Second Sphere

Hobby Creations => Battle Reports => Topic started by: Restayvien on December 03, 2018, 05:19:36 PM

Title: [Kill Team: Battle-in-Brief] Khornate CSMs vs Drukhari
Post by: Restayvien on December 03, 2018, 05:19:36 PM
No, this was not a battle between foes wearing only their briefs, but my first (tutorial) game of Kill Team. I didn't take pictures or detailed notes, so I'll give you the abridged, noobie version of events! We used the simplest rules, omitting specialisms, stratagems etc. Command Points were used for re-rolls only. Despite this it was a close game, with several twists and turns.

The teams:

Khorne -
Skallagrimsson, Aspiring Champion w/Chainaxe (counts as Power Fist),
Baetal, Cuauhtémoc and Tlahuicole, 3x CSM w/Chainswords,
Kurghan, 1x CSM w/Chainsword and Icon of Khorne
Gul'Dukat, 1x CSM with Boltgun
Strogg, 1x CSM with Meltagun

Drukhari -
1x Leader w/black-hole generating doom pistol
1x Close combat champion with some kind of gauntlets
2x Long-range Heavy weapons
6x Infantry with Splinter Rifles

The opening scene:
A blasted city-scape, split two-thirds across the battlefield by a highway. The remnants of once-grand buildings face one another across the highway. Both shattered structures are surrounded by smaller ruins. There are two strategic points to hold, one in each structure within the respective player's deployment zones. Chaos have the initiative.


Deployment
The Drukhari deploy one heavy weapon standing sentry on the roof of the building they hold, giving him a commanding view of the entire highway. Another heavy weapon stalks down the side of the outer wall at ground level towards the edge of the highway. The leader heads up a team of three infantry on their right flank behind a ruined wall, and the champion leads another three infantry on their left flank.

Across the highway, the Khornate Marines prepare to assault across the open ground into the jaws of the Drukhari defense. Gul'Dukat stands ready to provide covering fire from his perch atop the large central structure. Kurghan advances alone on the left flank, whilst the brothers Cuauhtémoc and Tlahuicole ready themselves for the charge behind a ruined wall on the edge of the highway. Alongside them stands Strogg, meltagun at the ready. Baetal the Hound lurks within the central building, restained only by the orders of Skallagrimsson, who stands ready just inside the main entrance.

Shifting Priorities
After deployment, a game mechanic that I can't recall removes one of the strategic markers! The remaining maker is on the Khorne-controlled side of the highway, deep inside the central building. This was unexpected...for everyone. Tactical withdrawls don't come naturally to servants of Khorne, and their weapons are primarily geared for close combat, not for picking off advancing troops. The Drukhari however, are known for their quick reactions!

Chaos ensues (excuse the pun)... Kurghan, standing out in the open, too far from melee range and with the Drukhari advancing in force, has the presence of mind to fall back towards the rear of the central structure. Skalla' releases Baetal, who bursts forth from the front of the central building and makes it halfway across the highway towards a Drukhari carrying a particularly large cannon, before he is vapourised from above by a second cannon he failed to account for. Skalla thinks better of running out into the street and lies in wait near the objective. Gul'dukat fires his bolter from his vantage point at the heavy weapon on the opposite roof, but strikes the wall instead, spraying shrapnel into the Drukhari sniper and causing a fleshwound.

Cuauhtémoc and Tlahuicole retreat back into the centre to take advantge of the superior cover, whilst Strogg falls back to a better position further back on the right flank behind another small ruin, to wait for the inevitable advance.

The Drukhari leader and his companions sprint out from the ruins across the highway, spraying suppressive fire through the main entrance of the central building, but causing no harm. As they round the rear corner of the building, the menacing figure of Kurghan comes into view, possessed blade glowing with inner fury. The Drukhair leader raises his micro-black-hole generating pistol and unleashes reality-rending energy towards the red knight. For a moment, it is as though the weapon made but a tiny hole in Kurghan's chest plate. His sword lifts towards them of it's own volition, raising his limp arm with it. An instant later, Kurghan's millenia of battle comes to an abrupt end as he turned inside out and is pulled into oblivion.

On the opposite flank, the Drukhair champion and accomplices dash across the highway as they are peppered with bolter fire from Gul'Dukat. One of them is clipped and staggers, but on the whole they make it across the open ground unscathed.

