The Roost of Turkadactyl

The Carcharodons have now joined the Badab War.  This weeks battle pits the Carcharodons versus the Astral Claws.  The Astral Claws have some Rhino’s fitted with viral bombs and plan on detonating them within the hive city.  The treachery and corruption of the Astral Claws is being revealed to the loyalists and the Astral Claws are showing no remorse for each action they take.  The Carcharodons have been tasked to stop the Astral Claws mission at all costs.  Who will prevail?

Jerrod and I played a special mission from Imperial Armour.  For command points purposes this mission will not count as the phase III special mission.  That means the winner will only be awarded one command point for their side.  The goal of the Astral Claws is detonate four Rhino’s in the loyalists deployment zone.

The bomb carrying Rhino’s are included in the list for free and cannot transport any models.  Jerrod included three Rhino’s in his list on top of the four free transports to make me guess which ones were carrying bombs.  If a bomb carrying Rhino is destroyed a new transport enters the board from the Astral Claws side on the following.  Jerrod didn’t have Rhino’s painted to Astral Claw specs so I brought my Adepta Sororitas Rhino’s and Exorcist to fill in.

The Loyalist plays the game with 1500 points to the Secessionists 2000 points (Jerrod let me use 1505 points).  The odds are stacked against the Loyalists, however, all they have to do is keep Rhino’s from their deployment zone.  In the event that a Rhino is wrecked it has 48 plus inches to trek across the board.

Random game length is in effect.  There are no secondary objectives.  The Loyalist player wins if they prevent four Rhino’s from detonating in their deployment zone.  The Secessionist player wins if they detonate four Rhino’s.  Let’s see who answers the call.

Carcharodons

HQ

• Tyberos- warlord (preferred enemy- infantry)

Troops

• Red Brethren Assault Terminators (5 models)- 5x lightning claws
• Tactical Marines (10 models)- meltagun, 10x close combat weapon, Veteran Sergeant

Elites

• Assault Terminators (6 models)- 6x thunderhammer and stormshield
• Assault Centurions (3 models)- 3x siege drill, 3x flamers, Veteran Sergeant

Heavy Support

• Devastators (10 models)- 4x missile launchers
• Land Raider Achilles- thunderfire cannon, 2x twin-linked multi-melta, multi-melta

Astral Claws

HQ

• Valthex

Troops

• Tactical Marines (5 models)- plasma gun, combi-plasma, Rhino
• Tactical Marines (5 models)- plasma gun, combi-plasma, Rhino
• Tactical Marines (5 models)- plasma gun, combi-plasma, Razorback with twin-linked lascannon
• Tactical Marines (5 models)- plasma gun, combi-plasma, Razorback with twin-linked Razorback

Elites

• Command Squad (5 models)- 5x plasma gun, Razorback with twin-linked lascannon

Transport

• Rhino

Formation- First Company Taskforce

• Captain- terminator armour, thunderhammer, stormshield, warlord (furious charge)
• Terminators (5 models)- 1x chainfist, 3x power fist, 1x power sword, heavy flamer
• Terminators (5 models)- 1x chainfist, 3x power fist, 1x power sword, heavy flamer
• Terminators (10 models)- 3x chainfist, 2x cyclone missile launcher

Turn 1

I initially thought about deep striking the terminators to get behind the enemy lines.  I listened to reason and chose to have all my boots on the ground.  I needed the wall of grey to stop the Astral Claws advance.  It was important to have all my models down at the start.  I was down 500 points so I needed all the help I could get.  We roll for night fight and turn one receives the cover of night.

I had a big dilemma turn one.  The objective was to blow up Rhino’s.  I was facing seven and only four were bombs.  I had to reveal the bombs and fast.  I also had to take out the Razorbacks.  They were the biggest threat to me at the moment.  I needed my Land Raider and the Razorbacks were the biggest threat.  I wasn’t a fan of Valthex firing the conversion beamer either.  Thankfully Jerrod kept his Terminator’s in reserve.  Those were threats I didn’t have to worry about for at least two turns.

I advance my line forward.  The thunderhammer Terminator’s try to hide behind a tower and make a run towards the block of Rhino’s.

Tyberos is being escorted by the Red Brethren.  He calls down an orbital bombardment and marks the coordinates of the building Valthex is perched on.  The ordnance scatters considerably off the mark and lands nowhere near any Astral Claw.  The Land Raider Achilles targets a Rhino, shakes it and removes two hull points.  The Techmarine of the mobile battle fortress calls upon the machine spirit and targets Valthex with the thunderfire cannon.  Valthex has luck on his side again and the barrage lands off target.  It scatters onto the Razorback and shakes it.

The Devastators target the Razorback in the middle of the Astral Claw advance.  The goal is to eliminate the big gun then focus on the Rhino transports.  The Razorback is wrecked and forces the Command Squad to disembark.

The Tactical Marines and Assault Centurions advance forward.  The Tactical Marines are motivated to get into the thick of the battle.  The Assault Centurion, however, have to loosen up the joints of their exoskeleton suits and fail to advance past the ruined Shrine.

