REP IS DONE.
Please forgive any mistakes, but please let me know what they are!
First game with IG and all...
Enjoy and let me know what you liked/didn't like/words of encouragement are greatly appreciated!
Best,
-BT
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Turn 1: Imperial Knights
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Lord Godfrey Highland of House Terryn shook his head at the straggling band of Guardsmen that stood across the field from him. There was no glory in this fight. There was no honor. This would be a slaughter.
"Morgaine," he said gruffly over the comms, "Are you certain that you relayed the terms of the surrender properly?"
There was an exasperated sigh and the high-pitched voice of Countess Morgaine Ironwood came over the lines, "Yes, Lord Godfrey, their response was, and I quote, 'If you lot want to give up, that's fine, but yer missin' a hell of a scrap.'"
A snort broke into the conversation as Darian Lightward, Knight Errant, spoke, "I daresay Morgaine, your tone probably put them off. Heavens knows it does with me. Godfrey, these people, as misguidedly loyal to the Emperor they might be, are in our way. House Terryn expects this planet to be under our control and this rabble is certainly not. Let us just crush them under our heels and be done with it."
Godfrey grunted. The younger man was insolent, having barely earned the right to sit in the chair of Knight, much less to speak to the Countess in such a manner. But, he wasn't entirely wrong.
"Very well," said the elder Knight pilot, "We've given them their due opportunity to avoid this mess. Let's at least make it quick."
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The Errant advances forwards, looking menacingly at my front line.
The Paladin goes to line up shots at the Basilisks. The Crusader shuffles over to try and get shots at the Basilisks as well, but is too far.
The Paladin opens up on the arty, but the shots don't do very much.
The rest of the fire goes towards the Tank Commander, but the big tank holds firm (barely).
Stubbers start to cut apart the Conscripts in the front.
Then, the Errant decides purely on a whim to try to assault the Conscripts.
And with a MASSIVE roll, it succeeds!
I then realize that O'Keefe is a few inches too far away, as the Conscripts get sucked into assault and almost half are stomped to death.
The rest of the Conscripts are then removed during morale and the Knights gain FIRST BLOOD.
Picture Caption: Man, that... really sucked.
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Turn 1: Imperial Guard
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"Commissar! Commissar!"
O'Keefe didnn't need to turn as he heard the rushed footsteps of Seneschal Hawkins behind him.
"Something on your mind, Hawkins?"
Jack stumbled to a stop, brushing past a few mostly maimed Conscripts who were fleeing the field.
"The day is lost Commissar, we have to leave the field?"
Lord Commissar O'Keefe stirred slightly and Jack sudenly realized that he had potentially insulted a man who was given the Emperor's allowance to bolt pistol him at the slightest grievance. But, instead of confrontation, the Commissar just let go with a hardy chuckle.
"Lost? Lad, we have them just where we want them. Hilda!"
Bone'Ead Hilda jumped to full attention and let go with a howitzer of spittle and bawling.
"GET STUCK IN!"
The ground rumbled and Jack tried to keep his balance as a tidle wave of Ogryn slammed into the huge Knight. The Titan wobbled a bit and then the Ogryn started to smash into one of it's legs. Heavy Power Mauls did their work and the massive machine fell to one knee.
Jack heard a sharp ringing sound and saw the Priestess, a strange Attalian dressed in blue, ringing a small bell. The sound filled him with a odd sense of calmness and he was startled when O'Keefe spoke.
"Good enough. Hilda! SHIELD!"
The Bone'Ead nodded, dropping down and raising up her Slabshield. Then, with amazing speed, Lord Commissar O'Keefe ran forward, raising his Power Fist. As he hit the shield, the Ogryn underneath lifted, sending the Commissar high and into the face of the kneeling Knight.
Jack watched the tiny, glowing man hit the Knight with a lightning bolt of an attack and there was a might explosion.
Looking away, he was shocked to hear laughing and twisted around to see O'Keefe being put down by the Ogryn who had caught the man. Refractor field trembling, the Commissar lit a new cigar on the burning rubble of titan and looked defiantly at the other two Knights downfield.
Perhaps they had a chance after all...
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Right, enough's enough.
I have two choices. I can roll over now or just pray I can get enough wounds on the Errant in hopes that mass plasma can save me.
Since 'Toof has never been the roll over and die type, I decide to go for broke and just push up all the infantry.
I drop in the Baron and the Stormtroopers (er... Scions) around the Knight for extra plasma goodness.
Jenna puts a +1 armor buff (+1 save??) on the Ogryn.
Shooting is fairly impressive as I let go with orders and the Conscripts put out about ONE HUNDRED shots (4 shots EACH) and do... about four unsaved wounds to the Knight. The Basilisks and Punisher manage to knock it down to just under half.
Baron's crew then outdoes that by getting about the same number of wounds with just plasma. But, that still leaves all three Knights up who, although wounded, will be pounding my face in shortly.
So... with not a little bit of trepadation I move O'Keefe and the Ogryn up to assault.
The Ogryn absorb overwatch with ease and then put everyone to shame by getting about TWENTY of the attacks to hit. O'Keefe also hits with almost all of his attacks and in end then end, the Errant is BROUGHT DOWN (and thankfully doesn't blow up), though just barely.
Picture Caption: Did... O'Keefe just punch out a Knight??
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Turn 2: Imperial Knight
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"Morgaine! Take the Backfield!"
Countess Morgaine twisted in her cabin, putting out the flames that burst from her control panel.
Damnable Guard, they had set up a trap and Darian had fallen right into it.
"Godfrey! I'll take care of them, you hold the front! We'll make them pay for Darian!"
