IMPERIAL GUARD versus Chaos Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Recon
Level: Gamma
Location: Jakarth
Background: The Cadian 271st make a desperate last stand on Jakarth to buy time for other military forces in the sub-sector to rally.
1st turn: Chaos Space Marines
Points: 1500

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell Junior Officer, Company Standard, Medic, 3 Meltaguns, Sanctioned Psyker
• Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
• 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, Chimera
• 8 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, deep strike
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 4 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Missile Launcher and Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Sentinel, Multilaser, smoke
• Sentinel, Multilaser, searchlight
• Sentinel, Autocannon, Extra Armour
• Heavy Support
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
• Leman Russ, Heavy Bolter
  

Chaos Space Marines

• Lord on Juggernaught
• 8 Marines with Bolt pistols and Close Combat Weapons, aspiring champion with Daemonic Talons
• Predator with heavy bolters and twin-linked lascannon
• 5 Marines with 1 lascannon
• 5 Havocs with 4 missile launchers and tank hunters
• 8 Bloodletters
• 8 Fleshounds
• 8 Khorne Berzerkers with Aspiring champion with powerfist

Background
What would Gary bring to today's game? In previous weeks he had brought Warp Spiders, a Vyper and Dark Reapers to add to his Biel-Tan Eldar army. Maybe another Wave Serpent. Or perhaps Jetbikes. What about an Avatar?

Well, he really took me by surprise by bringing Bloodletters! Gary was so appalled by the batterings his Eldar had gotten, he reverted back to Chaos, an army he had performed well with against my Guardsmen. I knew it would be a tough game for me.

When we rolled for the mission we got a six and had to make strategy rolls. Unsurprisingly the Chaos Space Marines won, meaning they could choose the mission. Gary went on to select Recon, as he knew it would seriously hamper my relatively static Guardsmen. It was going to be a very tough game for me indeed.

Deployment and Terrain
We had the choice of all the tables in the battle bunker and took the one with the most terrain. I felt that this was only fair to my opponent as we have played some other recent games on sparse tables, and the new 40k calls for more scenery.

This was to have rather serious ramifications for me when I looked more closely at the set-up. Both deployment zones had gigantic pieces of area terrain dead in the centre; one a three storey ruined building, the other a wooded hill. If you have followed my last few battle reports you will have gathered that I am experimenting with split deployment. The most crucial element to these tactics is to have clear lines of sight between your two groups of units. On this battlefield, no matter which deployment zone I got, that would be impossible. It was going to be a very, very tough game for me.

I got the zone with the building and set an infantry squad up in there, screening my las-cannons, with a Command section behind to stiffen morale. On the right I had the Basilisk behind a wood, another infantry squad and the Stormtroopers in the Chimera.

Everything else was on my left, in a set of ruins, with a good 18" of clear terrain in front of them. My plan was to lure the Chaos army into this area and rapid fire them to death.

The Chaos army set up centrally, opposite the tall ruin, and could go left or right. Interestingly, Gary had given his five man squad with the lascannon the infiltrate skill, and he deployed them on the other side of the wood from my Basilisk, 12" away. I wasn't so much bothered about the las-cannon as he would have to move first to get a line of sight (allowing me a chance to shoot the squad) but they had an icon, which would allow them to summon daemons onto my weakest flank. A cunning stunt.

Turn 1
The Chaos army won first turn and that lascannon squad moved to the edge of the wood, but not into it, meaning I couldn't see them. Clearly Gary was going to bring the Daemons on here if he had a chance. All of his units in the centre surged forward. The Havocs shot first and ripped the battlecannon off the Leman Russ. This left the Predator to target the anti-tank squad, who failed four out of four 4+ saves.

The Guard responded by destroying the Predator with a side shot, and killing 3 Marines in the middle from the foremost squad. I took the battle cannon off the defiler with a rocket launcher shot, so there was no ordnance at all on the left flank. On the right I risked difficult terrain with the Basilisk as I rolled into the wood and took a direct shot at the 5 infiltrators. I killed four, including the icon bearer, and only the lascannon remained.

Turn 2
The Fleshounds were summoned this turn and slammed into the conscripts on the left, routing them off the table. Oh well, at least the Daemons were standing out in the open in front of of over half my army. The lone lascannon Marine failed his last man standing test and fled the table. Hurrah!

The remnants of my anti-tank squad were wiped out by sporadic fire. Boo! The rest of the Chaos army ran forward and would probably be in combat next turn.

My two main goals for this turn were to kill the Fleshounds and wipe out the first Marine squad (which now had the Lord attached to it). The first half of my plan worked a treat, with the Fleshounds dispatched comfortably. The Marines were harder to shift. My main hopes rested on the now enfilading Basilisk but it scattered 5" on a direct shot and hit no-one. My Stormtroopers leapt out of their Chimera and rapid fired them, but, combined with an infantry squads shooting, only 3 died. Well, at least I had shoved a Sentinel out toward them to intercept the charge.

Turn 3
The Bloodletters showed up now but scattered backwards onto the wreck of the Predator. The Lord, the survivors of the Marine squad and the Berzerkers all assaulted the Sentinel and blew it to pieces. Everyone leapt forward toward the ruined building. The Havocs wrecked the now exposed Chimera, while the Defiler brought down my autocannon Sentinel.

It was now that the terrain in the deployment zone became a major hindrance. I couldn't see any of the Chaos units as they were out of line of sight, so my whole left flank had no real targets. In a big gamble I rushed the whole flank forward, hoping that at least some of them would reach the Chaos deployment zone and pick up some bonus victory points. The Russ moved forward with Kennell's Command section behind. The rest of my units used a ruin near the Chaos havocs to advance behind.

The rest of my forces on the right flank did their best to take down the Marines and managed to kill the rest of the depleted squad, but that still left the Bloodletters, the Berzerkers and the Lord. My Basilisk direct shot scattered 4" off the Berzerkers and killed nothing again. Aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!

Turn 4
The Chaos Lord charged the infantry squad in the building and got stuck in a long combat. The Berzerkers assaulted the Stormtroopers and killed four, but the survivors stayed. The Defiler killed the last Sentinel on the left, while the Havocs failed to hurt the Russ. The Bloodletters moved over toward the left, to intercept the advancing(!) Guardsmen.

My whole left flank advanced again, and I even managed to kill two Bloodletters as I did so. In the central building, the Lord killed off the infantry squad (taking wound in the process) and nearby, my Stormtroopers were wiped out. The Basilisk targeted the Bloodletters with a direct shot and again failed to kill any. Bloody hell!

My Stormtroopers with meltaguns arrived by deep strike and scattered 9" straight onto the Defiler, meaning they were automatically destroyed. I was in deep trouble now.

Turn 5
The Berzerkers barreled into the Basilisk and destroyed it in close combat, while the Lord caught up with my Command section and killed them all in one round. My whole right flank had collapsed, with only a single infantry squad remaining.

Again my left flank advanced, and they killed four Bloodletters this time. The Defiler shook off several hits and remained standing.

Turn 6
The Lord hit the last squad on my right and they routed off the board. Chaos now controlled this whole flank, although they had no scoring units here. The Defiler moved up on the left and shot at an infantry squad, taking them below half strength and preventing them from gaining the bonus victory points. The last two Bloodletters assaulted another infantry squad and took them under 50% although they held thanks to the proximity of Captain Kennell. The Havocs finally hurt the Leman Russ and immobilised it. At the last gasp the Chaos army had stopped me from picking up any extra points, as well as increasing their victory point total.

All I could do in return was try and gather some points of my own. Kennell's Command section ran over to the Defiler and shot it with 3 meltaguns. And didn't hurt it. Damn.

The combat with the Bloodletters continued but no further casualties were caused. Thus the game petered out...

We totalled up the points, thinking it would be close, but despite the fact that only 8 models remained in the Chaos army, they were comfortable winners by 1200 victory points to 850.

Result: Loss - solid victory for Chaos Space Marines

Imperial Control: Reduced 5%

Kennell's Commendation
The Basilisk just wins out amongst thin competition for that first shot against the infiltrating Marines. Pity it didn't hit a thing afterwards.

Learning points

• I think that certain armies always struggle against particular foes. If Eldar struggle to beat Guardsmen then the Imperial Guard struggle to beat Chaos. The Daemons always manage to make it into combat across large distances (those bloody hounds can assault up to 24" in one turn), and the Chaos army can outshoot the Guard. I need to rethink things to try and outfox Gary, but what to do?
• One thing I can try is adding more Inquisitorial allies, maybe an Inquisitor with a psycannon and an attached mystic. If I take him as an HQ choice I can then pick an Assassin. But which one? Decisions, decisions...

