Back To The (Grim, Dark) Future Pt1

I have had a love/hate relationship with Warhammer 40000 since 1989.

Although I played a lot of games in that setting for years, I finally put it to one side in the mid 2000s.  I stopped reading White Dwarf, stopped buying Codices and stopped painting 40K figures.  I love the daft futuristic dark age setting but the games themselves extremely rarely lived up to the potential set by the background and so, that was that.

To make a long story short-ish, a few factors combined recently (namely the Horus Heresy series of novels, the totally unsuspected GW re-release of Space Hulk and the Fantasy Flight Warhammer/40K themed boardgames etc) that gradually worked on my subconscious to the point that I planned a gaming weekend with the main emphasis being on playing some small (400-600pt) games of 40K.  I guarantee that I am more surprised at this than you may be.

Despite my 180 degree turnaround on earlier standpoints regarding my willingness to play games of 40K at all, I still wasn’t prepared to play the rules as they are currently written.  Long time game co-conspirator MT and I decided to play using a hodge-podge version of the rules based mostly on our favourite 3rd edition, except where we didn’t want to because we felt that newer rules were better.  None of the rules selected as “better” were written down in advance.

Needless to say, that made this is an imprecise art, best only attempted by players that have successfully played the game together for a long time and who are not obsessed with trying to screw each other over.  I decided to play with MT anyway (thats a joke, geddit?)  Despite the fact that “jamming” with rules sets isn’t really our scene and the high potential for friction it worked out for us for these games.

We mostly played scenario heavy games, rather than the line-them-up-and-knock-them-down dice fests that 40K is infamous for.

This short series will document a small number of those games, mostly pictorially.

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GAME 1: Sin-Eaters Chaos Space Marines Vs Emperors Voice Space Marines

As this was the first game that I had played for a very long time we decided to go with a quick scenario-less game first of all.

Unsurprisingly both sides moved towards the middle, with the exception of the Emperors Voice Devastator squad who too the high ground in their deployment zone.  So far, so predictable.

The Sin Eaters Plague Marine Squad Klaus and Possessed Squad Nemesis along with Squad Van Helden took cover in the ruined temple.

Plum the cat observes the Emperors Voice force form a firing line ready to receive the inevitable charge of the more close combat orientated Chaos troops.

Sgt Klaus (with Klaus played by Brother Bakul in this instalment) is the only surviving member of his squad to reach the loyalist lines, where he begins to make them pay by bludgeoning them with his power weapon.

Chaos firepower almost wipes out a squad of loyalists, while Squad Nemesis is reduced to two survivors from reciprocal shots.  Sgt Klaus shrugs off the assault marines attacks against his bloated undead and armoured hide and kills a marine.

The remnants of Squad Nemesis combine with Sgt Klaus to kill another pair of Assault Marines.

The Tactical Sergeant kills the two Possessed with his power axe but Klaus kills everything in the area including the Tac Sarge.  Standing in the open and covered in gore, Klaus screams his defiance at the heavens.  Then the Devastators on the hill finally get a target again and blow him into rotting, slimy chunks with heavy weapon fire.
The Loyalists win.

Conclusions:In theory, having a large number of units in a game can provide some redundancy so that odd changes in fortune can either be exploited or countered by units held for such a purpose.

That’s the theory anyway, it never applies to games of 40K as the armies are set up so close together and have been min/maxed in such a way as to render thoughts of tactical or strategic play more or less redundant.  It’s a game of point your guys in the direction of the enemy and press “Go”.

This effect is exaggerated by smaller forces like those that we were playing with.  That said, that game was essentially a standard game of 40K in microcosm.

Parts TWO, THREE, FOUR and FIVE.

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 2

Sgt Downey climbs over the pile of genestealer corpses that he has cut down. Fourteen 'stealers are killed in close combat alone in "Return to Kalidus: Honour Bound".

Day two of our second Space Hulk weekend started with a set of missions from White Dwarf February 1993: the Return to Kalidus campaign.

