100 DAYS
The race to save Omega
The race to save Omega
"There
is a cancer eating at the Imperium. With each decade it advances deeper,
leaving drained, dead worlds in its wake. This horror, this abomination, has
thought and purpose which functions on an unimaginable, galactic scale and all
we can do is try to stop the swarms of bio-engineered monsters it unleashes
upon us by instinct. We have given the horror a name to salve our fears; we
call it the Tyranid race, but if it is aware of us at all it must know us only
as Prey."
Mission One – Day Five -- “The Awakening”
It is three
days since the first blood was spilled in the battle for Omega. Reports of
civilian disappearances, relayed to Planetary Command from various settlements
and industrial sites scattered across the world’s single continent, have been
largely ignored. No authority at the capital Zenica has any conception of the looming
horror, nor the threat of every wasted day to the continued existence of life
on the planet.
When a platoon
from the small military outpost at Jablanicka fails to report after routine
patrols, Captain Besic reacts with customary caution. He sends out two patrol
groups, one to investigate the disused chemical plant to the West of the
outpost, and one to search the woods to the East. The events of the next few
hours, so far beyond the most awful imaginings of the Jablanicka men, would
have knock-on effects of the most severe importance.
The race to
same Omega had begun.
Mission Length:
As per standard missions.
Deployment etc:
The Imperial Guard set up first,
deploying anywhere on the board except for the 12” within each short board edge
[note: I’ve done a preliminary set-up on an 8 by 4 board for this – I think
we’ll need that much space to make this work because of the ‘escape’ victory
conditions and because of the amount of infantry]. The Imperial Guard player
may not use any reserves.
The Tyranid player places his
entire force in reserve. Units that enter play using the outflank rule may
enter from either short board edge, as chosen by the Tyranid player.
The Tyranids take first turn.
Victory Conditions:
The aim for the Imperial player
is to have as much of his force having escaped the battlefield, as possible at
the end of the game. This will allow the greatest chance of warning Imperial
Guard Command of the impending Tyranid threat – but having one squad escape the
battlefield may not be enough, as the route back to the nearest friendly forces
is long and dangerous.
For each unit that exits the
battlefield add points as shown on the following table:
Unit type
|
Escaped
|
Company Command Squad
|
3
|
Platoon Command Squad
|
2
|
Any other unit (including tanks and dedicated
transports)
|
1
|
*If the unit escapes the
battlefield while mounted in a Chimera, add an additional 1 point to reflect
their increased speed back home (therefore a Platoon Command Squad that escapes
in a Chimera would score a total of 4 points – 2 for the squad, 1 for the
Chimera and a bonus of 1).
Units that are broken at the end of the game, or exit a table edge
while broken, score nothing.
At the end of the battle add the
total Imperial Guard score and compare it to the total number of Tyranid units
on the battlefield. This table explains who has won the battle and suggested
rules to carry forward to mission 2:
Score difference
|
Result
|
Impact on Mission 2
|
IG win by 10 or more
|
Significant IG victory
|
Imperials take first turn, can chose Elite units
and flyers
|
Level, or IG win by 1-9
|
Minor IG victory
|
Imperials
take first turn, can chose Elite units
|
Tyranid win by 1-4
|
Minor Tyranid victory
|
Tyranids take first turn. Imperials cannot chose
flyers
|
Tyranid win by 5 or more
|
Significant Tyranid victory
|
Tyranids take first turn. Imperials cannot choose
Elites or flyers.
|
Setup:
As the battle was to be played on
an 8x3 and we were somewhat pushed for time, Commissar Bob set up his 2000 pts
prior to Old two eye and I arriving. His force was made up of several platoons
of troops and command squads, sentinels, a few chimeras and a couple of leman
russ tanks. This build was intentional given that we were playing a scenario
with a small outpost under surprise attack rather than a planned assault – it made
sense that elites and fast attack should be restricted so we had agreed no
veterans, stormtroopers or flyers.