SPACE MARINES - BLOOD ANGELS versus Chaos Daemons

Game: Warhammer 40,000 5th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Blood Angels
Points: 1500
Location: 278.M41, Mandag, Hexen Sub, Skolarii sector
Background: The Chaos Daemons are drawn to the the Adeptus Astra Telepathica in Skardallen, sensing the flickering psychic beacons of two powerful psykers in the warp. The Blood Angels scramble to rescue Molossian and Epirote before their brains can be used as a bridge for more Daemons to manifest.

The photos aren't great in this report because I forgot my camera and had to use my mobile phone.

Blood Angels

• Chaplain, plasma pistol, jump pack
• 5 Death Company Marines with jump packs
  
• 10 Tactical Marines, flamer, Vet sergeant with Powerfist, missile launcher, Rhino
  
• 5 Tactical Marines, melta gun, Vet sergeant with Powerfist
  
• Furioso Dreadnought, Venerable, Death Company
  
• Predator Destructor with autocannon and heavy bolter sponsons
• Land Raider
• Land Speeder with multi-melta
• 10 Assault Marines, Vet Sergeant with Power Weapon, Two Plasma Pistols

Chaos Daemons

• Bloodthirster
• Winged Slaaneshi Daemon Prince
• Daemon Prince
• 10 Bloodletters, Standard, Musician
• 10 Bloodletters
• 5 Bloodletters
• 12 Daemonettes
• 8 Flesh Hounds
• 8 Flesh Hounds
• 3 Flamers
  

Terrain and deployment
Gary had invested in a black cloth for the table and had also put together some more ruined buildings to make a suitably dramatic backdrop for our game.

I put the first objective on the top of a three floored ruin in my far right deployment zone. It was right on the edge of my deployment zone so I couldn't fit my Marines on the narrow ledges; two squads of five would have to start on the ground and then move into the building. I placed the rhino on the far left flank ready to contest the Daemon objective which was in the centre left.

My plan was to draw the Daemons onto my objective and then charge in with my jump packers. The tanks would roll up and provide some fire support. My rhino and Land speeder would try to contest the enemy objective with the Land raider perhaps joining in in the late game.

The game
My Tac squads scrambled into the building with the missile launcher squad achieving the first floor. I drove the rhino forward at cruising speed.

Gary got his favoured group first and brought the Bloodthirster and a Flesh Hound squad down next to my rhino. They would spend the next three turns chasing it around the left flank. The Flesh Hounds caught it but couldn't stop it while the Bloodthirster got bored and moved off toward the Blood Angel objective.

One large Bloodletter squad warped in next to my objective. The Daemon Prince on foot landed in the building with the objective. The Daemonettes scattered back and off to the far right flank. A nasty template from the Daemon Prince killed two Marines from my flamer squad who promptly fell back.

My Death Company and Dreadnought came in from reserve along with an Assault squad. Pretty much my whole army was now clumped up behind my objective. I shot everything I had into the Daemon Prince and killed it.

More Daemons materialised around my objective. The first Bloodletter squad was joined by a second and the second Daemon Prince also arrived. The smaller Bloodletter squad landed on the Daemon objective.

The Daemonettes showed a surprising turn of pace (they got a six on the fleet roll) and assaulted my Death Company. Forty eight attacks later and four Death Company marines were dead. The combat continued so I could mob the Daemons with both of my Assault squads - the second unit had come on from reserve.

The Land raider and Predator also rumbled onto the battlefield. I killed eight of the Bloodletters in the unit closest to the objective.


The second Flesh Hound unit came in on my right flank. The winged Daemon Prince used Pavane to drag my missile launcher Tac squad off the objective and closer to the two remaining Bloodletters. They then charged in but I killed both before they could swing.

The other large Bloodletter squad broke left to hide in a ruined building.

I got my Land speeder from reserve and brought it into the centre to shoot at the winged DP. Pretty much the rest of my army did too but I rolled appallingly and the beast only lost a single wound.

My Assault squads raced up the right flank to charge the dogs. One squad hit first and held the doggies in place long enough for the second squad to charge in.

Eventually Gary got his Flamers from reserve. He tried a very risky deep strike on the extreme right. They scattered onto the combat with the Flesh Hounds and I got to place them where I liked. I put them in my far left deployment zone, well away from the action. They were effectively out of the game.

The Hounds were wiped out.

The winged Daemon Prince charged my Dreadnought. It immobilised him but was then pulverised by the return attacks. The Bloodletter squad assaulted out of the ruins and hit my speeder. They dragged it out of the sky and tore it's weapon off, ensuring it could play no further part in the battle.

My number one priority was to take out those Bloodletters. I moved the Land raider up 12" and spat out the five Tac marines to rapid fire them. My Predator shot them up too and then my Chaplain slammed into them. The last Death Company marine was killed but all the Daemons died.

Now the whole game came down to whether the Bloodthirster could contest my objective and whether my rhino and the Land raider could contest the Daemon objective.

On turn five we had a draw but the game continued.


The Bloodthirster swooped in and killed several of my Tac marines. The beast was then counter charged by my Chaplain who was now leading an Assault squad. My raider moved up 12" again. My rhino moved onto the Daemon objective and if the game had ended I would have won, holding one objective and contesting the other.


The game continued.

I threw another Assault marine into combat with the Bloodthirster and the combat continued, meaning it couldn't get to my objective.

I pushed the Land raider 12" forward yet again, hoping it was within 3" of the objective. Crucially the Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds between them managed to get a penetrating hit on my rhino and blew it up.

The Land raider was just short so the game ended in a draw.

Result: Draw - 1 objective each


Learning points

• What a great game! It was really tense and exciting right up to the end, with either player able to win. I have enjoyed my last few games of 40k much more than my games of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Maybe it's because we know the rules better, maybe it's because the games are quicker, or maybe the 5th edition 40k rules make for a better game.
• I made lots of mistakes in this game; I moved the Land speeder so it could be assaulted by the Bloodletters when I should have just flew it 24" toward the objective, I started moving the Land raider toward the objective a turn too late, I underestimated the winged Daemon Prince.
• That DP was a surprise to me as I assumed it was the same Tzeentch DP I played in our last game. Pavane could have really messed up my ability to control the objective. On the other hand Gary also made the mistake of thinking that there was a squad of marines in my empty rhino, which explained why he spent so much time effort chasing it.

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Take and Hold
Level: Gamma
Location: Mangalore
Background: With Habour retaken for the Imperium, and the Eldar exodites that lived there exterminated, Captain Kennell thought his work done in Sub-Sector four. There was one last battle left in the campaign, though, as it became clear that Mangalore was being used as a staging point for attacks on Habour by the Craftworld Eldar. The Cadian 271st went back into the fray.
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 2000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell, Heroic Senior Officer with power weapon, Company Standard, Medic, 3 Meltaguns, Sanctioned Psyker
• Commissar Yarrick
• Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
• 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, Chimera
• 10 Stormtroopers, 2 Flamers, sergeant with plasma pistol and surveyor
• 10 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 4 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Missile Launcher and Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Sentinel, Multilaser, smoke
• Sentinel, Multilaser, searchlight
• Sentinel, Autocannon, Extra Armour, Improved Comms
• Heavy Support
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
• Leman Russ, Heavy Bolter
  

Eldar

• Farseer with retinue of Warlocks
• Wraithlord with Starcannon
• 8 Dire Avengers with Exarch in Wave Serpent
• 10 Guardians with Starcannon
• 8 Storm Guardians with 2 fusion guns led by Warlock
• Falcon
• 6 Fire Dragons and Exarch
• 8 Howling Banshees
• 5 Striking Scorpions with Exarch with infiltrate
• 5 Dark Reapers with Exarch
• Vyper with Bright Lance

Background
Another game against Gary's Biel-Tan Eldar. He had dropped the War Walkers to add Dark Reapers and the Vyper, while I had dropped the Inquisitor allies to add two large units of Stormtroopers. We rolled randomly for the mission and got take and hold at gamma level.

Deployment and Terrain
I won the dice off for board edge, so chose the side with most cover, leaving the Eldar out in the open. In particular I wanted to utilise a ruined building in my right centre deployment zone, having my command section behind it and my anti-tank lascannons inside it. Gary helped out enormously by putting the Wraithlord directly opposite; in fact he decided to mount his main attack against this area.

I effectively went for a split deployment, adding the Basilisk, Conscripts, 3 Infantry squads, the plasma Command section and the Stormtroopers in the Chimera to my right.

On a large hill on my left I had the Russ, 3 Sentinels an infantry squad and the missile launcher command section. I placed my two infiltrating Stormtrooper squads last, one opposite the objective building and another in a wood on my left.

The game - turn 1
I won first turn and moved the Conscripts forward. Yarrick moved up too, joining the Stormtroopers with the flamers who ran toward the objective building. All the Sentinels on the left shot at the Vyper, but failed to kill it. The Falcon went down to a missile Launcher shot and four of the five Fire Dragons inside were killed. Gary's shiny new Dark Reapers came under heavy fire in the centre and only the Exarch remained. The Scorpions too were shot up badly, reduced to just two models. With nothing else to shoot at, the Leman Russ took a wound off the Wraithlord. An excellent turn for the Guard.