The Astral Claws are aware of the Carcharodons presence now and take aim while the Rhino’s move forward to deliver their payloads.  The Tactical Marines in the shaken Razorback disembark and shoot the Red Brethren.  The bolt shells bounce off the terminator armour.  The Razorback crew is trying to bring its weapons systems back online.  The lascannon turret rotates to the vicinity of the Red Brethren and takes the shot hoping for a bit of luck.  Even though the crew is shaken they manage to vapourize one member of the Red Brethren.

Valthex targets the Devastators in the Shrine.  He hits his mark and the blast from the conversion beamer eliminates three Carcharodons.

The Command Squad fire at the advancing Carcharodon Tactical Marines.  These hardened veterans have seen a few battle over the centuries and have no difficulty shooting through the cover of the forest and darkness.  The Carcharodons hoped to take advantage of the night to advance, however, they misjudged their foe and three are killed.  The Rhino’s also shoot the Tactical Marines and kill a fourth.

Five Astral Claw Tactical Marines emerge from a Razorback that is escorting four Rhino’s.  They take aim at the thunderhammer Terminator’s and kill two.  The Razorback targets the same squad and kills a third.

Turn 2

The Land Raider turns its attention to the parking lot of Rhino’s.  Hearing the call for assistance from the thunderhammer Terminator’s, the revered tank answered the call.  The Techmarine was setting the parameters for the thunderfire cannon.  While that was going one the crew fired a multi-melta at the Razorback and exploded it leaving the thunderfire cannon without a target.  The power of the machine spirit was called upon to target a Rhino.  The multi-melta ignites the bomb inside and the explosion kills two marines in the Astral Claws Tactical Squad hiding in the ruins in the center.

The Devastators target the Command Squad as they have become a new target priority.  Their Tactical Marine brothers did not stand a chance against five plasma guns.  It was imperative the unit be wiped out.  They loaded up krak ammunition and three Astral Claws were killed.

The Carcharodons then readied themselves for the charge.  Tyberos broke free from the Red Brethren and charged a Rhino.  The ruins of a building did not slow him down and he powered up his chainfists.  He exploded the transport but it was a decoy.  The Red Brethren charge the Astral Claw Tactical Marines and wiped the unit out.  They consolidate onto the ramparts of a nearby fortification.

The Tactical Marines charge a Rhino that was advancing down the center.  They successfully wreck the transport only to discover that it was a decoy.

The thunderhammer Terminators multi-charge two Rhino’s and with the intent to wreck both of them.  Instead they shake the two transports and have left themselves vulnerable to fire from the Astral Claws.

The Astral Claws reserves arrive.  The two 5 man squads of Terminators arrive.  The first scatters back into the Shrine.

The second squad lands on the main level of the ruins that Valthex has made home.  Those Terminators and Valthex target the Red Brethren and the bolter fire kills two Carcharodons.

The Rhino’s speed ahead towards the Carcharodons deployment zone.  It is apparent now that these Rhino’s are carrying the bombs.

The surviving member from the Astral Claw Command Squad shoots the thunderhammer Terminators and kills two.

Turn 3

The Carcharodons realize that time is not on their side.  They are taking casualties and reinforcements are arriving to aid the Astral Claws.  On top of that the bomb carrying Rhino’s are advancing towards their line.

The Red Brethren realize that they do not have the necessary weapons to take on the newly arrived Astral Claw Terminators.  While retreating is an option they make a valiant sacrifice and charge the Razorback with the intent to stall its advance.  Their sacrifice will aid in the effort to ensure the Land Raider survives longer.  They charge the Razorback but alas do not do any damage.

Tyberos sees the new threat of Terminators that have arrived in the ruins.  He turns around and sees another squad of Terminators that have just teleported into the Shrine.  Tyberos advances towards the Shrine to join his Assault Centurions.  The Centurions uses their flamers on the Terminators and find some gaps in their armour and cook two in their own terminator armour.  Tyberos and Assault Centurions mount a charge and wipe the three remaining Terminators.

The Carcharodons Tactical Marines run through the forest and assault the Astral Claws Tactical Squad that had just lit up the thunderhammer Terminators.  In the ensuing melee they manage to kill one Astral Claw.

The Devastators and Land Raider target the advancing Rhino’s.  Together they wreck one and immobilize another.  The remaining member of the thunderhammer Terminators attempts to charge the third Rhino and fails the charge.

The Astral Claw Captain and ten man squad of Terminators fail to arrive from reserve.  The Carcharodons do not realize how fortunate they were at that moment.  The Astral Claw Terminators that landed in the ruins emerge and shoot the Red Brethren.  That solves nothing so they charge but neither side sustains any casualties.

Valtex powers up his conversion beamer and aims for the Devastators.  The heavy weapon marines have to be eliminated as they have been slowing the Astral Claw advance.  Valtex’s shooting manages to kill one Carcharodon.

The Tactical Marine melee in the forest doesn’t solve much.  Both sides sustain one casualty each.

