By Gabriel Schrock and Jon Mattison INTRODUCTION
Gabe: First and foremost, I chose to do this battle report because I wanted a chance to try out the Jungles of Death rules we’ve published in this issue. The JoD rules have proven to be a real treat and I highly recommend you try them out for yourself. Secondly, I don’t often get a chance to play any games of Warhammer 40,000. I have various excuses but I am ultimately to blame for my failure in the gaming aspect of this fi ne hobby. This battle report gave me the necessity to get out there and actually play a game of 40k, nothing bad
about that at all! The experimental nature of this battle report meant I could try out some unit choices I normally would not consider; namely my megasaur and Inquisitor Lord. Lastly, my guard are not traitor guard! Don’t you ever accuse them of such foul heresy! The 317th are hardcore loyalists. “But why are they fi ghting Imperial Fists?” you ask. This opportunity allows me to once again bring up my favourite aspect of 40k; the background. With a little forethought you can justify the use of distinctive units and out of the ordinary clashes.
In this unique case Jon’s Imperial Fists have been mislead by a rival inquisitor for his own selfi sh gains. The 317th has recently been requisitioned by Inquisitor Masamune to assist in the search of a holy relic, but their Colonel has been taken hostage in an effort by the rival inquisitor to gain leverage. As the Imperial Fists await Thunderhawk retrieval the 317th must mount a rescue mission or risk losing their adored commander!
THE SCENARIO
The Jungles of Death rules mesh very well with Cities of Death missions. For this game we chose to play the gamma level Relief Force advanced mission from Cities of Death, simulating the desperate nature of the rescue and holdout of
the Imperial Fists. We set up the terrain in a mutually agreeable manner. When games are played in a strictly non-competitive manner I prefer to set up terrain for aesthetic reasons, regardless of ramifi cations. The Imperial Fists goal is to hold the ruin in the centre with the captured colonel and the Imperial Guard need to capture aforementioned ruin. Due to the Imperial Fists being the defenders they get an extra stratagem, giving them a total of three. ARMY SELECTION
Gabe: My goal is to cleanse the centre clearing of any enemy presence and have at least one scoring unit remaining in the centre by the end of the turn. As Imperial Guard are inherently weaker in close combat against Space Marines, and I imagine my opponent will be dug in like a tick, it would benefi t me to have some dedicated assault units to help clear out and hold the ruin with the abducted colonel.
Fortunately, I have already decided that I will be using my megasaur and Masamune and his retinue are designed for close combat. It is at this point that the Brush Clearer stratagem caught my attention and I formed the core of my strategy. I will use my megasaur in conjunction with the Brush Clearer stratagem to clear a path for the bulk of my forces. With my monstrous creature backed up by a Demolisher, Leman Russ and Masamune in his Chimera, theoretically, I can deliver a potent force directly into the objective while benefi ting from the jungle’s line of sight obstruction.
Likewise, I will also deploy my Grenadier squads
in the thick of the jungle so I can better attack on my terms. Hopefully I can hide them 6” in the jungle and jump out when I’m ready for a combined attack. My fi nal stratagem choice is Master Snipers for my counts-as Ratling squad. With some luck I will be able to pick a deployment zone with a hill so their precision fi re can be used to greater effect and help support the rest of the force’s advance toward the objective.
Jon: The Imperial Fist army and accompanying army list were provided as-is, borrowed from another club member named Jeremy. It is safe to assume that this list is designed for the traditional missions provided in the 40k rulebook and therefore isn’t as tuned to the special scenario we were playing. As the saying goes, deal with it and move on.
So a week back, knowing what my army list was and reading through the Jungles of Death ruleset I got a refresher on the history and fl uff of the Imperial Fists and was happy to fi nd that their specialty was attacking and defending fortifi cations. I also read, “The Imperial Fists believe in purity and the ‘warrior spirit within’ above all else and will not retreat even when it may be benefi cial.” I decided I would let this direct my tactical decisions in the game.
To begin with, the Relief Force scenario gave me a free stratagem which had to be chosen from the Key Clearings list. I chose Sacred Ground. While several of the others were tempting I felt that having a Stubborn unit guarding the prisoner was well in line with the fl uff I discussed earlier.
For my standard 2 stratagems there were a lot of great options. Despite being able to castle up and adopt a defensive position from the beginning I was feeling a little under-manned and under-gunned. I realize that this is usually the case with Marine armies, but I felt it even more since so many points had been spent on vehicles.
For my fi rst stratagem I chose Tunnels. If you haven’t read the JoD ruleset yet, Tunnels is more-or-less the equivalent of Sewer Rats from Cities of Death. Since my two large tactical squads each had a lascannon, a plasma gun and Tank Hunters, I liked the idea of placing multiple tunnel entrances around the board in such a way that Gabe would have an extra variable to deal with. Any of his units covering or blocking Tunnel entrance points would be less coming to shoot me; and if he ignored them? Surprise! Bang, bang, kaboom!
For my second stratagem I chose Tanglefoot. I figured that something that changed all Diffi cult Terrain to Dangerous Terrain was a good thing. Here again, force Gabe to make decisions; stick to the paths? or run the risk of the dangers of the jungle?
Battle Report: The Mostaza Subterfuge