The Eldar responded by pushing everyone forward on my right flank. The only damage they did was to shake the Basilisk. On my left the Warp Spiders shot up a Sentinel and then assaulted the Stormtroopers in the wood. The Guardsmen fell back and were wiped out. The Vyper targeted the Russ and shook it. Finally, the Banshees moved in behind the objective.

Turn 2
Yarrick and the Stormtroopers took the objective and flamed the Banshees to oblivion. The Wave Serpent was stunned by a missile launcher shot and the last of the Scorpions were destroyed. The last Dark Reaper was dispatched by a krak missile. The two remaining Sentinels combined to take out the Vyper.

The Eldar Swooping Hawks dropped in and killed five Guardsmen on the left with their Grenade Packs. The Hawks then shot up Kennell's Command squad. The Storm Guardians assaulted the Conscripts who failed their morale check and fell back. The Farseer and Wraithlord diverted to the centre to contest the objective. On the left, the Warp Spiders assaulted the Infantry squad and become locked in combat.

Turn 3
The Conscripts rallied and with the help of other squads on the right, killed the Storm Guardians. The Stormtroopers with Yarrick killed the Farseer's retinue in a flurry of failed saves. The Wraithlord was taken down by plasma and las-cannon fire. The Stormtroopers in their Chimera dismounted and gave some rapid fire loving to the Defender Guardians, killing them all. The combat with the Warp Spiders continued as the Sentinels moved closer. As the Eldar unit only had three strength they couldn't harm the Walkers at all in combat, so I knew I would tie up this expensive unit for the rest of the game with a very cheap unit.

The Farseer assaulted the Stormtrooper unit on the objective but no-one died and the fight continued. The Dire Avengers dismounted from the Wave Serpent and fleeted over to a Guard squad. Gary declared the charge but this time I remembered that you can't assault out of vehicles any more. That left the aspect warriors right out in the open.

Turn 4
Rapid firing reduced those Avengers to just two models, a Sentinel joined the combat with the Warp Spiders and Yarrick killed the Farseer with his power claw. Gary conceded the game.

Result: Win - victorious slaughter

Imperial Control: Increased 40%

Kennell's Commendation
The infiltrating Stormtroopers get the commendation for this game, no contest. They killed the Banshees, then the Farseer's retinue and took the objective.

Learning points

• Another slaughter of Eldar at the hands of the guard. I think this is for a few reasons; the Eldar are hurt badly by the 4th edition rules, my army deals with tough, elite units well, and my lasguns and hellguns come into play against the frail xenos.
• We're still getting to grips with the new rules. Gary tried to assault out of the Wave Serpent but we caught it this time. We also found out later that the Warp Spiders can't rapid fire and assault in the same turn. Lastly we keep forgetting the LD test for targeting. Practice makes perfect, I guess.
• My luck is starting to improve and I have won first turn and had good shooting phases in my last couple of games. I hope it keeps up.
  

SPACE MARINES - BLOOD ANGELS versus Chaos Daemons

Game: Warhammer 40,000 5th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Chaos Daemons
Points: 1500
Location: 278.M41, Mandag, Hexen Sub, Skolarii sector
Background: With Sondag Urban District in flames the Chaos Daemons manifest in the Basilica Constante of Skardallen ladestad. The Blood Angels commit more of their reserve to the escalating conflict.

Blood Angels

• Chaplain, plasma pistol, jump pack
• 5 Death Company Marines with jump packs
  
• 10 Tactical Marines, flamer, Vet sergeant with Powerfist, missile launcher, Rhino
  
• 5 Tactical Marines, melta gun, Vet sergeant with Powerfist
  
• Furioso Dreadnought, Venerable, Death Company
  
• Predator Destructor with autocannon and heavy bolter sponsons
• Land Raider
• Land Speeder with multi-melta
• 10 Assault Marines, Vet Sergeant with Power Weapon, Two Plasma Pistols

Chaos Daemons

• Bloodthirster
• Winged Tzeentch Daemon Prince
• Daemon Prince
• 10 Bloodletters, Standard, Musician
• 10 Bloodletters
• 5 Bloodletters
• 12 Daemonettes
• 8 Flesh Hounds
• 8 Flesh Hounds

Terrain and Deployment
The battlefield contained two ruined shrines, obviously the ruined remains of the Basilica Constante. The largest was on my left, along with a big forest in my deployment zone. Rocky columns were beyond that nearer the Daemon table edge. The smaller shrine was on my far right. There was a larger, three storey building nearer to my deployment zone on the right and there was also a ruin in my centre deployment zone edge.

Both armies started entirely off the board.

My plan was to give the Chaos Daemons first turn to force them to deploy without knowing where my units would turn up. I would then deploy everything either hard right or hard left and try to strand Daemon units well away from the action. I could then destroy the Chaos Daemons piecemeal.

The game
I won choice of first turn and gave it to my opponent forcing them to deploy first. There was then a turn where my army did nothing and Gary brought on his own reserves in turn two. Unfortunately for him everything showed up but the Bloodthirster. The Daemonettes were unlucky to scatter 12" onto the rocky columns and then get lost in the warp. I didn't have a single model on the table and I was already a kill point up!

I chose to launch my attack on the right flank, partly because there was more space for my units, partly because a Bloodletter unit was in range of my Death Company and Chaplain and partly because the fastest Daemon units were nearby. That meant Gary's slower Daemon Prince and other large Bloodletter unit would be stranded away out on my left flank.

The Chaplain and Death Company slammed into the Bloodletters, killing them all and taking just two casualties in return. The Death Company Dreadnought stomped up behind. My Rhino and Tac squad moved up behind that.


Gary made a ballsy deep strike with his Bloodthirster and got a hit as it appeared behind the Death Company, right next to my Dreadnought. The winged Daemon Prince rounded the building and destroyed my Dread with a Bolt of Tzeentch.

Both Flesh Hound units charged the Death Company but only killed one Marine. That meant they were still in place when my Assault Squad came in from reserve. The doggies were slaughtered but the last Death Company Marines also fell.


My Land Raider and Predator also drove up on the hard right. I blasted everything I had at the winged Daemon Prince and was rather lucky to take it out after my Raider missed with both lascannons. A typical first outing for both of our new models!

The Bloodthirster charged my Assault Squad and killed several. The combat continued for two more turns, long enough for the Assault Squad sergeant to wound the behemoth.


Crucially, the Bloodthirster left combat on it's own turn which meant I could shoot it in mine. My entire army took just two wounds off it which meant I'd have to take it on in combat. My five man Tac squad drew the short straw and four promptly died. The Veteran Sergeant cranked up his powerfist and hit the monster three times, sending it back to the warp. Outstanding!

In the meantime my Chaplain managed to finish off the 5 Bloodletters with the help of some long range shooting from the Predator and Land Speeder. It did mean he was open to the charge from the Daemon Prince, though, and he was sliced and diced. The Daemon Prince went on to kill my hero Veteran Sergeant and most of my large Tactical squad before he was downed.


The last ten Bloodletters sat out the game in the large ruined shrine and never made combat.

Result: Win - 8 kill points to 5 kill points

Learning points

• Everything went perfectly to plan from start to finish for me. From the first die roll onwards I was in control. I don't think I'll be quite so fortunate in all my future games.
• I really need to increase my mobile firepower to cause more damage on the turn I come in from reserve.
  

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Seek and Destroy
Level: Gamma
Location: Nomolos
Background: Captain Kennell makes several decisive strikes against the Exodite population centres and exterminates the Xenos, effectively claiming Habour for the Imperium. In a last vengeful attack, the Farseer of the unknown Eldar Craftworld vows to kill Commissar Yarrick. Captain Kennell rushes to his mentors' side.
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 2000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell Heroic Senior Officer with power weapon, Company Standard, Medic, Master Vox-Caster, Sanctioned Psyker
• Commissar Yarrick
• Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
• 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, deep strike, meltabombs
• Inquisitor Severus, Daemonhammer, bolt pistol, Emperor's Tarot, Holocaust, 3 Combat Servitors, 1 Hierophant, 2 Acolytes with power armour and bolt pistols, Rhino, smoke
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 4 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Vox
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Vox
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher, vox
• Infantry Squad 812, Missile Launcher and Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• 10 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, rhino, extra armour, smoke
• Sentinel, Multilaser, smoke
• Sentinel, Multilaser, searchlight
• Sentinel, Autocannon, Extra Armour, Improved Comms
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
• Leman Russ, Heavy Bolter
  

Eldar

• Farseer with retinue of Warlocks
• 6 Rangers
• Wraithlord with Starcannon
• 8 Dire Avengers with Exarch
• 10 Guardians with Starcannon
• 8 Storm Guardians with 2 fusion guns led by Warlock
• Falcon with 6 Fire Dragons and Exarch
• 2 Warwalkers with Brightlances and scatter lasers
• Wave Serpent with 8 Howling Banshees
• 5 Striking Scorpions with Exarch with infiltrate

Background
This was our first game after a five week lay off, and Gary surprised me by showing up with an Eldar army. He had finally gotten round to painting up a nine man squad of Warp Spiders and was eager to try them out. I had done little to no painting, so I had to rely on a contingent of Daemonhunter allies to round out my Cadians.

