Game 2 - The Battle of Bifrost Spaceport

Scenario

The Bifrost Spaceport exists on one of the Moons of Jotunheim, controlling this is vital for the supply of resources in the upcoming battles. For the invaders, it would mean a much needed staging post for future operations.

The Storm Wolves cannot allow them to get this foothold ...

Scenario

The game is a 1000 point Crusade game played in Vanguard Strike deployment.  The following are objectives, 

• 4 x large circular landing pads worth 3 victory points each
• 1 x central control bunker worth 5 victory points [AV14 building]

The Spoils of Victory

As Imperial Guard won the last engagement they get the following bonuses,

Up to 5 officers/sergeants can be upgraded with bolt pistols and power weapons free of charge (they looted)

25% of their enemy must start in reserve, and suffer a -1 to reserve rolls

Storm Wolf Army

• Librarian with Invisibility and Fire Shield
• 3 x 10 Man Tactical Squad with Flamer and Missile Launcher, split into Combat Squads with one Heavy Bolter Razorback
• 6 Man Assault Squad with free Rhino
• Dreadnought with Lascannon and Missile Launcher 
• Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolter side-sponsons

Imperial Guard Army

• Company command squad
• Lord commissar with carapace armour
• Platoon command squad with chimera
• 2 x Infantry squad with grenade launcher
• 1 x Special weapons squad with 3 meltaguns
• Infantry squad with grenade luncher
• Infantry squad with grenade luncher,mortar
• Platoon command squad with mortar ,sniper rifle
• Veteran squad with flamer,carapace armour and chimera
• Vendetta

Tau Force Allies

The Talon have promised the Tau a favourable trade agreement if they assist in the upcoming campaign and so some are serving as allies ...

• Shas'el with plasma rifle,missile pod, multi-tracker
• 8 Fire warriors

Round 1

Lots of shots fired back and forward but apart from one dead Rhino, no other casualties ...

Round 2

Dreadnought taken down a hit point by a glancing blow from the Vendetta.  But that's not the worst of it, as a Special Heavy Weapon Squad with meltaguns make short work of the Razorback.  The Fire warriors and Chimera decimate the combat squad as they try to pile out.  Elsewhere the Assault Marine survivors from the dead Rhino in round one feel the brutal reality of "First rank ... Second rank", even with lasguns, this is going to hurt (two die).

The Space Marines seek revenge, bloodying the Special Heavy Weapon squad, whilst a sustained missile launched barrage whittles down the Imperial Guard infantry.

Round 3

It's round 3, and the Imperial Guard take the central bunker, and one of the landing pads.  The Space Marines are yet to claim one.  The squad caught out in the open weathers a hailstorm of fire, but thanks to it's powered armour is only slowly taking casualties, its still too much, and the squad is reduced to one man.

The Predator unleashes it's fury at the Fire Warrior squad, taking down its numbers, whilst a lone sergeant almost takes down a Chimera single handed.

Round 4

Lone sergeants luck runs our under a frontal fire from the Chimera.  The Lord Commissar leads a veteran squad into the nest of Space Marines, wrecking his Chimera in the attempt.  The combination of assault fire and power weapons annihilates the 5-man squad.

The final squad of marines come out of reserve, and takes revenge, with only the Lord Commissar remaining by the end of the turn.  Space Marines also manage to wipe out the last of the Tau Fire Warriors, whilst taking one of the landing pads.

Turn 5

The Vendetta drops the Platoon Command Squad on one of the Landing Pads.  The Imperial Guard now hold three, together with the bunker.  The Space Marines only hold one.  Meanwhile the remaining assault troops with the Librarian find themselves in an Imperial Guard kill-box facing 61 lasgun shots and 3 lascannon shots ... not even power armour can help ...

The Dreadnought manages to take down the vulnerable nearby Vendetta, whilst the Space Marine squad having killed the Lord Commissar race to catch another landing pad, but have to settle for contesting it.  

Turn 6

Imperial guard now hold the bunker and 2 pads, and contest another pad.  The Space Marines only hold 1 pad, whose numbers are now dwindling from a barrage of "First Rank ... Second Rank ..." fire.

Space Marines still keep piling on the pain back, trying to destroy the Imperial Guard held bunker but to no avail.  The Imperial guard are still in control as the game ends.

Final score

Imperial Guard hold 2 pads (6 points), the bunker (5 points) and got First Blood (1 point) and Slay The Warlord (1 point) = 13 Points

Space Marines hold 1 pad (3 points) = 3 Points.

