Operation Stonewall (Day 16) - Battle Report

Cpt.  Milford's first mistake, setting up his defensive live to close to the enemy.

The downfall of 14th Company, 313th DTR.  It began in the early evening on Friday the 13th. Three and half hours later, and I saw my entire army get chewed through as if it were nothing but Swiss cheese with extra holes.  I won't go into each and every gory detail but rather just highlight a few parts of the game. 

So I faced of against 1500 Pts of 'Nids in a Eternal War: Big Guns Never Tire mission using the Vanguard Strike deployment.  As you may have noticed, mistake one... Setting up right on the edge of the deployment zone.  IMHO this was really something I shouldn't have done.  It ensured that he was able to get way to close way to quick and gave me little time to hammer him at range.

The 19th Lancers trot up to form a mobile reserve.

The entire center of my defense falls apart in turn 2.

Turn one was rather uneventful. But at the end of turn two, I pulverized his Warlord, but somehow it was able to let out some sort of Psychic scream thing.  And of course while right in the middle of my formation.  In that one turn, I lost the following: 2 Exterminators, 2 Sentinels, 1 Infantry Squad, 80% of a PCS, 70% of a 2nd Infantry squad, and half of my cavalry...  I was doomed.

40 Something shots at my Avenger in one turn, and not a scratch...

After turning tail attempting to consolidate what was left of my army on the one Objective that I still had the 'Nid Swarm moved in getting ready for dinner. The one highlight of the game for me was the massive amount of fire that my Avenger took without suffering any damage. 

The Company and both Platoon Command squads rally on an Objective.

As you can see above, by the end of turn 5 there wasn't much left.  The Chimera had 1 HP, and only it's heavy Bolter left.  It's hard to tell in the pic but there's 4 different squads (what's left of them) sitting on the objective.

Lt. Albin and Sgt. Garry are all that's left.

The end of Turn 6, the pic above explains it all...
I lost 10 points to 4.  Completely wiped out my army except for one officer and a Sgt. and a chimera for them to ride home in.

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Battle Group 82, excerpt from the Daily AsAsRs*    

Capt. Milford  14th Company. 313th Drop Troop Regiment - For failure to uphold the standards set forth by BG82, the Imperial Tactica, and the Lord Emperor himself, let it be known that he will be reduced in Rank to "Recruit" and what is left of his remains shall be handed over to the Commissariat.  The Emperor will see to his soul. 

14th Company, 313 DTR - Awarded the Tripple Skull.** This award may be worn by all surviving members of the unit at the time of award. 

14th Company, 313 DTR - To be reconstituted using Guardsman from Battle Group Repo unit.  

Lt. Albin 2nd Platoon, 14th Company, 313 DTR - Advanced to the rank of Captain and assigned as the new 14th Company Commander.


*AsAsRs - Advancements, Announcements, and Reprimands

**Tripple Skull
This is unique in being a unit-level distinction awarded to units (the smallest of which must be Company size) which suffer the numerical equivalent of two-thirds their number in casualties 

7th Scansin - Heavy Weapons

Well I've had these for a while now and just finally got around to start painting them up.  They're the Heavy Weapons from the first Kickstarter ran by Col. Gravis.  Unfortunately I didn't really take any pictures up until this point, but I'll see about making sure that I take pics as I do up the rest.
 

Right now I'm only going to paint what is going to count as the Heavy Bolter and the Assault Cannon.  The Lascannon is going to end up on a different base.  As for mortars those will be done up on stand alone bases, and the rest of the heavy weapons are going to be done so that I can swap them out on the carriages.

I also didn't as get as much done as I wanted because my daughter wanted to play Princess Castle with her Lego's so of course I had to get involved.  This was the result.

Operation Stonewall

A section of G. Troop 19th Lancers moves up in support of the 313th..

"Well that could have gone down a lot worse." Thought Col. Sutherland, as he read through the after action report published by Group HQ.  It seems that the 313th caught the worst of the action, but more worrying is the fact that Intelligence has confirmed that the aliens were Tyranids.  "Adjutant, please inform the rest of the officers that Weapons Drill and Maintenance should be stepped up.  We don't want to have any issues in case there's more of them out there. "

Troopers of the 313th prepare to defend their Objective in the face of the Enemy.

Yes Sir, is there anything else Sir?  Replied Lt. Wilbert.

Sipping his coffee, Sutherland thought for a moment. "Yes, inform the officers that we'll hold a meeting with the G2 (Battle Group Intelligence) after Officers Mess.  I want everyone there so that no wild rumors start to spread among the line about these "Aliens"."

G. Troop Lancers, under command of Sgt. Doster, charge into the enemy.

Battle Group 82, Awards and Decorations. 

Sgt Doster (G. Trp) 4th Sqdn. 19th Scansin Lancers -"Bronze Halo" For leading a charge against a Tyranid Synapse (classified as "Zoanthrope") creature, after his commanding officer died.  Sgt. Doster then led the remnant's  his command up the center of the battlefield to secure a deciding objective in the battle.

Pvt. Grabill (2nd Platoon) Delta Co. 313th Fantoma Drop Troop Regiment.   "Eagle Ordinary"  While engaged with the enemy, Pvt. Grabill used his Missile launcher to seriously wound a Winged Hive Tyrant.  

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Well my first game in 7th ended in a draw at turn 5.  If we had played another 1 or 2 rounds, I probably would have lost, but I'll take a draw.  It was a great game, even if we had to check the rules a hundred times, and I'm looking forward to getting in a few more games this year.

I also used the Avenger in this game, and even though it didn't show up until turn 3, it came in and starting ripping up the enemy!!  I'll have to work on tactics with it though, because being able to turn a maximum of 90 degrees per turn is something I'm not used to. 

1st game in 7th (Preparations)

Sir, we've had several reports of aliens moving through the grids 45 and 46.  Unfortunately we haven't had regular patrols out that area for several weeks now due to a shortage of troopers.  Shall we send a squad out to investigate?  asked Lt. Wilbert

Col. Sunderland thought, "hmm.. that's the border between the 313th's area of responsibility and our correct?" 

Yes sir, shall that be a problem?

I just hope we get the support we need in case it's more than some local vermin. "It shouldn't be, but I don't want those drop troopers jumping the gun at the first sound of las-fire and over reacting like last time.  Send a request up the Group HQ, requesting a mounted troop of Lancers to check it out.  Have the staff contact the 313th, maybe we can agree to set up a joint operation." Replied Sutherland. 

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On Friday I'll finally be getting my first game in 2015, and with 7th Edition, in at a local gaming club.  1500Pts vs. Tyranids.  hmmm..  I'm thinking I might just have to find space for the Avenger in there.