Terrain and Deployment
The table was covered in ruined buildings which we agreed would be size 3 area terrain. I had a large building to my left and one to my right, while Gary had a large ruin right in the centre of his deployment zone.

I made two distinct firebases. To my left I placed infantry squad 812 and their command section in the building, with the plasma command section behind, along with the Inquisitor and Inquisitorial Stormtroopers to set up a possible counter charge. They had the Eldar Wave Serpent to contend with, as well as the Striking Scorpions, War Walkers and Warp Spiders.

On my right I placed the Basilisk, Leman Russ, anti-tank squad, an infantry squad and Captain Kennell. The vehicles were over here because Gary made a mistake and deployed his War Walkers first, on my left flank. I knew he had few Bright Lances and the ones he did have were in that unit, so by putting my tanks on the opposite flank I knew they would be safer.

In the centre of my deployment zone I placed two infantry squads and the Conscripts, with Yarrick leading them. I hoped to march the Whiteshields forward to force leadership tests if the Eldar wanted to shoot at further away targets and try to draw the Eldar into an assault in this open ground. Most of the Eldar were in and about the large building near the centre including the Wraithlord, Farseer unit, Dire Avengers, Rangers, Falcon and both Guardian units.

The game
My Sentinels used their free pre-game moves to race forward on both flanks. My plan was to pull the Eldar off into futile assaults on the extreme flanks and bring my other shooting units to bear. If the Eldar ignored the Sentinels, then I would have them in good flanking positions to fire from later in the game.

I won first turn. My very first shot was the Basilisk into the ruined building. I knew that even with a large scatter I would hit something, as the Eldar were tightly packed in. As it happened I hit a Ranger and the Farseer unit, killing the Farseer himself, 2 Warlocks and the Ranger. Nice shot!

The rest of my first turn was similarly rewarding as I stunned one Warwalker, killed half of each Guardian squad, took two wounds off the Wraithlord, blasted a couple of Dire Avengers and wiped out two more Rangers.

The Eldar were left reeling but still tried to force home their attack. On my right the Falcon zoomed out and dropped off the Fire Dragons. The Dragons shot at a Sentinel but only the Exarch was in range and he rolled a 1 to hit. The Falcon itself took aim at the Leman Russ but it emerged unscathed. The Storm Guardians also ran out on this flank, fleeting toward my lines.

The Dire Avengers left the building and headed straight for the Conscripts but were just out of assault range. The Guardians shot their Starcannon at a Guard squad, killing two, while the Wraithlord killed two members of my anti-tank unit.

On the left, the Wave Serpent zoomed forward as the Scorpions and Warp Spiders moved into position for a next turn assault on the Guard in the building.

My Stormtroopers arrived from deep strike straight away and they landed smack on target in a ruined building in between the Warwalkers and Wave Serpent. They shot at the Serpent but the plasma gunner blew himself up and the melta gunner missed. Bloody Stormtroopers! At least they had melta bombs to use in future turns.

I continued my effective shooting by rapid firing the Conscripts into the Dire Avengers and killing four of them - the rest were finished off by other infantry squad fire. Yarrick had left the unit at this stage and moved toward another infantry squad. The Storm Guardian squad were all but wiped out too, with only the Warlock remaining. I knocked a scatter laser off a Warwalker and also shook the crew of the Falcon, preventing it from firing next turn.

The Eldar brought in their own deep strikers, the Swooping Hawks, right into the open centre of the board, behind the Conscripts and between two infantry squads. Unfortunately for Gary he forgot to fire them this turn or utilise their grenade packs. I guess he was flustered. They were later assaulted and ripped up by Yarrick.

The surviving Warlock charged the Conscripts and became embroiled in a long combat that was only ended after several turns when the Whiteshields failed their morale check and were run down. One Warlock kills over 15 men. Unbelievable!

Gary managed to drive home his assault on the left by disembarking the Banshees out of the Serpent and charging the foremost Infantry squad. The Scorpions also managed to contact this unit, who now looked doomed. The Warp Spiders shot at the Sentinel and blew it up as they didn't want to get stuck in combat with it.

Still on the left Gary shot the Stormtroopers with his Warwalkers and killed two, just enough to force a morale test. I failed it, of course, and they began to run back to the Guard deployment zone (and the Banshees and Scorpions). Aaaaaarrrrggghhh!

As predicted the Infantry squad were slaughtered to a man and the Banshees consolidated into my command section. The Scorpions couldn't make it though, so they pulled back deeper into the ruins.

Time for the counter assault! Both rhinos raced around the side of the building to take on the Banshees and Scorpions...and then we realised that you can't assault out of vehicles anymore. Like the Banshees had just done. D'oh.

I shot up the Scorpions with my plasma command section of death™ and lost one model (on an overheat) to their three, while the impotent Severus killed another with his bolt pistol. The Exarch promptly failed his morale check and ran away.

On the right things weren't going so well for the Eldar. Gary flew his Falcon 24" deep into my corner in order to get loads of tank shocks going next turn and he felt confident that I wouldn't be able to take it down. Unfortunately for him he didn't check out the weaponry in Captain Kennell's command section (they were set up behind the building, out of Gary's line of sight). I marched them over to the Falcon with their 3 meltaguns and blew that baby out of the sky. Heh heh heh.

The Warlock was killed by a missile launcher shot and a couple of rounds from the 'Russ did for the Fire Dragons. My Sentinels took the Rangers below half strength but were destroyed in turn by the Wraithlord. His Guardians with the Starcannon also took a pounding and routed off the board, leaving only the wounded Wraithlord alive on this side of the table.

Gary needed something special from his remaining units to get anything out of this game. The Warp Spiders shot at the Inquisitorial Stormtroopers and killed four. The six survivors fell back after a fluffed morale check. The Banshees had finished off the command section by this time and set their sights on Severus. They shot their shuriken pistols to soften them up first and killed the Hierophant and a combat servitor (damn majority saves) and, you guessed it, my Inquisitor failed his morale check. My whole flank was in disarray now as I had 3 separate units running away.

The Banshees charged the Inquisitor eventually anyway and in a titanic battle (due largely to the dismal Eldar dice rolls and Holocaust) they emerged victorious but only the Exarch and a couple of Banshees remained. They ran into the deep striking Stormtroopers who were still falling back. It should have been a foregone conclusion in favour of the Eldar but the Stormtroopers won, with the sergeant the only survivor. Sweet.

The last few turns of the game were all about claiming those last few victory points. I didn't quite manage to take the Warp Spiders below half strength but I felt pretty confident I was well ahead on victory points anyway. Those Spiders shot at a Rhino in the last action of the game but could only blow its storm bolter off.

When we totted up the victory points at the end I was surprised to learn that the War Walkers gave away no victory points, even though one of them was immobilised and the other was missing a weapon. Added to the considerable points value of the Warp Spiders the difference was only 230 points. Still, it was just enough for me to claim a solid victory.

Result: Win

Imperial Control: 14%

Kennell's Commendation: The Basilisk gets the nod here, for numerous shots, including the one on the Farseer.

Learning points

• That charge by the Banshees was annoying, but we forgot all about the new vehicle rules in the heat of battle. It kind of balanced out another mistake though; the first Basilisk shot that killed the Farseer was illegal as it was within 36" and indirect. Silly mistakes that I'm sure we'll not make in the future.
• I just loved that move by the Falcon and it's subsequent destruction: priceless. To add insult to injury my psyker also had machine curse. I haven't stopped laughing yet.
  

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Dark Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Rescue
Location: Nomolos
Background: The Imperial Commander of Finschan is already fighting a war against Orks upon his home planet, when they are further beleaguered by Dark Eldar raids. Reluctantly, he requests aid, and it comes in the form of Captain Kennell and his Cadians. They take the battle directly to the pirates on the surface of Nomolos.
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 2000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell, Junior Officer, Honorifica Imperialis, Company Standard, Medic, Missile Launcher, Sanctioned Psyker
• Commissar Yarrick
• Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
• Sentinel Autocannon, Extra Armour, Improved Comms
• 8 Stormtroopers, Sergeant with powersword, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, deep strike, infiltrate
• Inquisitor Kurven, psycannon and emperor's tarot, 2 veterans with plasma guns, plasma cannon servitor, 2 sages, mystic
• 3 Deathcult Assassins
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Armoured Fist Squad Flamer, Chimera with multi-laser, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Stubber
• 5 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, rhino
• Sentinel Multilaser, smoke
• Sentinel Multilaser, searchlight
• Heavy Support
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
• Leman Russ, Heavy Bolter
  

Dark Eldar

• Archon with Incubi retinue in Raider
• 10 Wyches
• Haemonculus with 9 Grotesques in Raider
• Mandrakes
• Warp Beast Pack
• 2 Warrior Squads with two Dark Lances
• Warrior Squad with 2 Splinter Cannons
• 5 Reaver Jetbikes
• 8 Scourges with four Splinter cannons
• Ravager
• Talos

Terrain and Deployment
Gary had been chopping and changing his armies for weeks now, and I never knew from week to week what he would be bringing to the game. He hadn't played his Dark Eldar for so long I had almost forgotten about them, so this was a big surprise.