Overview

Interesting use by the Imperial Guard player avoiding the use of the classic Imperial Guard tanks for sheer numbers of troops.  As a Space Marine player, despite power armour and boltguns, I just didn't have enough shots to stop his army who died in great numbers without losing effectiveness.

Best Space Marine Unit

To be honest no one unit really stood out in this battle, will go for the Predator just because it kept on causing pain to the enemy - mainly as it was largely ignored.  That said although it softened up units and did wipe out those pesky Tau, it lacked any overall effectiveness.

Best Imperial Guard Unit

The Platoon Command squad in the Chimera held it's landing pad from turn 1, whilst just pouring out pain, repulsing several Space Marine squads.  It made it look all too easy ...

What does this mean?

The Imperial Guard invasion force has secured an important foothold in the Ragnarok star system  together with vital access to resources.  Any hopes of a quick Storm Wolf victory is now dashed as the invaders establish themselves and secure their supply lines.

Game 1 - Sneak attack on Nifelheim

Background

Nifelheim is a remote ice world in the Ragnarok star system where the Storm Wolves keep an early warning base which for too long has been under resourced.  As the centuries since the last incursion tick away, it's soldiers see their time there as a battle with monotony.

But all that's about to change ...

Scenario

The board contains a small defensible outpost and landing dock structure.  There are several scattered craters as well as junk piles from disguarded machinery which became unserviceable in the harsh conditions.

The scenario is a 750 point played with the Purge The Alien rules (kill as many as you can) using Hammer and Anvil Deployment.

Storm Wolf Army

• Librarian with Molten Beam and Psychic Shriek
• 2 x 10 Man Tactical Squad with Flamer and Missile Launcher
• 5 Man Scout Squad
• Dreadnought with Lascannon and Missile Launcher 
• Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolter side-sponsons

Imperial Guard

• HQ-Lord Commissar with power weapon and Carapace armour
• 2 x Veteran squad with carapace armour and chimera
• Platoon command squad with mortar,sniper rifle
• 2 x Troop-Infantry squard with grenade launcher
• 3 x Armoured Sentinels with Lascannons

Turn 1
With thunderous fire, the Storm Wolf dreadnaught was knocked out of the game in the first volley of fire from the Armoured Sentinels.

The furious Storm Wolves retaliated, taking down one of the Sentinels which exploded taking down several guardsmen as it did so ...

Turn 2
The Space Marine Scouts launched out of cover to strike an Armoured Sentinel, with no clear winner.  Space Marines attempted to seize ground, launching forward at their enemy to lure them in ...

Turn 3
Boom!  The Space Marine Predator became the next victim of the withering fire from the Sentinel Lascannons.

Veteran guardsmen stormed out of their Chimeras to strike at one of the Space Marine tactical squads.

Turn 4
Space Marines lose in hand-to-hand against Guardman.  This cannot be!

Thankfully the Librarian cuts down a Chimera with a Molten Beam to even things up.

Turn 5
The Librarians unit and the Lord Commissar face off, with the Space Marines rightfully triumphant!  Death to the Commissar.

Two lucky Scouts are still standing having finished off an Armoured Sentinel and Veteran Squad.

Turn 6
Both the Scouts and the Librarian's unit become embroiled in more assault.  The bloody hand-to-hand continues, whittling down all forces.

Turn 7
The game ends with but a single Scout and Librarian surviving.  The Imperial Guard are still standing with greater points value.

Overview
Imperial Guard killed more points value, so won the Primary Objective.  They also killed the first unit, gaining First Blood.

Storm Wolves managed to pull off Kill The Enemy Warlord, but still lost.

Decisive Space Marine Unit

The Librarian, without his powers, and being a stubborn bastard on his armour rolls, the game would have ended on turn 5 or 6 (simply as no Space Marines left).

Decisive Imperial Guard Unit

Lord Commissar.  Thanks to his skill and power weapon, he led a Veteran Squad to make short work of a Space Marine unit.  No small achievement.

The Ragnarok Campaign - a war for resources ...

Building on the back story for the Ragnarok star system, we're about to embark on a campaign using this backdrop over control of this star system ...

The intrigue spun by the Talon is about to unfurl ...

• The Commander Browin of the 24th Regiment is explaining to his men how the Storm Wolves have been suspected of crimes against the Imperium, and it's their job to remove them from Ragnarok, as it's believed high ranking members of the Chapter have turned to Chaos.
• Far away in Tau space, a Water Caste emissary arrives with news of an Imperial resource world whose people yearn to throw off the tyranny of Imperial oppression and join the greater good of benevolent Tau rule

Battle is about to begin ...