Return to Kalidus came out at the same time as the original Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box, waaay back in early 1993 or so.  The Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box consisted of five terminator figures with some slightly unorthodox weapon fits.  The box, which was what the entire Return to Kalidus campaign was based on had the following configuration:

1. Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Sword
2. Marine with Heavy Flamer and Chainfist
3. Marine with Assault Cannon and Power Fist
4. Marine with Storm Bolter and Chainfist
5. Marine with Storm Bolter and Power Fist

Like almost every Space Hulk player on the planet, I dont have a painted terminator model with a Heavy Flamer and a Chainfist.  The difference between a Chainfist and a Power Fist is entirely cosmetic in the scenarios that we played so it didnt make any difference.

For the purposes of this SH campaign, the marines are from the Space Wolf chapter.  In game terms that means that every member of the squad gets an additional +1 in close combat.  Not too shabby, particularly for the Sergeant, doubly so if he is on 3rd ed Guard orders.

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Return to Kalidus Mission I : A Quest for Power

A Quest for Power Set Up

In this scenario the marines are trying to get to a console on the opposite side of the map and spend some APs to find the location of the items to be procured in scenarios 2 and 3.

MTs crusade marines are joined by an Iron Man.

Despite a very promising set of opening turns, the Crusaders lose their Sergeant and Assault Cannon suddenly.

Soon the 'stealers have the run of almost the entire map.

Finally the only Marine representative still alive has a flamer with enough ammo for one shot. He bought the farm shortly afterwards.

The game ended in a win for the Genestealers (me).  Amusingly, the boy MTs performance is so hilariously dismal that it means that the rest of the campaign is supposedly defunct, as the remaining two missions simply cannot be completed without a marine victory in A Quest for Power. 

We decide to play the next one anyway, despite the campaign abruptly ending on a technicality.

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Return to Kalidus Mission II : Honour Bound

Honour Bound Set Up

Honour Bound involves an identical squad to the one that appeared in A Quest for Power trying to get through the map to find a chapter relic in one of four rooms.  The ‘stealer player gets two blips per turn plus an unprecedented six starting blips.  This does not bode well for the marines.

The Marines inch forward, covering each others flanks against the vast number of 'stealers.

The flamer uses the last of its fuel to clear a room for the slow advance. The flamer marine dies almost immediately afterwards.

Sgt Downey slowly hacks his way through the corridors, a battle brother guarding his back.

The slaughter continues and the Sgt racks up his tally of bugs at this point. His battle brother is about to be overwhelmed however...

Sgt Downey is finally overcome, failing in his mission.

The game ends in a Genestealer victory for MT.

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The Return to Kalidus campaign is hard.  Considering that it was written for 1st ed (where Marine shooting is less effective than in 3rd ed overall) it is hard to imagine the Marines winning the second mission very often.  The only reason that the marines got as far as they did in Honour Bound was because of the Sergeant: +2 combat, plus Parry plus Guard orders is not to be sneered at (even if it is a bit uninspiring to play with/against).

Lastly, we decided to leave the third and final Return to Kalidus scenario until next time and to play one more Marine vs Marine game to round off the weekend.

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Retrieval

Retrieval Set Up (we reused the Honour Bound map, seeing as it was already set up).

We made up Retrieval on the spot.  We placed a Maguffin (a C.A.T. this time) equidistant from both sides which both sides had to get back to their deployment room.  We also used the rules from Mission IX: Regroup to stagger the arrival of the ten Power Armour marines that we each had.

MTs Emperors Voice Tactical Squad ready to deploy.

My Sin Eaters Tactical Squad Van Helden ready to go.

The game was a hair-raising, back and forth affair, with Marines diving into overwatch zones hoping to get a shot off before they got killed by return fire.

Sgt Van Helden makes an early break for the C.A.T. (top right).

Van Helden and a battle brother, just before Van Helden is cut down by enemy fire.

The lone Sin Eater sprints down the corridor after the now randomly moving C.A.T., avenging his Sarge with shots from the hip. The Emperors Voice flamer marine puts paid to his antics however, with not one, but two blasts of promethium.

The game ends with a Emperors Voice marine win for MT.

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In conclusion, Space Hulk is great.  The marine vs marine games are a bit weird, but they were fun all the same.  I will try Marine vs  Marine games out again, but I am uncertain that the mechanics are suitable for games where both sides have guns really.

That said, I still havent played any games with my Hybrids so I am sure that there will be another Space Hulk session again soon.

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 1

Sgt Gideon notches up another kill in Mission IX: Regroup.

