After months of preparation we had our first Shadow Crusade game yesterday.
As the Word Bearers used Calth's defensive network's weapons to destabilize the star, they devastated the population and launched a devastating attack on the Ultramarines.
After massive losses, crippling to any other military force, the XIIIth Legion was able to regroup and fight back. After withdrawing as many people and soldiers from the planet as possible the Ultramarines raced to get into the underground arcologies.
The Traitors were no less vulnerable to the coming radiation storm.
In this game two forces race towards the entrance to one such subterranean base.
The Ultramarine force was slightly more killy while the the Word Bearers were slightly more mobile. Both sides had about 1800 pts.
They had 8 turns to get to the tunnels leading to the entrance to the arcology.
Once in the tunnels regular marines would have an extra turn to get into the bunkers themselves.
Terminators and vehicles had an extra turn being more protected. Vehicle crew were able to disembark and counted as regular marines outside of the AFVs.
Transports were not limited to carrying one specific squad and could pick up and transport any squad. They were, of course, still limited by their capacity to transport a given number of models.
The Word Bearers started off by moving up with most of their force but trying to gun down some Ultramarines. This didn't go so well as the targeted unit fired back and the XIIIth used their advanced reaction to have another squad fire back too. Between the two squads they eliminated a whole squad of Traitors while only losing two of their own.
Conveniently, this allowed the Land Raider explorator to pick up the remnants of that squad as it had a transport capacity of only 8.
The Gal Vorback surged across the table towards the Ultramarine lines.
The Ultramarines had their turn being stymied by their opponent's advanced reaction. The support squad with plasma cannons fired into the advancing Gal Vorback but the Word Bearers chose to take all the hits on one of their models. This vaporized that one Traitor but left the other 9 deadly possessed warriors surging towards the Ultramarine ranks.
The Tratiors continued to advance, losing their rhino and having their Ashen Circle devastated by loyalist fire.
Meanwhile the Gal Vorback managed to engage the loyalists. This was the saving grace of the traitor cause. The traitors were able to absorb a huge amount of shooting from the loyalists on the way in, taking fire from all three XIIIth legion tanks, the plasma cannon guys and the terminators and only losing two models. So, they were at nearly full strength when the terminators charged them.
While not being well equipped to take down terminators they absorbed a fantastic amount of damage while kicking out just enough of their own to keep things on a nearly even footing.
This titanic fight would take up a number of turns and just as the terminators were gaining the upper hand the Word Bearer Consul joined the fight. His thunder hammer was able to rip apart terminators and turned the tide in the traitor's favor.
The rest of the Word Bearer's were making a beeline for the caverns.
They used what little cover they had to keep out of the way of the Ultramarine armour.
While all of this was going on the traitor Predator made a suicidal attack on the Ultramarines heavy support dueling both the plasma cannon support squad and the Sicaran.
Ultimately it was able to destroy the tank and eliminate all but the sergeant in the support squad, who used a crack grenade to take the tank out after a number of attempts.
The Word Bearers reach the arcology first with the remnants of their Ashen Circle squad while the rest follow closely on their heels.
The Ultramarines have moved more slowly but arrived in more force in the end and start gunning down the traitors.
As the energy of the star is streaming towards the planet the last desperate actions are carried out.
The remains of the Traitor support squad, the sergeant, and the last two despoilers charge the Ultramarine support squad. Despite being outnumbered by more than 3 to 1, the Traitors are more equipped for close combat and quickly even the odds. The remaining Gal Vorback joins in the assault and the odds dramatically swing into the Word Bearers' favour.
The Ultramarines decide to flee before their opponents and try to make a run for safety. The crew from the Predator leave their tank and flee into the caverns.
The energy from the star washes over the planet and those left outside the sheltering arcologies were killed by the massive doses of radiation.
The Ultramarines managed to get 14 marines into the caverns, while the traitors were only able to get 5 in. This gave them a difference of 9 marines and was a minor victory for the loyalists.
It was a very close game, despite how things looked on the first turn. The Gal Vorback really put things on a more even footing after that first devastating Traitor turn, absorbing every shot the Ultramarines were able to take on their first turn.
The speed of the Traitors was not quite a match for the firepower of the Loyalists as it turned out in the end, but it was still a very narrow victory.
The table of victory looked like this:
Difference between marines
0-5 = draw
6-10 = minor victory
11-15 = major victory
16+ = epic victory.
Where Terminators, Gal Vorback and independent characters counted as 2 marines.
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April 26, 2024, 08:01:32 PM
