BATTLE REPORT #1

Well, we went and did it. our first official battle, using second edition WarHammer 40,000 rules and the contents of the Dark Millenium box.

Succubus wanted to learn the game, and so she has. Damned good, too... maybe a little TOO good, but that's maybe my own prejudicial opinion based on a miserable experience at her hands?

We started with an open floor <we don't play on tables, not enough space> which we filled with lots of stuff for scenery... clothes crumpled up, bottles, boxes, baby toys, miniatures transport racks, whatever we could lay our hands on. altogether we had a space about 6 feet wide and maybe 10 or so long... filled with all kinds of odds and ends. it actually worked out, so that's how we;ll be doing it untill i get my hands on my own scenery <some damned fine work, too> from a friend who is storing it for us.

Our total forces included 20 chaos tactical marines, 5 standard Wolf Guard terminators, 4 Wolf Guard close-assault terminators, 1 sergeant with an Asault Cannon, two rune priest Psykers in terminator armour, 20 Grey Hunters <tactical>, 20 Blood Claws <Assault>, 5 Long Fangs <devastator>, 1 wolf lord, 1 rune priest, 1 wolf priest, 1 techmarine, 20 Goff Orks, 40 Gretchin, 1 Commander in terminator armour, 1 space marine dreadnought, 1 ork dreadnought, 2 leman russ battel tanks, i rhino assault carrier, 1 land raider tank, and 1 chimera assault carrier.

it broke down this way:

Succubus had the orks <20, with bolt pistols and axes>. gretchin <40, with autoguns>, ork dreadnought <with lascannon, heavy bolter, and two power claws>, chimera <with scatter laser, heavy flamer, and 6 storm bolters>, land raider <standard armament>, 1 leman russ <standard armament>, the chaos marines <20, with boltguns, bolt pistols, chainaxes>, 1 squad <10 marines with chainswords, bolt pistols, and powerfists, using jump packs> of blood claws, the 5 wolf guard standard terminators <3 storm bolters, 1 assault cannon, 1 heavy flamer>, 2 rune priests in terminator armour <force weapons and storm bolters> , and the commander in terminator armour <storm bolter and power sword>.

I got both squads of Greay hunters <10 each with boltguns, chainswords, and bolt pistols>, the Long Fangs <2 missile launchers, 1 heavy bolter, 1 lascannon, and a sergeant with a bolt gun>, 1 squad of Blood Claws <10 armed with bolt pistols, chainswords, and powerfists and using jump packs>, 5 terminators <2 with lightning claws, 2 with thunderhammer/stormshield, and 1 assault cannon>, Njal Storm Caller and his wargear, Ulrik the Slayer with his wargear, and Ragnar Blackmane with his wargear but also with a jump pack wargear card, and i got the Rhino and 1 leman russ, both with standard weapons, plus Bjorn the dreadnought.

Succubus rolled highest and chose the side of the floor where the couch is, so i got the side in front of the entertainment center. we sorted out our psychic powers, wargear cards, strategy cards, and mission cards <she got Guerilla warfare, and i had assassinate>, and then she had to set up first. she put all her orks and gretchin out on the right flank, the chimera, leman russ, and land raider along an even spacing across to the centre and left, and the marines i a line in front of them, in combat squads. she got the infiltrate strategyu card so she places a squad of 10 grots way out in front for my amusement <and target practice>. her dreadnouht and terminators held the far right flank with the land raider, and she was ready to go.

i put my long fangs on a building at the front of my deployment zone to the left, with the rhino carrying my assault terminators right below them to their right, njal and the iron priest directly below them and just in front of their building, both battle packs of Blood Claws to the right of the rhino, with ragnar leading the blood claws, the dreadnought next to them, a battle pack of Grey Hunters then the leman russ and the second battle pack of grey hunters, and both battle packs of the last grey hunters to their right, on the right flank.

