After a short hiatus, I am back. I have also used the time away to have a think about the layout of these battle reports and how to revamp them a little to make it easier to find the important points of the battle from the mundane. We'll have to see how that works out as I do tend to waffle a little and if I do, someone please shout at me!
My return to the battlefields saw my Space Wolves against an Imperial Guard army of which I do not have a copy of the list used. I shall therefore just run through the army list I used. The battle was a 2,000 point battle to the death or, as actually occurred, our time ran out and had to judge the contest on kill points.
Space Wolves - 2000pts.
Logan Grimnar
Rune Priest - Runic Armour, Chooser of the Slain, Murderous Hurricane, Tempests Wrath
Wolf Scouts - 6 men, Meltagun
Wolf Guard - Arjac Rockfist
TDA, Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw
TDA, Combi-Melta, Power Fist
TDA, Storm Bolter, Power Fist
TDA, Storm Bolter, Power Weapon, Cyclone Missile Launcher
Grey Hunters 1 - Meltagun, Standard, Power Fist, Rhino
Grey Hunters 2 - Flamer, Standard, Power Weapon, Drop Pod
Grey Hunters 3 - Flamer, Standard, Drop Pod
Grey Hunters 4 - Meltagun, Standard, Rhino
Land Speeder x2 - Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer
Long Fangs - 3 x Missile Launcher, 2 x Lascannon.
Deployment
The Imperial Guard deploy first, spreading their numbers across their table edge, with high numbers of troops flanking four Leman Russ tanks, of which two were part of a squadron and the other two were lone tanks.
The Space Wolves deployment saw one Land Speeder deployed along with both of the Rhinos and the squad of Long Fangs. All of these units were deployed to the right hand flank of the Wolves and mostly covered by a lone building in the their deployment area.
The Space Wolves steal the initiative and the drop pods fall to start things off.
Let Battle Commence
The aim with the drop pods was to strike hard and fast at the tanks lined up in the middle of the Guard deployment. The first pod with Logan and Wolf Guard came down exactly where required, immobilising and therefore destroying one tank of the squadron, while the other tank was left unable to shoot the following turn. The second pod scattered far enough away to keep Arjacs hammer from reaching it, leaving two active tanks on the loose, which wasn't part of my initial plan, but ultimately not too far away.
Heavy Weapons fire from the Long Fangs was sent in two directions - frag missiles at the troops while the lascannons tried unsuccessfully to damage the tanks further. The rhinos moved forward toward the main nucleus of Guard troops and popped some smoke, while the Land Speeder used the tanks as cover.
One thing to learn about terminators is that if they face enough firepower, whether it is AP2 or not, eventually they will fall if faced with massed guns. This was their downfall. As for Arjacs pod, he lost pretty much all of his squad thanks to plasma cannons on the tank I had hoped they would destroy. It is a pretty big hope to try and land a drop pod within 6" of its target. Fortune certainly didn't favour the brave at this point.
Back on the right flank, one rhino was immobilised, the other one still fully operational. By the start of the third turn all Space Wolf reserves had arrived. The Scouts came in behind a few of the troops, shooting then assaulting then sweeping the squad before them for the loss of one man. The command squad fell to flamer and bolter fire, with a heavy weapon squad falling in an identical manner.
After the initial barrage his squad had taken, Arjac fought back resolutely, blowing the battle cannon off of a Leman Russ, and surviving concentrated fire from every conceivable weapon on the table from lascannons and plasma cannons to lasguns and rifles. Shame he ended up losing a wound to a las pistol in the end, but he still showed his titanic might enough to be proud of his performance.
Logan wasn't so lucky, while after smashing off a plasma cannon, died to a quick round of shooting along side his Wolf Guard. It was a fairly quick demise for my flagship drop pod, especially one that cost in the region of 400pts. The lesson here is not to leave any unit, no matter its size, isolated for any period of time, especially in an open location where fire can be easily concentrated upon them.
One Land Speeder was also reduced to scrap metal by a Leman Russ, as a deep striking squad of Storm Troopers attempted to land close enough to the Long Fangs to take them out. The squad scattered out of range and was quickly eliminated the following turn by the remaining Long Fangs with frag missiles and lascannon fire.
The game ended on turn 4 due to time constraints. The result, based on kill points, was a 5-2 victory in favour of the Wolves. The main lessons learnt from this encounter are that distance with the Imperial Guard must be closed down rapidly (drop pods help with this immensely, maybe bikes would also be beneficial in this aspect too), isolated units will generally equal dead units pretty quickly, and Arjac with his 2+/3++ save is pretty difficult to fell.
