40K10E - Exercise WOLF HAMMER II

On Friday, Orion was back for some more learnifying of Warhammer 40,000 (10th Edition). To be honest, I'd had a LONG day and wasn't sure I'd make it through a game of 40K... so I went with a much simpler force - with less stuff to keep track of... ALL TANKS

My force ended up being:

• Tank Commander (Demolisher) - 205 points
• Tank Commander (Punisher) - 205 points 
• Leman Russ Battle Tank - 180 points
• Leman Russ Battle Tank - 180 points
• Leman Russ Vanquisher - 155 points
• Scout Sentinel - 60 points
• Grand Strategist - Enhancement - 15 pooints

Total: 1000 points! 

This time the wolves were facing elements of the 451st Tallarn Tank Regiment in another field exercise using specialist paint ammunition and shock/stun weapons. 

The tankers of the 451st Tallarn Tank Regiment in the deployment zone. 

Opposing them; Thunderwolf Cavalry, some Intercessors and a pile of freshly recruited scouts lead by a dour old warrior..

There was also this dreadnaught... and some guys in orbit ready to drop onto the scene when needed. 

The Space Wolves took off as soon as the excercise was declared to have started. They seized the Objective in the middle of the battlefield. 

The Scouts in the Rhino rolled up and seized an objective as well! The Tanks of the Tallarn 451st rolled up to find the objective already controlled by the Wolves started splattering the Astartes armoured vehicle with paint... but not quite enough to deem it "out of action" by the Mechanicus adjudicators... 

One tanker got so frustrated, they charged their vehicle forward and tried to RAM the Astartes armoured vehicle right out of the objective zone! 

This tactic was also not-so-effective!? 

The Dreadnaught approached a Scout Sentinel that was reconnoitring the flanks, and swatted it clean out of the battle zone. The driver was fine, but the walker was entirely written off by the mechanicus. 

The Primaris Inceptors dropped into the Tallarn's rear and started shooting up the tanks. Two of the Leman Russ tanks peeled off to deal with these and the force of their massive paint marking rounds blasted these poor fellows right out of the Field of Operations. 

Wolf Scouts then started pouring out of the Rhino with their shock weapons and cans of spray paint and started spraying rude runes and crude drawings on the side of the Leman Russ Battle Tank that was still locked in a shoving match with the Rhino. 

Eventually the Rhino was shoved out of the Objective Area. 

Thunderwolf Cavalary charged the Leman Russ Demolisher

Impact from the massive paint rounds blew a few marines right off their mounts and sent the mounts yelping away, but the rest charged on! 

Teh young Scouts got bored with spraying paint on the Leman Russ and got the idea that they should try and FLIP THE TANK OVER!?!?

The Thunderwolf Cavalry battered and splattered the Demolisher. 

(that was just the Wolf Lord reducing it to ONE WOUND!?)

The brash Wolf Pups started chanting FLIP! THE! TANK! FLIP! THE! TANK! and rocked it back and forth until it had enough rocking momentum that they did, in fact, FLIP THE TANK OVER!?

Having taken out the Demolisher, the Thunderwolf Cavalry pressed on to assault the Leman Russ Vanquisher holding in the rear Objective Area. 

Having Glipped ONE tank... the Wolf Scouts decided they were going to FLIP THEM ALL and charged the next tank! 

Another Scout Sentinel appeared - arriving as a reinforcement from the reserves... the Dreadnaught also swatted it away, totalling the machine... apparently the Dreadnaught did not fully understand the mission briefing that the Astra Militarum vehicles and troops were not to be SERIOUSLY damaged... this was a training excise for them after all... and they can't learn much if they're dead or all their equipment wrecked! 

The Wold Scouts flipped a second tank - the Leman Russ Punisher... 

The Wolf Lord and body guard decided the scouts shouldn't get to have all the fun, and with one mighty swing of his massive Thunder Hammer, knocked the Leman RussVanquisher Right over - end over end! 

Teh Wolf Pups, not to be out done - charged and flipped a THIRD tank! 

a third and final Scout Sentinel arrived from reserves... this one was a bit smarter and flanked waaaaaay around the battlefield area and arrived in their opponents rear - seizing an objective area and scorred a few points for the Tallarn! 

The Results, according to Orions handy phone app! 

Victory for the Space Wolves! Again! But I'm closing up the gap a little bit... 

Tanks are pretty okay. I'm curious to see how all the armoured self-propelled artillery works out..

(or maybe I should try out the Aeldari next time... for giggles...?) 