with setup compleat, we diced for first turn, and Succubus got it. with a howl of glee she set about her movement. basically all of her troopps just ran forward, and her tanks sped up to combat speed and roared off. there was nothing to shoot, as i was still too far away, and no hand to hand, so we went directly to the psychic phase. She displaced some grots way up front, and i teleported njal a little closer to the action, and we each stored a couple warp cards.

my turn, my troops also charged forward at a run, and again nothing was in sight, so we moved on to psychic phase, where i attempted to teleport again but was nullified, she displaced a tank farther forward and we stored some more warp cards.

her second turn went a little better. she ran her troops forward, but her leman russ was in range for a couple shots at some of my troops and my leman russ. her lascannon killed one of my grey hunters and the battlecannon missed. her land raider could just see a single grey hunter off to the side, and with a sizzle a twin lascannon literally melted him in his boots. psychic phase again... she displaced another squad of grots and i teleported njal again a little closer to her lines.

It's Space Wolves second turn, and we've got a score to settle now... so all forces continue to run forward except the dreadnought which walks forward to hose some shots at a gretchin squad which is getting too close with his assault cannon, and my leman russ which has stopped behind a barricade to shoot at her leman russ. the assault cannon only rolled two hits but at least that's two grots to my one marine. the leman russ's lascannon glanced off the turret of its target, but the battlecannon managed to blow a track off and leave it motionless for the rest of the game <was hoping to blow the thing up>. psychic phase again, and this time as njal tried to teleport again Succubus played daemonic attack on him. he successfully fought off the daemon, but was unable to play any further psychic powers this turn, probably fromthe shock of the daemon. Succubus tried to displace again but i nullified her and all was done.

third turn for the forces of the traitors pretty well made a mess of my arrogant puppies... most of her force ran forward, but some only advanced and fired off a few rounds. the Leman Russ, damaged in the previous turn, lurched out of control straight forward and halted in a perfect position, and she places all gunners on overwatch. she jumped her assault marines up really close to one of my assault packs and her other assault pack jumped in just the other side of a building from my second assault pack and Ragnar, my leader. but her land raider was also in an excellent position to rain death on the squad with Ragnar, so... her assault marines let fly at my first squad, with no damage, and her gretchin also began peppering my mutts, but again no damage despite multiple hits. but, as if to avenge her poor shooting there, the land raider then hosed off my second assault squad, rolling 6 heavy bolter hits and killing 4 of the stupid blood claws <i should have put them in cover, i feel so stupid>. She also played her "barrage" strategy card in this phase, which only killed one of my grey hunters. psychic phase again but before Succubus could do anything i played Energy Drain and took care of it.

the time for vengeance has long passed, and so i had to take action as this was the last turn. i leapt my one intact squad of blood claws into hand to hand with her assault marines, moved the rhino up and dismounted the terminators, moved some more grey hunters in, and moved Ragnar and his one remaining blood claw into cover behind some rocks <Succubus's bunched up nightshirt>. my long fangs took some shots at her tanks, but nothing was in range and so they all missed. my one terminator with an assault cannon sprayed her gretchin, killing 4 of them but they passed their break test. her overwatching leman russ guns fired a few bolter shells at Ragnar as he moved, but they missed, and her lascannon shot at my leman russ, which easily penetrated the hull... and she got a damned 6 for damage, taking out the tank AND killing an entire squad of grey hunters standing next to it! her overwatching battlecannon hit my dreadnought, penetrating the left leg but only rolling a 1 for damage, so he couldn't move next turn. on my psychic phase, the warp ebbed low and there was little i could do, except teleport njal forward a little further. she used her "psychic duel" card but i won, and since this was last turn we didn't bother to pull a card, as with that play it was over.

i lost. to a beginner. on her first game. what a shame! i'll never be able to live this one down, no matter how long i live! shame, ignominy, defeat!

an excellent game on the part of Succubus, though. she played very well, and in spite of a few minor setup mistakes and tactical errors, she did very very well, and seriously and legitimately kicked my ass. i am proud of her. +)