The Roost of Turkadactyl

The Minotaurs are closing in on the Lamenters at Optera.  The Lamenters have suffered massive casualties and have retreated planetside to preserve what little remains of their chapter.  The Minotaurs are not known to take it easy and pursue with zeal.  The Lamenters have been surrounded and they only have one means to survive- go through the Lamenters.

Will (Lamenters) and Michael (Minotaurs) are playing the special mission for Phase II.  The victor of this match will receive three command points for their side.  The mission was taken from Imperial Armour volume nine.  This mission was initially designed for the Astral Claws closing in on the Fire Hawks in the early stages of the war.  I switched roles with the secessionists being surrounded and it made sense for a Lamenters versus Minotaurs showdown.

I will be up front and say as the campaign organizer there were some mistakes I made with this game.  I will touch up on those at the end of the battle report.  They seem so obvious now but hindsight is 20/20.  Will and Michael are easy-going so they took everything in good stride.  Enough about me lamenting about my campaign manager skills.  You’re here to read a battle report.

The mission objectives are the three Lamenters HQ choices.  Each HQ is worth a victory point.  If he lives the Lamenters score a point.  If the model is slain the Minotaurs gain a victory point.  Kill points also count.  A unit removed from play gives a kill point.  The side that scores more kill points will gain a victory point.  This means it is possible for the game it end in a draw.  There are no secondary objectives.  Roll a D6 at the beginning of every game turn.  On a 4+ it is night fight for the remainder of the game.

The Lamenters deploy first.  The Lamenters deployment zone is at least twelve inches away from all board edges.  Lamenter models cannot be held in reserve unless they can deep strike.  The Minotaurs have to be deployed within twelve inches of any board edge.  All ruins count as dangerous terrain.  Hills count as difficult terrain.  Units fall back to the closest board edge.

Minotaurs (Double CAD)

HQ

• Lord Asterion Moloc (warlord- 1 VP for every character slain in combat)
• Librarian- mastery level 2 (Perfect Timing- ignores cover, Misfortune- unit gains rending, Prescience- unit can re-roll failed to hit rolls)

Troops

• Tactical Marines (5 models)
• Tactical Marines (5 models)

Elites

• Assault Terminators (5 models)- thunderhammer and stormshield

Heavy Support

• Devastator Squad (10 models)- Sgt. Kraatos, plasma cannon x2, heavy bolter x2

HQ

• Captain- bike
• Captain- powerfist

Troops

• Tactical Marines (5 models)
• Tactical Marines (5 models)

Heavy Support

• Deredeo
• Hecaton

Lamenters

Baal Strike Force

• Sanguinary Priest- jump pack, relic blade
• Captain- jump pack, artificer armour, Valors Edge (AP2 power sword), Veritas Vitae (extra warlord trait), warlord (Descent of Angels- re-roll for reserves and roll 1D6 less for scatter; Night Attacker- can choose night fight and all models have night vision)
• Death Company Chaplain- jump pack
• Death Company (10 models)- jump pack, thunderhammer x1, bolt pistols & close combat weapons x9
• Sanguinary Guard (5 models)- power fist x1, chapter banner
• Furioso Dreadnought- frag cannon, heavy flamer
• Cassor the Damned (Death Company Dreadnought)
• Tactical Marines (10 models)- veteran sergeant with power fist and storm bolter, grav gun x1, heavy bolter x1
• Assault Marines (5 models)- veteran sergeant with inferno pistol and power sword, meltagun x2
• Devastator squad (10 models)- lascannon x2, missile launcher x2
• Predator- tri-lascannons, overcharged engines
• Predator Executioner- plasma cannon, heavy bolter sponsons

Turn 1

Will places all of his jump infantry in reserve to capitalize on his Descent of Angels warlord trait.  He also chooses night fight as per his second warlord trait.  First turn is determined by the highest roller.  Will rolls a four and loses to Michael’s six.  The Minotaurs start the game.

The Minotaurs advance forward with the exception of the Deredeo in the ruins and Devastators hiding out in the forest.  The Captain with power fist and the Librarian are deployed with the Devastoros.  The Minotaurs have spread out their force and surrounded the Lamenters.

Perfect Timing is denied but Prescience goes off successfully.  Hecaton targets Cassor with his plasma cannon.  The blast drifts off target and catches a Devastator in the blast.  The Deredeo targets the Predator.  Two cover saves are failed and the Predator is shaken twice.

The Devastators target the Tactical Marines killing four from the plasma cannon and four from the heavy bolters.  The closest Minotaur Tactical Squad emerging from behind the Deredeo target the last two surviving Lamenters and the guns hit their mark.  The unit is wiped out.

Moloc and his Assault Terminators charge the Devastators and wipe the unit out.  The Captain on the bike charges the Predator and blows it up in a fiery explosion.  He emerges unscathed.  Hecaton fails the charge into Cassor.

The Predator Executioner moves away flat-out from the center.  The Furioso Dreadnought shoots at Moloc and his band of merry Terminators.  The ancient marine is successful in killing two Terminators.  It charges the enemy and is wrecked.  The Terminators take no casualties in combat.

Cassor charges Hecaton.  Both Dreadnoughts take a penetrating hit.  Hecaton is shaken.  Cassor explodes into a fiery wreck.

