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Sunday, September 30, 2018

Kill Team: Drukhari versus Astra Militarum

Wow... Despite all the painting going on, it's been a MONTH since anyone played Kill Team around here. (And two weeks since anyone played ANY other games... so the Game-A-Day Challenge ended up a totally failure...).

This evening, however, Amanda and I sat down and played through a game. We actually first sat down in the afternoon, but it took some time going over all the rules and she ended up having to talk The Girl out to a dance lesson... but after they got back and we'd had supper, we finally got to play a game!

I didn't come up with much of a narrative for this one. I also didn't even take any notes or very many pictures - because the game took pretty long as it was because I was explaining so many things...

SCENARIO

We rolled on the table in the back of the main rulebook and got Terror Tactics. Both sides were trying to break through the others lines - 2VP for every model exited off the opponents base edge, 1 for each opponent taken out of action - UNLESS a turn ends with one team being broken, then the game instantly ends and the broken team loses.


FORCES

The Crimson Wave
Drukhari
Vulvatrix of the Crimson Wave - Wych Cult Hekatrix - Leader - Blast Pistol and Agonizer - 13 points
Khatryx Veluxis - Wych Fighter - Zealot Specialist - Razorflails - 11 points
Kladys Vaganix - Wych Fighter - Combat Specialist - Hydra Gauntlets - 11 points
Peiythia Labiyx - Wych Fighter - Shardnet and Impaler - 11 points
Asphyxa Noiyr- Wych - Splinter Pistol and Hekatari Blade - 8 points
Vaivel Wysp - Wych - Splinter Pistol and Hekatari Blade - 8 points
Klitlyx Slythk - Wych - Splinter Pistol and Hekatari Blade - 8 points
Thrixxesh Xosh - Kabalite Gunner - Sniper Specialist -  Dark Lance - 12 points
Saphisykh Vhrex - Kabalite Warrior - Splinter Rifle - 7 points
Draeven Starr - Kabalite Warrior - Splinter Rifle - 7 points
96 points total.

Kassab's Killers - 2nd platoon, 5th company 382nd Tallarn (Desert Raider) Regiment
Astra Militarum
Sgt. Kassab - Sergeant - Leader - Bolt Pistol and Chainsword - 5points
Cpl. Talal - Guard Infantry - Veteran - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
LCpl. Madani - Guard Infantry Gunner -Demolitions -  Grenade Launcher, Frag Grenade - 7 points
LCpl. Abbasi - Special Weapon Squad Gunner - Sniper - Sniper Rifle, Frag Grenade  - 6 points
Pte. Daoud - Special Weapon Squad Gunner - Melta gun, Frag Grenade - 8 points
LCpl. Nazim - Special Weapon Squad Gunner - Plasma gun, Frag Grenade - 8 points
Pte. Muktar - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Zakariya - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Hamid - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Wajdi - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Gilani - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Zadeh - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Behzadi - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Safavi - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Mahabad - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Akhtar - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Tahami - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
Pte. Farrukh - Guard Infantry - Lasgun, Frag Grenade - 5points
99 points total


THE GAME

Amanda had the greatest strategic advantage and so chose her side and I started setting up.



Drukhai all set up and ready to rumble!




I had the initiative for the first round - which I DIDN'T want! I would have rather the Drukhari had to move first - as they would be way out of range for charging and I could move up to be within 12" and get lots of shooting. As it was a moved my troops up cautiously - trying to keep them far enough back that it was unlikely they would be charged, and would be in good positions to fire on the advancing Drukhari.



Amanda tried to charge with ONE of her Wych Fighters and failed... After that she just said "EFF it!" and everyone just did a full move - so they could shoot and be super close to try and charge the following turn.



Kabalite Dark Lance sniper blew one of my troopers away! It was SUPER-OVER-KILL with Strength 8 and -4 AP!



Guard firing line.



When all the shooting in Round One was done there were two out of action for each team, and one of my troopers had a flesh wound. If I could keep up this rate of attrition, things might be not-so-bad... Amanda also saw this and started to wonder what kind of junk Kill Team I had put together for her. I assured her that things were going to go very poorly for me in the not-too-distant future...

In Round Two the Drukhari had the initiative and everyone charged... well... except the Sniper with the Dark Lance. I charged a few into the assorted melees hoping to help those caught up by the Drukhai. I had three that had eyes on the Drukhari sniper so I readied them (sniper, grenade launcher and Plasma gun). In the Shooting phase the grenadier rolled SIX attacks against the Kabalite sniper and blew her away! Again, Amanda super unimpressed... Then there was the fight phase and she only managed to take out a couple more of my troopers (I had the most INSANE good luck with the armour saves! Never have I rolled so many fives and sixes in one round!) But the end of the round she had three out of action...? I had four...? Maybe...? plus a couple of troops with flesh wounds...

