Skypehammer Round 10: You Know My Name

The campaign for Averment speeds towards its climax, but there's one more twist in the tail, and a few more heads as well ...

Imperial Guard vs Alpha Legion!

"Come on, brave soldiers of Averment! We are nearly there!"

Eernheart's voice rang cheerfully through the streets of the bombed-out settlement, although in truth he felt anything but. There wasn't much left of the village, just a central crossroads with a few STC domiciles huddled around it. At this moment, his armoured column was making its way through cratered rubble that two weeks ago had been someone's home. 

There was still hope, he reminded himself. Even though their sky was a spreading stain of black and violet tendrils as the warp bled into it. Even though the Imperium had abandoned any attempt to protect the world's populace outside the last free hive spire. Even though his PDF had been scattered and torn to shreds, even if their few remaining vehicles were running low on ammunition and fuel, even though he couldn't sleep at night from the pain of his cracked and half-healed ribs, there was still hope. Always hope.

The Space Marines were here. 

Warm pride glowed in Eernheart's chest at the thought of their grey armour. This was the Imperial way, fighting with total savagery to protect your homeworld. He couldn't ask for finer men and women than those who served under him, they were loyal and well-trained. Battle-hardened, too, those in the column with him. But they were nothing compared to the concentrated ferocity of the Space Wolves, fighting to protect a planet that wasn't even their own.  

Their commander, the feral-seeming Rune Priest called Snorri, had a plan. He was rallying everyone who was left to fend off whatever warp-born horrors the enemy could throw at them, and Eernheart had every faith in them. That's why he was at the head of this column, marching to rendezvous with the Space Wolves and synchronise their efforts. Snorri had even sent an honour guard to meet them half way, here at these coordinates. 

Eernheart squinted, peering into the debris to spot them. 

There - up ahead, coming out of cover from behind a wrecked power substation, exactly where they were supposed to be. Five of the grey-armoured marines, mere shadows in the vast desolation around them. One of them waved, then beckoned. 

"There, troopers! Behold the glory of the Adeptus Astartes!" Eernheart called, his voice rising to meet his spirits. "This is where the war for Averment turns!"

And then the shooting started. 

After the four-player spectacle of last week, we're back to a convention 1v1 game, with the usual campaign rules.

• This will be a 500pt battle
• All matched play rules apply, and all supplemental rules are available.
• Armies can only be selected from the models in my collection.
• No restrictions on how armies are built (i.e. detachments)
• Every army gets 5CP, no more or less.

As previously advertised, this battle was due to be the finale between the triumphant forces of The Cabal and the last stand of The Alliance. However, real life threw a spanner into the works and so we not only get a bonus game, but a new faction make their appearance (or were they here all along?). Monkey will be commanding the Imperial Guard, as always, while Kraken emerges from the shadows with his Alpha Legion

The 34th Outpost - Imperial Guard

++ Rejoice Guardsman! The struggle for Averment is nearly at it ends and victory is a statistical possibility. As your regiment has reached 91% martyrdom, you have been selected for a very special mission to link up with our astartes allies who have been nobly burning the planet to deny the heretics the chance to do so. No secure codes are required for your meeting, for who could mistake the Emperor's Angels?++

• Commander Q. Eernheart III - Company Commander (HQ) (Warlord)
  Laspistol, Chainsword, Frag grenades
  Warlord Trait: Master of Command
  Relic: The Laurels of Command
• Tank Commander (HQ)
  Battle Cannon, 1 x Heavy Bolters, 2 x Plasma Cannons, Hunter-Killer Missile
  Tank Ace: Up-Armoured
• A Squad - 10 x Infantry Squad (Troops)
  Sgt with chainsword and laspistol, 6 x lasguns, plasma gun, missile launcher
• B Squad - 10 x Infantry Squad (Troops)
  Sgt with chainsword and boltgun, 6 x lasguns, plasma gun missile launcher
• C Squad - 10 x Infantry Squad (Troops)
  Sgt with chainsword and laspistol, 6 x lasguns, grenade launcher, heavy bolter
• Hellhound (Fast)
  Heavy Flamer, Inferno Cannon

