"Grand Opening" and Rogue Trader 40K Game

Well, it did take awhile but we're now pretty much settled into our new house, and more importantly, the basement gaming area is ready. So to celebrate this I hosted an old-school 40K "Rogue Trader" game last week.

The cabinets are IKEA "Besta" with glass doors and shelves, and added interior LED lighting. IKEA is great but every component is offered "a la carte" which means costs can quickly escalate. Fortunately I don't picture us moving again anytime soon so there should be a long amortization ;-)

The game table base is made up of 4x2 foot folding tables picked up on sale at Canadian Tire. Very sturdy and a perfect base for the very weighty terrain board that goes on top.
 

Anyway, on to the game! Greg had very kindly come up with a scenario to continue our "Rynn's World" campaign pitting my RT Orks against his Guardsmen and Crimson Fist Space Marines. In this game, taking place on the outskirts of New Rynn City, an Ork blocking force is buying time for the rest of the horde to arrive. The Orks occupy the defensive line seen about 1/3 of the way from the top of the table. There are three objective markers spread along the line; the forces of the Imperium start in the city sector and have 10 turns to take the objectives.

Conscripts Mike F. ready to roll with the forces of the Imperium. Greg ran the game. Kevin and Dave V. assisted with the Imperial forces, which comprised:

- Pedro Cantor
- A squad of five Crimson Fists w/heavy bolter
- A squad of five Crimson Fists w/missile launcher
- A 5-man Imperial Guard Command section w/ two lascannons, medic, standard bearer
- A 10-man squad of Imperial Guardsmen w/ grenade launcher and lascannon
- A 10-man squad of Imperial Guardsmen w/grenade launcher and lascannon
- A Thudd gun

 Conscript Wes, centre with beer, acted in an advisory capacity to the Ork side, which consisted of:

- Thrugg 2.0 in Mega-armour and a few buddies
 - A "Kan" (dreadnought) with missile launcher and flamer
- Three teams of six boyz, each w/ heavy bolter
- Two emplaced zzzap guns/lascannons with grot crew
- Air "support" from da Red Barun

 Byron made it out to the game as well which was cool.

 Initial Ork dispositions, left to right: lascannon, boyz squad (near objective), HQ squad in reserve, boyz squad with second objective, lascannon, Kan, boyz squad with third objective in sandbag bunker.

A view from the western edge of the table.

Red Barun executing a precision airstrike (!) on the Guard HQ squad in the ruined building at top centre.

Here's a pic of that Guard HQ squad, in happier times... they ended up routing out of the building after soaking up mucho bolter and lascannon from the boyz opposite them. Mike left shortly after that... (he said he had to work early. Uh-huh...)

Marine assault! Space Marines occupy a ruined building and lay down covering fire.

The main Imperial thrust came on the Ork left. I've moved the HQ squad and Kan to cover but as you can see, Imperial shooting has already whittled away the Boyz squad. Some uncharacteristically accurate Ork shooting peeled away most of the Guardsmen supporting the Marines, too.

Also, this guy (at left) died. held an objective all by himself, making an invaluable contribution to Imperial victory. (original text must have been wishful thinking on my part - thanks to Dave V. for the reality check)

This is where the Kan should have shredded some Space Marines...

...sadly it fell in the first round of combat without even striking a blow. Waaah. The Ork HQ also withered under the savage Marine assault. Fortunately Ork shooting killed or routed all of the Guardsmen and some of the Marines too. The question was, would the Imperials have enough models left on their side to have at least one on each objective by turn 10? (Yes, the game was that bloody :-)

The remaining Orks form a conga line out of the bunker to try and safeguard one more objective, but to no avail.

The Marines were just too tough tonight, even with Toughness 3 they pwned. The Orks acquitted themselves well though; the Barun accounted for several targets and there was one turn where I literally rolled six "6"s in a row with the Ork heavy bolter. We routed the Guard HQ squad handily as well. Gotta take those Thorpeian "moral victories" where you can.

