My second game at this years (final) King in the North pitted my old lead Harlequins against George's beautiful Ultramarines!
Masque of the Red, Yellow, Blue, Green and Purple Death
Same list as the last game obviously:
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Troupe Master leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Shadowseer leading a Troupe of five Harlequins
- Death Jester
- 2 Skyweaver Jetbikes (Haywire Cannon and Zephyrglaives)
- 2 Skyweaver Jetbikes (Haywire Cannon and Zephyrglaives)
- Spiritseer
- Wraithlord (Bright Lances and Ghostglaive)
- Wraithlord (Bright Lances and Ghostglaive)
1,250 points
Ultramarines
A balanced list from George with a little bit of everything:
- Captain leading 6 Bladeguard Veterans
- Phobos Librarian leading 3 Eliminators
- Terminator Chaplain leading 5 Terminators
- Techmarine
- 5 Assault Intercessors
- 5 Hellblasters
- 3 Aggressors
- Gladiator Lancer
- Redemptor Dreadnought
Mission and deployment
The mission for everyone in the second game of the day was another fun one: five objectives on the table but at the end of each battleround players score a number of VPs equal to the battleround number, then, after scoring, one objective disappears in each round.
George opts to centralise his forces somewhat. He hides his Lancer and Redemptor behind some convenient rocky outcrops. The Librarian's presence means that the Eliminators can't be shot at from outside 12" away (matching my Death Jester's ability, but with considerably more firepower), so they take cover in the rocks in front of the Gladiator. The Captain and his Bladeguard start just to their right, ready to head into the midfield and contest the objectives under the covering fire of the snipers.
One Troupe waits behind rocks on my right...
...and the other two are in the open on my left.
George wins the roll-off for first turn (though he's not sure he wants it!)
Ultramarines - turn 1
The Captain leads his Bladeguard towards the midfield objective on my left flank.
The Hellblasters move towards the cover of some bushes to try to put some fire on one of the Harlequin Troupes on my left, but they're out of range.
On George's left, the Aggressors and Redemptor move cautiously out of cover, giving space for the Lancer to swap sides and still put shots into my lines; unfortunately the only unit visible is one of the Troupes on my left and the huge anti-tank gun can only kill one of the killer clowns.
Harlequins - turn 1
I see an opportunity for an aggressive push here! Firstly, the Troupe targeted by the Lancer on my left run forwards to take cover behind the rocks and claim the left-midfield objective.
On my right, another Troupe also run forwards to grab the right-midfield objective.
In the centre, the Wraithlords emerge from cover to target the dangerous Lancer
They're assisted by the Jetbikes, one of whom toe onto the centre objective.
The Troupe in front of the bikes have advanced and then manage an 8" charge into the Hellblasters (that's costs me a CP to advance-and-charge).
Unsurprisingly, the murder clowns make short work of the marines. Because only one of the Assault Intercessors is on the Ultramarines home objective, I've managed to steal it, and this means that at the end of the round I'm controlling every single objective!
At the very end of the turn my left-midfield objective (near the Bladeguard) disappears.
Score: 5-0 to the Harlequins
Ultramarines - turn 2
Oath of Moment goes onto one of the Wraithlords, and this time the Lancer puts its anti-tank gun to good effect and destroys the colourful walker. Not only that, but its beam hit a fuel cell and it explodes, showering mortal wounds onto the nearby Spiritseer, Death Jester and the second Wraithlord.
On George's right, the Captain and Bladeguard advance onto the rocks, eyeing up a short 4" charge onto my Troupe...
...however I spend a CP on Weaving Stride to let the Troupe dance back 6" which takes them out of reach!
The Assault Intercessors and Aggressors target the ululating Troupe who'd stolen their home objective, reducing them to so much colourful mulch on the ground...
The Redemptor and Eliminators turn their guns onto the two units of Jetbikes; under the hail of fire three of the four machines fall to the floor.
Harlequins - turn 2
On my left, the feinting Troupe leap gracefully back on top of the rock in front of the Bladeguard. The objective there may have disappeared, but I'd like to tie these guys up and put some hurt on them. They go on to kill five of the six Bladeguard, losing only three of their number in the counterpunch.
