Russ v Guilliman - Part 2

Russ Vs Guilliman – Part 2

The Vanaheimr Retribution

After suffering grievous wounds at the hands of his erstwhile brother on Krellic VII, Roboute Guilliman and elements of the 3^rd Chapter headed for Russ’ last known location.  Vanaheimr or Vanaheim in High Gothic a supplementary Forge World supporting the Vkla Fenryka, there have been rumours of a terrible outbreak of violence on that world due to the machinations of Lorgar’s foul gene sons. The VIth legion had pledged many oaths to defend this planet, from every threat within and without. It was in the midst of battle that the Ultramarines found the Rout, their entreaties unanswered the 42^nd Company, 3^rd Chapter descended upon Vanaheim.

Dan and I had another game recently, as we regularly play with or against each other its good to develop a bit of a Narrative as to why the VIth would take on the XIIIth, as they are supposed to be allies after all! Interestingly Vanaheimr is a Norse world, one of the 9, that is home to the gods of wisdom, fertility and precognition (remind you of anyone?), it is also a minor Forgeworld in the imperium that was featured in the Badab War books. I thought it fitting to meet Russ once again, who knows maybe we could ally to defeat the real foe (Chaos traitors) in a later game.

We played Mission 5: Tide of Carnage. Using Dawn of War deployment, Primary VPs given to scoring units in the opponent’s half (7), Middle of the Board (5) and controlling your own half (3). Secondaries: Slay the Warlord and Surviving Units. A special rule for this game was that units with the Tank type were scoring, including large tanks!

Pride of Ultramar

Russ' Rabble

Our lists were similar to last time, the exception for me is that I swapped out my Scorpius for a Legion Vindicator Destroyer. There is about 30pts difference so I had to play tunes with some units and remove Armoured Ceremite off some transports. Dan’s list was largely unchaged as he frantically trying to paint them up for an event in May (I am sure he will blog his preparations in time). The other difference was our Allies weren’t here, so it was a straight up fight.

Turn One: As I won the roll off, I went deployed and went first. Expecting Russ to take the centre I deployed in to counter that, with my Sicaran and Melta Squad covering the flanks. The wolves deployed fairly liberally and clustered in the cover (except the flare shielded Spartan), it was also night fighting as well! With my movement being minimal, I started to shoot, the first casualty was a Grey Slayer rhino and the Leviathan lost a hull point, to the Sicaran. Even the Spartan lost one HP to the Vindicator. 

Wolves hiding in a Ruin!

As expected the Anvillus drop pod came in next to my terminators, giving them a small tickle with its heat blast attack. Getting out of the Spartan (good choice – see below) the Grey Slayers bounded forward (toward the terminators) and Russ, Freki and Geri leapt forward for Guilliman’s Land Raider. Being a little wimp the Leviathan came forward to aim its Melta lance at the Vindicator. Before the Wolves could open fire, the Sicaran intercepted (due to G’s rules) the drop pod and Ancient Galatan also shot at the drop pod, though only causing a single HP damage.

The great thing about the new Wolves rite of war are the bonuses that get, particularly with ‘Howl of the Deathwolf’ and Russ brings it as well. Naturally the Wolves howled and got an extra Run to close charge range for my terminators. Russ and Wolf-kin ripped up the Land Raider and 20 Grey Slayers charged the Cataphractii clad termies. The resulting combat was quite furious, 20 maddened Grey Slayers led by Geigor Fell-Hand literally tore into a unit of terminators, killing all of them with less than half killed in return. I remarked afterward that the GS are a great utility squad, all Wolf players are going to have to model almost every Ranged/ Melee weapon option for their GS packs.

Turn Two: Ultramarines are not normally known for their swift and vengeful retribution, however this turn felt that way! Guilliman and his ‘Boyfriends’ disembarked from their transport and went straight for the poor defenceless Grey Slayers in their own table half. The Sicaran, unable to shoot went to score a touchdown, this was additionally aided by a single unit of Vets on the opposite side of the board coming on from reserve. (Touchdown complete). Melta squad got out of their transport to harass the flanks, leaving their Rhino to race onwards to score.  Shooting phase saw my Volkite squad choom some Wolves from the GS pack off the table, most notably Geigor, Laser Vindicator stripping more HPs off the Leviathan coupled with the Quad Mortars chipping away at Russ’ unit. Assault phase saw my Contemptor, charge the Grey Slayers and Guilliman charge the second GS pack.