Nids got turn one automatically
and it was decided both for time constraints and to give the nids a bit of an
edge we could bring on reserves from turn one. Everything moved on except one
unit of 10 gargoyles and deathleaper. Genestealers moved on from both flanks
while the harpy took one flank and the parasite, gargoyles and lictors the
other. Shooting was minimal due to the units we had and therefore the turn was
fairly uneventful.
The imperial guard struck back
with a lot of firepower, killing several genestealers and wounding the harpy
thanks to the leman russ autocannons and 3 heavy bolters – very effective
against flyers! Once the dust had settled, neither side had taken much in the
way of casualties.
Turn 2
The last reserves came on with
deathleaper appearing in the middle of the board to threaten the Imperial Guard
commander. The Ymargl genestealers and harpy harried the Imperial guard forces
to the west, while the gargoyles and ranks of genestealers did the same on the
east. The Imperial guard retaliated with firepower killing the harpy and
killing several of the Ymargl stealers. On the East side, the casualties
mounted amongst the genestealers and lictors.
Turns 3-4
The Tyranids continued to put
pressure on the Imperial Guard while the retaliatory firepower felled many of
the beasts. The Imperial Guard outlying forces were now all but gone with the
Leman Russ tanks holding the centre. The tyranids were flagging in numbers on
the wooded East side of the board, whereas the industrial West was still dominated by a unit of genestealers
preventing the Imperials from escaping. Deathleaper engaged the enemy commander
in combat over several turns until the colnel was the sole survivor, breaking
and fleeing.
Turns 5-7
As nightfall descended on the
outpost the battle came to an end. The last few survivors piled into the remaining
chimeras and raced off the Eastern board edge, abandoning the outpost and
leaving the last remaining men and tanks to their fate. For this was simply the
first wave of many and their duty was to warn others of the impending tyranid
threat, rather than die alongside their comrades. The battle was over, but the
war was yet to come…..
Result
Imperial guard minor victory – 2 chimeras
and units were able to flee the board edge, with only 3 tyranid units being
left on the board at the end. This will enable the Imperial Guard to take elite units in the second game of the campaign.
Mission One DEBRIEF - Minor Imperial Victory
The Imperial forces at the Jablanicka outpost were scattered
by a swift and determined Tyranid pincer movement. Amid the carnage, two squads
managed to evacuate the battlefield stowed in their trusty Chimera transports.
They left behind only a pair of Leman Russ tanks - exposed and easy prey for
the next wave of the attack that arrived in the early morning - and chastened,
traumatised Captain Besic, who escaped a mortal tussle with a Lictor of unusual
size and ferocity, but could not rejoin the fight to save the brave men who
selflessly stepped in to protect him.
Besic would crawl and dodge his way through 20 miles of
Tyranid infested territory for some days, arriving back at base to doubtful
reception. Stripped of his command for abandoning his troops, Besic would spend
much of the next month in confinement, until desperate need forced the hand of
Imperial command and he was restored to the front line as a lowly lieutenant.
Of the two squads who escaped death at Jablanicka, one was
surprised by Gargoyles on their route back to Imperial lines, and were never
seen again. The other team were fortunate enough to avoid the enemy on their
perilous journey, and returned to give a breathless, barely coherent account of
their defeat at the hands of a Tyranid invasion. However unlikely their reports
seemed to the high brass, when placed in concert with multiple stories of
mysterious disappearances in the region they demanded to be taken seriously.
Imperial command immediately requisitioned hundreds of crack troops to defend
key resources and command centres.
Thoughts
Commissar Bob – the Leman Russ exterminator
was without a doubt the unit of the match, with the amount of shots it could
pour out it made short work of the harpy and any other units it turned its
attention on.
Jimbo – the harpy was a
disappointment, failing to inflict any real damage for the two turns it
survived. On the plus side though it did soak up a lot of Bobs firepower for
those turns and so did its job.
Old two eye – the Ymargl stealers
and broodlord were both units I had not used much before and both proved resilient
and able to inflict massive casualties on the Imperial forces. I liked the
restricted army lists in the scenario as it enabled me to take units I normally
wouldn’t bother with and gave me thoughts for future games.
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