D-Company BIG GAME 2017 Coverage Part 2: 10,000pt Game

The first game I played was a big 5,000 point per player 2 on 2 game on Friday.

We started at noon and played till about 10pm or so.

It was the debut of my Iron Circle!  It was also the first time my Iron Warriors fought alongside the Sons Of Horus.

We played against an Astra Militarum and Astra Militarum with Space Marines force.

Here is the mission I drew up:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Imperial Vs Traitor Legions 5000pts per player in the Jungles of Doric-Ar1

The Story:

The Traitor forces of the Iron Warriors and the Sons of Horus have joined up to take the offensive against the Imperials in the strategically important Jungles of Doric-Ar1.  By capturing the Jungle the Traitor Legiones Astartes will be able to advance into the Imperial held sectors to push the attack and potentially end the war.

The Forces:

Horus and Perturabo, Primarchs of The Sons of Horus and the Iron Warriors respectively, have chosen to personally lead their forces against the combined might of the Astra Millitarum, Legiones Titanticus and various other Imperial Adeptus in the deep jungles.

The Mission Overview:

Capture tactical objectives and survive.  There will be victory points awarded for killing warlords, super-heavys, Primarchs, Lords Of War and units.  Victory points will also be awarded for capturing tactical objectives and deployment zones and for first turn kills and secret objectives.

Victory Points:

Victory Points will be awarded per player or per side so that at the end of the game each player adds up their points and, the player with the most points gets bragging rights for winning the scenario.  The side with the most victory points of it two players added up wins the scenario for their team.

First Kill: Each player that completely destroys a unit on their first turn will receive 1 victory point.

Attrition: The side that killed the most units at the end of the game gets 1 victory point.

Dominion Objectives: At the start of each player's turn they gain 1 victory point for each tactical objective they control.  These points are kept even if that objective is lost later in the game.

Slay the Warlord: The player that kills an enemy Warlord gets D3 victory points rolled for when they kill the Warlord.

The Price of Failure: The player that kills an enemy Lord of War gets 2 victory points.  (This means that if a Primarch is killed that player probably gets 2 + D3 victory points for that Primarch because it is both a Lord Of War and a Warlord potentially.)

Command and Control: Each player gets 1 point at the end of the game if they have 3 or more units in the opponents deployment zone.  Each player gets 1 point if they have 3 or more units in the no mans zone at the end of the game.  Each side gets 2 points if there are no enemy units in their own deployment zone at the end of the game.

Secret Objective: Each player writes down on a piece of paper before the game starts (right after deployment is done) a secret objective they will try and accomplish by the end of the game.   This must be something pretty big and substantial like killing a titan or having all of your troops in the enemy deployment zone at the end of the game.  At the end of the game the secret objectives are revealed to everyone else, if anyone deems the secret objective of another player is not substantial enough then they don't get the points.  This objective is worth 5 points to each player who succeeds in their secret objective.

Deployment Map:

Roll a d6 before deployment and reroll if a 5 is rolled.  This will determine deployment map.  Use pages 114 and 115 of "The Horus Heresy: Legiones Astartes Age of Darkness Army List" to determine which deployment map you will use.  Reroll the 5 result because the Ambush deployment is not very easy to pull off with a board this big and armies this size.

Tactical Objectives:

After the Deployment Map is determined each player rolls a d3, add up the rolls and this is the number of tactical objectives.  Each side rolls a d6 the side who rolls highest places the first tactical objective marker, each side alternates placing markers until they are all placed.

Scoring Units:

Use the Warhammer 40k definition for scoring units.

First Turn and deployment:

After rolling for Deployment Map each side rolls a d6 whoever rolls highest chooses to go first or second and will deploy their entire army first followed by the other side. Reserves are allowed as normal.  Seize the initiative is allowed as normal.

Mission Length:

Standard Random Game Length after 5.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The Imperials won the roll of to take the first turn.  Horus has a rule allowing him to seize on a 4+, which he promptly did.

I had a large unit of Cataphracti termies in reserve with a Primus Medicae.  This unit was built to destroy tanks.  

The Imperials had an assassin that made the first reserve roll become basically a 6 so I rolled on turn one because Perturabo allows you to begin rolling on turn one and I promptly rolled a 6!  This game was already going according to plan.

Here are some pictures of the game:

 The Deployment

 The Deployment continued

 One last shot of the deployment

 Perturabo beginning his march across the central bridge into the teeth 

of the Imperial guns with his trusty Iron Circle.

 The Cataphracti Terminators land on a bridge.

 The Imperial tanks line up their chots on the Lord of Iron's custom-built Automata.

 The march to the opponents' deployment zone begins.

 A look from the Shadowsword's perspective.

The Astra Militarum turn their entire flank to take on the terminators.

The Sons of Horus followed up by the Iron Warriors begin their slow 

advance to the their right flank to take on the Chimeras of the Astra Militarum. 

Several of the Iron Circle have met their fate but so have numerous Imperial tanks.

The distraction that is Perturabo and the Iron Circle is working brilliantly.

The Space Marine Predators line up shots on the traitors.

Horus decides it is time to show up.  He drops in behind enemy lines 

with his own squad of Cataphracti terminators: the Justaerin!

As the Iron Warriors continue to be targeted by everything on the flank, the Sons of Horus have a Contemptor Dreadnought along with a squad of Destroyers outflank behind them! 

The Iron Circle and their creator continue their slow march across the 

central bridge drawing even more fire than before! 

 The Three Malcador tanks advance across the bridge.

More and more Imperial tanks die and their corpses are beginning to litter the battlefield.