Seeing Guilliman on the charge was pretty amazing, he pretty much cleared the squad all bar one guy, who then got a Legatine Axe to the face from the Chaplain. The Contemptor did its job and tied up the GS pack for a turn.

Wolves turn 2 saw Russ stalk toward a far off Guilliman (subsequently failed his charge, though we later realised that Beasts have fleet and that charge role could be re-rolled!), the Leviathan tried to blow up the Sicaran and whiffed, a unit of deathsworn came on to deal with the Vets in the flank. The original Deathsworn in the Anvillus hurled their potions and stasis bombs at my Volkite squad, wiping them all out! – Pretty cool bag of tricks there!

A second hilarious moment of the game, Dan’s Spartan rushed forward to attempt to score a touchdown on my half of the board, as it crested the hill, Dan rolled a 1 for Dangerous terrain.  This is the second time his Spartan has hobbled itself like this! It secretly wants to be a Drop Pod!

Turn Three: Allowed me to consolidate Guilliman further away from Russ’ making him come to me gave me the chance to try and wound him first before the inescapable fight. My second unit of Vets came on next the Sicaran, scoring more touchdowns! (I need to start playing bloodbowl!). My Vindi and Mortar team put more wounds on Russ’ unit, taking down Freki (or was it Geri) and wounding the second. Guilliman precision shot Russ but failed to wound, and the Suzrains also failed to take the final wound off the lone Wolf-kin.

Elsewhere my Dual Kheres dread charged the Grey Slayers - It didn't end well for him but it tied up that unit for 2 turns!

Oh and my Sicaran blew apart the Leviathan with its Lascannons, ending its misery there.

The Wolves turn saw more advancement and encirclement of the Wolves all over the board. Russ eventually solo charged Guilliman and his command team (however Geri got killed to overwatch fire!). This battle wasn’t really meant to be a re-match from the other week but with 2 Primarchs on the table it was inevitable that it would happen. Guilliman accepted the challenge from Russ and the two began to slug it out.  

Turn Four: Was where the action slowed down and the battle focussed on the Primarch fight. Elsewhere on the board my Vets disembarked and proceeded to wipe off the Elsewhere on the board my Vets disembarked and proceded to wipe off the deathsworn squad - Sniper Vets are ace!

First round of combat goes to Russ, but he took 2 wounds from massed Legatine axes chopping at his feet!

Guilliman tanked the wounds off Russ (Re-rollable Invun save is awesome) whilst failing to score many hits on Russ. The key part in this fight was that Russ was alone however Guilliman’s

For me, the Primarch fight was fun, though the confusion over Russ’ Axe rules meant that we were second guessing what the best course of action was.  So Dan did lose a bit of steam in the match (I think it was because I killed his Pups!) however it was a good example of how FW do need to pay attention to the rules they create. 

Overall the scores worked out to be: 8 - 7 to me as we both claimed each others half and the middle zone was contested. Though I luckily got slay the Warlord!

As side note we intend to develop the Battle chart that the 30K group had last year, though there will be no element of competition in this, as its meant to be fun and friendly!  I am sure that Russ will get his revenge on Guilliman in the coming months!

Next Heresy night is 5 Apr, hopefully there'll be more epic action!

The Might of Ultramar vs. The Wrath of Fenris

Hi all,

I have been slowly collecting an Ultramarine force, since Betrayal at Calth came out. It's only in the last few months that I have been able to experience proper Heresy battles.  Bristol Vanguard's 30k Group has been meeting on a regular basis now (usually the first Weds of the month) this is the first time I have written up a BatRep. Hope you enjoy it!

The Battle of Krellic VII:  Leman Russ, the Wolf King the Lord of Winter and Ruin, Primarch of the VI legion was not too impressed with his brother Roboute Guilliman, Lord of Macragge and Primarch of the XIII Legion, the Ultramarines. The heresy was a time of severe tumult, many compromises were made, most notably in Ultramar with Imperium Secundus. Upon hearing of Guilliman's heresies, Russ went to Krellic VII to 'have words' with his brother. The Lords of Terra, afraid to lose another Primarch sent Brother Captain Lorenzo and his host of Blood Angels to intercede, hoping that the image of the Great Angel may help cooler heads prevail.

