BATTLE REPORT
ARMY SELECTION
This game was played on my six by four foot table using our standard rules including my Def Mods and force construction guidelines.
Each army was built to 1,000 points. To keep things moving, each army
was then divided into two smaller 500 point blocks. Each player sent half
their force after their two foes; in essence, the game was three simultaneous
500v500 battles.
CAPITOL
Ryan played Capitol in this game. A newcomer to the game who we've saved
from a nasty case of GW-ism, Ryan had spent a few games kicking my ass with
Capitol but had never faced Cybertronic before. His army was thus largely
designed based on experience vs the Brotherhood. The army lacked any really
outstanding close combat troops, but was well served in the firepower
department and highly mobile.
Capitol Army
4 Airstrikes
Martian Banshee Hero with Subdermal Armour Implants, M50, Underbarrel MkII Grenade Launcher and AP Grenades.
Combat Medic with an M-13 sidearm.
Antagons, 5 with standard equipment.
Heavy Infantry, a 7 man squad with a DPAT-9 missile launcher as squad heavy.
Free Marines, six men with standard equipment. The squad heavy carried an M-89 HMG with Tripod.
Martian Banshees, 5 man squad. The sergeant carried a Chainripper in lieu of his M13 sidearm.
Great Grey skycycle crewed by a Heavy Infantry Sergeant. The
Great Grey carried an M606 LMG; the Sergeant was armed with Frag grenades.
CYBERTRONIC
Cybertronic this day was fielded by John. Up until recently a devout
follower of the Apostle of War, John's army was a revamping of a previous
force involving Shock Troopers with mortars . . . very ugly. The force,
like all Cybertronic armies, was numerically small but heavily
armed and armoured. Among other things, it featured two strong rifle
troops, the 19th Silent and a squad of Chasseurs, and the Dark Eden SMG-toting
Surveiler.
Cybertronic Army
Eradicator Deathdroid, the Mighty Death Egg, armed with a Megablaster, Chainripper and Rocket Launchers.
Surveiler, individual with standard equipment.
Chemiman with standard equipment and an Enhanced Command Chip.
Dr. Diana.
Mirrormen, squad of four.
19th Silent with AR-3000 rifles and Bayonets.
Chasseur Squad of six with rifles and bayonets. Squad heavy
carried a TSW-4000 Light Machine Gun.
BROTHERHOOD
I played Brotherhood, as is my wont. My army is painted up in an urban
camo scheme and so I usually field a mix of elite troops featuring an
emphasis on close combat. This was my first game with a Seeker as my
sniper, having decided that my Pilgrim Executioner was just too damn cheesy.
(Mancer got to me at last.)
Brotherhood Army
Inquisitor Majoris with a Gehenna Puker, a CMU and the Art of Changeling.
Assassin with a Coagulant Auto-Injector, Mortis Sword and Avalanche Handgun. The Assassin had the Art of Kinetics, a departure from my usual Elements-wielding Assassin.
Seeker with Sniper Rifle, Retributor SMG, Laser Sight and the Art of Kinetics.
Elite Troopers, five man squad equipped vanilla, led by Sergeant Big Mad Drongo.
Mortificators, three equipped with silenced Nemesis handguns, Mortis Swords, MkI GL's and AP grenades.
Fury Elite Guard, five men equipped normally. The Sergeant carries an Avalanche Handgun in place of his Punisher.
Crucifiers, the big guys from Dark Eden. One equipped with
Punisher Swords and Nemesis Handguns in quantity, the other with a
Deathlockdrum HMG and Gehenna Puker.
DEPLOYMENT
John won the dice-off and selected his corner. For myself I chose the
opposite corner, a spot with the ruins and some woods for cover. Ryan was
stuck with the remaining side, a more spread-out deployment zone which we
all knew he wouldn't remain in for long. His Free Marines were deployed
into a pocket of broken walls in the middle of the table; John dropped his
Chemiman into a tower between Ryan's force and my own. We were ready.
THE BATTLE
I won the initiative roll, a big surprise since Ryan's Martian Banshee Captain had a big edge in Leadership over my Inquisitor. I moved my Mortificators forward, hid them and put them on wait, to discourage any ambitions his Free Marines might have had regarding the ruins.
Ryan's Great Grey then activated. It tried to strafe my Mortificators, but being on Wait they all successfully leapt for cover. He banked and tried to shoot John's Chasseurs, but they passed all their armour saves without trouble.
John used his Death Egg to rocket attack Ryan's Heavy Infantry. Likewise, all saves were passed.
My Seeker activated. Seeing the Great Grey speeding away, I took aim. One bullet into the back of the pilot's head and the bike was spiralling out of control, ultimately slamming into one of the condo towers and exploding.
Not much else happened for me this turn; my troops advanced, my Elite Troopers set up with their weapons trained on the entrances of the ruins. My Assassin advanced towards the tower.