Things got off to a bad start for my Guardsmen when we rolled a rescue mission. The mobility of the Dark Eldar versus the static firepower of the Imperial Guard meant that Gary was the clear favourite.

The board had medium to light terrain, mostly ruined buildings with a couple of woods and a large hill on my right flank. My left flank was relatively open, with a good 24-36 inches between the cover in the Dark Eldar deployment zone and the cover in my Cadian deployment zone.

I took a chance when setting up the rescue counters by placing all of mine right along one board edge, 12" in, gambling that I would win the choice of board edge and not have to move far to pick up counters. I won the dice off. Phew.

Just a note on the mission; we play our own variant where the 'real' counter isn't revealed until the end of the game, so you never know whether you have the objective or not. We find that this keeps things interesting and encourages us to play more aggressively.

Only troop choices can be deployed at the beginning of the game, so Gary set up both his Warrior Squads with Dark Lances on the hill, and his Warriors with Splinter Cannons on the open left flank. I had sixty models spread out across the board, as well as my Sentinels. They used their Scouts ability to grab two counters before the game even began. Excellent!

The Game
I won first turn and grabbed another counter with an infantry squad on my right. I advanced up the right, behind a ruined building, with an infantry squad toward a fourth counter. In the shooting phase I threw everything at the Warriors on the left and they broke and fell back off the table.

Gary realised that he had deployed badly when he found his Dark Lances were out of range of everything on my left and my units on the right were hidden by the woods.

In my second turn ALL of my reserves showed up (thanks to a re-roll for the Leman Russ from Improved Comms). I deployed every vehicle on the left, well out of Dark Lance range, and with very good fields of fire. I captured my fourth counter with an infantry squad on the extreme left, and this also left them in terrain, with an excellent field of fire.

The Dark Eldar were already on the back foot and things only got worse when only one Raider squad and the Jetbikes arrived from reserve. In fact it took four turns for Gary to get his whole army onto the table and by that stage he had lost control of the game. Because his units arrived piecemeal they were subject to my whole army's attention and were quickly destroyed.

Those Jetbikes, for example, boosted 24" onto an objective in the centre right but were blown from the sky by several Guard squads in the vicinity. All of his Raiders were shot down on the turn they arrived. He just couldn't mount a coordinated attack.

The only other thing to add is that because of the mission, I still couldn't be sure I'd win the game. I controlled four counters, one was in no-mans land (having been dropped by the Jetbikes) and Gary claimed the other with his Talos in the fourth turn. He retreated back to his own lines, hiding the monster behind a ruined building, so I sent my Inquisitorial Stormtroopers in to retrieve it.

They zoomed up the board and on turn six dismounted and took two wounds off the Talos. My Basilisk removed the last with an exact Guess and Hit (dangerous, considering the proximity of the Stormtroopers), so I grabbed the counter. Outrageous!

Gary still had the last laugh, though, when he assaulted me with some Warriors who had marched all the way down the hill over to this side of the board. He won the combat and I failed my morale test, giving the counter back to the Dark Eldar.

We rolled a d6 to determine who had the real objective, and it turned out to be the Guardsmen on the extreme left, in the ruins.

Result: Win

Imperial Control: Increased 35%

Kennell's Commendation: Those Inquisitorial Stormtroopers get Kennell's commendation for almost snatching that fifth counter in the last turn.

Learning points

• When we rolled up the mission I thought I was screwed, but the position of the counters, our deployments, the reserve rolls, and the special abilities of my Sentinels helped me out enormously. Just goes to show, don't write off any missions as unwinnable.
• I've only ever really played the Dark Eldar on smaller tables, so the short range of the Lances never really mattered, but on larger tables it is a much more important matter. By deploying well out of range of them I virtually guaranteed my ordnance would remain unharmed throughout the game.
  

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Chaos Space Marines

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Recon
Location: Luzon
Background: Commissar Yarrick arrives to help out the inexperienced Captain Kennell just as more Khorne forces arrive on planet. Perhaps this is the beginning of a major Chaos invasion of the sub-sector?
1st turn: Chaos Space Marines
Points: 2000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell, Junior Officer, Honorifica Imperialis, Company Standard, Medic, Missile Launcher, Sanctioned Psyker
• Commissar Yarrick
• Anti tank squad 3 Lascannons
• Sentinel, Autocannon, Extra Armour, Improved Comms
• 8 Stormtroopers, Sergeant with powersword, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, deep strike, infiltrate
• Inquisitor Kurven, psycannon and emperor's tarot, 2 veterans with plasma guns, plasma cannon servitor, 2 sages, mystic
• 3 Deathcult Assassins
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad, Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Armoured Fist Squad 812, Flamer, Chimera with multi-laser, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Stubber
• 5 Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, rhino
• Sentinel, Multilaser, smoke
• Sentinel, Multilaser, searchlight
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
• Leman Russ, Heavy Bolter
  

Chaos Space Marines

• Bloodthirster
• Glaive Lord
• 8 Marines with Bolt pistols and Close Combat Weapons, aspiring champion with Daemonic Talons, in rhino
• 8 Marines with Bolt pistols and Close Combat Weapons, aspiring champion with Daemonic Talons, in rhino
• Mutated hull predator with hull heavy bolters and twin-linked lascannon
• 5 Havocs with 4 missile launchers
• Dreadnought with Lascannon
• 8 Bloodletters
• 8 Fleshounds
• 8 Khorne Berzerkers, Aspiring champion with powerfist
• 8 Marines, lascannon and plasma gun
• 4 bikers

Background
This was our first game of 40k following the Gauntlet Tournament and we were keen to try something different. The Gauntlet only required 1000pt armies and we had played a number of practice games leading up to the tourney, meaning we had been playing smaller games for 8 weeks or so. Before that we had played a variant of the Vogen campaign instore, and that was all 1000 point battles too. In fact, looking back on my gaming diary entries, I found that I had played shockingly few large games at all, despite now having the new battle bunker to play in.

So Gary and I got together and decided to play a few 2000pt battles. This would allow us to field things like Terminators, Greater Daemons, bike squads, multiple ordnance weapons, special characters and lots of other things too powerful or too expensive for smaller games.

Terrain and Deployment
We arrived at the store late (damn taxi) and although we claimed a table, we had great difficulty locating any terrain for it. All we had were two ruined buildings and a stone pillar, so we strung them out across the middle of the table. There was also a large hill moulded to the table covering the whole of my left flank.

Gary set up first and placed his Predator near the building on my centre left, denying me any set up on the hill. I set up my own battle tank, the Leman Russ, near the other ruined building on my right centre, pushing back the Chaos deployment on that flank. By the time we had completed deploying I had two distinct firebases; the one on my left consisting of the Stormtroopers, Basilisk, an Infantry platoon, and the Chimera, while the one on my right contained everything else and was definitely the stronger.

The Chaos army had most of its shooty, static squads on or near the hill to my left in a kind of stand off with the Guard. The rest of the army was facing my right firebase, using the blind spot of the ruined building to shield them from incoming fire. Virtually all of the Chaos assault elements were on this flank.

The Game
We both knew that first turn would be crucial, and that the Cadians had the edge with the Emperor's Tarot. Predictably, Gary won the first turn.

Many inexperienced players would quail at the sight of the Imperial Guard gunline and hug cover, feeding units in one at at time for fear of taking casualties. Not so Gary; he raced forward with all of his mobile elements, knowing full well he would take some losses, but that something would get through. With over a quarter of his army arriving in the shape of daemons he needed to have his icons in advanced positions for turn two.

Most of the Chaos movement was to the right and centre, with the only movement on the left the Lord with Glaive. In the shooting phase Gary took the Earthshaker gun off the Basilisk and killed a few conscripts.

In reply, my Cadians killed two of the Havoc squad on the hill, while the Stormtroopers instantly killed the Glaive Lord with their meltagun. My Inquisitorial Stormtroopers zoomed straight for the Predator and leapt out of their rhino. The shots bounced off its mutated hull harmlessly. The Chaos bikes took the brunt of my lasgun and plasma gun fire in the centre and were wiped out. I also popped both rhino's.