This is something they quickly come to regret. They stop outside the range of Strogg's meltagun, but within the reach of the bloody twins Cuauhtémoc and Tlahuicole, who cut a bloody swathe through their ranks and push them back into the middle of the highway. With Kurghan dead however, the Drukhari leader and the others are free to advance down the side of the building, and emerge towards the spot where he fell, only metres from the objectve. Skalla' falls back to Strogg's location and bellows a challenge to hold their attention, lifting his humongous chainaxe aloft. He is rapidly reduced to molten slag and bone by the Drukhari sniper, his line of sight no longer obstructed.


Gul'dukat tires of watching the bloody twins re-surface the highway with the entrails of their enemies, and descends into the main chamber bellow to meet the invaders. He is immediately on the back foot as the Drukhari leader sprints across the room and lands a flurry of lightning-fast blows, but his sturdy power armour shrugs off the impacts and he swings back with his boltgun, bludgeoning the Drukhari's head down into his torso. He raises his weapon once more and rattles off rounds into the rubble-strewn chamber, reducing one of the Drukhari warriors to a crumbled pile of blades and flesh. He has but a moment to relish his vicotry before he is cut down by the return fire from the survivors' splinter rifles, torn asunder by a thousand shards of death.

Only six remain. The brother's stand over a broken Drukhari warrior in the centre of the highway, who has just enough energy and sanity left to roll away from each fatal blow. His skull will be added to the throne, before long.


Inside the main structure, two shadowy Drukhari warriors face off against the ominous figure of Strogg. In a flash, one warrior reloads and fires a burst of splinter fire, flaying the paint and runes from Strogg's armour, and giving him pause for thought. Strogg sees the second warrior reach to reload, and bring his meltagun to bear. The air wavers like a mirage as the warrior bursts into flame and evaporates in a screaming white-hot ball of gas.

Strogg and the remaining warrior tense instinctively, each waiting to see what the other will do. Neither is keen to do perish over...well...

A guttural voice cut the air.
"What's in the box?", growled Strogg.
The Drukhari's eyes narrowed, incredulity apparent in his icy tone.
"You don't know what you're protecting?"
Strogg shrugged, and gestured towards the remains of Skalla's feet.
"He did."
Strogg coughed, or laughed, the Drukhari couldn't tell. Outside, Strogg heard the whirring of chainblades striking rockcrete cease. There was a yelp, followed by a sickening sound akin to the crushing of a watermelon. He turned back to the Drukhari, or at least, to the spot where he had been standing. The box was gone.

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Review

An interesting first game!

Having to unexpectedly go on the defensive was tricky. With little ranged firepower and few places to take cover, I had to choose between abandoning the objective and charging across open ground, or taking cover and waiting for the attackers to arrive whilst the heavy weapons took pot shots at me.

I decided to send Baetal in mindlessly, which is pretty true to his character. I was hoping he would put a bit of pressure on the heavy weapons but he was taken out pretty much as soon as he stepped out from cover. The rest did try to take cover but I still lost a couple of men before the Drukhari got close.

I had hoped that Gul'dukat would draw fire from the heavy weapons, but he didn't seem to pose enough of a threat to be a priority target. This did enable him to survive until quite late in the game though (and kill the Drukhari leader).

Strogg fell back too far taking him out of the action for much of the game, though I'm glad he got a chance to get stuck in and contest the objective at the end. Loosing Skalla to a sniper from across the board sucked.

Cuauhtémoc and Tlahuicole did well, but got a bit side-tracked and wandered too far to protect the objective. Their power armour made them a very effective roadblock, which did prevent the objective from being overrun completely.

I shouldn't have deployed Kurghan by himself, but I had forgotten that his icon of Khorne would require his proximity to other models to have any effect. I put too much faith in his survivability... that black-hole pistol was a nasty surprise!

So Khornate Marines on the defensive was weird to play, and the two ranged warriors did the most to secure the objective. I suppose that's fitting given their demeanours. The others were more concerned with getting their hands on those pesky evil space-elves that actually completing their mission. Overall I was happy to force a draw against a much more experienced opponent with the advantage of numbers, but I made a fair few mistakes which I will need to learn from if I want my kill tem to perform better next time.