While I like some of the changes to 40K over the years - the shift from just being the killiest killers to holding objectives has been a step in the right direction... the objectives just seem to generic and arbitrary and the constantly shifting secondary objectives makes the whole experience feel more like... well..... a GAME... rather than any sort of conflict simulation. 

Afterwards we tried a game of Warhammer Underworlds! 

40K10E - Exercise WOLF HAMMER

 4.979.018.M42

Before embarking on the voidships that would take them to the Xoxigar System, the Tallarn Task Group participated in a series of Military Excercises amongst themselves, and also with a detachment of Space Wolves who happened to be in the system. 

Armed with non-lethal paint-marking ammunition and blunted melee weapons the forces met at a remote desert ruin with orders to seize and hold a number of objective areas. 

I played my first game of Warhammer 40,000 (10th Edition) this week. My friend Orion had, a week earlier, been looking for a partner for an upcoming tournament in February... and I'd been feeling like it had been a long time since I played 40K... and i like playing with Orion... and volunteering to be her partner would mean I get to play a few games over that weekend in February and IDEALLY A FEW PRACTICE GAMES BEFOREHAND!?!? So this was the first of those practice games... Orion is bringing Space Wolves and I'm bringing a detachment of my Tallarn Imperial Guard, so we played with those. 

For the tournament, we are toying with the idea that Orion will bring a detachment very similar to the one played in this game. I'm going to finish painting up a bunch of self-propelled artillery I have (Manticores and Basilisks) and bring those (along with a few Scout Sentinels and all the mortar-armed Heavy Weapons Teams I have and sit back and provide artillery support while the Space Wolves to their CHARGE UP AND WRECK SHIT thing... 

Now, I don't have the Basilisks and Manticores painted yet... and that would be a terrible force to play on it's own.. so I just rolled out with a mix of Infantry, Cavalry (because I thought it would be funny to have a bit of a cavalry battle with the Thunderwolf Cavalry!), the three Heavy Weapon Squads and a tank.... 

I don't remember what the scenario was, exactly... there were objective markers in the middle and one in each players deployment zone. Points were scored for holding objectives at certain times... other objectives were determined by drawing cards each turn... it was a lot to keep track of! 

(I always think it's a bit silly when Imperial Forces fight each other... sure... one of them could have been "corrupted" or just mistaken as enemy by overzealoused combatants... regardless, I suggested this could be a training exercise and we went with that...) 

All set up and ready to go! 

My force consisted of a Tank Commander in a Leman Russ Punisher, front and center, flanked by two squads of Tallarn Roughriders (there was a third squad of roughriders that I kept in strategic reserve... but it turns out I probably didn't need to do that...). Beyond the roughriders on either side were VERY LARGE squads of Infantry (Guard can be taken in squads of 10 or 20 now... and so I had two squads of twenty - each with a Platoon Command Squad attached, making the unit 25!).

 Behind all of them were three Heavy Weapons Squads (armed with Mortars) and Castellan (they're called Cadian Castellan in the rules which SUPER ANNOYS ME - why not just call it a Castellan - or Captain, for that matter?! Are ALL guard commander by Cadian commanders now!?) 

In the centre across from me was a large unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry with a Wold Lord and some other Character attached - all armed with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields . There were Terminators (with lightning claws) and a Librarian in terminator army facing my right flank, and some Primaris Reavers facing my left flank along with some special character with ALL THE SPECIAL RULES!? 

(or... maybe it was just the Wolf Lord with the Thunder Hammer and the rest had some other sort of nasty melee weapons...?) 

The Space Wolves went first and on that first round, Orion drew a secondary objective card that scored bonus points for taking out monsterous creatures or tanks... so the tank had to go! During the movement phase the Thunderwolf Pack came tearing across the table... 

And in the Charge Phase piled right into the tank - AND the roughriders!? I spend one command point to do some overwatch fire... I dont recall it doing anything particularly useful... 

The Wolflord himself took out the tank...!? 

The Tank Commander had a special rule - Death Befitting An Officer - that says when the model is destroyed, one D6 is rolled and on a 2+, before removing it can shoot as if it were the Shooting phase and as if it had its full wounds remaining.

Of course, I rolled a one... 

Then they piled into the Infantry squad (platoon?) on my right. 

The Infantry contacted in the pile-in move, piled in themselves and attacked... with little success... I think they were overwhelmed at the sight of the Wolflord and were too busy asking for autographs and selfies to remember they were supposed to be fighting a mock battle... 

On my turn, the ROughriders fell back... and then charged back in... 

At SOME point during round one... either during the Wolves initial charge or during this counter charge... I did actually take out two of the Thunderwolf Cavalry... and I THINK it was roughriders that did so, with their Melta-tip-armed lances... I think... 

