Battle for Konor Week One – Three vs Three Team Battle
/Warhammer 40,000 – Our week one event went off with only a minor hitch. Two of our players couldn't make it which left us with 6 guys. It would have been easy to play a team of two and a one vs. one game, but because three of the players hadn't played since 6th edition and hadn't had any play experience we opted to do a team battle of 3 vs. 3 (total of 1500 points per side).
We played the invasion mission from this weeks site with a minor twist. The imperial defenders (Astra Militarum, Blood Angels and Ultramarines) had a slightly lower Power Level (1500 points but Power Levels vary) and were able to make use of the automated guns on the Bastions and Aegis Lines protecting their deployment zone.
After setup the defenders were able to roll a six to go first. in a hail of fire the forward scouts of the Sons of Olympus disappeared in a red mist, signaling a rough game for the attackers. The well hidden Twilight Ravens were able to weather most of the fire without casualty and the mysterious Dark Eldar Raiders road out the storm concealed under cover of the lush vegetation.
The attackers first turn saw both the captain of the Twilight Ravens and Captain of the Sons of Olympus teleport behind the defenders, the astonished defenders unleashed a whirlwind of small arms fire which failed to cause damage to the venerable warriors but did prevent them from tearing into their intended targets.
Assaulting a fortified position was proving to be more difficult than anticipated. The automated defenses were inexplicably causing more damage then the trained warriors, whittling down the "traitorous" forces as they continued to advance. Having braved the firepower and counter charge of a Blood Angel Tactical Squad and a unit of foolish guardsmen the two captains set about the bloody work of dispatching everyone around slowly and methodically. Shrugging off the feeble attempts to penetrate their ancient armor.
A sudden tolling of far off bells brought the battle to an end. The defending imperials able to kill off two more of the attacking units than were able to breach the defense line.
This was a fun game it was great to have almost the full crew back playing together. The excitement over 8th edition is so infectious that guys who haven't picked up a 40k model since early 6th edition are back and excited. The campaign is going to be really fun and the restrcitions we put on building out your "starter" force seem to be keeping everyone on the same page so this is more about learning the nuances of the new game and breaking old habits than building power list to crush and destroy.
Going forward we're going to split up the games into 1v1 battles. Playing teams of more than two people becomes an exercise in herding cats and simple questions become to complex when the full group has to stop to answer and give their explanations.
So far the Imperials seem to be holding out, I'm looking forward to next week to see what happens.