After some deliberation at the top of the turn I had moved the Russ 12" backward behind the building. My thinking was that I had few real targets (both squads in the rhino's had dismounted prior to my turn and were hidden behind their rides, I had enough plasma to kill the bikes, and ordnance wouldn't be that effective at taking out the Predator or Dreadnought), and I was worried about its survivability. The Predator already had a bead on its side armour and all those powerfists and Daemonic talons (not to mention a Bloodthirster!) were potentially within assault range next turn. Sure, I could get off a shot now but at the cost of being virtually certain to be destroyed. Instead I hoped to be able to target the Chaos Marine squads as they advanced around the building.

Both the Bloodletters and Bloodthirster arrived from the warp this turn, the 'letters near the left flank and the Bloodthirster out on my extreme right flank. All the Chaos Marines in the middle advanced toward the Guard and would make combat next turn. I was in serious danger of being overrun.

On my left I should have had an advantage as both armies traded shots but the Bloodletters swung things in the Chaos favour. Over the next few turns the Havocs consistently rolled better and took out the Sentinel and Chimera and took the Command Section to below half strength, for the loss of four Marines. The Bloodletters concentrated on the infantry, wiping out twenty of them.

My Stormtroopers that had killed the Lord headed for the Predator despite seeing it's heavy bolters annihilate the Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (6 hits out of 6, 5 wounds caused!). They were intercepted by a Chaos squad who had diverted from the centre and were sliced up in close combat.

The main event was on the right flank, though, and things started getting juicy when the Fleshounds arrived. They dropped right next to the Inquisitor's squad, ready to gut them in close combat. My Mystic allowed me to take a free shot as they arrived, however, and because they were all bunched up following their summoning, I reckoned I could take out a good 5 or 6 of them. Of course I rolled appallingly; the plasma cannon servitor rolled a 1 to hit, then got a 1 on the re-roll from the sages, then failed his armour save and died, another veteran died due to a plasma overheat and I only killed one dog. D'oh!

I lost most of my firebase to the Daemonic assault from the 'hounds and the Marines and Berzerkers in the following turns. I held up the Bloodthirster with a Sentinel and a Death Cult Assassin for long enough to get three wounds on it as it left combat, but I just could not shift that last wound. The Leman Russ was lost as a result, though it did take out a Marine squad before it disappeared...

Yarrick helped to finish off the Fleshounds and few remaining Marines but went down to some very jammy 'to wound' rolls (Gary needed a 6, 5+ and 5+ and got it!).

The Bloodthirster looked like it would mop up the Guard as it swept into my last Sentinel, but in a last ditch attempt to kill the behemoth, I threw Command Section 1 at him and they managed to take him down with a meltagun shot.

Both sides had taken heavy casualties going into the last two turns but it looked like Gary had the points advantage, especially with the Bloodletters in my deployment zone. He withdrew his Predator and Dreadnought to keep them safe from harm while I threw everything at the Daemons to cause just one casualty and take them below half strength. Not only would I get the victory points for the unit but I would prevent them from claiming the bonus 200 points for being on my board edge. They passed every single saving throw I forced upon them, and with that the game ended.

Result: Loss. Our estimates were right; Gary was 469 victory points up and took the game.

Imperial Control: Reduced 2%

Kennell's Commendation: Command Section 1 gets the nod here as they accomplished what no-one else could; finally taking down the Bloodthirster.

Learning points

• What a blast this game was! Lots of movement and colour, good tactics, average dice on each side; it really could have gone either way.
• Mutated hull is really nasty, making all the difference to Gary's Dreadnought and Predator which both survived a game they would normally be destroyed in.
• I hate it when I buy something for a specific task and then they fail to carry it out. The Inquisitor was a case in point here; I knew I would be dealing with summoned Daemons, so I placed them front and forward (in more danger) so that the Mystic would come into play. And what happens? I kill more of my own guys than Daemons! Gary was rolling around on the floor laughing.
  

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Pitched Battle
Location: Habour
Background: 976.M41. Rocked by defeat by Eldar Exodites living upon Habour, Captain Kennell commits more forces to the conflict. The mysterious Eldar Craftworld sends forth more defenders in turn.
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 1000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell, Junior Officer, Honorifica Imperialis, Company Standard, Medic, Missile Launcher
• Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
• 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, deep strike
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
  

Eldar

• Farseer with Mind War
• Wraithlord with starcannon
• 5 scouts
• 8 Storm Guardians with 2 fusion guns
• 5 Fire Dragons with Exarch in Falcon
• 5 Howling Banshees with Exarch in Wave Serpent
• 8 Dire Avengers with Exarch
• 5 Swooping Hawks with Exarch

Terrain and Deployment
Another warm up game for the Gauntlet tournament which was only a week away. Gary still hadn't decided whether to take his Eldar or Chaos army, and this battle would help him make up his mind.

We played on a 6x4 table with moderate cover, including a few fantasy ruined buildings across the middle of the table. The Eldar had a large wood in their deployment zone (Gary won choice of board edge).

Most of my Guardsmen deployed on the right, against the predicted Eldar attack with the Basilisk on my left behind a tall building. Sick of deep strike, I began with my Stormtroopers on the table. Gary set most of his army up in the woods, ready to spring forward, with his skimmers on my left opposite the Basilisk.

The Game
I won first turn for a change and hit the skimmers with all of my heavy weapons. I took down the Wave Serpent with my first shot then did nothing to the Falcon. The Basilisk took out some Guardians. My Stormtroopers pushed forward into a ruined building.

The Eldar Falcon zoomed around the building and did for the Basilisk while the rest of Gary's army sped forward out of the forest. The biggest surprise to me was the scouts, which Gary fleet of footed forward and into combat with my scouts. Even though I was in terrain and went first, I lost the combat and my men routed.

I downed the Falcon and left the Fire Dragons isolated and effectively out of the game, while the rest of my army decimated the Eldar Dire Avengers and Guardians in the centre. The conscripts were killed to a man in combat but that left the Eldar in rapid fire range of my guns. Every time an Eldar unit looked like it might reach my lines I concentrated all of my guns on it and destroyed it, and because they arrived one after another I was rarely in trouble.

The Swooping Hawks arrived late and shot up a Command Section but were wiped out quickly in a hail of lasgun fire.

A convincing massacre.

Result: Win

Imperial Control: Increased 46%

Kennell's Commendation: No-one squad in particular. The missile launchers in the infantry squads won the battle, taking down the Wave Serpent, Falcon and Wraithlord in quick succession.

Learning points

• What a difference it made facing Gary's Eldar with my Guard (and their heavy weapons) rather than my Radical Daemonhunters. I dominated the game to such a degree that Gary chose to drop his Eldar for the forthcoming tournament.
• Bloody Stormtroopers! I still can't use them right or roll any decent dice for them. Maybe they're saving all their luck for the Gauntlet?
  

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Orks - Feral

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Steve
Mission: Pitched Battle
Location: Mias
Background: 946.M41 Commissar Yarrick gives Captain Kennell his first campaign in the Skolarii Sector. Mias has been invaded by Orks thought to be part of Ghazghkull's horde. Kennell's task is to recapture the planet for the Imperium and try to track down the Beast of Armageddon.
1st turn: Imperial Guard
Points: 1000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell, Junior Officer, Honorifica Imperialis, Company Standard, Medic, Missile Launcher
• Anti tank squad 3, Lascannons
• 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, deep strike
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Basilisk Indirect fire
  

Orks - Feral

• 3 large ork mobs
• Large Gretchin mob
• 3 'guntrukks' with orks with 3 big shootas inside each
• Warboss with power claw
  

Terrain and Deployment
With the number of missile launchers in my army I knew I would have a good chance at smacking down vehicle-heavy armies but I really wanted to try my Guardsmen out against a horde army. Steve stepped up to the plate with his feral Orks, an army I had clashed with a couple of times before with my Chaos army.

Scenery was sparse on this 6x4 foot table (as we knew it would be down at Warhammer World) with a large wood in the centre left of the table and spots of small stuff scattered around and about.

I set up largely on my right-centre with good fields of fire across the board. I began with the Basilisk and Command Section 2 on my extreme left, in some low ruins. Steve set most of his infantry up as close as possible, many behind the wood, the rest screened by the gretchin. He had one of his 'guntrukks' in the middle, and one on each flank.

The Game
I won first turn and went for his trukks first, blowing up one and immobilising the other. In the next turn I destroyed the third and was feeling pretty good about the game. But I made two big mistakes.

The first was with the Ork footsloggers in the middle of the board. Steve got entangled with a unit as it tried to pick its way through the forest so my main priority was the Orks in the open on the centre right, behind the grots. They had to weather a torrent of fire on the way to my lines and just before they hit, I had an idea. If I could wipe out the grots the Warboss would be the nearest target to my lascannons and they could instantly kill him.

I poured all of my fire into the little gretchin, instead of shooting the Orks behind, wiping them all out. Then I proudly declared my lascannon shots against the Warboss. Steve pointed out that the Orks in the wood were closer and could be seen by the lascannons. Sure enough, they were 5 inches from the edge of the wood and the unharmed Warboss duly contacted my front line, 20 angry Orks not far behind.

