

7 assault terminators
280

dreadnought with multi-melta
105

dreadnought with multi-melta
105

Landraider Proteus with multimelta, twinlinked heavy bolter, extra armour, armoured ceramite, dozer blade
290

Fast attack -

Land Speeder multimelta and heavy flamer
70

Land Speeder multimelta and heavy flamer
70

Land Speeder multimelta and heavy flamer
70

Heavy Support -

Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolters
85

Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolters
85

Predator with autocannon and 2 heavy bolters
85

6,000 points total

D-Company Big Games: A Retrospective in Pictures

This coming Friday marks the beginning of Big Game 2012 for our gaming group. We've been doing a big game every year since the early 2000's. We started doing these way before Apocalypse came out because we always liked the idea of stretching 40k to its limits and beyond.

Recently they have become great ways for our gaming group to get together and have a weekend full of 40k insanity. Our group has become splintered and people have moved away so we all try and get together for a big game every year.

Here are some pics from past Big Games:

2005:


2006:


2007:


2009:








2010:










2011:












I can't wait for Friday!