Warlord bonus: All aura abilities and weapon ranges increased by 3”

Points: 500 | Level: 31 |

What? Who? How? - Alpha Legion

+++ Comms interrupted +++ Signal lost +++

• Mufarius - Dark Apostle (HQ) (Warlord)
  Bolt Pistol, Accursed Crozius
  Warlord: Master of Diversion
  Relic: Hydra's Wail
  Prayers: Benediction of Darkness, Dark Zealotry
• 2 x Dark Disciples
  Close combat weapons
• 8 x Chaos Space Marines (Troops)
  Power maul & combi-bolter, 6 x boltguns, 1 x plasma gun 
• 1 x Helbrute (Elite)
  Helbrute Plasma Cannon, Missile Launcher
• 3 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)
  Hideous Mutations
• 5 x Havocs (Heavy)
  Chaincannon, Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher, Lascannon

Points: 499 | Level: 33 |

Mission and Deployment

We're playing Narrow the Search from Chapter Approved 2018, mostly because it was so fun last time. There is only one scoring objective on the board and 1 VP is awarded to the side with the most models within 18" (objective secured is irrelevant). At the end of the next round, this is narrowed to 15" and so on.

What's more, there is a 12" null zone around the centre, which means the Breach is causing everyone's invulnerable saves to fail.

Ambush!

The Imperial Guard set up first, putting A Squad and B Squad in parade drill in the centre, with Commander Eernheart in the middle of them.

The Tank Commander parks on the right flank, in their favoured position of directly behind a building.

And C Squad camp out in the crater to the left flank, with the Hellhound for company.

The Alpha Legion set up in characteristic fashion - entirely hidden from the Imperial Guard. With no good options, Monkey gives them the first turn ... whereupon Kraken uses his Master of Deception warlord trait to redeploy his units as follows:

The Havocs and Helbrute take cover on the right flank behind the plasma generator, overseen by Dark Apostle Mufarius and his Acolytes.

The Chaos Spawn extend out to the left flank, with the squad of Chaos Space Marines hunkered down behind a building (they won't be there for long!)

Turn 1 - Alpha Legion

One of the armoured marines brought up a huge, shoulder-slung cannon. The muzzle flashed silently. 

"What..." Eernheart managed, then leapt forward to shove the guardsman ahead of him down just as the shell shrilled over them. There was a hollow, metallic bang as it deflected off the flank of the company Hellhound just behind them. 

"Stray fire! Get down!" Eernheart shouted.  Was there something there? An ambush? What were the marines shooting at? Eernheart scanned the field desperately, but he could only see the reassuring bulk of their company tanks, and guardsmen standing around slack-jawed. "Check the perimeter! Assist the Astartes!"

There was something else with the marines, a massive machine. Armoured, painted in dark grey, it dwarfed the marines beside it. Blue light flickered on a firing port at its shoulder, then a rippling barrage of plasma streaked from it and into their position. Already on the ground, Eernheart felt nothing but the heat of it splashing down, fusing the rubble to baked glass. The woman just ahead of them wasn't so lucky, the blast rag-dolled her into the air in a shower of rubble and torn clothing. 

"Cover! Take cover!" he screamed, but nobody was listening. 

Immediately playing the Renascent Infiltration stratagem, the Chaos Space Marine squad slip away from the tabletop, ready to return from deepstrike.

The rest of the heavy guns stay still, and unleash all their fire upon the closest Infantry Squad and the Hellhound. But most of this fire goes wide of the mark, and a single guardsman is the only return for the barrage.

"This barrel provides very little cover."

The only straightforward action is the three Chaos Spawn, who are sent charging down the field as bullet fodder.

And that's it for the Alpha Legion - let see what the Guard have in store for them.

Alpha Legion 0 : 0 Imperial Guard

Turn 1 - Imperial Guard

Instead of forming an ordered firing line and using the cover of the buildings, his troops were dashing forwards, away from the still-firing marines. 

"There!" Bolsom, the sergeant of B squad was shouting. "Bring 'em down!"

"Die, mutant scum!" shouted a plasma gunner, letting a torrent of superhot gas off into the street ahead. 

