This game’s intent was to test Maugan Ra as a Lord of War rework, see the Greater Brass Scorpion on the field, and get a new player more comfortable with his Tau.
Also, I was super pleased to get to show off my new custom game board from Paint Monkee. This wasn’t a paid promotion, but I wanted to share my enthusiasm for it. He does even more detailed boards than this, but this is what fit in my price range. To learn more about his boards see if his Facebook page here!
Terrain was deployed after I picked out 6 of my 8 2×2 game board sections.
Deployment saw us take the initiative. With a Greater Brass Scorpion bearing down on us, we wanted to make sure we got the early volley off. In Alternate 40k Rules, this means that we were not going to be able to score objectives on round 1, but with three fire prisms able to link their fire together they stood a great chance at hammering it into submission!
The traitors formed up a wall of infantry. Our new Tau player didn’t have quite enough models for his share of 2000 points, so he used my extra Mordian Iron Guard infantry (and a Chimeraflak acting as a Tau Hammerhead). The loyal Mordians set their eyes on the Ethereal, who had swayed 80 of their men over to his side!
After the Deployment phase, my Ratlings Infiltrated onto the edge of the central plateau. From here they had a great view of infantry to target!
My engineers used Scout to move rapidly across the field before the battle could even start!
A team of Stealth suits Infiltrated within their own lines to stay in cover on the Tau side, and their pathfinders Scouted up to the tall building with their three mighty Railguns.
First turn saw us get rather aggressive. Having given up several of my own squads to get the Tau player up to points, I had taken some Bullgryn. However this meant that we did not have the infantry support I had originally planned on taking!
Like any good little commissar, I threw my men forward on the left flank as fast as possible! We had to get as many turn 0 kills as possible to reduce the sheer volume of incoming fire!
The Engineer Green team secured the Kia while Red moved up the craters and fired on the Pathfinders with minimal effect. The Chimera surged forwards, dropping a squad of Guardsmen into cover before drenching the Pathfinders with firepower. aside from the Heavy Flamer, I rolled poorly and only took out half of them.
On top of that, my forward guard squad lost their plasma gunner to his own weapon.
The Command Squad joined Green Team, so they could push forwards. One of their plasma gunners promptly removed himself from existence.
The Eldar Dark Reapers did a bit of a whiff as well. Combined with my Tank Commander, we managed to get the Deredo Dreadnought to one wound with 3 of its weapons Disabled! Our goal was to remove as much early game threat to the Fire Prisms as possible.
Travis was quite happy when the Prisms pulled an Alex and the scorpion only got clipped by one of the three destroyer focus shots! It suffered only minor damage and lost use of a flamethrower temporarily.
Ratlings opened fire on two squads, killing some guardsmen and managing to Pin one of them despite the evil Tau’s effective propaganda.
The scorpion stomped forwards, saddened that the Gorgon (who I had brought to dual it in melee) had held back just in case the Prisms failed. It turned its attention to the Dark Reapers, hammering them with its various cannons! While they did not suffer any casualties, Maugan failed many of his saves on the squads behalf and was nearly slain! In addition, the Exarch got injured as well as one of the Reapers, leaving them vulnerable to future fire!
The Ratlings began to take a heavy amount in of incoming fire! Four squads of traitor guard (no the other traitor guard) and some Fire Warriors began hammering them. Somehow, by a miracle, two of them survived! It appeared we were all going to have some rough rolls on round 1.
Red Team got hammered by, well, the hammerhead’s secondary weapons. And then the pathfinders. And then Fire Warriors. And then two more traitor guard squads. Once again, the dice gods went wonky as Khorne decided melee would be the king of this game and only three were slain!
And then one more died, leaving just two. I forget what got him. Some stray round from across the map.
Continuing the aggression on the left flank, the Chimera bounced forwards and annihilated about twelve guardsmen from three different squads. Supporting fire from the squad it left and the Ratlings claimed several more.
Red Team breached the tall building and began the longest melee engagement in the history of Alternate 40k Rules.
Green Team moved up, firing shotguns into the squad shielding the Hammerhead with excellent precision.
The Gorgon made its move as well, dumping six Bullgryn to the left and Tan Team, a squad of Veterans with shotguns and carapace, to the right. This left a path for it to Declare a Charge in the assault phase!
A close up of the Mordian squad before seven were cooked by the Heavy Flamer.