The game ebbed and flowed as I whittled the Orks down at the cost of unit after unit of Guardsmen, until finally only the Warboss and Kennell's understrength Command section were left on this side of the board.

My second mistake was the deep striking Stormtroopers. I should have brought them on to finish off the squad in the immobilised trukk but mistakenly thought that Ork big shootas were ap4, not ap5. Instead I dropped them on my left, and although they caused considerable damage to the Ork unit in the wood they were wiped out in return.

That left the Orks in the trukk to claim one quarter and my Command Section 2 to claim one quarter for the Cadians.

Result: Another draw

Imperial Control: Unchanged

Kennell's Commendation: Command Section 2 who again survived the game and won me a table quarter.

Learning points

• Overall I was pleased with my Guardsmen, having taken a 100+ Ork army down to less than a dozen models. Having said that, I was under 10 models myself. I think if I'd not made those two crucial mistakes I could have won the game.
• I still can't get those deep striking Stormtroopers right; I either roll so badly for their reserve rolls that they make no impact on the game, or I bring them on in the wrong location. More practice required.

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Eldar - Ulthwé Strike Force

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Jamie
Mission: Pitched Battle
Location: Habour
Background: 976.M41 After intervention from an unidentified Eldar Craftworld, Kennell's Cadians are attacked from the webway by more Eldar from a second Craftworld: Ulthwé. The Eldar really must have something to hide upon Habour.
1st turn: Eldar - Ulthwé Strike Force
Points: 1000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77 Captain Kennell, Junior Officer, Honorifica Imperialis, Company Standard, Medic, Missile Launcher
• Anti tank squad, 3 Lascannons
• 8 Stormtroopers, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma gun, deep strike
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Flamer
• 20 Conscripts
• Basilisk Indirect fire
  

Eldar - Ulthwé Strike Force

• Spear of Khaine (Avatar + several Exarchs)
• 3 Dark Reapers with Exarch
• Small Seer Council
• 5 Striking Scorpions and Exarch
• 5 Howling Banshees and Exarch
• 10 Storm Guardians with 2 fusion guns
• 12 Guardians with star cannon
• 5 scouts

Terrain and Deployment
Jamie is a good player with very well painted and converted models so games against him are always enjoyable.

This game was played on a 6x4 table with moderate terrain. I put most of my army on my right flank, carefully layered and screened and with good fields of fire to the centre and left of the board. Jamie began with his Reapers on my left and the Seer Council and the Defender squad to my centre left, desperately hugging terrain. Everything else for him would arrive from the webway, once opened. I had the Stormtroopers coming in from deep strike.

The Game
The Eldar went first and decimated my conscript screen, killing 16 of them (mostly through the fast shot Dark Reaper Exarch with plasma missiles). The last four conscripts stuck around, though, and actually had a big effect later on in the game. The Reapers were wiped out quickly with return fire.

The game really got going when the Seer Council (which had taken several casualties) activated the webway portal near my frontlines in the rightish centre. All of the Eldar close combat units poured out and smacked into my foremost Guard squads, tearing them apart. With the use of Kennell and the standard bearer, though, I managed to control the combats and leave the Scorpions and Banshees unengaged in my shooting phase, so they quickly went down for the cost of two infantry squads.

The Spear of Khaine was much more problematic as my firepower was needed elsewhere and they would be free to roam my lines (probably attacking Kennell's Command Squad). In desperation I threw in the surviving conscripts and withdrew Kennell. The Eldar only killed three in combat and the last conscript passed his morale check to hold them up for another turn.

My Stormtroopers landed on the board in turn 4 and I brought them on behind Jamie's scouts, in his deployment zone. I was quite confident they could kill them off, their hellguns actually being powerful against Eldar because they negated the Eldar 5+ save. Of course I fluffed my rolls and the snipers killed six of the stormtroopers over two turns while I killed two Eldar. That left this table quarter in enemy hands.

The Guardian Defenders managed to work their way over into my right flank and hit the Basilisk with their starcannon, destroying it. Everyone on the right flank was either wiped out or reduced to under 50% so that the table quarter could not be claimed; the Avatar finally went down to a lasgun shot from Kennell's squad, the command section itself was mashed up by the last Farseer and the Guardians with starcannon were locked in a mutually destructive combat with a Guard infantry squad.

That left Jamie's scouts to claim one quarter and the command squad and an infantry squad from platoon 2 to claim another (on my left) leaving us with a draw.

Result: Draw

Imperial Control: Unchanged

Kennell's Commendation: It has to be the conscripts who took very heavy casualties but still managed to do a job for me, holding up the Avatar and chums (pity all the conscripts died in the event!).

Learning points

• This was my first run out against the strike force, and it was a fun battle to play. The web portal makes for a very different type of game.
• I was pleased that for once my morale checks behaved and it let me destroy the Eldar close combat contingent in a straightforward way.
• I would have won the game if it wasn't for those bloody scouts vs my stormtroopers. Back to the firing ranges!
  

IMPERIAL GUARD versus Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Pitched Battle
Location: Habour
Background: 976.M41. Under advisement from Cypher, Captain Kennell leads an Imperial assault on the small community of Eldar Exodites living upon Habour. Before the native Eldar can be attacked, the Cadian 271st are confronted by Eldar from an unknown Craftworld.
1st turn: Eldar
Points: 1000

Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell (Junior Officer), Company Standard, 2 Meltaguns
• Anti tank squad, 3 Lascannons
• 5 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, deep strike
• Cypher
• Infantry Platoon 1
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, medic, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon 2
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Flamer
• Heavy Support
• Basilisk, Indirect fire
  

Eldar

• Farseer with Guide and Witchblade
• Wraithlord with Starcannon
• Wave Serpent with Starcannons carrying 5 Howling Banshees and Exarch
• Falcon carrying 5 Striking Scorpions and Exarch
• 8 Dire Avengers with Exarch
• 8 Storm Guardians with 2 fusion guns
• 8 Guardians with scatter laser

Terrain and Deployment
This game was played on the store 6x4 table which has a massive hill modelled on the centre of the table (completely screwing lines of sight). The terrain was fairly sparse and I won the choice of table edge, so I took the side with a large building to try and hide my basilisk.

I had to set my Guardsmen up further forward than I would have liked, just so they would be on the hill and have some lines of sight. Virtually all of them were in the middle, as was Cypher.

Gary placed most of his infantry directly opposite with his two skimmers on my left flank threatening the basilisk. In response I put my lascannons out there to target the Eldar vehicles.

We both knew that first turn would be crucial and a number of people came over to our table to watch the roll. I threw a two. Gary rolled a two. Phew! I got a five on the re-roll. Get in! Gary beat me with a six. Boo!

The Game
Gary had a superb first turn.

He raced the skimmers out to my extreme left and hit the basilisk with a glancing star cannon shot which destroyed it. Every other element in his army raced forward. He didn't roll less than a five for fleet of foot or difficult terrain. A second turn charge was now a distinct possibility.

I needed an equally good first turn. I didn't get it. I scored several hits on the vehicles but only took the scatter laser off the Falcon. The rest of my army killed two Guardians.

TWO GUARDIANS!

The skimmers zoomed 24" around my left flank and now stood right in front of my lascannons (which were only screened by a single infantry squad). Gulp.

The Guardians and Dire Avengers continued their advance up the centre and decimated two guard squads with their shuriken catapults. The Wraithlord was in amongst them and getting closer to my lines.

I was screwed but I was determined to take as many Eldar scum down with me as I could. My entire army, bar one infantry squad, shot at the vehicles. I took down the Falcon. That was it. On the bright side I took out all the Scorpions with my last unit (three went down to a frag missile shot!). That left the Banshees in the Falcon and the Farseer free in my lines. Oh, and I got a one for the Stormtroopers reserve roll.

Gary tank shocked my infantry squad with his Wave Serpent, hoping to dismount the banshees behind to get at the lascannon squad. With nothing to lose I chose death or glory and fired the Grenade launcher first. Two rolls of sixes later and the skimmer was a smoking wreck! Now the Banshees had to dismount from the rear of the wreck and could only hit the infantry squad. Maybe I was back in the game.

Of course my optimism was short lived.

The Banshees hit the infantry squad and the Exarch leapt acrobatically over the Guardsmen to put her within consolidation range of the lascannons for next turn. The Farseer charged another infantry squad nearer the centre. That squad lost one model and failed it's morale roll (despite using Kennell's leadership with a re-roll for the standard), ran and was chopped down by the Farseer. Righto.

The Guardians and Avengers swarmed forward and began to eye my command squads.

I still vowed to fight on. I knew I had taken out a big chunk of points of the Eldar army in those vehicles and could still put some hurt on the fragile pointy ears.

