Seven armies arrived this weekend to battle out for Fort Alamo. The breakdown was 3 Space Marine armies of 1500 points each defending the Alamo from 4 Xeno armies: Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, and Necrons. With all the action, only highlights will be covered.
Turn 1 - XenoThe Space Marine Defenders were forced to decide on their deployment without speaking to each other due to Jamming. After their deployment, 4 Orbital Bombardments landed around Ft. Alamo, inflicting major casualties to a Devastator squad and scattered losses elsewhere. After that initial bombardment, the various Xeno armies deep striked onto the battlefield. The Space Marines deployed a Disrupter Beacon to defend one flank, however the Hive Tyrant and his escorts landed in the area of the beacon. The Ork commander also ignored the beacon and landed the majority of his Boyz in two squads near the beacon. The deep strikers did take losses as they deployed; the Tyranids lost a Lictor near Fort Alamo, the Eldar lost a squad of Dire Avengers, and a Necron Warrior Squad was forced into reserves. Xeno shooting crumbled the defenders entrenched in a bunker, but was otherwise minimally effective.
Turn 1 - SM
The Space Marines maneuvered and shot the Orks, Eldar, and the Tyranids. The highlights were the SM Scouts rending the Hive Tyrant and his 3 Guards, wounding 1 and killing 1 Guard. The Master of the Forge rode out on a bike and fired his conversion beamer at a Wave Serpant and scattering his shot onto a War Walker, wiping it out. The spirit of Lord ChiHuaHua was envoked as 10 Genestealers and a Broodlord only inflicted 3 wounds to a SM Command Squad, and a 10 man SM Assault Squad charged into an Ork Boyz squad, taking out 1 while losing 4.
Turn 2 - Xeno
The Xenos shot up a number of Marine units, specifically the Dark Angels of IBM, and then went into assault. The Genestealers of Lenny charged and attacked a squad of SM, inflicting 9 wounds, but the SM armor saved all 9 from being lost. The Tyranids did redeem themselves with a charge by a Carnifex onto a Venerable Dreadnought and wiping the Dreadnought out. The Eldar Orbital Bombardment landed on the Dark Angel force, taking out a number of SM and immobilized the Whirlwind. The Orks assaulted the lone Predator, taking out all the weapons and tracks.
Turn 2 - SM
An Ork Big Mek had a chance to feel the boom of an Orbital Bombardment as it landed on him, flashing him and his thirty boyz to red steam. SM Terminators from reserve arrived and blasted the squad of Necron Destroyers, wiping out the 3 Necron. Between the shooting and assaults, the Ork Deff Kopters and Eldar Warp Spiders took the bulk of the loss. The continuing assault between Assault Marines and the Ork HQ left the Marines overrun and the Orks advancing on the center.
Turn 3 - Xeno
The Xeno forces all moved closer to Alamo in order to wipe out the Space Marines. Yet another scheduled bombardment further reduced the squads holding up inside, leaving behind a single Devastator, an immobilized Predator and a few handfuls of snipers. The Necron fired on an Ironclad Dreadnought and the SM Land Raider. The Dreadnought lost its seismic hammer while the Land Raider was shaken twice. The Eldar lost their Farseer to close combat with a Venerable Dreadnought. Then the Carnifex blew up the Land Raider with 5 attacks. The Ork HQ overran the Master of the Forge to no losses. The Terminators are in close combat against Gene Steallers. The Terminators lost 7 to 8 Genestealers and Broodlord. The isolated Predator was finally destroyed with some carefully aimed rokkits through its tailpipe. A lone Ork deffkopta chose to close to assault range on the Whirlwind. A pair of koptas and the Tyranid Tyrant smashed through the lone Devastator into the Alamo proper.
Turn 3 - SM
Movement for the SM was limited to nearly nothing. In the shooting phase, the aforementioned Ork deffcopta (having spent the assault phase taunting the Whirlwind instead of attacking) paid the price and was incinerated by a volley of Dragonfire rounds. Additional SM shooting caused 2 wounds against the Carnifex. The Dreadnought brought the close combat with the Seer Council to a close and cut them down as they fled. The Genestealers with the Broodlord completed their wipeout of the SM Terminators on the flank.
Final Thoughts -
The game was ended at Turn 3. The results for each army was 1-1 Xenos, with 2 contested (including the fortress itself) and 1 held with under 50% Orks, with the SM's pushed to the edge and may haven fallen in 1 more turn. Only the Eldar and Tyranids completed their personal objectives of using 3 psychic powers and defeating 3 units in assault. By vote, the SM hero of the hour was the Venerable Dreadnought, tooled to long range hitting, that eliminated the Farseer and his Seer Council in close combat. Genestealers with the Broodlord proved to be the unit of the day for the Xeno army, having destroyed 10 terminators and a command squad while losing 2 of their number.
Recommendation for the next game will be WHFB (in the desert), Mordheim (in the desert), and Rogue Warrior (probably in the desert). Voting to come.
Update: Added pictures.
Awesome battle, awesome battle report. I was thinking, next time we play Planetstrike should be out so 40k might be another option with the new Planetstrike rules. IBM has said he's going to get that defense battery (not sure that's the right name). Maybe he'll have it all assembled and painted up for our next game? (giving him some subtle motivation here)
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