Tan Team racked up a ton of kills with frags and shotguns, before charging them. The Lord Commissar took the lead, cutting both traitorous survivors down with his Power Sword, leaving them free to consolidate towards the next traitor guard!
The Bullgryns pulled an incredibly long Charge off and manage to race all the way behind the Scorpion and slam into the Khorne Cultists! Surprisingly, two managed to survive and nearly kill one of the Bullgryn. The cultists fell back a whole two inches, but were unsurprisingly caught and the fight resumed!
Red Team breached the lower floor, all tactical and cool like! The first Engineer clumsily jumped and swiped his butt stock at the second floor, but missed! In turn, the Pathfinders with even less grace slapped back and tried to blow holes in the floor, but their Railguns were just too long!
Taking advantage of the Tau being Tau in melee, the Sergeant brought up his breaching sledge (acting as a Powerfist) and attempted to YEET one through the floor, but failed. The fight resumed!
The Gorgon, sadly, failed its charge by 1″.
In turn, traitors and traitors incorporated began consolidating forces to address the aggressions on their flanks! For their little fire power in a crater problem, they brought their XV88 Broadsides and Coldstar Commander.
The Leviathan decided it wanted the Kia for itself, and moved up to take it. It fired Meltaguns, but it rolled a one to Wound the Mordians.
In addition to dealing with the Dark Reapers, the Fire Prisms were causing a lot of problems after having scored another two destroyer hits last turn. A squad of Terminators and a Slaughterbound dropped in!
Further mass fire removed the Ratlings from the table.
The traitors fired point blank into the Veterans, dealing only two casualties!
As they surged over the hill though, additional units from the centerfield fired on them. Stealth suits and some Fire Warriors took their share of kills as well.
The Dark Reapers were in a world of hurt. A Markerlight was used, allowing more extreme missile, smart missile, pulse, and fusion fire to hammer the Eldar. About half of them were slain despite their excellent cover.
As expected, the Leviathan slaughtered the Platoon Command squad in Melee.
Also, I forgot to take a picture, but on the Mordian’s turn they also charged the squad protecting the Hammerhead with no side harming each other. This round, a a Veteran was slain despite outnumbering the traitors two to one, but they held.
Unsurprisingly, the two cultists were slain, letting the Bullgryn consolidate towards the next cultist squad bearing down on them!
The terrifying Scorpion crashed into the Gorgon! Despite having multiple weapons disabled, its claws were still operational! It rolled very poorly and only did six wounds.
In turn, the Gorgon rolled poorly and only did ten with its massive destroyer strength ram designed to knock over titanic walls! The scorpion survived being overwhelmed in Melee and the fight continued!
The brutal press of Melee attacks on the Mordian’s part continued! The Bullgryn surrounded the cultists, firing grenade rounds into the other traitors, no the other ones, to help the Veterans take less incoming fire.
The Chimera, now on fire and barely functioning, moved around and sprayed fire in all directions. Its Heavy Flamer was disabled, and it was heavily limited into how much fire it could provide. It still killed six or so infantry, including the Fire Warrior’s hated Drones.
With Terminators danger close, and a Slaughterbound capable of single handedly destroying every Falcon chassis in the squadron, the Fire Prisms fled, dropping two squads of six Warp Spiders to act as screens for the Dark Reapers who were still desperately needed.
There were still around forty enemies on the other side of the hill. With no where else to go, the Mordians shifted around and just prayed they were ignored.
The battered Veterans charged over the hill, firing shotguns and throwing a frag, killing seven traitors!
The Veterans charged, losing one to Overwatch but slaughtering two more traitors and leaving the unit champion running for his life! they pursued but could not catch him!
Engines screaming in protest, the Gorgon moved as far back as it could. With two Engine Damage results, it could move a mere 2 inches! Maugan Ra promptly stole the kill and wrecked the Greater Brass Scorpion!
The Bullgryn charged in, once again killing all but two cultists. Their Champion had started a dual, but he died instantly to a low IQ slab of muscle and rage. The squad fled off the table with the Ogryns pursuing off as well!
The dual of the millennium continued with no casualties on either side. The rolls were absolutely terrible!
Nidkiller 3000, the Leviathan dreadnought, closed in on the next squad of guardsmen. The las fire previously managed to ding his armor, but that did not happen again this round.
