Warhammer 30k Test Game #3 - Rematch vs Militia

 30k Battle #3 - The Rematch

I discussed the last game I had played out with the friend who made the militia+knights list, and we agreed that his list deserved another chance.  Also, I found an updated version of this vassal module and was eager to try it out!

The Army Lists

Both lists are unchanged, but are posted below for completeness.

Iron Warriors Doom of Olympia 2000 pts

HQ: 1/3 (620 pts)

Warsmith with Charnabal sabre, Combi Melta, Graviton Mace = 120+20+10+10+15 = 175 Warlord Trait: Tyrant of the Dodecathon
Rites of War: Legion Recon Company 

Tartaros Command Squad (5)

    2 extra guys

    2 sets of lightning claws

    1 power fist + grenade harness for banner guy

    2 power fists

    = 110+60+20+(10+5)+20 = 225

Land Raider Proteus with hull heavy bolters = 220

Elites: 2/4 (310 pts)

Techmarine Covenant (2)

    Techmarine with cognis-signum, power axe, bolt pistol = 55+15 = 70

    Techmarine with power axe, bolt pistol = 55 = 55

Contemptor Dreadnought Talon (1)

    Contemptor with gravis plasma cannon and combi-bolter fist = 175+10 = 185

Troops: 4/6 (524 troops + 171 rhinos = 695)

Recon Squad (8) with nemesis bolters + shrapnel bolters

    3 extra models

    Augury scanner + Vox + Vexilla

    upgrade 5 bolters to nemesis bolters

    upgrade 3 bolters to shrapnel bolters

    = 85+36+10+10+10+50+6 = 207

Recon Squad (5) with shotguns

    Sergeant with bolt pistol, shotgun, power sword

    = 85+10 = 95

Rhino with Shrapnel Cannon, searchlight, and dozer blade = 35+10+2+5+5 = 57

Recon Squad (5) with shotguns = 85

Rhino with Shrapnel Cannon, searchlight, and dozer blade = 35+10+2+5+5 = 57

Tactical Squad (10)

     Legion Vexilla + Vox

     Sergeant with power fist and hand flamer

     = 100+10+10+15+2 = 137

Rhino with Shrapnel Cannon, searchlight, and dozer blade = 35+10+2+5+5 = 57

Fast Attack: 0/3

Heavy Support: 3/3 (375 pts)

Whirlwind (1) with dozer blade = 120 + 5 = 125

Vindicator Squad (1) with dozer blade = 120 + 5 = 125

Vindicator Squad (1) with dozer blade = 120 + 5 = 125

Knights and Militia 2000 pts

++ Questoris Household Force Organisation Chart [850Pts] ++

+ Troops: +

Armiger Warglaive Talon [200Pts] (Heavy Stubber)

Armiger Warglaive Talon [200Pts] (Heavy Stubber)

+ Lords of War: +

Knight Questoris [450Pts]: Avenger Gatling Cannon with In-Built Heavy Flamer, Avenger Gatling Cannon with In-Built Heavy Flamer, Heavy Stubber, Infernal Tempest, Stoic Defender, Stormspear Rocket Pod, Warlord

++ Allied Detachment (Imperialis Militia) [1,150Pts] ++

Provenances of War: 01 Warrior Elite, 02 Legacy of the Great Crusade

+ HQ: +

Force Commander [170Pts]

. 1) Force Commander: Charnabal Sabre, Cyber-Familiar, Iron Halo, Laspistol, Mounted Force Commander*, Power Armour

Discipline master on horse with lance [45Pts]

+ Elites: +

Ogryn Brute Squad [280Pts]: (6) Carapace Armour, 6x Thunderstub

. Ogryn Boss: Close Combat Weapon, Thunder Hammer, Thunderstub . 5x Ogryn Brute w/ Close Combat Weapon: 5x Thunderstub

+ Troops: +

Grenadier Squad [105Pts] (10 with 2 meltas)

Grenadier Squad [105Pts] (10 with 2 meltas)

Grenadier Squad [105Pts] (10 with 2 meltas)

+ Fast Attack: +

Cavalry Squad [185Pts]: 11 Carapace Armour, Militia Lances, sergeant with power maul

+ Heavy Support: +

Rapier Battery [165Pts]: 3x Laser Destroyer, 9x Laspistol gunners

Deployment

I selected terrain pieces as per the Siege of Cthonia guidelines and rolled double 6s for the mission and deployment.  Iron Warriors won the roll off for placing the first terrain piece.