Quick Reference Guide for 6th Edition Warhammer 40,000

We played our first game of the 6th Edition rules at Wellington Warlords this week.  It was a somewhat frantic affair, with lots of page turning as we looked up aspects of the new rules, although a lot of fun.

It's somewhat disappointing that Games Workshop still haven't put up a new version of the Quick Reference on the website in PDF format for players, especially as we now live in an age of Kindles and iPads.

I know I can just photocopy the relevant pages, but that seems so 1980s ... so I've ended up going through the rulebook and made my own reference guide, which is here to share with other gamers,

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/inthenameoftheemperor/p5Af2W-k-f4

This reference guide is meant to help gamers use the 6th Edition better (including pages to look up rules in more detail), and not as a replacement for the rulebook.  No infringement of Games Workshop intellectual property intended.

C'mon Games Workshop, get with the 21st Century and get some better 6th Edition support up there for us fans instead of just hawking your new models!

The Talon Syndicate

Inquisitor Lang of Helle had conducted considerable investigations (codenamed Operation Birdcage) into the Ragnarok crime syndicate known as the Talon, but with limited success.

As with much organised crime, it's easier to capture and interrogate the muscle enforcers than the brains. And in the Talon is seems the brains know how important that secrecy is even from one’s own soldiers. The syndicate is run on a cell level, with different enforcers often not knowing they're working for the same bosses. Indeed Operation Birdcage seemed to indicate some events which were originally believed to be turf wars in the Fenrir Foundaries seemed to be two cells of the same syndicate unknowingly pitched against one another.

The Talon seem to be very careful about allowing members to fall into Inquisition hands. Many soldiers caught by the Inquisition suffer assassination attempts or die in suspiciously custody. Those who survive have been known to show some level of training in resisting psychic influence.

Operation Birdcage seemed to show that the Talon seem to use a network of illegal psykers to convey communication between the brains and the different operating cells. Each cell is told only what it needs to do to serve it's masters, and nothing less. Yet oddly these psykers do not seem linked to any Chaos cultist or other usual subversives.

Survivors tell of a ranking system within the organisation, with members ranks based on an ornithological scheme …

• Canaries – are new recruits eager to prove themselves
• Ravens – are the main soldier league
• Pigeons – the illegal psykers who carry messages
• Owls – the local cell leaders
• Vultures – a band of highly trained assassins
• The Buzzard – the much feared and brutal hit man who runs the Vultures for the Talon
• The Hawk, The Falcon, The Harrier, The Osprey – member of the Talons High Family, a secret council for the organisation
• The Eagle – the secretive head of the organisation
• The Nightingales - the Eagles personal bodyguard

Little is known but much is suspected about the Talon High Family and The Eagle themselves. They are believed by Inquisitor Lang to be high ranking members of Hellion society, possibly on the Hellion Committee itself. He believed the Talons aims under the High Family was to profit from the black marketing of goods from Jotunheim, together with profiteering from the miners and workers throughout the star system via the provision of narcotics and other illegal practises.

However Inquisitor Lang believed the syndicates aims went far beyond illegal activities, they were in collusion with possible non-terrestrial sources regarding the overthrow-by-arms of the Storm Wolves in Ragnarok. Lang believed this trail lead back to xenos such as the Eldar, the Tau and even the Orks together with some Imperial guard commander known for more mercenary tendencies.

Sadly as both Inquisitor Lang and the evidence from Operation Birdcage perished in an unfortunate powerplant overload which destroyed several buildings together with his offices in Helle, his suspicions have not been able to be investigated further ...

Ragnarok - home of the Storm Wolves

Background

The Storm Wolves are a Space Marine chapter based in the Star System Ragnarok. This system is a binary star system, whose main star Ragnarok Alpha Supernovaed approximately 10,000 years ago.

As such it is a system rich in the heavy metals formed in this cosmic explosion. The star system is major provider of raw materials for it's sector, feeding the Imperium war machine. The Storm Wolves role is as guardians of this vital resource, a role they see as a sacred (occasionally fanatical) trust.

However it has been found that “guard duty” is a poor substitute for experience, and after several disastrous engagements a detached unit of 3 companies now tours the galaxy seeking chances to engage the enemies of the Imperium. Called “Prower Units” they contain elements of new and experienced Space Marines.

Ragnarok

Approximately 10,000 years ago the main star Ragnarok Alpha suffered a tremendous explosion, destroying much of the original star system. However, such supernovae are the source of rare and important elements such as iron, gold, platinum – leaving a treasure trove of resources around the exhausted star.