Meanwhile, the terminators had been absolutely annihilated by the sheer amount in point blank fire. The Champion split off and went after the first group of Warp Spiders, while the Slaughterbound went after the second!
Traitor guard tried to steal the Kia but fell one inch short!
Over at the Hammerhead corner, Green Team finally finished off the traitor guard and began collapsing towards the center field to cut off the Ethereal’s escape!
Finally, Red Leader slammed one of the snipers out of existence with his breaching tool. The Pathfinders began to fall back, but the Mordians caught them!
His whole team annihilated, a traitor guard champion moved up and fired some las rounds at the loyalist holding the hill, taking one of them out!
Traitor guardsmen consolidated and poured fire into the Chimera. It managed to survive with just one wound left!
The fleeing traitor Champion on the right flank tried throwing a grenade but nearly fragged himself instead when he just dropped it while running.
After fearfully fumbling his grenade, he lowered his bayonet and charged the Veterans, but Tan team was ready for him and blew him away with well practiced Overwatch!
Green Team held fast with their shields, but lost another team member to the torrent of pulse rounds from the Hammerhead, who slowly kept chunking away the Fire Prisms.
Meanwhile, the Broadsides and Coldstar kept up a withering hail of missiles and pulse rounds, nearly wiping out the last of the Dark Reapers! The Scorpion was dead, but had basically rendered the Gorgon completely useless.
The Slaughterbound annihilated all but one Warp Spider, causing it to flee off of the battlefield! He held his ground and prepared to take on the Fire Prisms.
Once again, the timeless dual went on, with a rifle butt from the Veteran taking out another. The last Pathfinder held his ground!
The Bullgryn re-emerged onto the battlefield from their glorious pursuit and slaughter. The fired frag bombs into some Tau before charging into the next squad of cowards. They were slaughtered and chased off the battlefield as well!
Green Team pushed on, dodging pulse fire from two directions, and began hitting the vulnerable Ethereal! Shotgun blasts peppered him, causing Drones and nearby Fire Warriors to throw themselves into harms way to protect him! We had to fast forward, and at the last possible second they killed the Ethereal and his support with the sledge driver on Round 8.
The loyalist defending the hill advanced, firing into the remaining squad and champion. They dealt only mild injuries, but wanted to hold the hill! We had to fast forward a few turns at this point to resolve the draw, and eventually they took out the last of them on Round 8.
The Tank Commander had been offering fire support this whole time, picking off infantry, light mechs, and stealing the Slaughterbound kill from the Eldar. They were still salty about the Eldar stealing the Gorgon’s epic kill.
The Terminator Champion nearly finished off all the Warp Spiders, but a pair of unlucky armor saves slew him!
As Green Team left in pursuit of the Ethereal, the Fire Prisms were able to explode it, ending the worse of the fire power on the left flank. The next turn they were able to end Nidkiller 3000’s existence as well as we did rapid turns.
The Chimera rampage continued, with it mopping up just about ever single infantry the Bullgryn couldn’t in the center and right flank by the end of Round 8!
Meanwhile, the Gorgon and its protesting machine spirit managed to do a .75 inch charge and finally ram the Cold Star. Its leg was damaged from the ram attack, and as it fled the Gorgon some how managed to keep up! The next turn, its leg got caught under the track and was slowly pulled into an agonizing slow crushing death.
The last Broadside killed the last Dark Reapers and nearly wiped out the Phoenix Lord, but was slain by his potent weapon!
The galaxies longest dual finally ended on the last turn of Round 8, the longest a game can go in Alternate 40k Rules. Spanning fourteen Melee phases, a grand total of three Tau models and zero Imperial Guard were killed. I was rolling terrible!
The game was a draw! Ending in Mordian Iron Guard and the Eldar allies with 13 Victory Points to the Traitors and Traitors incorporated with 12 Victory Points!
Overall, a very fun game that no one particular team got ahead until the very end of Round 8 when the traitors suffered a sudden decline in units.
Even then, the Gorgon was capable of moving a whopping 2 inches per turn, with an average advance of about 1 inch if it chose to advance instead of firing Heavy Stubbers. Maugan Ra was left with 1 Wound and could die at a moments notice. And the Chimera had one Wound left. A grand total of about ten guardsmen were alive and there were 6 Eldar infantry not counting Maugan.
The only things mostly intact were the Fire Prisms and Bullgryn, but one Prism could die from a passing breeze by that point as well.
Alternate 40k Rules 