Then it was Round Three and the Flensing Fury bonus kicked in for the Drukhari (+1 to all hit rolls in the Fight Phase... They're already all 3+, so they were effectively hitting on anything but a one and most of them had three attacks!)

 

I had four that were making for the end zone, which temporarily had Amanda panicked - 2VP each for those that got off! EIGHT POINTS she thought - compared to the four she currently had for taking out a few of my troops...
 

And then we got to the Fight Phase and it all went downhill for me... She took out SIX more of my troops in the one fight phase.. I think I might have gotten lucky and took one of them with me... maybe...? maybe not...



Hekatrix Vulvatrix of the Crimson Wave roaring with delight as she flayed her foes with her Agonizer!

 And then I failed a break test in the Morale Phase and the game was over and Amanda's Drukhari won.



Yeah...

I have to admit, there is an overwhelming amount of stuff to learn for a new beginner. Amanda's played 40K and Shadow War: Armageddon before, but not enough to really know even the basic warhammery rules... on top of that is all the basic tactic cards... and the special abilities of he different troops and then all the other special abilities of  each of her specialists and then THEIR special tactic cards and then all the Drukhari special tactic cards... Yeah... the game took a while to play and she might have the basics... but has no idea about the tactics cards or how to really use them - though she did use more of her command points than I did... (mostly because I was pointing out situations where particular tactic cards would work really well for her...).

Fun game though. I can't wait to get a campaign going!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I think Finnegan's a bit ahead in his schoolwork, so I might try and convince him to play a few games of Kill Team over the next week - stay tuned for game reports of those! Next weekend in the Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada - and we have three days with no regularly scheduled activities - so I'm REALLY hoping we'll get a BUNCH of gaming in then. Maybe not all Kill Team, but at least SOME Kill Team (and maybe a few other games as well).

working on Adeptus Mechanicus and Chaos Kill Teams this week - hopefully I'll have some pics of them to post soon. I'd be really happy if I could get one (or BOTH!) of those done before the weekend so I could try them out... Less than two weeks to ToonCon!

4 comments:

  1. Great report!

    At first I was thinking that if you kept that up it might be a long time before you get her to play again. ha ha. But then it turned around and that reaction shot of triumph - well, I guess, she might play again after all, eh? lol

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    1. Cheers!

      I told her from the outset how it was pretty much going to go, but she never believes ANYTHING I say EVER... and so when the first two turns didn't go awesome, she was understandably suspicious...

      The Drukhari have this special rule called "Power from Pain" and it give them a new ability each round that lasts until the end of the game. On Round Three they get "Flensing Fury" which give them a +1 to hit in the Fight phase - since they already hit on 3+, it effectively makes them hit on anything but a one... Most of the Wyches have 3 attacks in the fight phase... It goes badly for anyone they face - but especially the guard with their 3 Toughness and only a 5+ save (which is reduced to 6+ due to some to of the Wych Fighters special weapons!) I pointed out some sneaky tactics she could try to employ in future games to avoid getting shot on the first turn as she tries to close into melee... We shall see. As you say, she will probably play again!

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  2. Ouch! Still at least you should get another game, could you use some of your trenches and maybe a bunker for your guard, with nice cclear lines of sight! Seriously sounds like a fast paced bloody game,be interesting to see them up against chaos marines,might be a bit more even!
    Best Iain

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    1. I did warn her that it won't always be wholesale slaughter like this... I was wondering how the Drukhari will do against enemies with higher toughness or better armour. Not many of their weapons have AP (oh, the Dark Lance does for certain, as does the Agonizer and the other Wych Fighter weapons have -1 AP...). And a lot of their attacks are at Strength 3, against orks and marines they are less likely to wound... Sure, there are the splinter pistols and rifles (and, I think, the Agonizer) that always wound of 4+... but getting involved in a shoot out isn't going to go well for Wyches - with their Save of 6+...

      Mind you... any of those opponents are going to be more costly and there'll be far fewer of them! In a Kill Team of 8 they just have to gang up on, and take out five before they start taking break tests...

      The new Kill Zone is the Wall of Martyrs - which is just what you suggest - trenches and bunkers. I told myself (and Amanda!) I wasn't going to buy anymore Kill Zones this year - or at least until I finish painting my the rest of my mechanicus terrain and all of the Imperialis terrain... but then the Wall of Martyrs is being released on Saturday... While the Dragon's Den 24th anniversary sale is still on...

      I am curious to see what the scenarios are like in the Wall of Martyrs Kill Zone is like... Are there going to be new "Night Assault" special rules that allow you to sneak up on the prepared position in the dark without being spotted? Are the scenarios going to allow the attacker more points?! The rule of thumb for terrain in Kill Team is LOTS! Give everyone lots of cover to hide in, this new kill Zone seems to be the opposite - one side might get cover, the other attacks across open ground!?

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