The Roost of Turkadactyl

Badab War YEG is now a go!  After several months for participants to paint an army we have finally started the campaign.  The start of the campaign was determined as to what chapters were represented.  At one point I had 13 participants.  As time progressed more dropped out to where we stand with seven now.  Unfortunately Sean had to withdraw due to him and his family moving to another city.  Nik also had to drop out and that meant the primary protagonist and antagonist were now removed from the campaign.  Jerrod had some extra models and painted them up as Astral Claws.  It didn’t seem right to play the Badab War campaign without the Betrayal at Grief special mission.  With some imagination the Carcharodons filled in for the Red Scorpions.  Here is the battle report.

Betrayal at Grief involves the Red Scorpions Chapter Master Verant Ortys meeting with Astral Claws Chapter Master Lufgt Huron on a ruined space station.  The meeting was organized to end the conflict between the Maelstrom Warders with the Karthan Trade Lords and Fire Hawks.  The conflict was drawing in too many Space Marine Chapters, allowing the enemies of the Imperium to run amok.

The space station was attacked and whether it was intended or not Ortys was killed.  Huron was able to escape and it was never confirmed if it was an Astral Claws ship that attacked the station or an unknown third-party.  The Red Scorpions were incensed and dispatched a rescue party to recover the body of their slain Chapter Master.  The Red Scorpions go to great effort to ensure the gene seed is recovered from their fallen brothers.

The mission played is found in Imperial Armour Vol. 9 and heavily favours the red Scorpions.  This represents the fervour they have to recover the body of their fallen Lord.  The Red Scorpions have 1000 points to spend and can include Sevrin Loth at no cost.  The Astral Claws have 800 points to spend.

The board is split into quarters and the Astral Claws choose their quarter first.  The red Scorpions can set up in any one of the quarters left after the Astral Claws are deployed.  Ortys is the objective and placed in the middle.  No model or scenery can be placed within 12 inches of Ortys.  Any loyalist model can move Ortys as long as they move no more than 6 inches that turn (cannot run or charge).  If the model carrying Ortys is killed than Ortys remains at that spot.

Armies are deployed with a spearhead.  Each army is divided into half, with half of the units being deployed on the first turn and the rest coming on in reserve.  After deployment is complete the Loyalist player can steal the initiative.

The Loyalists win if they are have uncontested possession of Ortys or leave the table via their deployment zone.  If this condition is not met the Secessionists win.  The special rules are:

• Death Before Dishonour- any loyalist unit within 6 inches of Ortys is fearless
• Night Fighting- is in effect throughout the game unless a power surge occurs (see catastrophic damage)
• Catastrophic Damage- the boarding assault catastrophic damage rules are in effect throughout the game (roll 2D6 and consult the table)
• Game Length- the game will last six turns or until the Loyalists leave the table with Ortys

Red Scorpions

HQ

• Magister Sevrin Loth- Mastery Level 3 (Telekinesis- Assail, Shockwave, Levitation, Psychic Maelstrom)

Elites

• Honour Guard (4 models)- do not take Elites slot due to Loth
• Assault Terminators (5 models)- thunderhammer and stormshield
• Ironclad Dreadnought- frag grenade launcher
• Siege Dreadnought

Troops

• Tactical Marines (10 models)- Apothecary, meltagun
• Tactical Marines (10 models)- Apothecary, plasmagun
• Tactical Marines (5 models)- Apothecary, meltagun

The Red Scorpions favour the use Tactical Marines and Dreadnoughts.  Their chapter tactics allow the Sergeants to be upgraded to an Apothecary for free.  This is the first time I’ve played Red Scorpions so I wanted to make sure I captured their disposition.  Loth is allowed to choose three powers from Biomancy, Telekinesis or Telepathy.  I already have a huge points advantage so choosing Invisibility would have been a jerk move.  I don’t use Telekinesis much so I chose that discipline.

Astral Claws

HQ

• Librarian- Mastery Level 1 ( Fulmination- Electrosurge, Lightning Arc)

Elites

• Terminators (10 models)- (cyclone missile launcher x2)

Troops

• Tactical Marines (5 models)- plasmagun
• Tactical Marines (5 models)- plasmagun

Jerrod has four units so he places his Librarian and Terminators down.  He places the models more than 12 inches away.  I placed Loth with 10 Tactical Marines.  They are accompanied by the Honour Guard and the Ironclad Dreadnought.  I put everything at the 12 inch border from Ortys.  I want to rescue my fallen Chapter Master as soon as possible.

The board was set up (using our imagination) like a station.  All the ruins represented rooms.  We decided that we could not walk through walls and to enter a ruin it would have to be though a door or a side that had no wall.  All open area counted as corridors .

Turn 1

We roll for catastrophic damage and a fire breaks out in quadrant four, where are no units.

The Librarian and Terminators advance forward. The Librarian successfully casts force and the Terminators eliminate two Tactical Marines with the cyclone missile launchers.