Ryan's Antagons decided to take out John's Chemiman, after surviving a barrage of poison gas. Amazingly, the robotic sniper used its free attack (being hidden) to bludgeon one Antagon to death with the stock of its rifle. It then used its wait action to shoot the next one as it came up the trap door. The remaining Antagons proceeded to kill it in CC, furious at the unexpected loss of their comrade.
Using a squadmate as spotter, Ryan's Heavy Infantry heavy fired indirectly with his DPAT-9 into the 19th silent, managing to kill a few. Returning the favour, John's Chasseurs cut down a Free Marine.
What caught Ryan's attention was John's Mirrormen. Charging
into Ryan's Martian Banshees, the Mirrormen chalked up some
quick kills.
The second turn started with some desperation on Ryan's part. Managing to break away, his surviving Banshees leapt clear of the Mirrormen, inadvertently freeing them up to charge and kill his Captain (John was eager to end Ryan's Initiative bonus). Again, the Heavy Infantry shot at the 19th Silent, to some effect.
In the centre, John's Surveiler advanced alongside the Chasseurs to apply pressure to the Free Marines, stalwart despite their losses. One Marine failed his save and perished but the others held firm. My Seeker sniped the Marine Heavy before hiding.
In the tower, my Assassin charged into Ryans' Antagons. Calmly planning their demise, I proceeded to slaughter the first with my charge action, only to fumble my next attack and lose all my remaining actions. The Assassin's hefty Def modifier helped foil the Antagons attempts to exploit the situation, limiting them to one wound which was absorbed by the Coagulant Auto-Injector.
Other than this action, the rest of the turn involved forces
maneuvering for position. John's Death Egg made for my lines,
pausing to launch a rocket barrage which failed to hit anything;
my Fury Elites, Crucifiers and Inquisitor edged forward though the
woods, wary of the Chasseur's firepower and the looming Death Egg.
Massive casualties marked the third turn. John advanced his Surveiler into the ruined walls to finish off the last Free Marines; seeing an opportunity, my Mortificators went in and put the foul cyborg to the sword. Unfortunetally exposed, John's Chasseurs cut them down with rifle fire. My Seeker tried to snipe the Chasseur Heavy, but the tin-plated monstrocity made save after save.
In the far corner, the Heavy Infantry fell back, trying to find room to kill the Mirrormen when they came around the storage container, Ryan having tumbled to the role of aiming in the killing of Mirrormen. Elsewhere the remains of his Banshees and the remains of John's 19th Silent cut each other down to one apiece; the 19th Silent laugh at their losses, and the high Leadership of the sole remaining Banshee saved him from cowardly flight.
My Assassin continued its less than stellar performance, killing one of the two remaining Antagons before being slain in turn. The sole remaining Antagon panicked and ran, leaving the tower abandoned save for the piled corpses.
My Fury Elites advanced from the woods, covered by the Crucifiers. For all of his firepower, his HMG only managed to claim a single Chasseur, his Puker being out of range.
And the Death Egg grew closer still.
Things were getting ugly.
My Seeker tried again to kill the Chasseur Heavy, and again he passed all his saves. Moving into LOS of my Elite Trooper heavy, he laughingly saved against my waiting LMG fire and cut down two of the Elites.
My Crucifiers went through his friends like a hot knife through butter in revenge. The CC Crucifier did his Musashi impersonation with his plethora of armaments and overwhelmed his bayonet-wielding opponent; the heavy opened up with his Puker and slew the Sergeant and the sole remaining rifleman, simultaneously taking a HMG shot at the Death Egg to no effect. The remainder of my left flank took to the hill in anticipation of some sort of assault on the Death Egg.
Ryan's Capitol survivors were in desperate straits. Aimed rifle fire
scythed into the Mirrormen, killing one and managing to wound
another, but this did not save the Combat Medic who was horribly
cut down. Ryan had only managed to call in two Airstrikes, neither
of which did anything, and this left his last one unusable.
Ryan saw the inevitable coming; the Mirrormen would charge, the
Heavy Infantry would die.
Sure enough, the Mirrormen went in, and though one of their own was shot down the remaining two killed half of the Heavy Infantry. Ryan's only remaining troops were wavering in their courage and about to die in colourful ways.
In the center, my Inquisitor hosed down the sole remaining Chasseur; his annoying aptitude with armour saves failed him and he perished to the scouring flame. John's sole remaining 19th Silent trooper took shelter behind a stone wall, in anticipation of I knew not what. The Death Egg opened fire with its heavy machine gun, slaying my Crucifiers and removing the rest of my support weapons.
My Seeker, lots of enthusiasm but no brain, took a shot or two at the Egg to no effect.
At this point, Ryan ceded and we called the game due to time.
AFTERMATH
