Rage and outrage

 

Ultramarine heroes stand against the horde of filth.

I was able to arrange my affairs in such a way that I was able to join the guys for a game night at one of the local game stores. This time we chose a new venue, The Outpost, for our place of battle. Nothing against the old place, but the appeal of a slightly quieter place to play (with air conditioning!) made it worth trying out. 

This time we had four armies in attendance, and with a time limit set against us we decided to team up and do two vs. two. My Deathwatch aligned up with Da Masta Cheef's Ultramarines, and RT Vorel (aka Mike) had his Wraithguard themed Eldar alien with Murl's (aka Rob) Death Guard army. We used the Open War deck to select a Twist for our ad-hoc game. There would be an objective in the center of the table and the army in control of if at the end of each round would get a VP. 

1k of Wraithguard.

1k of Death Guard (blurry pic due to nervousness)

1k of Deathwatch 

1k of Ultramarines.

Set up.

LpThe objective is a stone needle with a really cool zone marker placed around it. Rob got it from somewhere online and I like it a lot. Anyway, the bad guys got turn one and we somehow survived the initial exchange of fire with a loss or two (losing a bike was a bummer).  On our first turn the bikes zipped up and claimed the objective.

Objective held by the bikers.

It was quickly apparent that the Eldar side of this fight was almost unkillable. With the amount of firepower we threw at them, their high saves and 5+ "Shrugs" made them sickeningly resilient. Even their Nurgle alies were like "Dude! WTF?" 

With the ranges closed the combined Death Guard and Eldar were able to make their hits land. The Kill Team with four Heavy Bolters were reduced to a single guy, the bikers were wiped out, and the Ultramarines were finding themselves within engagement range of the Death Guard and were also starting to take some loses. 

On Turn Two the two Squads of Deathwatch Terminators teleported into the back of the Eldar part of the enemy Deployment Zone. After an impressive volley of Assault Cannon and Plasma Cannon fire against the Wraithlord, it was still standing with half it's wounds left! I confess, I wasn't paying too much attention to Cheef's side of things as he was mostly tangling with the Death Guard while I was having an existential crisis trying to figure out how to continue to exist after dealing with this Wraithguard army. But he did manage to get some troops onto the objective despite all the Typhus mortal wounds stuff taking place. 

Wraithbone, the original bullet sponge. 

Once again circumstances occurred that caused my Librarian to be stuck out in the open, and despite his best efforts he was soundly (as in the sound his body and armor made when it was torn apart by the warp) defeated. 

Two squads of Wraithguard vs. a guy. 

The battle Royale between the Ultramarines and Death Guard was a grueling back and forth that lasted for the remainder of the game. 

"I like your purity seals," "I like your maggots,"

On our Turn 3 the Terminators focused again on taking out the Wraithlord and actually succeeded. Yes, that took two rounds and,  yes, that took both squads to do it. 

The Wraithlord falls! 

The Terminators charged the Spiritseer (represented here by a marine proxy) and beat him to death with thunderhammers. That was honestly quite satisfying. 

The Eldar leadership falls.

So glad these guys couldn't turn around and fire...

I was in absolute awe of how much fire power the Wraithguard could absorb, and then how many models they could bring for having such a high level of resilience. 

The Eldar casualty pile.

Back to the Ultramarines side, and the fight against the Deathshroud Terminators was a heroic stand indeed despite the futility of it all. 

Heroes on both sides that deserve paint.

One melee that didn't want to end was a massive dice rolling fest on that resulted in only a single casualty on both sides. And that was even with the +1 Attack from Rage. Not quite the balance the design team was looking for with 'Armor of Contempt' was it? 

Paddycake!

Here's Cheef's thoughts: 

"The armor of contempt rule has made marine vs marine combat kinda boring, it's very 7th ed with 3+ saves everywhere. Add to that the disgustingly (yes pun intended) resilient plague marines and a unit that can almost drop a carnifex on the charge is instead damned near useless."

How the battle ended. 

We called the game at the end of Turn 3. It was a time thing, but honestly, we had 3 vps and they had 0 vps. Even with two more rounds they couldn't win this. But, there was a lot of models left and quite a few more fights to have or resolve. I was hoping the Terminators would have better luck in melee against the damned Wraithguard but we were never able to make that match-up happen. 

My only regret about this game was that I should have had the Deathwatch Terminators on the field from turn one. Their firepower could have made a difference.  Maybe.  

Despite the "OMG they're tough!" wailing from Cheef and I, we actually did have a lot of fun. Although we recommend Mike tune his list down a bit... 😉