An Imperial colony was first established 8,000 years ago, but the Imperial guardsmen failed to hold onto the star system, being driven back in one of the great Ork Waaarghs 7,000 years ago.

It was up to the Space Wolves to win it back, fighting alongside the remants of the Imperial Guard they managed to crush the Orks, and afterwards established a new chapter in the star system. But this new chapter like so many Space Wolf seeded ones was a cursed chapter, the geneseed over centuries mutating into a form eventually terminal to it's host Space Marines.

The Chapter slowly succumbed to what was called Ragnarok's Curse, and a second founding was attempted using Ultramarine geneseed which proved more stable. This second founding was known as the Storm Wolves.

Planet Helle

Closest to the star Ragnarok Beta, this is a blasted wasteland of a world, with the surface temperature hot enough to melt lead. It is also one of the more populated planets, the ruling elite using the planets natural harshness to deter invasions – for there is little on this world worth invading for. The population lives deep inside the planet in a series of luxurious colonies paid for by the natural riches of this remarkable star system.

Here the Hellion Committee runs the administration of the system, they are the closest to a government, the seats on the panel bought by privilege or money.

But despite the riches and relative security of this fortress world, for many it is still not enough. Dissent brews within the planet. Some see the Storm Wolves as an occupying force. Others on the Committee see them as an annoying drain on resources, and an upstart nuisance in the affairs of the star system. Many politicians will echo words to the effect that “Hellion should rule, Storm Wolves should guard”.

Hellions see themselves as nobility, and look down on the denizens of the other worlds as inferior in all respects. This was brutally seen in the great Ork Waaargh, where the outnumbered Imperial Guard forces fell back to Helle without even a fight, leaving the other enhabitants of other worlds within Ragnarok to their own fate.

By the Charter of Ragnarok, the constitution which outlines the relationship between the Space Marine chapter and the star systems of Ragnarock, the Hellion committee has managed to retain a small Imperial guard army for itself, independent of the Storm Wolves. By this same charter, the Storm Wolves are forbidden to have any presence of arms on Helle, and are only supposed to visit the planet by formal request by the Hellion Committee.

Planet Muspell

This is the home of the Storm Wolves. It is a planet pulled by tidal forces, with occasional volcanoes, earthquakes, geysers. Most of the planet is dominated by a harsh lichen which only the goat cattle of the Muspell nomads can eat.

However properly treated the soil is abundant, and there are many large farms which feed the rest of the star system.

Unfortunately the planet was badly contaminated during the Orks Waaargh. There are still sizable Ork colonies hidden within the jungle areas, and countless efforts have failed to remove them.

It is little wonder then with such an aggressive local pest that despite a smaller population, the Muspellian farmers and nomads have proved to be suitable Space Marine candidates. Most Storm Wolves have come from Muspellian origins, another factor which irritates many Hellions. That said most officers even within the Storm Wolves, have turned out to have Hellion lineage. Even within the mighty Space Marines there seems to be the seeds of prejudice.

It is on this planet that Storm Wolves keep their main base, the fortress of Midgard.

Planet Jotunheim

A gas giant world, the satellites of which contain Ragarok's mining, processing and industrial infrastructure. These factory worlds generally have poor conditions, containing human hives of workers who get to share very little of the systems wealth, whilst paying high prices for their shoddy food, water and air.

It is little surprise that crime here is rife, with many murders between individuals squabbling for what little they have. But not all crime is so ill-disciplined, and there is a powerful syndicate at work in these factories called The Talon, of which very little is known, even by the overworked and under-resourced Inquisition.

The satellites of Jotunheim, with their citizens who grow around technology have provided many Space Marines who would go on to become Master of Arms for the Storm Wolves.

Planet Niflheim

This ice world is a brutal and inhospitible place, but still some life clings on. No indiginous life survives above ground, but large underground seas heated by the volcanic planet core still teem with swathes of marine life. It's on this life the tribes known as “the ice folk” live – they are nomads similar to the Muspellians. They live on the surface, and track migrations of the underwater fish life – for they are skilled divers and underwater fishermen.

The Storm Wolves maintain an early warning outpost here. Here too is the Hall of Sleeping Warriors. Chapter Master Albert Donitz of the Cursed Founding placed 300 of his Space Marines into cryogenic storage here, where they wait through the millenia.

It is said that in Ragnarok's greatest hour of need, the seal will be broken and the Doomed Warriors will wake to fight one final battle.