The vox on his earpiece crackled. "Got visuals, warp beasts attacking from the cover of the buildings ahead." It was Mattus Dawn, commander of remnants of their armoured division. "Firing now," Eernheart heard, and then the thunderous roar of the Leman Russ echoed around the ruins. 

"Form up around the Hellhound," Eernheart yelled to the guard milling around him. "I want las lines on the front, keep 'em pinned so the launchers can do their work! Averment stands!"

Hugely confident of securing the first point for having the most bodies around the central objective, the Imperial Guard nonetheless all pile towards the centre.

A Squad tuck in behind the building, B Squad make room for the Hellhound, which trundles in between them, C Squad retreats out of Chaincannon range and guards the rear from Alpha Legion infiltrators.

Even the Leman Russ is obliged to move, as all guns train on the three Chaos Spawn.

The Guard shooting isn't much more effective than the Alpha Legion (I think everyone was playing night fighting rules). The first volleys from Tank Commander and heavy weapons succeed in taking down only two of the Chaos Spawn, leaving the last one out of range of the Hellhound's flames.

They may have been tempted to use a stratagem or two, but with the Hydra's Wail relic being played, there was a danger of losing additional VP for doing so, so Monkey kept his powder dry.

And so the Imperial Guard are denied a crucial VP for First Strike, but they do take a point for having almost their entire army within the opening radius of the objective.

Alpha Legion 0 : 1 Imperial Guard

Turn 2 - Alpha Legion

He caught a glimpse of the horrors ahead. A pack of twisted, muscular brutes, limbs thrashing madly as they went down under a lethal fusillade of las and shell fire. But one ran free round out of sight, disappearing into the broken streets to right. 

"Dawn! It's heading for your position, pull back! A squad, covering fire on the Leman Russ!" Eernheart shouted. His head was pounding, no less from the shockwave from the plasma blasts than the confusion of the marines shooting at them. But he'd be damned if he'd give them the satisfaction of seeing him reel. Even better, his troops were responding with text-book speed and confidence, snapping to his commands with splendid zeal. 

They had the men. They had the tanks. They had this fight. He turned to the nearest vox operator. "Contact the Space Wolves! Tell them they're firing on friendlies. Now!"

Then a line of hot lasfire sliced into the Hellhound and the world turned red. 

Muttering his prayers to the Dark Gods, the Dark Apostle swings around towards the centre. The Havocs and Helbrute move forward to get back into range of the enemy, and the Chaos Space Marines remain in deepstrike.

(rules note: we later realised that the Renascent Infiltration stratagem, means that the unit must reappear in the subsequent turn. But, as they could have simply stayed safely behind cover until Turn 2, Kraken offered a VP as penance and we played on)

Somewhere in its scrambled brain, the sole surviving Spawn realises that it can hide behind a plasma generator and avoid the overwatch for charging the Tank Commander.

"Tee hee"

The Havocs and Helbrute unleash their fire upon the Hellhound, and enjoy a good deal more success when it is utterly destroyed. This is bad news for every surrounding unit, since Hellhounds explode on a 4+. Even worse news is that the Alpha Legion play the Sabotaged Armoury stratagem, which adds +3 to the roll. So that's going up like a Roman Candle!

"Safest place in the battlefield."

Mortals wounds are dished out among the various squads, including three on the Company Commander Eernheart himself. As the infantry element of the Imperial Guard roll around on the grass, the remaining armoured vehicle find itself under surprise attack from a Chaos Spawn.

"Just you wait until 9th Edition..."

A last-ditch play of the Crush Them! stratagem (we also missed the FAQ that said this can only be done at the start of the Guard's charge phase - it's a new army for everyone) only managed to remove the Spawn's penultimate wound, and so the Leman Russ firepower was neutralised for the next turn.

Alpha Legion 0 : 1 Imperial Guard

Turn 2 - Imperial Guard

I'm on fire, Eernheart realised. That's why I can't breathe. He dropped and rolled, kept going until the roaring in his ears stopped. He knew the drill. 