And that was the ONLY damage I did to this unit all game... 

The roughriders were wiped out...

Also on my turn, the engaged Infantry squad fell back from the Thunderwolves... and could not do anything else that turn. The other Infantry Squad advanced on - and seized - the objective marker on their flank! The three Heavy Weapons Squads all fired their mortars... which I don't think did a damned thing against all these ridiculously armoured marines...?!  

During the consolidation move, after wiping out the roughriders, the Thunderwolf Cavalry surrounded the Mortar Squad and Castellan that were holding 

On the Wolves second round, the Primaris Inceptors arrived! (and the character with ALL THE RULES) moved up on the Tallarn Squad that had seized the objective! 

The Primaris Inceptors opened fire and knocked out almost HALF of the Infantry Squad!? 

Over on the other flank, the Terminators charged the other Infantry Squad! 

And the Thunderwolf Cavalry overran the Castellan and Heavy Weapons Squad in the middle (after throwing grenades at the Heavy Weapons Squad on my right flank - nearly wiping them out!?) 

The Reavers (Hounds of Morkai?) and the Characters with ALL THE RULES charged the Infantry Squad and sent even more of them back to the dead and injured area... 

the terminators took out EVERYONE except the Lieutenant and the two sergeants in the Infantry squad that they attacked (that's 22 infantry from this squad... in ONE turn...) 

One my turn, I brought back one of the Roughrider Squads... The Astra Militarum now have a Strategem called REINFORCEMENTS! which allows you to spend two command points whenever one of the regular units with the REGIMENT key word to moved them into the Strategic Reserve instead of the dead pile... The charged in on the right flank and - briefly - seized THAT objective... 

This was "success" was very short-lived as the Terminators just turned around, on their next turn (Round Three), and charged them and sent them back to the reserves before they could even claim any victory points for holding it... but don't worry... THEY'LL BE BACK!!!

The Thunderwolf Cavalry rode down the remains of the infantry platoon and Heavy Weapon Squad as well... 

And the last few Guard on the left flank were finished off the rest of the other Infantry Squad...

Because I'd already spent two command points to put the roughriders back in reserve, I wasn't able to do so with either of the Infantry Squads... had I been a bit more with it, I probabably would have let the Roughriders go and called in one of the infantry units - and brought them right back in to contest this objective on the left again... alas... 

On MY Third round I brought on the Roughriders I initially put in strategic reserve AND brought back the ones that were taken out by the Terminators... 

The ones at the Wolves rear charged and overran the small group of allied Voidsmen that were holding the objective in the Wolves rear... 

This "success" was also short-lived as the Primaris Inceptors just pivoted slightly and opened up with their non-lethal paint-marking ammunition covering the roughriders from head to hoof in vibrant blue paint and sent them back to the reserves... how they will EVER be able to clean all that paint out is anybody's guess... 

The Thunderwolf Cavalry had also come charging back across the field... but were clearly not needed!!

On my end of the Fourth Round... I brought MORE Roughriders back on... seizing the objective in MY Deployment Zone

The other Roughriders tried to charge the Hounds of Morkai... but three were splattered with paint rounds from the Primaris Inceptors who fired overwatch as they moved up... 

The three remainind charged the Hounds... and.. did nothing but get sent back to the reserves... 

on the final round the Thunderwolf cavalry wheeled about and charged back towards the Roughrider... 

...and sent them galloping back to the reserves!!

Also in the final round the Character with ALL THE RULES tried to take out the remaining Heavy Weapons Squad, that has been firing away every turn and... just not hitting anything... 

They DID manage to take out the Character! (by finally using the GRENADES! Stratagem, that Orion had been using all game!? I will have to remember to use that every damned turn... as it was FAR MORE EFFECTIVE than ANY of my regular fire?!

Orion sent me along this report of the game which tallied up all the victory points... 

Yeah... 98- 26... and ten of those points were just for having a fully-painted force... and another seven was because I drew the Assassin and No Prisoners secondary objectives in the final round and happened to take out that Character... 

It was a fun game - largely because Orion is a riot to play games against (and a very patient instructor!). I like what's going on in 10th edition, so far... It all seems very streamlined and simplified which makes for fairly fast play - or what I imagine will be fast play, once I remember all my own damned stats and special rules.. (there aren't THAT many!?). I imagine once more codexes get released, there will be more and more special rules to keep track of... 

The game is really about scoring objectives and I didn't LOVE the constant changing of objectives every turn with the cards... but that's largely because I was trying to keep track of so many things, each time I drew a card and tried to read it, I felt like I recognized all the words on the cards a "definitely English" but could take no meaning from any of them... or those that I could, it was clear there was NO POSSIBILITY of MY force being able to DO any of those things... 

