Battle Report: Planetstrike

Jeff and I got together to play a game of Planetstrike earlier today, my first time playing the expansion. It was a brutal introduction to some Forgeworld stuff I hadn't seen or played with before! We played our 2500 point lists.

Ultramarines:
Calgar
Librarian (smite, null zone)
10 man Terminator Assault Squad (Land Raider Crusader)
10 man Tactical Squad
10 man Tactical Squad
10 man Tactical Squad
5 man Devastator Squad
Dreadnought (drop pod)
10 man Assault Squad
Vindicator
Land Raider

Khorne:
Terminator Lord
5 man Chaos Terminators
4 man Chaos Terminators
10 khorne Berzerkers (dreadclaw)
10 khorne Berzerkers (dreadclaw)
10 khorne Berzerkers (dreadclaw)
10 khorne Berzerkers (dreadclaw)
Dreadnought (dreadclaw)
Dreadnought
Hell Talon

I set up a 2 Bastion defense line. I was planning on 3, but it fit better with the terrain used to place 2. I picked Las-maze and Escape Hatch, and Jeff picked Scorched Skies. You'll notice in my deployment I originally had the LC Terminators with Calgar, but I didn't know you could not Combat Squad one half unit in reserve and the other half unit on the table. They were replaced in reserve.






Jeff rolled 9 for his Firestorm roll modified by Scorched Skies (2d6+2). Destroyed one Bastion and took out half the Devastators on top of it, but otherwise did minimal damage to my other troops on the board.





TURN 1







All of Jeff's force entered play, except for his 2 Chaos Dreadnoughts. His Dreadclaws flew onto the board, and his Terminators deep strike. The one unit drops inside my defenses and assaults a Tactical Squad. They were beaten but thanks to Calgar's God of War power, I was able to choose to pass the morale check.

In my first turn, I was able to drop my Dreadnought into play, along with my Land Raider Crusader and Vindicator. My Assault Squad came from the board edge opposite of Jeff's drop zone.


TURN 2+







It's all a blur of red blood on blue armor once we get to turn two and beyond! The Dreadclaws land and Khorne Berzerkers spill out and assault my Tactical Squads. My Assault Squad is about wiped off the table in 1 assault phase, then run off the board the next turn. My north most Tactical Squad is wiped out without even a chance!

After the Dreadnought does damage to the Chaos Terminators, it is destroyed by a Chaos Terminator and Khorne Berzerker combined assault.

Calgar counter attacks out of the bastion through the escape hatch! Along with the Librarian, they fight the Berzerks in front to a draw, and both survive combat.





The End!



I forgot to mention... my now 10 man Terminator Assault Squad scattered onto a crater, and the mishap table destroyed the entire unit! Bummer...

The Berzerkers who wiped the Tactical Squad join the combat vs Calgar and the Librarian, proving to much for the Chapter Master.

The Hell Talon soars over the battlefield peppering units and destroying the Vindicator's cannon. The Land Raider tried to maneuver to destroy the Dreadclaw that was contesting the destroyed bastion, with no luck. It barely avoided a charging Chaos Dreadnought with a multi melta and chainfist. The LRC was able to damage the remaining terminators with the Chaos Lord one tun, and some of the Berzerkers the next, but was not in any way game changing.



After the south west Tactical was finally cleared out, the Chaos Terminators there moved through the remaining Devastators and then later assaulting the bastion. After demolishing the bastion with a chain fist, the terminators moved onto it to claim their objective. Thanks to the Terminator Lord and Berzerkers coming from the other direction, there weren't any Ultramarines within the fortress walls!

With only tanks remaining on the board, and unable to get within the fortress walls, I conceded to the mighty forces of Chaos.








Next time I will be sure to deploy my combat squadding Terminators correctly. Better yet, I probably won't take 10. Maybe one small squad to counter attack would be best.

The Land Raiders were mostly ineffective. I will probably scratch one next game. The Assault Squad was wiped through no fault of my own... the Berzerkers being able to assault the first turn in play (after being in the Dreadclaws for one turn) were just brutal!

Overall, I still had a good time. Planetstrike is very cool, and you are in the thick of the action right off the bat.