He forced his eyes open. The Hellhound was a smoking mess, little more than burst fuel canisters and shredded tracks. The promethium within had been leaking, he realised. The tank must have been punctured by that first hit, and the marines had waited until they were all taking cover around it before igniting it with a second shot. 

A corporal helped him to his feet. His flak jacket was still smoking. Someone nearby was screaming as they burnt, curling up into a ball as the fire took them. Eernheart coughed. 

"Commander! Are you all right?"

"Get everyone into cover," he rasped, his voice harsh with smoke but still resonant. "We've been betrayed. And signal the Russ to fire on those marines!"

Patting out the flames, the Guard rally towards the objective. A Squad moves up to the centre, with its special and heavy weapons aimed at the Havocs, B Squad shelters behind the building and Eernheart shelters between them both.

C Squad moves to deal with the Chaos Spawn, as the Leman Russ reverses away from it.

The Guard shooting does its best, but without the Leman Russ' guns and the Hidden in Plain Sight legion trait modifying the hit rolls, they can only bring down a single Havoc.

The Chaos Spawn is much harder to overlook, however, and is reduced to a gibbering puddle with lasgun fire.

So the Guard have been on the receiving end so far, but they claim another point for the objective and have their boots firmly in the centre. The Alpha Legion will need to get a shift on to press their advantage.

Alpha Legion 0 : 2 Imperial Guard

Turn 3 - Alpha Legion

It was all too easy. 

The guard were still on the back foot, running to cover their flanks from the spawn. Iotus flicked hand signs to his fire team, and as one they moved out of cover in a low sprint, bolters steady. They took the lead guardsmen totally by surprise, mowing them down as they tried to flank the heavy fire team that was attracting their attention. 

It was no mere distraction, Iotus knew. They'd looted the chaincannon from a dead Purge marine a few weeks ago. There wasn't much ammo left for it, no more than a few brief bursts. That would still do. He heard the wet blarts it made as the Havocs ran it dry, and he knew from the screams it had done its job. 

There - there he was, their target. Commander Eernheart. Take him, and Averment's defence force had no head. That's what they'd been paid for, and paid well. A bonus if he was alive, as well - even more power to the Legion's coffers. If the Cabal had the kind of resources spare to buy the services of an Alpha Legion infiltration squad, they had this war well in hand. 

Not his problem, of course, a contract was a contract. The hard part had been ambushing the Space Wolf force without alerting either their parent force or the incoming PDF, but that was already done. Clad in stolen armour, Iotus led his fireteam to the attack. 

He worked the tonguepad in his helm, biting out a staccato code. "Target sighted," he signalled. "Engaging with full squad."

And so the XX Legion presses forward: the Apostle and Acolytes run up the centre (his prayers are mostly Benediction of Darkness for a -1 to hit. Which, considering they're also Alpha Legion, and mostly out of sight, and characters that can't be targeted, seems excessive).

The Havocs and Helbrute continue to move forward, now in Chaincannon range of the guardsmen. And, appearing out of nowhere, the squad of Chaos Space Marines arrive close to the centre on the other side of the Imperials, completing the crossfire.

Sure enough, all of A Squad are cut to pieces by the small-arms fire, and most of B Squad fall to the deadly Chaincannon. The heavier guns don't fare so well, as all the shots bounce off the armour of the Leman Russ (one plasma shot cooking a wound off the Helbrute for good measure).

And their sharp shooting has the unfortunate consequence of denying the traitor astartes anything to charge - which means they can't get any closer to the central objective for the third turn in a row.

Alpha Legion 0 : 2 Imperial Guard

Turn 3 - Imperial Guard

"I can't reach the Space Wolves! Something's jamming our signal, I can't tell them..."

"They aren't Space Wolves!" Eernheart yelled at the panicking vox operator. He'd just seen their grey armour, the pelts draped round their shoulders. But Space Wolves didn't advance in cold silence, gunning down guardsmen with single bolt shots. They ran forward howling, they eviscerated their foe with blade and bolter. Not this impersonal culling. Surely? 

He flinched as a bolt round blew a neat hole in the wall just by his head. Those silent killers were here for him, he somehow knew. No point trying to run, they had him where they wanted him. He'd have to fight clear. But how? They were pinned behind this diner. They couldn't even see the enemy.