I feel like the guard MAYBE had possibilities... if it were in the hands of someone who actually KNEW all the special rules and knew what to DO with them. Hopefully we'll get some more games in SOON. And, now that I've PLAYED it, I'll be able to re-read the rules and have a better understanding of it (I had read the rules in advance... but often when I do that, my brain does not retain much of it or understand its meaning until I've actually PLAYED a game and re-read them!!) 

Five Parsecs From Home - Online Campaign - Round Three - Space Pirate Raid

 With their former employer getting more and more agitated making some vague (and some very NOT-SO-VAGUE) threats, it was decided it was time to go! Unfortunately, taking stock of fuel and supplies, the crew realized they would have to find a way to make some coin here on Athilles IV, just to get OFF the planet!!

The crew busied themselves with assorted tasks and trying to avoid those that were hunting them. 

Meetoktu and Mad Willie set about trying to repair a few of the damaged weapons. At some point the two got into a heated discussion about the effectiveness of lasers (for those who aren't aware, or maybe just forgot... Mad Willie DOESN'T BELIEVE IN LASERS!?) and Meetoktu got SO FRUSTRATED, she decided to "demonstrate" that lasers DO work by further melting the pistol Willie was trying to repair... at which point Willie grabbed the Boarding Cutlass Meetoktu was trying to repair and scampered out of the ship and into the enshrouding mist... he returned several hours later with the handle for the boarding cutlass... the blade was never seen nor spoken of again... 

Ace and Jimmy Oath spend some time training. Getting Jimmy back into shape after his stay in the sick bay. 

Pylon and Case wend out trading. Pylon managed to score a good deal on a handgun (which Willie took to replace the one that Meetoktu melted) and Case managed to sell some cargo, bringing in some much needed income. 

AS they were making preparations for their departure some Googly-Eyed Alien Space Pirates came looming out of the mist looking to do some misdeeds! 

The leader of the enemy forces - a Pirate Lieutenant armed with pistol and ripper sword. 

There were two specialists, also armed with handguns and ripper swords. 

Then there were FOUR other Pirates with Military Rifles. 

I thought this might go very poorly... 

At least THIS time we remembered that the entire planet is shrouded in mist and the maximum visibility is 8" (on tabletop!) 

I hand drew a simple map for this encounter - at the bottom of the picture is the crew's ship... Didn't have time to colour it... 

WE played the game on a mix of Roll20 - where I had the map and counters, and Discord - which we used for chatting. At the beginning of the first turn all of the crew were clustered by some crates and barrels outside the ship. In the distance they could hear the revving of Ripper Swords and knew something was amiss! 

The crew moved forward to take cover and meet whoever was coming for them... The pirates advanced in rushes through the mist. 

The orange circle marks the "Notable Sight": a Peculiar item that, if a crew member moves into contact with, would gain +2 XP.

In Round Two - shots were exchanged, but as everyone was in cover, there wasn't much affect. Meetoktu was stunned, briefly, and Jimmy Oath used his Distraction Bot to... well... distract one of the Pirates for a turn. 

On Round Three the crew got a bit lucky and took out two of the Pirate Crew that were trying to sneak around the flank and rush them. Another, on the other flank was stunned. 

The loss of two of their crew would cause TWO MORE of the Pirate Crew to flee! 

In Round Four the second specialist was taken out (with three stuns!?) and ANOTHER Pirate fled, leaving only the Pirate Lieutenant!

He was finished off in Round Five and that was it. Willie did make it to the Notable "Peculiar Item": (to gain +2 XP).

WHEW!!! They really needed a win this time around, and they GOT ONE!!

Here's how the rest played out:

STEP 1: TRAVEL 

1. Flee Invasion (if applicable) 

No invasion, no need to flee...

2. Decide whether to travel

The crew decided they would like to travel... but did not have the FUNDS to do so!

3. Starship travel event (if applicable)

No travel, no event

4. New world arrival steps (if applicable)

Still on Athilles IV

Generated a new Rival at this point as well... PIRATES!! 

STEP 2: WORLD

1. Upkeep and Ship Repairs

Pay upkeep for seven crew = -2Cr (+1 for Purifier) 

In an effort to save up funds for a move offplanet, they decided to make no payment on Ship Debt - +1Cr interest - Debt now 17 CR

2. Assign and resolve crew tasks

Lt. Meetoktu Yrmngr  - Repair Boarding Cutlass - rolled 1 - Damaged beyond fixing?!

Mad Willie - Repair Handgun - rolled 1 - Damaged beyond fixing?!