Order of Terrain Placement:
Iron Warriors (IW) - place the square set of ruins in the upper deployment zone as a fire base that the whirlwind can hide behind
Knights & Militia (K&M) - place the large building above the lower deployment zone as a LoS blocker that the armigers can flank around
IW - Place the second set of ruins in the lower deployment zone for the same reason
K&M - Place the '3 circles' building in below the second deployment zone to create a similar flanking opportunity

IW - Place the pond directly in the centre of the board, hoping to make it hard to get for the KM line units to get to the objective

K&M - Place the crane vehicles as a barricade near the edge of the pond to allow a safe approach to the objective

IW - Place the 'big disk' building near the crane vehicles to try to make it to busy for the knight to move through

K&M - place the two remaining buildings on the top-left edge of the pond to create a similar safe approach point
IW - Place the big statue near those buildings, again trying to keep the knight out

K&M - Place the crater near the bottom of the board, hopefully a place for the rapiers to hang out

After all this, each player is allowed to redeploy one terrain piece.  

IW - Repositions the big statue slightly, making sure a land raider can fit between it and the nearby buildings

K&M - Moves the big pond out of the centre of the board, ensuring the militia squads can run through it quickly.

Iron Warriors win the roll for Strategic Advantage 2 to 1.  I think for strike and fade you would declare reserves before scattering the objective, so neither side declares any units are staying in reserves.  The objective scatters a mighty seven inches, but must be moved so that it doesn't get stuck in terrain:

Iron Warriors select the top deployment zone, and deployment happens!  I didn't bother infiltrating any of the Iron Warriors recon marine units.

K&M win the roll to redeploy scouts first, and the game ends up looking like this before turn 1:

K&M Seize the initiative!  IW declare that Night Fight is in effect.

K&M Turn 1:
The Knights and militia surge forward.  They can't aim at the highest priority targets due to night fight, but manage to blow up both recon rhinos.  The Ogryns make the charge and smash into the recon squad near the objective, wiping them out.  The only solace was the shotguns managed to wound an ogryn with their overwatch.  The other shotgun squad was pinned when the avenger gatling cannons shredded their rhino.
K&M score 1 point for destroying a unit on the first turn.

IW Turn 1:

Iron warriors didn't have the best turn 1.  The knight wisely used the movement reaction to back away from the dreadnought.  The characters being at the front of the cavalry unit meant they had to take the brunt of the gunfire from the disembarked tactical squad, and so they were slain and the survivors fled off the board.  The armigers did quite well with their invulnerable saves, only taking 3 wounds from the 9 incoming from the demolishers.  Finally, the dreadnought managed to gun down an ogryn but didn't get the 7" needed for the charge.
Iron warriors scored 1 victory points for killing a unit in their first turn.

K&M Turn 2: A roll of a 1 means there is no more night fight.  The combined arms force continues to surge forward.  The rapier battery did a number on the contemptor but the Iron Warriors special reaction meant they were down to one man on a gun after the dust cleared.  Still, 6 shots doing 5 wounds teed up the grenadiers nicely to finish the contemptor off.  The armigers couldn't quite take down the land raider, and the knight completely whiffed in its efforts to finish it off in close combat.  The knight was however somewhat successful in reducing the number of sniper marines posted up in the back line.  Finally, the ogryns charged in and destroyed one of the vindicators.

K&M did not score any victory points in this turn.

IW Turn 2: Yikes, that didn't quite work.  Most units on the top of the board shot at the ogryns, killing 2 and putting some wounds on their sergeant.  The ogryns passed their pinning and leadership tests, meaning they will be a real problem next turn.  The whirlwind wiped out half a squad of grenediers.  The Land Raider didn't do any damage to the Knight with its lascannons.  The command squad bravely charged it, but although the Warsmith managed to take 4 hullpoints the rest of his retinue didn't manage to get any damage in.
IW didn't get any victory points in this turn.

