Ok, so when we last left off Tim had just finished his first turn and had only been able to slow my Land Raider down a bit. The two drop pods containing Wolf Guard Terminators with Frost Axes and Storm Shields thundered through the atmosphere and slammed into the battlefield landing around the main building containing Tim's army but both drop pods suffered from a major scatter. The first almost pinned the Land Raider between the edge of the table and terrain and the second one almost ended up off the table! The Space Wolves were out of range to flame anyone and I obviously couldn't charge, but I forgot that I could move them as normal gaining some valuable cover!!
Turn two came and Tim opened fire upon my Terminator units using his orders to good effect he decimated them! No where had I rolled so many 1's before in a cluster resulting in a drop pod exploding and having one Terminator from that unit survive the hail of fire directed at him. The other unit weren't so lucky and were wiped from the table with it's drop pod remaining in play. (at least for now...)
The one remaining Space Wolf was facing some pretty heavy odds. He conducted himself well but was swiftly dealt with by the guard platoon command and commisar in close combat. After slaying every man around the Commissar he was felled in combat by the Commissar.
The rest of the turn Tim just focussed his fire upon the Land Raider (with an assist from
Jason) again failing to do it any harm....
Logan and the Devastators finally decided it was time to jump into the fray and Logan gave the devastators relentless as they focussed the fire from four multimeltas upon the nearest tank failing to do it any harm..... Meanwhile the attached Wolf Guard had fired his Plasma Pistol at a nearby guard unit using the Long Fang Leader's ability allowing them to be charged by the Long Fangs.
After Logan single handedly wiped out the squad he and the Long fangs followed up near the building hoping to avoid the worst of the tank fire. Meanwhile in the background the Wolf Scouts had snuck on behind the khaki building and fired at the side armour of a Leman Russ with a meltagun from mere inches away failing to penetrate the heavy armour of such an austere machine. They paid for such folly with their lives as the Storm Troopers occupying a nearby building (the tall central ruin) slayed all bar two Wolves.
After a fierce bombardment by heavy shells and plasma blasts (5 infact!) Logan's survivors headed into the ruin to take the guard on face to face. Hearing of the tales of Straken Logan charges the other Command unit hoping to shut down their orders and improve his chances against Straken. Meanwhile the Land Raider makes a run at the Leman Russ Executioner hoping to crack its hull with a ramming action. The two tanks grind to a halt against each others hulls with no damaged sustained by either tanks or crew.
The Firestorm cannons bathed the Lascannon crews in cleansing flame and two teams were immediately burnt to cinders putting the fear of the God-Emperor into Tim over the power of the unstoppable Land Raider and causing him to focus fire upon it only removing one Firestorm cannon. Again Logan quickly felled any resistance and was out of combat faster than he had joined it. Meanwhile the Veterans had disembarked from the Valkyrie conveniently lining up in such a manner as to entice a nice template.....
In the distance the last of the Wolf Scouts are cut down by heavy shelling after finishing off the rest of the guard infantry in the region. Yet still those Storm Troopers were bunkered down in that central ruin avoid my guns to deny me a Kill Point.
The final drop pod finally arrived with a shudder and the Heavy Flamer immediately went to work on the veterans covering all bar one with his promethium blast! The Firestorm cannon added in it's weight and only three veterans stood as the ashes settled.
The guardsmen figured it better to flee than to face the wrath of the Great Wolf and fired upon his companions felling his last two retainers. The full weight of the Tanks of the Imperium were brought to bear upon the newly arrived Space Wolves and their drop pod again wiping them out even with cover saves and the flanking protection of a Tank!
Logan having become bored of his companions strode out to meet the enemy receiving a shot to the face from a Lascannon for his troubles only saved by his grit and eternal warrior skill. The Land Raider was finally showing signs of fatigue as all three primary weapon systems were damaged leaving only a previously forgotten about storm bolter to hold off the enemy with.
After wiping out the guardsmen Logan pulled back to the relative safety of the ruins and as it was the end of turn 5 I rolled to see if the game continued and my luck with the dice continued rolling a "1" and the game ended. Since Tim had already won I wanted Logan to reclaim some of his glory and see just how long the Land Raider would last against such odds.
Logan was felled somewhere in turn 6 from a shot to the back from a sentinel and the Land Raider was finnaly destroyed on the 9th turn of shooting at it!
So a defeat, not a terrible one but a defeat none the less. It was an awesome game to play just before heading off to my first tournament (although for a different games system) and Tim and I had a great deal of fun. Definitely a guy I would play again and we were only prevented from a rematch there and then by his needing to go to work shortly there after. If anything this game taught me the strength of a Land Raider and the power of what I had previously perceived as the "weakest" option thinking the Redeemer was some sort of sickly younger brother rather than the anvil it is simultaneously striking out flaming death to those near it.
Seriously gotta get me one of those.....
p.s. how hot are those new Blood Angels! I was hoping not to fall in love with another new army but it's not looking good.