Jimmy Oath - Training +1XP

Pylon - Trade - Acquired Basic Firearms - choice of a Handgun, Colony Rifle, or Shotgun. Chose Handgun to give to Ace - to replace damaged scrap pistol. 

Ace - Training +1XP

Case - Sell some cargo - Earn 2 credits. 

Brother Bart - Recovering in Sick Bay

I just could not stop rolling ones for repairs!? WTF!? 

3. Determine Job Offers

There were none... 

4. Assign Equipment

Mad Willie took the spare Handgun from the Ship's Locker

Ace took the Handgun that Pylon found at the market. 

5. Resolve any Rumors

They're already, theoretically ON a quest... and have heard had no further rumours 

6. Choose your battle

Having THREE rivals now, it was 50-50 that they were going to end up fighting one of them... I rolled a 3 and that meant they were fighting the NEW rivals - the SPACE PIRATES - that may or may not be privateers in the employ of their previous employer... 

STEP 3: TABLETOP BATTLE

Deployment Condition: Caught off guard: The Crew all act in the Slow Actions phase in Round One. (I forgot about this when we actually PLAYED the game... but it didn't really matter, as I'd remembered that there was a maximum line-of-sight of 8"... so there was no shooting on the first turn anyway... 

Notable Sights: Peculiar item: Gain +2 XP.

Objective: RAID! The Objective is to SURVIVE!! If the crew failed to Hold the Field, their ship will take 1D6+1 points of Hull Point damage. If a spaceship model is available, it should be placed dramatically on the table for this mission so the players have a visual reminder of what you are defending!

THE ENEMY 

ENEMY: Pirates

NUMBERS: (d6 roll = 6!) +2 = 8!!! (Lieutenant, 2 specialists, 5 Pirates) 

PANIC: 1-3

SPEED: 5”

COMBAT SKILL: +0 (Lt +1)

TOUGH NESS: 4

AI: A - Aggressive! 

WEAPONS: 2A (Lieutenant - Hand Gun and Ripper Sword, Specialists - Hand Gun and Ripper Sword, Pirates - Military Rifles)

Space-faring looters who descend on colonies to raid, pillage, and enslave.

Loot: Gain an extra Loot roll if Holding the Field.

STEP 4: POST-BATTLE SEQUENCE

1. Resolve Rival Status

Space Pirates remain rivals

2. Resolve Patron Status

There was no patron involved in this one - other than that we are saying, narratively, that all the new rivals generated by the previous game's event, is actually their obscenely wealthy former employer hiring thugs to track them down... 

3. Determine Quest Progress

Not a quest battle. No progress. 

4. Get Paid

+5Cr! It's a little weird that you get "pay" for a fight that wasn't related to a job... maybe it was for bounties on the pirates they took out...? 

5. Battlefield Finds

Debris: 1D3 credits’ worth on the scrap market. = 2Cr 

6. Check for Invasion

No invasion

7. Gather the Loot

Consumables (2 uses)

Ripper Sword - Damaged

3 Dazzle Grenades - Damaged

8. Determine Injuries and recovery

Brother Bart - still recovering in sick bay. 

9. Experience and Character Upgrades

Lt. Meetoktu Yrmngr - +3 for surviving and winning, which brought her to a total of 8, 7 of which was spend to increase Combat Skill! 

Mad Willie - +3 for surviving and winning, +2 for making it to the Notable Sight, brought him to 5XP

Jimmy Oath - +3 for surviving and winning, +1 for training brought him to 5XP

Pylon - +3 for surviving and winning, brought him to 5XP

Ace - +3 for surviving and winning, +1 for training, +1 for taking the first enemy out of action, brough them to 4XP 

Case - +3 for surviving and winning, brought her to 6XP

Brother Bart - recovering in sick bay. 

10. Invest in Advanced Training

Nope.

11. Purchase items

Nope. 

12. Roll for a Campaign Event

The Crew meets up with an old arms dealer contact who owed them a deal.

They got a choice of 3 weapons from the following list: Hand Cannons, Military Rifles, Shotguns, or Machine Pistols. 

Two Hand Cannons and a Machine Pistol were selected! 

13. Roll for a Character Event

Jimmy Oath - Where did it go?

A random item carried by the character has been lost. When rolling for a Character Event next campaign turn, roll 1D6+Savvy as well. On a 5+, the item turns up again, otherwise it is lost for good.

Distraction Bot

Ace swears she saw Mad Willie recover it from the Battlefield... Willie swears he never saw the thing... Doesn't know what Jimmy's talking about... mumbled something incoherently about bots cannot be trusted! 

14. Check for Galactic War progress

No invasion, no war. 

And that was if for this week!