The victors... both of them ;-)

Well, it was a hard fought game and yet another very cool Rogue Trader battle is in the books. I'm really happy with the new gaming space and glad that the boys could make it out. Hopefully I'll be back to regular blogging as regular gaming resumes at my place. I think next week we'll test the PrairieCon game I intend to run, as the Endor forest moon model just arrived late last week :-)

Battle for Rynn's World - Game 2 Battle Report

Rynn's World Planetary Defence Force Company 6 

On Thursday evening we played the second game in our "Battle for Rynn's World" mini-campaign commemorating the 25th anniversary of the publication of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. In the first game, the "Battle at the Farm", Thrugg Bullneck's Space Ork Raiders were repulsed by Captain Pedro Cantor's Crimson Fist Space Marines. The victory was not without cost, however - among the Space Marine casualties was Captain Cantor himself!

The second episode of the campaign involves a seriously wounded Captain Cantor and some surviving Marines attempting a link-up with local militia and elements of an Imperial Guard force, on the outskirts of New Rynn City.

Cantor's surviving Space Marines and Imperial Guard Assault Squad

Space Ork force

Cantor and his Marines move on to the table from the south edge, their objective being for Cantor to leave the table from the north edge by the end of turn 8. Some Orks start on-table, as well as the militia squad; the rest of the forces arrive in escalating fashion.

Orks deployed in the cover of some craters

Keeping a careful watch for Cantor...

PDF militia deployed in the outskirts of the city

Cantor and his men move on-table...

As Cantor and his men moved onto the table, the IG Assault Squad arrived from reserve to challenge the Orks, already whittled down a bit from shooting by the militia.

Very impressive Assault Squad - note plasma guns!

IG Sentinels - the infamous "eggs on legs" - also arrived from the northern table edge...

...accompanied by a massive Predator tank!

The Guardsmen boldly deployed surrounding the Ork-held crater, peppering its occupants with surprising deadly laspistol fire...

Ork Super-Attack Onslaughter Dreadnoughts arrived from reserve, one deploying from the middle of the eastern table edge, the other at the northern part of it to challenge the Marines.

Predator and militia moved out to meet Cantor and friends, who had made it about halfway across the table before being shot up by the Orks. As they sheltered, hidden, in a wood, the Assault Squad moved towards their position...

"Waaaagh"

...only to be confronted by the Dreadnought and some surviving Boyz who caused a few casualties.

The second Ork Dreadnought roasted the remnants of the Marine squad to the south

Mention must be made of IG Lieutenant "Mad Phil" McMadd, who single-handedly killed or routed the entire Ork command squad. First he charged the Ork carrying a flamer - Ork missed, was killed with a chainsword. rest of the squad failed morale and fled. Then he charged the Ork with the missile launcher - was hit with a krak missile but his copy of the "Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer" he kept in his breast pocket evidently deflected the missile - no wound. Command squad fled again... and kept running... put that man in for a promotion!

Meantime the Ork Dread scuffled in the woods with the Eggs.

Cantor running as fast as his tri-bladder can carry him... but time is running out...

"Die, ork scum!!!"

The sweet smell of barbecuing Grot...

End of the line for Pedro - "missed it by that much"... The Pedro-philes in the crowd are disappointed by the Captain missing his escape by mere millimeters... I think we would have called the game an Ork win...

"OK, so boxcars on a Ld check is good, right?"

...save for the horrifying incompetence of the Ork commander, [name redacted]. After seeing the rest of his squad carved up by a chainsword-wielding maniac, he decided that wild-eyed panic was the better part of valour and fled, never to be heard from again.

Another great game of RT from the mind of Conscript Greg B.! Thanks to Greg for running the charts and bringing out his stunning marines and Guard, and to Conscripts Mike A., Mike F., Kevin, Dave V., and Brian for coming out! We'll pick up the thread again in a couple of weeks... after Thrugg Bullneck's visit to the local Bad Doc for some cybernetic augmentation...?

Battle at the Farm 40K RT Battle Report

As teased previously on the blog, last night we finally played the "Battle at the Farm", the first battle of the planned mini-campaign pitting Conscript Greg's Crimson Fist Marines and RT Imperial Guard against Thrugg Bullneck's Space Ork Raiders and the rest of my RT Space Orks.