 K&M Turn 3: This was an eventful one!  During the movement phase, the command squad reaction-moved towards the objective which blocked the Armigers from scoring.  Meltashots fired out everywhere, and one armiger charged the command squad.  After all was said and done two terminators survived and the armiger got swept, exploding spectacularly.  This wiped out most of the wounded grenadier squad and pinned the other armiger.  The ogryns blew up the other vindicator, losing one member to that explosion. 
K&M did not score any victory points in this turn, and I messed up on cropping the screenshot :/

IW Turn 3: 

Things start to turn around!  The shotgun recon squad is able to charge into the nearby grenadiers, who moved in reaction and then fell back from shooting to even things out.  The combined power of the units at the top of the board managed to bring down the ogryn sergeant but the lone survivor held on.  Finally, the command squad charged into the armiger and brought it down to one wound, but it stubbornly held on.
The command squad scored on the objective, and very unfortunately for them it scattered towards the knight and a single surviving grenadier.  The score is now K&W: 1 to IW: 4

K&M Turn 4:

Not much shooting left to do with the rapier out of range/LoS for everything.  The knight does some damage to the tactical squad but they do well on their shrouded rolls and pass their morale/pinning tests.  The knight then charges back to help out the grenadiers, massacaring the recon marines with its stomp attacks.  The armiger didn't fare so well, exploding to the haywire assault from the praetor.  This explosion proved too much for the tactical squad, pinning it.  The lone surviving ogryn died in a hail of bolter fire from the tactical squad's overwatch, failing all 3 of the saves he was called to make.

The heroic sergeant of the centre grenadier squad claimed the objective, but unfortunately for him it scattered right back over to the command squad.  The score is now K&W: 5 to IW: 4

IW Turn 4: To succeed here, the iron warriors need to kill the lone sergeant and push the other grenadier squad off the objective.  Luckily, shooting goes well!  The rhino is able to zip down and shoot the sergeant with his shrapnel cannon, and the rest of the army brings the other grenadier squad down to 2 men who fail their leadership test.  They flee 8", allowing the command squad to score a second time.  The treacherous objective followed the fleeing grenediers, but since this mission ends on turn 4 the Iron Warriors win!

Final Score and Conclusions

Knights and Militia: 5VP

Turn 1: Break Their Ranks (1VP for killing transports + Troops)

Turn 2: No VP

Turn 3: No VP

Turn 4: 4VP

End: No VP

Iron Warriors: 10VP

Turn 1: Break Their Ranks (2VP for killing an HQ unit, I forgot about the bonus point until the very end)
Turn 2: No VP

Turn 3: 3VP for taking the objective

Turn 4: 4VP for taking the objective

End: Last Man Standing (5-3) for 1VP

The company standard allowing the Command Squad to score was crucial for the Iron Warriors victory.  Searchlights allowing units to fire at the cavalry on turn 1 were also pretty import in getting the unit to flee.  Using the Iron Warriors reaction with the Contemptor's plasma cannon was exactly as cool as I thought it would be.

The Ogryns were nasty, wiping out a unit per turn until they were destroyed.  Also, I didn't roll any psychic powers for the Knight this turn and it seemed fine without them.  The terminator squad really warps how the knight plays though, against a force that has a lot of long range anti-tank firepower I could see the improved invulnerable save being worth the risk.  My one regret was charging the armiger into the command squad.  Hitting on 5s is really rough, but if he had got some terminators it probably would have been worth it.  

It was nice to see a much closer game between these two forces.  It really came down to the last turn.  The scattering objective in this mission is kind of wild and seems like it could lead to some very swingy games.  The fact that the Knights + Militia stole the initiative and prevented any scoring until turn 3 really evened out that part of the game.

Rules Learnings:

• Knights can only make reactions to certain large units, so they actually can't run away from infantry!
• I completely missed the Provenances of War in the last game, and boy does that extra point of leadership from Warrior Elite help the Militia stay in the fight.  The +1BS on the Grenadiers from Legacy of the Great Crusade also makes their meltaguns quite a bit better.
• Fury of the Legion still works while your unit is pinned!  Those extra snapshots can be clutch.
• Hammer of Wrath only comes in to play for models that make it into base contact with the charge move.  This limits its effect quite a bit for an ogryn unit.