X V I · V S · I · Y E T · A G A I N
+++341.010.M31 - IRIDIUM, BETA GARMON STAR CLUSTER+++
// SURFACE-ORBIT VOX INTERCEPT // : SNDR : XVI LEGION ARAKNAE 4A XXIX VERISAX BASTION : PRIMARY OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED || LOYALIST PRESENCE SIGNIFICANT || ALL HANDS LOST || MARDUK SEDRAS CONFIRMED ON THETA GARMON V ++ FOR THE WARMASTER
My first game of HH 3.0 was a big, very silly one. Nico has a Warhound titan. I had just finished my Fellblade. 4000 points? Why not! It was great to get to grips with how the base game feels now, the removal of rerolls and having to think about twin-linked/artificer sergeants or what other rules made things more complex it felt a lot faster.
After a delicious bowl of pasta, it was time to deploy. I had a shockingly small amount of infantry on the table in comparison to the Dark Angels - mainly because I’d elected to bring a Cerastus Knight as well :)
Deployment was relatively quick, attacker (so, me) first. I struggled to fit the Fellblade and Kratos between some of the scatter terrain! And in true me-style I managed to put at least one unit (Saturnine Terminators) on completely the wrong side of the battlefield to actually achieve anything of note.
I can’t remember much about the details of each turn but my first shooting definitely felt like the most effective. The Laser Vindicator got deleted by the Titan and didn’t survive to make a second shot but it did get First Strike(1VP) for me by popping a Rhino.
At some point the Terminator boogie music started on the right flank and Marduk Sedras came out to play.
I enjoyed the new challenge system conceptually, even if Sedras was an absolute murderchonk and just chewed through anything I could throw at him. Even the Cerastus Knight! He mullered my Cataphractii Praetor, swept through the Justaerin (who would have had more of a chance if I had taken 10 and remembered to pay for at least one Multi-Melta) and then slow-mo broken ol’ Maloghurst (who I had only taken because he looks so cool). Monster.
The second of the Engine Kill! missions in the Liber is the one where the defender gets a Titan. They essentially score points by shooting at ‘strategic stuff over there’ rather than blowing your units to tiny bits, and your primary objective as attacker is to bring the big big chonker down. The Warhound has two void shields which can optionally (attempted to be) recharged at the end of each turn, and a bunch of tables for head, arms, torso and legs as targets.
The most useful units for killing the Titan were:
- 5 Veteran Heavy Support Legionaries with Lascannons
- Fellblade - in particular it’s Demolisher cannon!
So technically I won because I managed to down the thing but I did completely forget that the Fellblade had a shaken status and should have been taking snapshots. It’s not like we’re really playing for points though so Nico very graciously forgave me. I shouldn’t play tabletop games late at night, my memory is awful when I’m tired! 😂
Anyway, aside from being a great, great fun game with top tier company it illustrated to me three things:
- I need to get an Abaddon proxy sorted out (I have the FW one but I’m not the biggest fan of that wonky pose and his waspy hips)
- I want a Titan of some sort. Reaver?
- Further research on ‘how to murder big blobs of horrible Cataphractii elites’ is definitely in order. Two Fellblades? 🤔