Turn 2

The Minotaurs turn all their attention to the Predator Executioner.  It is the only Lamenter on the field of battle and it should come as no surprise that the tank is wrecked.  The Minotaurs move towards the side of the table containing the Deredeo in the ruins and the Devastators hiding in the trees.

All of the Lamenters reserves arrive.  The Sanguinary Priest is attached to the Sanguinary Guard.  The Death Company Chaplain leads the Death Company into the fray.  The Captain bellows commands to the Assault Marines.  They all arrive at the opposite end of the board from the Deredeo and Devasators.

The Assault Marines land behind Hecaton and the two meltaguns penetrate the armour and wreck the walker.  The Sanguinary Guard shoot the Tactical Marines on the hill and kill one.  The Death Company scatter back from their mark.  They run to spread out to minimize wounds from blasts.

Turn 3

The Minotaurs do a tactical retreat away from the Lamenters.  Everyone except the Deredeo and Devastors choose to run instead of shoot.  The Tactical Marines surrounded on the hill-top make a brave last stand and shoot the Assault Marines to no avail.  The Deredeo targets the Assault Marines and kills one and puts a wound on the Captain.  The Devastators are out of range to do anything.

The Lamenters heavy hitters have remained relatively unscathed.  Can they cross the distance in time to enact revenge?  The Assault Marines jump up the hill and target the Tactical Marines.  They manage to kill all the Minotaurs from shooting.  The Sanguinary Guard stay hidden behind the hell crest.  The Death Company advance and target the closest Minotaurs in shooting and cause no damage.  They attempt to charge and fall short.

Turn 4

The Minotars form a line in preparation of the Lamenters advance.  Perfect Timing goes off allowing the Devastators to ignore cover.  They target the Death Company and Will loses four models after the Feel No Pain rolls were complete.  The Deredeo targets the Death Company and kills one more member.  Moloc calls down an orbital bombardment and the large blast scatter nine inches off its mark.

The Lamenters all march forward towards the Minotaurs.  The Assault Marines run an inch and the Sanguinary Guard run four inches.  The Death Company charge the Captain on bike.  The Tactical Marines are a squishier target but the killing the Captain could be demoralizing to the Minotaurs.  Michael had to roll twenty-one saves onto the Captain with four of them requiring an invulnerable save.  Michael passed all armour saves and failed one invulnerable.  Thanks to the increased toughness from the bike he is not instantly killed.  The Captain killed two Death Company in retribution.

Turn 5

The Tactical Marines and Terminators advance towards the Minotars.  The Devastators target the Sanguinary Guard and kill one to bolter fire and one to plasma.  A squad of Tactical Marines and the Deredeo target the Assault Marines and kill two Marines and the Captain.

Moloc, the Terminators and a squad of Tactical Marines charge the Death Company.  Moloc issues a challenge and the Chaplain accepts.  Moloc easily disposes of the Chaplain.  The Death Company swing at the Captain, who makes all the saves.  The Captain and Tactical Marines swing back and wipe out the unit.

The Sanguinary Guard assess the situation and jump towards the isolated Tactical Marine squad on the other side of the ruins.  They charge the Minotaurs and wipe the unit out.

They roll for turn six and the game ends.  The Minotaurs win 4-1.  Two points are scored by killing two Lamenter HQ choices, one from Moloc’s warlord trait for killing a character in a duel.  The last point was achieved by a higher kill point count.  Will scored one victory point with the Sanguinary Priest surviving.

Conclusion

Now for the post game thoughts.  It wasn’t until the game was well underway that I remembered that this mission was released in fifth edition.  Back in those days players were not allowed to assault on the first turn.  There are a couple of ways I could have remedied this: 1) no charges allowed turn one; and/or 2) the Minotaurs start the game off the table.  Some more Lamenters would have survived turn one.  I felt bad about this but Will was a good sport.  Will likes to play fluff and accordingly the Lamenters got crushed by the Minotaurs.  Michael had a big advantage going first and being able to set-up close to Will.  If I organize this mission again I know to change the set-up.

Will could have hidden his HQ characters at the end of the board and won the game.  Will didn’t want to be cheesy and charged his models full steam ahead to avenge the loss of their fallen brothers.  Will also knew he was starting behind the eight ball by deep striking his heavy hitters.  He rolled Angels of Descent for the trait so he wanted to make use of it.  Hat tip to Will for sticking to the narrative regardless of the loss.

There was another game breaker in this game that I didn’t mention yet.  Asterion Moloc grants Preferred Enemy: Space Marines to the Minotaurs.  Will and Michael were rolling a lot of one’s.  Michael had the advantage of re-rolling those one’s.  If it was not for that rule the game would have been a lot closer.  We were all very familiar with the preferred enemy special rule by the end of this game.

Will and Michael gave me some feedback and the thing that matters most is they both enjoyed the game.  I’ve always had relaxed games with the both of them so I knew I had a good match-up.  There will be  Lamenter-Minotaur rematch in Phase IV for the Zone Mortalis game.  Will and Michael rolled on the casualty table for losing their special character Dreadnoughts.  They both rolled the best result possible and both Dreadnoughts return unscathed for their next fight.

Thanks for reading.