The Leman Russ rumbled towards them, and a pillar of smoke streaked towards it from the marines' firing position - a krak missile. Eernheart held his breath, but the projectile glanced off the tank's sloping armour, struck the ground behind it and detonated in an orange fireball. 

Backlit by that blast, the Leman Russ returned fire. 

With some dressing of the ranks, Eernheart summons C Squad to line up in front of him, and B Squad behind, all of them in range of scoring the objective, but as far from the Chaos Space Marines as possible.

The Leman Russ remains still, and uses the Hail of Fire stratagem to inflict maximum firepower upon the Havocs. The whole squad is wiped out, with three more wounds on the Helbrute for good measure.

The Guard's small-arms are ineffective against the power armour before them, but they do score another point and have removed most of the Alpha Legion's big guns.

Alpha Legion 0 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 4 - Alpha Legion

"...own," crackled the vox. "Repeat, tar... ...ear to advan..." 

"Get up!" Eernheart shouted, trying to keep the crack out of his voice. An Imperial Officer led by example. Neither fear nor injury would silence them. He got to his feet, peered through the shattered windows of the diner. 

The marine weapons team were down, right enough. Their walker was still there, but the plasma weapon on its shoulder was blazing dangerously. That was proof that these were traitors, true Space Wolves wouldn't abuse a plasma gun until it overheated. 

The blazing cannon still managed a spurt of crackling energy that streaked past the diner and spattered the front of the tank. And in that split second distraction, that line of grey, bolter-armed marines appeared in the crossroads ahead. One would fire, then dart forward as his companions covered him. 

His front line withered. The vox operator he'd just been talking to toppled in a welter of blood, his face gone in a crimson detonation. 

They had to get out of here. 

A quick turn for the heretics: the Dark Apostle runs up behind the central objective, and the Chaos Space Marines move towards the Guardsmen, shooting from the hip and dropping three of them.

The Helbrute continues its uneven artillery duel with the Leman Russ, and actually manages to knock four hull points off the machine (although, with the Valhallan, that counts for little).

So ends the Alpha Legion's turn - and they actually have more models in the scoring zone for once. It's now up to the Imperials to evict them.

Alpha Legion 0 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 4 - Imperial Guard

"Front rank! Fire! Second rank!" Eernheart broke off, choked by a coughing fit. The smoke was still burning his lungs. No! He wouldn't go out like this! "Fire!" he croaked. 

Las fire sparked. The armoured marines shrugged it off. The Russ spat fire, a shell landing right in the middle of them. They strode through it. The fire team next to Eernheart got a missile away, it flashed along the street and right into the chest of one of those false wolves. That took him down, at least! And then he heard the tone of a plasma gun completing its coolant cycle, and shuddering volleys of white-blue fireballs took down another one of them. 

Arcing fire hosed past their heads - the hull guns on the Leman Russ, strafing the street and turning it into a river of death. Heavy bolter rounds threw dirt and dust into the air, then gouts of plasma lit that dust up so the little square glowed like the inside of an electric volcano. 

The remaining marines slipped through it like eels, bolt guns cracking back as they came.

Aside from some shuffling to ensure their Company Commander remains screened, there is little movement from the Guard, who are going to let their guns to the talking.

The Alpha Legion are out of focus, as they're more than 12" away.

Unfortunately, those guns don't have very much to say. Despite the Leman Russ adding its firepower, the Guard only manage to remove three Chaos Space Marines.

That leaves the squad very much combat-effective and, crucially, outnumbering in the scoring zone. The Alpha Legion take their first VP of the game ... but have they left it too late?

Alpha Legion 1 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 5 - Alpha Legion

"Look out, sir," said the corporal who'd helped him up before as he stepped in front of Eernheart, lasgun blazing. 

At short range, the marines moved with shocking grace. They seemed to be one creature, not five. One paused to reload, a guardman sprang up to shoot it, but the next had anticipated the moment almost before it happened and shot the soldier in the chest with a bolt pistol. A third fired his bolter right into the mouth of a missile launcher just as the team managed to reload it. The weapon blew apart, maiming the crew as their killer slipped past them, and the one behind him executed the two men on the ground with scarcely a glance. 