The Ultramarines: I have been waiting to play RG for a while, I finally had the chance. I was partnered with Rich, who is himself building an Ultramarine Army. Our list consisted of 3K of my Ultras and 1K allied Ultramarines.

Battle lines are drawn.

The noble Guilliman (half finished) on his noble chariot, Regis Konor, with 5 Invictarus Suzrain.

The Vkla Fenryka: Since Inferno was released, Dan has been itching to play his rules, packed into the Spartan was Russ, Freki and Geri, Geigor and many more Grey Slayers! Scary!

 The Vkla Fenrika: Leman Russ and his Wolf-Kin are sat in their chariot to be conveyed to the Ultramarine lines.

The Blood Angels holed up in the objective zone, don't think it will last long!

Turn 1: Ultramarines take first turn, (even with Guilliman's re-roll on Seize) The movement phase was fairly minimal, with tanks jostling for position.

Watched over by the Jelly Babies, the Ultramarines open fire. I'd never thought Ultramarine shooting could be fun, This turn we managed to immobilise the Leviathan, strip a few hull points of a dread and wreck quite a few transports. Though that's good news for the Grey Slayers within!

The Anvillus comes down but is intercepted by the Dual Kheres dreadnought and was subsequently immobilised. However it's contents of Grey Slayers were delivered to the battlefield.
Dan's rhino filled with Grey Slayers manage to pop my Melta Squad rhino, but I only took 1 casualty!

Turn 2: UM The plucky 'melta squad manage to blow the BA Rhino parked in their HQ, causing a 6" explosion, blasting those unfortunate Grey Slayers and BA Veterans. (You can see Dan reluctantly removing his models!)

Below shows the calm before the storm... both sides poised for a very large melee.

Guilliman's Terminator cadre bravely whether the storm of Wolves (both Marine and Real), however despite tanking a butt load of AP2 wounds the 7 man Terminator Squad are whittled down to the Praetor who bravely ran away... only to be chased down by the Geri and Freki!

Turn 3: After consulting his Codex, Guilliman decided the best tactical move was to wait inside his Land Raider for reinforcements to arrive. However he didn't count upon the second Dreadclaw dropping behind, so reinforcements were going to be delayed. Some good shooting whittled down the Grey Slayer packs in front of the Regis Konor.

However Guilliman's noble chariot was destroyed by a few melta bombs, leaving Guilliman and his honour guard surrounded by a pack of ravenous dogs!

Though one of the high points of the game was the Spartan reversing onto the terrain and subsequently immobilised itself, unfortunately it was down to its last HP thus removing itself from play!

Then the inevitable happened, Russ tore into Guilliman, the Sword of Balenight swung and was met in turn by the Gladius Incandor.

After the first round of close combat, Guilliman only took a single wound whilst Russ took 2. Wonder how long that will last?

Meanwhile, Guilliman's honour guard face the horde, it didn't go well for them at all! Despite the Suzrain's AP2 axes, they weren't enough to stem the tide of Claw, Axes, Blade and teeth! All 5 Suzrain and their Chaplain are removed. Even Ancient Galatus takes one melta bomb too many and explodes, causing a single casualty for the Wolves.

Finally, surrounded by a ravenous pack of Wolves and their King, Guilliman faced his errors. It took the Axe of Helwinter, several Great Frost Axes, a pair of Rending Claws, Geigor's Fell hand and a humble Power Fist before Guilliman finally succumbed to his wounds.

So, as you can probably tell I was quite sucked into the melee at the centre of the board. The real battle came at the opposite edges. The mission was to capture the opponent's objective. So whilst my Veterans were trying to capture the Wolves/BA base, the BA were capturing the Ultramarine base. The game ended in a Win to the Vkla Fenrika, just, but the Ultramarine definitely gave a good fight!

My first Primarch outing wasn't a great success (for RG!) but i learnt loads and hope to field RG in more games in the future!

If you are stuck for things to do and need some heresy love, check out Bristol Vanguard 30k Group on Facebook and come along to our monthly meets. Maybe one day we might do an event.... who knows.