The Doom of Ulpia - Mission #4 Game

Scenario: Crucible of War - Sabotage (750 points)

Restrictions

• The characters from missions 1-3 cannot be included.
• Infantry only. No Centurions or jump-pack troops.

Victory conditions

• Major Victory: The objective is not destroyed, all enemies are completely destroyed.
• Minor Victory: The objective is not destroyed.
• Minor Defeat: Objective is destroyed.
• Major Defeat: Objective is destroyed, all troops are destroyed.

Imperial Fists

Battalion Detachment +5CP

• Captain in gravis armor (Rogan)
• Librarian in terminator armor, force stave, stormbolter (Jeraiah)
• 5-man Intercessors
• 5-man Scouts 
• 5-man Tactical Squad
• 3-man Aggressors
• 5-man Hellblasters

Sentries: 10-man Intercessors, 5-man Scouts with sniper rifles (with stratagem)

Chaos

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP

• Bloodmaster
• Changecaster
• 18-man Bloodletters, icon, instrument
• 18-man Daemonettes, icon, instrument
• 30-man Horrors, 10 pink, 10 blue, 10 brimstone
• 5-man Flesh Hounds
• Exalted Flamer

We are only playing a 4x4 map due to the small army size.

Map

We only have the urban mat, but the terrain is better suited for the interior of a spaceship.

Sentries

The Sentries were on extra high alert (with the stratagem).

Attacker deployment

The Daemons clawed their way into realspace ready to kill the marines and disable the auguries. As directed by their masters, they approached in utter silence, without their signature blood-curdling roars and cries. (Both Daemonettes and Bloodletters get the threat-reducing stratagem.) 

Chaos, turn 1

The Horrors capered forward, staying out of maximum sight range of the unsuspecting sentry on the platform. The Bloodletters and Daemonettes moved on boldly, undetected but ready to charge and slaughter.

The Bloodletters charged in, chopping the marines apart, the silence broken only by whooshing blades and splattering blood.
The Daemonettes clambered over the generator and swarmed the single Intercessor, but they were disheartened by the imposed silence - killing without screams is just boring, right? And so only managed to do 3 wounds. The daemonic general extended his will to urge them on, but to no avail. (Yes, I blew all 5 of my CPs on rerolls to wound, for nothing.) Fortunately, the marine forgot to do the proper maintenance rituals on his armor, and failed all 3 saves. The armor's machine spirit struggled to cope (2 saves rerolled with CPs), but was slashed apart by the Daemonette claws (both rerolls failed).

Sentries, turn 1

The Sentries moved around, humming praises to the Emperor and Rogal Dorn, unsuspecting of their impending doom.

Chaos, turn 2

The Bloodletters and Daemonettes moved forward, ready to slaughter more sentries. The Bloodmaster raised his sword as the signal to charge, and the icon bearer let the Banner of Blood weep, urging the horde to bloodshed. But the lead Bloodletter tripped (rolled 7 on 3d6), and so they held back.

Imperial Fists, turn 2

With the daemonic hordes that close, it was a simple matter for the sentries to spot them. The alarm was sounded, and reinforcements rushed in.

With a sweep of the battlefield, Rogan identified the most obvious threat - the horde of Bloodletters. The Aggressors and surviving sentries unloaded their bolt weapons into the horde, now roaring in frustration at having failed their plan. However, they knew they would succeed, as reality blinked, and slain Bloodletters clawed their way back to reality.

Chaos, turn 3

Now unrestrained, the daemons rushed towards the marines, howling and hollering.

The Bloodletters were let loose, killing their way amidst the sentries. But they did not let their main objective out of sight, leaving one of their number to jam its helblade into the pillar. The Bloodmaster contended to do the same, only directing his minions forward. 

The Daemonettes, ever hungry for the kill, also hurried through the sabotage, to then be able to fight as they would please. 

The Exalted Flamer decided to hold back the flames and instead rush to the pillar, but was unable to take off in time (and rolled a 1 on the advance).

On the flank, the Horrors charged, picking their target well: only Epistolary Jeraiah. They surrounded the reinforcements and trapped Captain Rogan in the middle. They were cut down mercilessly by the Fists, but they ignored their casualties - after all, they just split into more and more smaller daemons.

On the other flank, the Flesh Hounds charged the Scouts, inflicting casualties and keeping the marines busy.

Imperial Fists, turn 3

More reinforcements poured in.

Jeraiah unleashed his psychic might, killing Horrors and wounding the Changecaster. The Snipers tried to take out the daemonic leaders, but failed their shots in the confusion of battle.

The Scouts fell back from the Flesh Hounds, allowing the marines around them to pour fire into them.

Turn 4

The Exalted Flamer finally reached the pilon.

The Bloodletters and their Bloodmaster eliminated the sentries on the walkway.

The Flesh Hound fell back, also reaching the pilon (by 0.1 inch).

The Fists retaliated in kind, shooting and killing the Daemonettes.

They fought on against the horde of Horrors, slowly whittling away their numbers. Brimstones fled the battlefield one after the other, but they just never seemed to end.

Chaos, turn 5

The Fists finally managed to destroy the seemingly unending Horrors.

The Daemons put up a final effort to delay the marines, while their general, the cunning Changecaster, kept tinkering with the augury pilon.

Imperial Fists, turn 5

Wounded but undaunted, the Fists converged on the pilon, blasting away at the daemons.

The Tactical Sergeant ignored the Helblasters fighting the Flamer and jumped desperately at the Changecaster, tackling it and preventing the complete sabotage of the pilon.

Game ends on a roll of 1.

After game rolls

Without the heroic efforts of that Tactical Sergeant (Cut the Wires stratagem), it would have been an auto win for the daemons (rolling 7+ on d6+6). Thanks to the timely intervention, it was a 2+, without any rerolls. I nervously managed to roll a... 4. Minor defeat for the Fists.

Afterthought

I obviously did better than the Fists in their own Sabotage, but of course I had the benefit of experience. I managed to reach the objective with all of my units save my Horrors.

Speaking of the Horrors, splitting is awesome in narrative play. I intended that unit to be a roadblock, and it performed perfectly. Of course, I could have been nastier, with more pinks or blues in the unit. I was satisfied as was. Yes, this is an advantage. Yes, I could have abused the summoning rules, which I did not. Deal with it.

The most horrible/awesome/embarrassing moment of the game was the Daemonettes charging the Intercessor sentry. It highlights why I don't tend to use the girls - their S3 attacks are unreliable. We both wasted CPs there, although I went all in. I thought I would loose after that.

The lack of CPs took me to the other great fail moment: the Bloodletters failing their charge. Always, always, ALWAYS leave CPs for these pivotal charges.

After that, I was saved by the overeager placement of the reinforcements, which I managed to completely surround and tarpit with my Horrors for the rest of the game.