A squad's sergeant dropped his lasgun and pulled the start cord on his chainsword. One of the marines shot it out of his hand, a second one shot the sergeant in the knee and a third jammed a knife into his throat as he collapsed, but before he hit the ground. 

Eernheart primed a grenade and threw it, but the marine simply knocked it away with the barrel of his bolter. It exploded on the roof of the diner, shrapnel tinkled down in all directions.

 Behind them, plasma fire was pouring into the Leman Russ again, and its turrets were tracking to take out the shooter. They were too close for shells anyway.

"Think you'd better go, sir," the corporal said, shooting point blank at the armoured, whirling killers.

"We'll cover you."

Still coughing, Eernheart ran.

The Dark Apostle continues to lurk behind cover and say his prayers, confident that his subordinates have this well in hand. The Chaos Space Marines move menacingly forward, intent on taking the fight to the hapless guardsmen.

In the Shooting Phase, the Helbrute has one last attempt at the Leman Russ, and ends up doing more harm to himself with his permanently-overcharged plasma cannon. The Chaos Space Marines are far more formidable in rapid-fire range, and coolly gun down B Squad before charging into C Squad.

Once the dust settles, Eernheart and a sergeant are the only survivors. Then the sergeant remembers he has some urgent potatoes to peel back at the barracks, and it's only Eernheart left.

Alpha Legion 1 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 5 - Imperial Guard

A flash and a boom - the plasma fire stopped. The Leman Russ had won another shooting match. If he could just reach it... he slipped, ankle twisting on a loose rock, and stumbled forward, colliding with the side of a building. 

"Get in!"

It was Commander Dawn, shouting at him from the turret hatch and firing past with a las pistol. 

"Can't..." Eernheart coughed. His foot, his damned foot, he couldn't get up.

The marines were coming.

With just two HQ units left on the field, the Guard are praying for an early finish. Company Commander Eernheart, unsurprisingly, runs for his life.

The Tank Commander splits fire between the Helbrute and Chaos Space Marines, dropping one of the heretics and reducing the Helbrute to scrap-iron.

But the Alpha Legion are now firmly in control of the objective.

We roll to see if the game continues ... and it does!

Alpha Legion 2 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 6 - Alpha Legion

First one, then the next, sliding precisely into place as they rounded the corner. The pointman showered the turret of the tank with bolt shells, and Dawn vanished back down the hatchway. The turret was already pivoting back, and the cannon boomed, but the shot was wild, tearing a great hole in the building beside him instead of the enemy.

Then tank's engine roared and it started to pull away. Why? Why didn't they keep shooting?

"Wait," Eernheart whispered. He still had his laspistol, at least. His father, Quietus Eernheart II, had passed it down to him on his eighteenth birthday. Ebony stock inlaid with gold, a beautiful piece. He lifted it, aimed it at the marine who was still firing on the tank, carefully sighted at the green-glowing lenses in his armoured helm. 

A ceramite gauntlet closed round his hand with steely force, breaking his fingers as it lifted and squeezed upwards. Eernheart found his voice again as the marine lifted him off his feet, but only to scream. 

The four remaining Alpha Legionaries walk up to Eernheart and empty their boltguns into him, before turning their attention to the Leman Russ.

The Chaos Space Marines dodge the overwatch and start beating upon the hull, having secured Slay the Warlord to bring things level.

"Just leave the keys in the ignition!"

Alpha Legion 3 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 6 - Imperial Guard

"They've got him! They got Eernheart!" Gunner Raphaeli was shouting. 

"You know what the commander said," Driver Mazor shouted back, eyes fixed on the vision slit. "Get the tank out of here, don't look back."

"But..."

"We've got our orders!" Mazor screamed. Raphaeli realised he was weeping. "We get out of here! We can't lose another tank!"

There's nothing left for the Tank Commander to do but back off at full speed, aiming for a crater to make the subsequent charge more difficult.

But at the end of this round, the Alpha Legion rack up another VP for the objective, and pull into the lead - as the game continues!