The Battle at the Farm, as every 40K enthusiast knows, was the original scenario included in the ur-40K rulebook, "Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader", published by Games Workshop in 1987. As the year 2012 represents the 25th anniversary of "RT", we'd collected some armies and planned a mini-campaign to commemorate it.

"Bultha's Rise"...

The eponymous "Farm"

The battle pitted three 5-man Crimson Fist squads, plus Captain Pedro Cantor, against Thrugg, his hench-ork Hruk, and four 5-ork squads with bolters. The Marines deployed around the Farm. The Orks entered play from the east, Thrugg's patrol's goal being to recover some schwag he had stashed earlier in the farmhouse. He also carried a communicator with which to summon reinforcements. Thrugg will do this only as a last resort, however, since he wants to keep his schwag to himself!

Conscripts Frederick and Mike A. each took a squad and deployed opposite the Farm. Conscript Mike F. and me took the others around the leeside of Bultha's Rise and made for the orchard.



Carnage on the ridge as the Marines open fire!

Things didn't go so well for Mike A. and Frederick as the Marines (and their plasma missiles) decimated the squads, leaving only Hruk and two other survivors. They pulled back out of range and followed the others around the Rise.


Thrugg and the boyz hotfooting it around the Rise.

Marines open up on Hruk's boyz

 

Sneaky Marine with missile launcher in the Farm building

 

The Marine players, Greg B., Dave V. and Bill, spotted Thrugg's flanking maneuver and threw a speedbump towards the orchard... a lone Marine with captain Cantor following behind!

First the boyz took care of Brother Beaky...

...then proceeded to light up Captain Cantor!

Cantor and his Marine companion confronted the Ork force in the woods, taking out a couple of Boyz in close combat, but the rest of the Orks surrounded them and opened up... even Cantor's 3+ refractor save couldn't stop that many bolter shells!! (Remember, in the RT era, power armour gave a 4+ save and Marines were only T3!) 

Fists break from cover, making for the Rise, and safety from the approaching horde

Even after disposing of Cantor, Thrugg realized that there were still too many Marines and not enough Boyz left for him to feasibly accomplish the mission without reinforcements. Thrugg needed to take a whole turn to activate his communicator and then roll a "6" to succeed in contacting the main force, which he miraculously did! The reinforcements would arrive in d6+4 turns... and when they did, every Marine left on the table would be considered lost! I rolled a "1"... for once, an excellent result! This meant that the Marines had only 5 turns to exit the table from the Eastern edge or be considered killed!


Mike F's surviving boyz repositioned from out of the woods and opened fire on the fleeing Marines.

Here at last was Thrugg's chance. As most of the Marines bugged out, there were only three Marines left behind to guard the Farmhouse and the hidden schwag bag. Thrugg seized the opportunity to charge in, fillet the Marines with his brutal chainsword and spirit away his ill-gotten gains before his reinforcements arrived... the dice were thrown for his two close combat attacks and...

...he whiffed. Big time. We saw more singles in that combat that at Happy Hour at the Palomino Club (Winnipeg reference). Seriously, there were alot of "1"s. Thrugg took out one Marine and died, broken and alone, and poor.

The game ended and victory points were calculated... four Marines had escaped at 1VP each. Three Orks lived, each worth 1/2 VP. No other bonus points were gained by either side [EDIT: The Orks picked up two bonus VPs for successfully calling for reinforcements - thanks Dave V. for the reminder!], so the game turned out to be a Crimson Fist vistory, four points to three-and-a-half. A nail biter!!

"War is Gilles" - attributed to Captain Pedro Cantor

An excellent game! It was great to play the original 40K scenario which, in over 20 years of playing 40K, I'd never before played. It had some real role-playing elements that are generally lost today, and was a ton of fun.

Thanks to Greg for bringing the Fists and to the guys for coming out. Watch for the second game in the mini-campaign next week, when the surviving Crimson Fists attempt to elude the Space Ork main force and rendezvous with an Imperial Guard force!