The last Space Hulk weekend (pt1 and pt2) left us wanting to play more, so MT and I organised another weekend for late October last.  I took some snaps as we played.  They arent National Geographic level shots or anything, but they illustrate the games sufficiently.

Having played through most of the scenarios in the 3rd ed missions book the last time, we were ready to try some different things out this time around, starting with a Power Armour (as opposed to Terminator armour) scenario.

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Denzarks Hammer (White Dwarf # 120)

"By Denzarks Hammer, you shall be avenged!"

First up was Denzarks Hammer, a scenario that was printed in White Dwarf for first edition.  It introduced the rules for Power Armoured marines in SH.

Squad Van Helden (top) and Squad Rico.

Although MT played marines in this one, he had forgotten to bring enough of his “Emperors Voice” marines with him.  As a result he used two Sin Eaters squads of mine instead.  Although they are Chaos Marine figures, we obviously played them as standard.

Standard Imperial "Conga" deployment doctrine in full effect.

The scenario states that the ‘stealer player gets one blip per turn.  The scenario also suggests that this limit should be increased to two blips per turn once the Marine player gets the hang of using the Power Armour troopers. 

While moving twenty figures in under three minutes proved a bit challenging from time to time,  it turned out that one blip per turn is far too few ‘stealers to either present a significant threat or provide some fun for the ‘stealer player.  Two blips per turn is a must for this scenario.

After suffering minimal casualties the Sin Eaters get to the bridge, achieve the objective and hold off the remaining 'stealers easily.

The game ended in an easy win for MT playing the Marines.  Two blips per turn next time for sure.

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Deathmatch

Deathmatch Set Up.

Deathmatch is a custom scenario that we threw together for playing Marine vs Marine games of SH. MT had a symmetrical map planned out in advance.  We placed an objective for each side in the central room furthest from their deployment zone (the Sin Eaters were looking for a teleport homer while the Emperors Voice and Thoraxian Crusade marines were looking for the relic).

Emperors Voice marines (bottom) and Thoraxian Crusade Terminators on the starting blocks.

Sin Eater Squad Romero (top) and Squad Rico during the first turn.

We put a random blip of ‘stealers in each of the four rooms, just for fun.  They moved automatically (roughly using the solo rules from 1st ed Deathwing to determine their behaviour once revealed).  Although the genestealers gave both sides cause for concern, all were eradicated without marine casualties on either side.

The sides close.

Tit for tat firefights whittle numbers on both sides...

...until the last Emperors Voice marine is gunned down by a Squad Romero storm bolter.

The game ended with a Chaos victory for me.

This was the first Marine vs Marine battle that I had ever played (I think that MT had played one or two before).  These games play very differently from the usual genestealer games  as obviously your marines can get shot. 

The rules work in such a way that the marine that move-and-fires gets his shot off before the Overwatching marine shoots back.  This makes advancing marginally less dangerous than Overwatching (although both are obviously necessary). 

The game swung back and forth with alarming frequency and it was fun, but I am unsure as to how solid a platform for marine versus marine games SH actually is.

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Mission IX: Regroup

Regroup after a couple of turns.

Regroup is one of the few scenarios from the 3rd ed box that we hadnt tried, so we gave it a go.  We decided to use the 1st ed Captain as a direct exchange for the Librarian.  The Captain rules struck us as being approximately as powerful as the Librarian in games terms, and I think that we were right.

The Iron Men spread out thinly, each marine trusting his flanks to his brothers.

Marine casualties mount, despite the sterling efforts of Thunder Hammer armed Sgt Gideon (centre right).

Sgt Gideon with Guard orders is a tough nut to crack from the front.  He butchered upwards of 13 ‘stealers during the game (we lost track).

Sgt Gideon takes advantage of a lull plus the increased CPs that Captain Stark supplies to retreat rapidly up the corridor (top right).

Captain Stark covers the retreat.

Captain Stark gets three Terminators to the regroup point.

This scenario required the Marine player (me) to roll a dice after  the game.  If the score was equal to or under the number of Marines who escaped then the Marine player won.  I rolled a “5″.  MT won.  Ho hum.

The 1st Ed Captain seemed to be about as powerful as the 3rd Ed Librarian.  The Captain can probably be swapped out for the Librarian in scenarios on a one for one basis without a problem from here on in.

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To be continued…