Alpha Legion 4 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 7 - Alpha Legion

"At least bring us round," Raphaeli begged. "Let me take them down, give them some payback!"

But Mazor was done listening. The Leman Russ gathered speed, rocking across the broken ground. Even then, it was a close thing. The marines kept pace with them for a while, loping along at an inhuman pace, testing the tank's armour with close range bolt shots. At one point, one of them even jumped on to the hull and nearly got the rear exhaust cover off, but Mazor slammed his foot down and the marine had to jump clear. 

Then they were away. 

That's a phantom Helbrute on the map there, sorry! Typical Alpha Legion trickery...

When the Chaos Space Marines make their charge this time, they lose one of their squad to overwatch. This doesn't endear them to the armoured machine, and they actually manage to tear off a few armoured panels (the tank is finally dropping a bracket).

But with nothing else to counter, the Guard are now a spent force.

Alpha Legion 4 : 3 Imperial Guard

Turn 7 - Imperial Guard

"Mission accomplished," Iotus signalled across the vox. The guard were dead, their commander incapacitated. 

"Collect him," Nufarious signalled back. "Our client is impatient."

Damnation! Iotus hadn't realised the Apostle was even on the field. The tank had escaped, despite his team's best efforts. There would be a reckoning for that. He grimaced inside his helm, then flipped hand signals to the rest of his squad. 

They turned back, giving up the chase, and the Russ accelerated away in a cloud of exhaust. Ah well - once they'd interrogated the Commander, they'd know the likely position of the rest of the armour soon enough. The Cabal could deal with them in their own time.

"Leader, we have a problem." Zophus, his second, was using a redundant secondary vox channel and an old, private code. It must be something bad. 

It was. The imperial commander wasn't where they'd left him. Their target was gone. 

And so it proves. The Tank can rev its engines at the Chaos Space Marines, but it can't bring them down, nor can it dislodge the Dark Apostle from the centre. He did very little all battle - but he scored a lot of VPs doing it!

With another objective point and Linebreaker into the bargain, it turns into a conclusive win for the heretics.

Alpha Legion 6 : 3 Imperial Guard

Victory to the Alpha Legion!

Mattus Dawn watched as the marines spread out, their silent deliberation terrifying to watch. This was going to be close, very close.

He hadn't done any field work for a while. But there had been a time when he'd trained for the Scions. Trained as an infiltration operative for nearly a year, pushing himself to extremes. He hadn't made the program in the end, something he felt in his mature age had probably saved him from an early death in some improbable alien warzone, but he'd kept the skills all this time. 

Just as well.

Slipping out of the tank as it drew the marines away from Eernheart had been a gamble, but it had paid off. He'd had time to grab the unconscious commander, drag him through the hole the Russ's last shot had torn in the generator building and take cover before they'd returned. Now he just needed to escape detection, wait for them to leave, drag Eernheart back to wherever the Imperium was calling their lines now and survive the warp-blighted darkness while he did it. 

Mattus gritted his teeth, checked his bolt pistol was loaded and drew his bayonet. It was going to be a very long night. 

Locker Room

Quite the comeback, and ultimately, it all swung on whether the game ended early or late. This seemed to showcase both armies at their best - the Alpha Legion at their more deceptive and duplicitous, the Guard doggedly holding on despite taking punishment.

The Guard did suffer from an absence of targets - despite the low buildings, the battlefield did block a lot of sight lines - as well as not having enough troops to both screen the vehicles and grab the objective. Also, that -1 to hit is punishing for Guard shooting.

As for Chaos, I was dubious about the pick 'n mix selection of weapons for the Havocs, but in a battle this small, it seemed to do the job. Less effective was the Helbrute plasma cannon - I've never been sold on it, and it just doesn't seem to match either shooting with lascannons or storming forward with fists.

As for the rest of the Alpha Legion - the more I see of them, the more I like them. I'm not sure my hastily-improvised squad can be counted as the start of a collection, but it's a hard temptation to pass on.

But with another hiding for The Alliance, the campaign for Averment really has reached its last throw of the dice - the grand finale will take place next week!