Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The March on Orax Point

[We decided to combine Aeronautica and the 40K battle.  I had 2225 points of IG attacking 1500 points of Dark Eldar for control of Orax Point Star Port.  Caz sacrificed 10% of his points to play an aeronautica game.  We decided on a ground attack mission, with epic tanks representing the tanks in my army.  Each successful hit was a penetrating hit on the vehicle damage table.  Worked OK, as I had such a points advantate to begin with, but ended up loosing all three leman russes before the hydra and the autocanon sabre platforms took the last ground attack craft down and we all bugged out]

Imperial commissars imposed harsh discipline on the TAPs regiments, replacing the hereditary officer class with veteran officers.  Their leadership proved vital in the battles ahead. . 


Imperial Navy Thunderbolt Squadron 4467 shadow the advancing armoured columns as they advance through the night towards Orax Point Starport, where a number of prometheum refineries were still burning.

Attack craft shrug the thunderbolts aside and cause serious havoc on the ground, and some units fell back in confusion.  Only prompt action on behalf of Imperial commissars bolstered the TAPs brigade's courage.


Dawn Breaks at Orax Point: despite loosing a large amount of amour on the march south, the weight of the Imperial Hammer is overwhelming.  Terrified Xenos flee at the sight as Vendetta gunships lead the attack and Lord Commissar Varndt leads from the front. 



TAPs regiments surge forward as the might of the Imperium brushes the Xenos scum aside.



Lord Commissar Varndt led from the front throughout the whole battle, despite taking a poisoned power blade cut to the thigh.  Only after the star port had been securred did he finally relent and allow medics to treat him with anti-toxinsThis pict was taken by a rememberancer at the moment of victory.  it was quickly and widely distributed into loyal Imperial sectors, and caused moral to sore at last.  'That picture was worth 10,000 troops,' Varndt later wrote in his memoires, 'Returning Orion 89-Zeta to Imperial Light, Second Edition'

[thoughts on combining the two games: I'm a big fan of AI and so it was a blast to play a game where I had to defend my ground troops.  I was starting to feel that the scenario was a little skewed against me, as Caz sacrificed 150 points and ended up killing nearly 500 points of leman russes.  But then I took out his last bomber and forced him to bug out.  As I had attacked with two armies, and had 50% extra points it actually evened the follow-up 40K game out a little.  Definately worth trying.  And perhaps rather than a successful wound on a tank being a penetrating hit, perhaps more fair would be following the AI rules - where you need two wounds to kill ground targets.   Though in fairness, I think Caz's Dark Eldar bombers did at least one wound on each tank they hit.  Pulsars and missiles make great ground attack weapons.]

UPDATE



Having reclaimed the starport, and with the southern penninsular highlands fortified with trenches and rapidly reployed bastions, Imperial Commanders now turned their attention to the north, where Xenos scum were tormenting the survivors of Charon Hive. With the subhive zones securely in the hands of the Imperial Forces, Lord Commissar Varndt was confident that he could drive the Xenos forces from Charon Hive.  With Orax Point Starport back in Imperial hands, massive supplies of reserves were shuttled down to the surface and quickly deployed in three massive columns that drove north.  

2 comments:

  1. Nice report, Justin. It was definitely a lot of fun. Next time we'll try it with the normal AI rules for attacking vehicles. I just thought it was more fun with penetrating hits because I thought it would make the air attacks feel more real if they had real penetrating results. If you think about it, the third russ wasnt destroyed and was only immobilised and 1 weapon destroyed... wouldve been proper destroyed if we'd followed the AI rules... Yes, I know it only had its lascannon left but it wouldve had sponsons too if you'd paid for the, ya cheap skate! :p Anyway, good times. Of course, vengeance will definitely be mine on Monday, just you wait...

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  2. You're right. I was putting I those comments really for people looking for a way of combining ai and 40k.

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