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The Knight player is taken aback by the loss of the Errant, but realizes that all that plasma has to go.
The Crusader moves over and single handidly almost destroys all of the Scions (man, that thing has a LOT of guns).
The Paladin fires shots at the Ogryn, but their massive save just bounces off the shots.
The Knight tries an assault, but is just a bit short.
Picture Caption: Ouch, I shouldn't have put the Scions so close I guess.
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Turn 2: Imperial Guard
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How did this happen? thought Baron Oberheim. This was clearly not his fault.
His Scions had hit with precision and even though he had said with some trepidation and not nearly enough confidence that his plasma squads could destroy a Knight, the latter was clearly armed with some sort of heretical upgrades that kept his squads from doing their duty.
Anything else was unacceptable.
Panting, he ran into cover and swore to himself. If anyone knew that he had done the sensible, but somewhat unmanly thing of moving to a more secure location, he would not hear the end of it. Luckily, there wasn't a chance of...
A whinny brought his eyes to the back of the ruins and a squad of familiar horses with barely washed riders waved at him.
Emperor help me, the Baron thought, how did these things keep happening to him?
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Well, second time's the charm right?
I move up everyone else again, but I do have to move the Punisher up as it's out of range.
I also move the Baron out and he orders himself to double move into the corner out of sight. I decide to also bring out Lady Saigo in the backfield to protect the Baron and coincidentally ensure Behind Enemy Lines.
Jenna's buff goes off well again.
Shooting is sadly more lackluster. I do some damage to the Paladin, but not nearly enough. The Ogryn then charge in, but O'Keefe wiffs his charge and the big guys just don't do enough damage, managing to bring the Paladin down to around half its wounds, but then the Knight hits back and rips apart a few of the Ogryn.
Picture Caption: That did... not go as planned.
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Turn 3: Imperial Knights
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Lord Godfrey roared with satisfaction as his Reaper Chainsword cut another one of the brutes in half. Darian would have his revenge this day.
Glancing at his readouts, he saw that Morgaine had done her duty in the backfield.
All they needed to do was just hold out and grind them down...
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The Crusader goes over to root the Baron out of hiding and the Paladin walks out of the assault (oh yeah... they can do that...).
Mass shooting goes into the Ogryn, but they weather the storm, but just barely.
The Paladin assaults in and rips apart all but Hilda, who does no damage, but holds the line!
Picture Caption: Man, can Ogryn take a BEATING.
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Turn 3: Imperial Guard
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"Come out here and die like a man!"
Countess Morgaine sighed as the Guardsman she had chased into the ruins failed to emerge. Taunting was a last resort, but her Crusader was barely holding together and the last thing she wanted was to risk a knee actuator stomping through a roof.
But, if the situation needed it...
Then, a strange sound came over her comms, and she shook her head.
It must have been static, but she could have sworn it sounded like a horse...
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If you can't win with substance, win with numbers.
I pull Hilda out of assault and move up the Conscripts. I also move Lady Saigo out of cover to try and delay the Crusader.
Shooting is kind of lackluster, but it's enough to chip off some wounds from the Paladin, but I get a surprising number of hits from the Basilisks, which shatter the Crusader, leaving it on just a few wounds.
In assault, I bury the Paladin in Conscripts. The Conscripts get +1 attack from the Priestess and actually do a wound while the Paladin stomps some of them back.
Lady Saigo then charges in and I find out with some surprise that Rough Riders now have TWO wounds. The horses brave the Heavy Flamer and manage to stick just enough Hunting Lances in to fell the Crusader.
Picture Caption: Lady Saigo did WHAT?
At this point, the game is pretty over, but my opponent goes though the motions, stomping Conscripts while I go to camp objectives.
We call the game at the end of Turn 5, with the Paladin still ringed in by my tiny men.
RESULT: Imperial Guard Victory!
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Post-Game Thoughts: Wow, are Guard different.
The stars of the show were the Ogryn, who did great but then meh, but the first attack really did a number on them.
But, they wouldn't be able to do that without having buffs from Jenna, the Priestess, and O'Keefe and that's a lot of points tied up...
The Conscripts were fun tarpits at the end, but boy did they fall apart turn one when I had misplaced them.
The Basilisks also deserve mention as they did solid damage on the big Knights each turn and once parked behind cover were kind of ignored.
Surprisingly, the Scions didn't do that much damage and kind of fell apart too easy, although I probably misused them...
And of course, I did find it hilarious that Lady Saigo was able to put the candle on the cake by proving that Rough Riders can still do something...
This was a lot to digest and I hope it was at least an interesting read...
Comments and Critiques are greatly appreciated!
Oh, and btw... ELDAR are NEXT.
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Epilogue
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Jack stared in awe as the last Knight quit the field, knocking off the Conscripts clutching to its legs with ease.
They had just done the impossible.
"Not entirely impossible, Jack."
The voice brought him out of his shock-filled reverie and he saw Lady Jenna, looking downfield at Lord Commissar O'Keefe with his Ogryn celebrating with the Conscripts, Lady Saigo and a bedraggled looking Baron Oberheim.
"They are a rather odd bunch, but then again, aren't we all?"
Her tone of voice brought a quiver of fear over his spine and Jack muttered, "Captain... You can't be entertaining the thought of bringing them with us, are you?"
"It would be rather rude to force them to stay, Jack. The Knight will be back and without our help, even the mighty Seamus O'Keefe won't win that day."
Realizing that it was all but set in stone, Jack proffered, "But... there's a chance they won't agree..."
Then, as if on cue, O'Keefe shot a smirk in his direction and Jack could feel Lady Jenna respond to it in a way that made his very being spark with jealousy.
"Jack, I think that'll be the least of our worries..."
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