One Astral Claw Rhino speeds forward and detonates in the Carcharodons deployment zone.  The viral bomb is released into the air.  The Carcharodons are angered that the Astral Claws would do such a thing to the people they had sworn to protect.  The madness doesn’t stop there.  The Astral Claws are sending more Rhino’s forward with the intent to detonate more bombs.

Turn 4

The Land Raider turns around and targets the Razorback.  The barrage from the thunderfire cannon drifts off target and lands onto the Terminator melee.  Both the Astral Claws and Carcharodons lose a battle brother each.  the multi-melta shots destroys the lascannon on the Razorback but fails to remove the last hull point.  The Red Brethren Veteran Sergeant takes advantage that his adversary is not wearing a helmet.  In the ensuing challenge the Carcharodon severs the head of the Astral Claws Veteran Sergeant from his body.  This shocks the rest of the squad who fail to do any damage.

The Devastators return fire to Valthex and kill one Tactical Marine.

The thunderhammer Terminator charges another Rhino that has entered the battlefield.  Just like the other rounds he fails to do any significant damage.

The Astral Claws Captain and ten man squad of Terminators are scheduled to arrive.  The ship’s navigator does not anticipate the movement of the Carcharodons Assault Centurions and the Astral Claws begin to materialize into the enemy.  The navigator quickly stops the deep strike mishap and the reserves will have to wait longer to join the fight.

The sole survivor of the Astral Claws Command Squad targets the Centurions and puts a wound on one of the warriors.  The immobilized Rhino also shoots the Centurions and manages to wound another Centurion.

Meanwhile there is still two melee combats going on.  The Red Brethren Veteran Sergeant is overwhelmed by the three Astral Claw Terminators and is killed in combat.  He put up a valiant effort but the numbers were not on his side.  The Tactical Marine fight remains at a stalemate.

The bomb toting Rhino that escaped the thunderhammer Terminator cruises forward.  It uses the tower to hide from the Devastators.

Turn 5

The Land Raider splits fire between a Rhino and Razorback.  The Razorback is wrecked but does no damage to the Rhino.

The Devastators target the Rhino using the tower as cover and remove two hull points.  The Centurions and Tyberos charge the Rhino and explode the transport.  The Veteran Sergeant takes a wound from the explosion.

The thunderhammer Terminator charges the Astral Claw Tactical Marines.  He hasn’t been too successful against tanks so he changed his strategy.  His Tactical Marine brethren cause one wound but alas the Terminator again is swinging blanks.

The Captain and ten man squad of Terminators arrive.  They materialize where the Assault Centurions were standing moments ago.  They open fire on the Centurions and kill the three marines.  Tyberos emerges unscathed.  Valthex targets the Devastators again and kills another.  In the melee the Astral Claw Tactical Marine turns his attention to the Terminator and succeed in killing the veteran.  The Carcharodon Tactical Marines are unable to exact revenge on their fallen brother.

Turn 6

The crew of the Land Raider realize the inevitable.  They are surrounded by Terminators with chainfists.  They stick to the mission and that is protecting the populace.  They target two Rhino’s and stun one and blow up a second, which was creeping on their deployment zone.

Tyberos knows he does not stand a chance against eleven Astral Claws donning terminator armour.  He makes a run for the Astral Claws deployment zone to act as a deterrent for encroaching Rhino’s.  If only he had an orbital strike to call down.

The Devastators target the last remaining member of the Astral Claws Command Squad and eliminate the threat.  The Carcharodon Tactical Marines get revenge and kill the last Astral Claw Tactical Marine.

The Astral Claws know they are running out of time.  Valthex targets the Devastators and kills another.  The three Astral Claws Tactical Marines positioned in the ruins by the forest target the Carcharodon Tactical Marines but fail to cause any casualties.  The terminators all advance towards the Land Raider.  The chainfists cut it up and take the Land Raider out of commission.

We roll for turn seven and the game ends.  If it went to turn seven Jerrod would have had to table me to win since he did not have three Rhino’s close enough to advance into my deployment zone.  Jerrod had to detonate four Rhino’s in my deployment zone to win and he was only able to detonate won.  The Carcharodons took massive casualties but were able to pull out a victory.

Jerrod and I discussed the game after and we both agreed that if he did not place his Terminators into reserve he would have won.  My Devastators were a big nuisance all game.  His cyclone missile launchers would have targeted them and made short work of them.  Plus, his Terminators would have also tied up my close combat units allowing his Rhino’s to pass unscathed.  My thunderhammer Terminators need to go for a recertification course on how to destroy stuff.  I was glad Jerrod put the last one out of his misery with a humble Tactical Marine.  It seemed fitting with how that unit performed this game.

It was a fun game and I’d like to play this mission again.  I can’t say enough good stuff about playing Jerrod.  I’ve enjoyed every game I’ve played against him.  He Astral Claws hit like a hammer and it will be interesting to see how they do in Zone Mortalis.

Next Badab War match will feature the Star Phantoms versus the Executioners with the phase III special mission.  Thanks for reading.