Just left of centre I advance another Troupe towards the Libby and his Eliminator escort. I can't shoot them, but I can charge them using a CP on Striking Stride and kill them! It's only a 6 or 7" charge but I fail and (just like last game) I've now got a Troupe swinging in the breeze; ooops!
On my home objective, I reposition slightly and the Wraithlord reduces the Lancer down to just a few wounds left.
On my right, the last Troupe move towards the Redemptor. It's a tough target but I have a few tricks up my sleeves.
First they throw grenades, then aim three Fusion Pistols (in melta range) at the machine and cause a lot of pain (I forget exactly how much).
One thing to note: at the end of my movement phase, the Terminators used Rapid Ingress to teleport into my backfield, so I get the distinct feeling that the Redemptor is going to be avenged very soon...
At the end of the turn I score 6 points for being on 3 objectives, against just 2 for George for reclaiming his home objective. Then the central objective disappears!
Score: 11-2 to the Harlequins
Ultramarines - turn 3
The Assault Intercessors and Aggressors move to polish off their second Troupe and do so once again without needing to charge in to finish the job.
The melee on my left continues with the last Bladeguard falling and the Captain taking a couple of wounds, but he strikes down the tricksy Elves in return.
The Terminators move forwards onto the midfield objective and hose down the Troupe in front of them.
The Lancer's fire at the last Wraithlord was effective but didn't quite kill it. I think someone also killed the last Jetbike too, but can't remember who - probably the Eliminators and Librarian.
Harlequins - turn 3
I was in a bit of a pickle at the start of the turn as although I had a comfortable lead in VPs, I only have three models left on the table!
I can see an interesting way to get more VPs however. But it'll need a lot of dominoes to fall...
The Death Jester moves even further forwards and shoots at the Assault Intercessors, killing a couple of them. Importantly, this means they have to take a Battle Shock test at -1, which the fail. That means that their OC is now zero and the Ultramarine home objective is held only by the Techmarine.
The Wraithlord moved forwards too and managed to finally take out the Lancer opposite it with his Brightlances. His Shuriken Catapults put a couple of wounds on the Aggressors in front of him. The machine then charges the Aggressors and successfully kills all three (with some lucky dice rolling), which enables him to consolidate forwards onto the Ultramarine home objective, out-OC'ing the Techmarine!
George scores just 3 VPs for the objective under the Termies and I score 6 for my owning both home objectives!
At the end of the round the objective under the Terminators disappears.
Score: 17-5 to the Harlequins
Ultramarines - turn 4
The Captain tries to run back towards the action, but he's too far away to do anything.
Similarly, the Terminators advance towards my own home objective but they're too far away to do anything, and the Spiritseer holding it is hiding behind the rocks.
He knows his days are numbered!
Meanwhile, the Eliminators shoot down the Death Jester and the very angry Techmarine runs into the injured Wraithlord and bashes it to the ground.
Harlequins - turn 4
Only one model left for me now - the Spiritseer gets as far away from the advancing Terminators as he can whilst still holding the home objective.
That'll be 4VPs each for holding our home objectives, before the Ultramarine home objective disappears
Score: 21-9 to the Harlequins
Ultramarines - turn 5
The Terminators go into the Assault Doctrine to advance and charge the Spiritseer taking 5VPs for owning the last objective and tabling the Harlequins, but it's too late!
Final score: 21-14 to the Harlequins
Locker room
That was great fun! If I'd not managed a fairly freaky steal of George's home objective at the bottom of both turns 1 and 3 then the score would have been 18-17 to him! To be honest, my biggest advantage by far was going second, so I could constantly sneak onto objectives (before being shot off again the following turn). Given that was how I lost my first game I'm OK to benefit this time!
George was a great opponent, and I hope that he gained some comfort by tabling my army. I do think that the ability to win a game on VP despite losing your entire army is a good system as it enables the other player to find their own personal win condition (and satisfaction) by wiping out the enemy. I do think it's really important to not view 40k as a zero-sum game where only one player can win.
Onto the last game of the day, where I'll be facing T'au...
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