Imperial Reinforcements arrive!  The planes of the Imperial Navy 

fly over head eliciting cheers from the guardsmen on the ground!

Terminators deepstrike and land speeders outflank but the Iron Warriors are ready for them. 

The planes continue to fly overhead shooting missiles and dropping 

bombs on the traitor Legionnaires. 

Only one out three Malcadors now remain.

The Imperials blow away the remaining Iron Circle leaving only Perturabo.

Sentinels walk on out of reserve and more terminators deep strike in to 

assist the beleaguered Imperial forces.

The Siege Breaker and a squad of tactical support marines bearing flamers 

emerge from the Land Raider Proteus.

Perturabo makes it across the bridge only to be assaulted by an assassin.

 The Siege Breaker tosses a Phosphex Bomb and kills the terminators on the bridge!

The Iron Warriors eliminate the terminators who dropped in on their rear line. 

 Horus and his Justaerin bodyguard continue to smash tanks.

Perturabo despatched one assassin only to be assaulted by a second assassin!

More Terminators deepstrike in to destroy the basilisks!  Scouts disembark 

from their landspeeder and charge another basilisk!

The Imperial Navy circle around and attempt to destroy the Tormentor, 

Perturabo's personal Shadowsword. 

Another assassin charges into Horus' squad.

The Land Raider Proteus moves onto the bridge to take the objective.

Another squad comes from outflank from the Sons of Horus to assist the 

Iron Warriors in eliminating the backfield threat.

Perturabo kills off the second assassin and moves  to the other side of the bridge 

while the Sons of Horus Breachers eliminate another Imperial Tank.

An Iron Warrior squad attempts to move through the wreckage of their rhino to engage 

an Imperial Guard squad in a firefight.

 Only four of the Iron Warriors terminators remain and that is enough to 

eliminate an Imperial Basilisk.

 Perturabo moves into a fortified zone to capture an objective.

Two Iron Warriors squad destroy an Imperial flyer that had gone into skimmer mode.

 The Siege Breaker and a squad of Tactical Support marines take the 

objective on the central bridge.

At the end the battlefield is littered with dead tanks.  A total of 47 Imperial vehicles were 

destroyed in one of the largest tank battles the Iron Warriors had yet fought. 

And alas at the end the mighty Horus fell but through the power of the 

dark gods he will surely return ad more powerful than ever.

In the end the traitor Legionnaires won the day.  An awesome epic battle that didn't leave much left on the battlefield was the perfect way to start the weekend.

I intend to do a few more battle reports about the big game.  

Until next time...

D-Company 40K BIG GAME 2017 Coverage Part 1

This past weekend my gaming group, D-Company, just had our annual BIG GAME!!

We had at one point during the weekend 28 people playing in the same room at the same time!

Here are some pics of the tables and armies:

The format this year was different from past years.  Basically the year leading up to this Big Game was a massive campaign.  There was a map where three different factions fought each other for control throughout the year and by the Big Game it was the final showdown.

The organizers of the Big Game also made the campaign happen.  At the Big Game they had 9 tables set up with different themes.  They created matchups for two or three games per player ahead of time that would be played on a specific table.  These matchups did not have mission rules or point sizes.  The organizers recommended several point sizes before the big game but it was up to the players themselves to determine the size of their games.

As long as each person played at least three games over the weekend then they had fulfilled their obligation to the big game.

This is a departure from the past where we always tried to get everyone on one table playing in one gigantic game.

My Thoughts:

POSITIVES:

It was nice to be able to play more than one game and to complete each game I played.  In the past many times the big game would not go beyond 5, or 4 or even three turns.

I liked that they gave size recommendations (5,000; 3,500 and 3000pts per player) and then also set up certain matchups.

I liked the Skulls.  When you killed an enemy Warlord you would get a plastic skull about an inch in diameter at the end the person with the most skulls got a prize.  (I ended up with 4 after starting with three and I played 3 games.)

The hotel was fantastic.  It was clean it wasn't very expensive the room was large and well-lit.  The hotel staff were nice and they wanted us there.

We had a fish fry on Friday and pizza on Saturday catered by the hotel.  We also had a bar and bartender in the gaming room on Saturday.  I liked the fish fry so much I had it in the hotel restaurant again on Saturday night.  The bartender made a great Old Fashioned so I had two and tipped him well.

NEGATIVES:

I wish the organizers would have scheduled more than two games.  I had some difficulty determining who I was going to play for my final game.  In the end it worked out well but I like structure probably more than I should sometimes.

I set up a projector and screen so we could watch sci fi and fantasy movies during the game.  The projector I brought wasn't very bright and its built-in speakers were not very good and blew out after the first movie.  Next year I will do better if we do it again.  I will bring separate speakers and hopefully a brighter projector.

The food and drinks were a bit on the high side but not too bad.  I have spent more for a mix drink in the past but I still felt some of the prices were a bit too much.

The special mission cards were too specialized and didn't really reflect the type of situation the Big Game was this year.  Since we had already come up with our own scenario for the missions we played, the additional missions  (which doubled as report cards for the missions) just added a layer of complexity to reporting that was unnecessary IMHO.

The Big Game is actually no longer a Big Game.  If everyone was playing in one game then it would be a Big Game.  It is more of an event, or a Narrative Event Weekend.  


Wrap up:

Overall the Big Game was a success I think.  It allowed people to play multiple games and really interact with the rest of the group on their downtown when in the past it wasn't always possible because so much was going on and people's breaks never lined up with certain people.

I enjoyed it and I am excited for next year's Big Game.

My next post will be all about my first game from the weekend.  It was 10,000pts per side. It was EPIC!!

Until next time...