My first priority was to kill the Farseer who had swept into my plasma command squad. Kennell stepped up and directed his two melta gunners to vape the psyker. Double one. Okay.

Cypher took two wounds off him. Better.

A command squad targeted him with their missile launcher and lasguns. Nothing.

Now I was forced to rapid fire the plasma squad at him (I'd been saving them for the Wraithlord) six plasma shots and four lasgun shots didn't hurt him. Holy hell. I had one chance left to take him down with a missile launcher and finally downed the bastard. Oh, and I got a one for the Stormtroopers reserve roll.

I staggered on for one more turn as first the lascannons were slaughtered by the banshees, then Kennell's command section. They went on to combat Cypher who actually took four of them out, including the Exarch. It was far too little too late. The rest of the army evaporated under heavy shuriken catapult fire. Oh, and I got a one for the Stormtroopers reserve roll.

We didn't work out the victory points as it was painfully clear that the Eldar were massively ahead on victory points. Gary still had enough units over half strength to claim all four table quarters. Ouch.

Result: Loss

Imperial Control: Reduced 5%

Kennell's Commendation: I was tempted to go for Cypher because of his combat with the Banshees, but on the other hand he is a 150 point special character. Instead I'll go for the 6 point trooper with the 8 point Grenade Launcher who destroyed a 120+ point Wave Serpent. Bull's-eye!

Learning points

• I lost this game for two reasons which were beyond my control; Gary won first turn, and I had poor shooting phases. If I had won first turn I feel sure I would have shot down one, if not both, Eldar skimmers. This would have meant the surviving assault troops slogging over the board to get to my lines, under fire, and it would also have meant my basilisk surviving and getting some shots off. My shooting was poor because I underachieved every time. It took my entire army shooting to take down just one skimmer (although I did get lucky with eath or glory subsequently). Similarly it took my entire army to kill just the Farseer, when I could have instantly killed him with a single meltagun shot. I just never had any shots spare to hit the Guardians or Dire Avengers, which allowed them to get into my deployment zone. Contrast this with Gary's first shot of the game which destroyed the basilisk. It meant he could shoot all of the rest of his star cannons and scatter lasers at my Guardsmen.
• I rolled a 1 for the Stormtroopers reserves roll four times! What is it with me and reserve rolls lately?
• Cypher was only included in this game because I wanted a break from painting Guardsmen. He didn't really add enough to my army to make him a must-have choice, so he'll be going back on the shelf for a while.

IMPERIAL GUARD and Space Marines - Space Wolves versus Chaos Space Marines - Iron Warriors and Dark Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition
Opponent: ?
Mission: Cleanse
Location: Eye of Terror
Background: 999.M41 In the nick of time the Cadians and Space Wolves realised they were friends, not foes, and called a truce. They joined forces to attack a Dark Eldar raiding party backed up by Chaos Space Marines of the Iron Warriors Legion.
1st turn: Imperial Guard and Space Marines - Space Wolves
Points: 1000 per army

Allies
Imperial Guard

• Command Platoon 77, Captain Kennell (Junior Officer), Company Standard, 2 Meltaguns
• Anti tank squad, 3 Lascannons
• 9 Stormtroopers, Vet sergeant with plasma pistol, 2 plasma guns, deep strike
• 8 Stormtroopers, 2 meltaguns, deep strike
• Infantry Platoon
• Command Squad 36, Junior Officer with power weapon and plasma pistol, medic, 2 plasma guns
• Infantry Squad 501, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 541, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Platoon
• Command Squad, Missile Launcher
• Infantry Squad 609, Missile Launcher, Grenade Launcher
• Infantry Squad 812, Flamer
• Basilisk, Indirect fire

Space Marines - Space Wolves

• Wolf Priest
• Another HQ with Frostblade
• Grey hunters in razorback
• Bloodclaws in rhino
• Landspeeder tornado with multi-melta and heavy flamer
• Landspeeder with heavy bolter and heavy flamer
• Predator annihilator
• Wolf scouts with meltagun and powerfist

Enemies
Iron Warriors

• Pimped out Lord with Daemon Weapon and Wings
• Basilisk
• Dreadnought
• 2 large units with plasma guns and lascannons and aspiring champions with powerfists
• Obliterator
• Predator annihilator

Dark Eldar

• Archon and Incubi in Raider
• 2 Warrior squads in Raiders
• Ravager
• 2 units of Jet bikes

Terrain and Deployment
The battlefield was cluttered with large buildings, mostly across the centre of the board with a couple in our opponents deployment zone. Our board edge was relatively clear except for a small wood on our left and a low building on our extreme right. Most of my Guardsmen started out in the open, in the centre. Despite the buildings, they had good lines of sight to any avenues of attack. Wayne had his units hidden behind the scant cover we had, ready to counter charge.

Essentially, we set up a refused left flank, anchored by the Predator safely hull down in the wood. Between us we had four units available in reserve.

Our opponents spread their army out evenly across their deployment zone, but their heavy support was concentrated on our right, in or around a wooded hill. They only kept their single Obliterator back to deep strike.

The Game
Thank the Emperor we won the first turn!

We managed to immobilise the Dreadnought and blow it's ranged weapon off, knock a Dark Lance off a Raider with the Basilisk and rout a Dark Eldar Warrior squad off the board.

The damaged Raider raced forward 24" to stop in front of the Guardsmen, completely messing up their lines of sight. The Ravager emerged from behind the forest on our right while the Jetbikes zoomed forward on our left. Their Basilisk tore the Earthshaker gun off our Basilisk and blew the Stormbolter off our rhino.

Our priority for the turn was to take down that Raider and the Jetbikes. The Raider was duly shot from the sky to reveal a large Incubi squad and Archon. I poured all of my firepower at the survivors and reduced the squad to just the Archon, at which point the Bloodclaws, and both Space Wolf HQs charged him. Only one Jetbike squad was destroyed by the Space Wolf shooting phase, leaving the other free to wreak havoc next turn.

The Archon was reduced to a single wound as his shadowfield failed, but he managed to kill 3 Bloodclaws. The Jetbikes charged a Guard infantry squad and routed them, running them down. They swept into the command section behind but they would be vulnerable to shooting next turn. With the Dark Eldar and Space Wolf HQs stuck in combat, the Iron Warriors Lord decided he wanted a piece of the action and swooped into the melee.

It was clear that this was to be the decisive engagement of the game. If our opponents won the combat they would be in amongst our firebase, free to slaughter Guardsmen at will. If we won, we would have knocked out the significant enemy assault elements and could then bring our superior firepower to bear. We also had four units still to arrive from reserve, and would have a big manpower advantage.

In a titanic struggle the Space Wolves emerged victorious, largely due to the Stormcaller power allowing the Wolves to strike first. Then, to add insult to injury, our deepstrikers made an entrance. Wayne's Wolf scouts took out their Basilisk and I brought in my Stormtroopers to secure our lines. They killed the last of the Jetbikes together with Captain Kennell's command squad.

It was clear we would win the game but to give credit to our opponents they carried on and tried to give us a bloody nose. They dropped their Obliterator in next to Captain Kennell and flamed his squad. Only one Guardsman died, though, and in return they meltagunned the behemoth to death. Their Dreadnought went into fire frenzy twice. With only the Heavy Flamer operational it had to target the nearby Ravager and destroyed one of it's guns. This forced the Ravager out into the open to escape the crazed ally, and it got immobilised and then crashed due to a Grenade launcher krak shot.

Both Predators traded shots with each other on the isolated left flank, with the Space Wolves one coming off worse, being immobilised and losing two lascannons. The Chaos Annihilator didn't escape harm entirely, though. Those Wolf scouts assaulted a much larger Iron Warriors squad and actually killed them all. The lone survivor then swept into the Predator and tore it up with his powerfist.

On the last couple of turns our units concentrated on securing table quarters. Most of my Guardsmen were unharmed and they gave up their shooting phase to capture three quarters, and a Space Wolf 'speeder got the fourth. We didn't bother totting up victory points as we were so far ahead.

Result: Win

Kennell's Commendation: Infantry Platoon 1 who variously held the line and took out the Incubi and their Raider, Jetbikes, a Ravager, and then captured two table quarters.

Learning points

• Space Wolves and Imperial Guard make for a very tasty combination, with long range shooting complementing rock hard assault units. On the other hand our opposition was Iron Warriors and Dark Eldar who also have awesome ranged attacks coupled with vicious close combat ability.
• In the end I think our deployment swung the game, allowing us to bring our whole army to bear against only selected enemy units. By the time the rest of their army redeployed to support their attacks, the original thrust had been repulsed. They attacked piecemeal, allowing us to take their units on one at a time.
• My deep striking element worked well again, allowing me to redeploy units to wherever they were needed. They are good for grabbing table quarters as they arrive late, either taking quarters themselves or soaking up fire so that other units can do so.
• My only concern is that I lack any sort of counter-charge ability in my own army. The Wolves really helped me out in this regard, but what happens when I am on my own?