Loth and the Tactical Marines move forward to Ortys.  Loth tries to levitate but is denied.  Loth powers up his force weapon and his armour, which turns the armour save into an invulnerable save.  The Honour Guard and Ironcald advance a couple of inches.  They want an assault to happen on their terms, not the Astral Claws.

Loth and the Tactical Marines run towards Ortys.  I roll a five an end up one inch away.

Turn 2

We roll on the catastrophic table and nothing happens.

The Astral Claws reserves fail to arrive.  The Terminators advance.  The Librarian casts electrosurge on the Tactical Marines but he underestimates the skill of Loth and is easily denied.  The Astral Claws fire 16 storm bolters and 2 cyclone missiles into the Tactical Marines and only kill one.

The Red Scorpions are motivated to show up full force.  All the reserves arrive at once.  The two Tactical Marines run quickly to aid their fallen master.

The Assault Terminators attempt to land in front of the Astral Claws to slow their advance.  They scatter eight inches to the right of the Astral Claws.  They will not stand in the way of their terminator armour clad foe, but they are close enough to launch a counter assault next turn.  The Siege Dreadnought saunters forward through a tight corridor to join the fray immediately.  It senses some movement and backs up against a wall to ensure its flank is protected.

Loth and the Tactical Marines recover the slain body of Ortys and return him to their craft.  Loth powers up his armour.

The Ironclad uses its meltagun to melt a Terminator.  All other shooting into the Terminators fail to cause any damage.  The Ironclad and Honour Guard charge the Terminators to slow their advance.  The Ironclad is successful but is left high and dry by the Honour Guard.  The Ironclad tears through the armour of three Terminators and crushes their flesh and bone with ease before being brought down by six chainfist attacks.  The metal tomb explodes but fails to take out any Astral Claws.  The Terminators consolidate towards the Honour Guard.

Turn 3

We roll on the catastrophic table and there is a structural collapse in quadrant one.  That’s the Astral Claws starting quadrant so there are a lot of models that this affects.  The Librarian loses a wound and 2 Terminators are crushed.  The Red Scorpions come out unscathed.  The Cold Void rule is in effect now.  That means the rending rule is applied against all models unless they have an armour value or have a 2+ save.

The Astral Claws reserves arrive and choose to set up at the far end of the table.  The Siege Dreadnought bracing for an attack scared them off.  The Terminators advance forward and choose to target the Honour Guard rather than the Tactical Marines escaping with Ortys.  The Librarian casts Lightning Arc and is successfully denied by Loth.

The Astral Claws Tactical Marines open fire on the Assault Terminators and manage to kill one.  The Terminators open fire on the Honour Guard and fail to kill any.  They charge in a wipe out the unit.  It was with a cost though as the Librarian and one Terminator is felled.

The Red Scorpions continue to escort Loth away.  The reserves advance towards the front line and surround the Terminators.

Loth casts shockwave and the nova power takes out one Terminators.  Loth powers up his armour just in case.  The Siege Dreadnought and three units of Tactical Marines open fire and it proves to be too much for the elite of the Astral Claws.  The remaining two models are cut down with the heavy salvo of fire.

Turn 4

We roll on the catastrophic table and a power surge is rolled.  We no longer have night fight.

The Astral Claws Tactical Marines advance forward and open fire on the Assault Terminators.  One plasmagun overheat and incinerate’s the operator.  The Assault Terminators absorb the other plasma shot but lose two to bolter fire.

The Siege Dreadnought is inspired by the Tactical Sergeant spontaneously combusting and ignites the other four marines.  The reserved Tactical Marines advance forward while Loth and the spearhead marines walk towards the table edge.  The reserves open fire on the Astral Claws and kill four leaving one marine left.  The Assault Terminators fail the charge.

Turn 5

We roll on the catastrophic table and nothing happens.

The sole surviving Astral Claw knows his death is inevitable.  He knows no fear and marches forward determined to take an Assault Terminator with him.  He fires his bolt pistol and charges.  His arm is caught in mid swing and held in place while the second Assault Terminator swings and pancakes the last traitor.

The game ends with a Red Scorpions victory.

Despite the predictable outcome it was still a fun game.  Hat tip to Jerrod in this game.  He knew the deck was stacked against him with this game.  It takes a special person to enter a game knowing they are most likely going to lose and come out of it having fun.  There were a few things that worked against Jerrod with this game: he placed his spearhead too far away from the middle, he rolled bad, his reserves came in too late to be effective and all of my reserves came in at the start.  He also played with 375 fewer points.

This will be the first of many games.  I will try to roll out one battle report a week.  Thanks for reading and don’t be shy to cheer on your favourite chapter.  For more info check out my Badab War YEG post.

I also want to apologize for the lack of time to visit some of the sites I frequent.  I am in a training course right now.  I have five more weeks to go and it is taking a lot of my time.  With that and Badab War YEG I do not have too much spare time.  I promise to do more commenting after December 26.

I want to say hi to my father in-law as well.  He signed up to follow the Roost a couple of days ago.  I was surprised to see that notice in my inbox.  Good day Fred!  Glad to see you popping in for a visit.

Thanks for reading.