Imperial Guard - a 5+ Armour save is plenty!

With Dave G and myself beginning to put plans together for a small Kill Team/Combat Squad escalation league for the club (Tolworth First Founding), I decided that if I was to use Imperials, I needed some lower cost grunts to help occupy the ground whilst my Space Marine Scouts took to the air in their Land Speeder Storms.

Therefore, I put together a standard squad, with some extra figures and optional special and heavy weapons, from the bits dumpster.

 My Cadian infantry platoon figures with lots of options.

I also constructed a small unit of Scions and, using the kit from Zinge (see my post in April about Salute 2015), I created an all wheeled Taurox, with an additional magnetised Gatling Cannon, so that I can have it as a Taurox Prime if I wish.

Scions and their ride

Dave and I had a practice game at the club, 450 points with Maelstrom objective cards, pitting my Imperial forces (three units of scouts in Land Speeder Storms, a ten man Imperial Guard platoon with a heavy Bolter and a Techmarine as my HQ choice armed with a Conversion Beamer) against his Khorne Deamonkin (Khorne Berserkers, a couple of bikes, a couple of Terminators, three Spawn and a HQ figure whose details I cannot remember).

A nice lofty perch for the Conversion Beamer

On my first look at the armies I believed that I would have mobility on my side but I quickly appreciated that Dave's bikes and Spawn meant that he was no slouch. What I did have was more mid and long range shooting, and I planned to use this to keep away from close combat. I used my Heavy Bolter and Conversion Beamer (the game was Hammer and Anvil - long table edges, which suited the Beamer) to provide long range fire support on both flanks, the platoon took up defensive positions near to those objectives in my table half, and my scouts were held in reserve to act as the cavalry to save the day mid game.

' Shoot when you see the Reds of their eyes'.

Early on, my shooting was able to remove both bikes and a Spawn, but Dave was able to keep the game close, and by turn three there was only one point in it. However, I was now in possession of all three speeders and with only one Spawn remaining I was able to choose my fights and reach the  objective markers as and when required.

The dark object in the wood is a Spawn! Dave promises to apply some paint before we play again. 

Notable points in the game; The Techmarine going toe to toe with a Terminator and using his power axe to remove the Terminator's head from his shoulders. The majority of the infantry platoon being in close combat with a number of Khorne Marines and holding them up for at least three turns (I believe that the Cadian armed with the flamer passed at least seven 5+ saves before finally succumbing). The Khorne power armour and Feel no Pain special rule, granted by the rules in the Deamonkin book, meaning I don't think Dave lost a single model from turn four onwards apart from the final Spawn! (his last remaining Terminator was especially resilient refusing to roll a one, despite the scouts intense frustration).

Ah, Mr Terminator, we have been expecting you! 

As usual I would like to thank Dave for being an excellent opponent, and the final score of seven to four in victory points was not a good reflection on how close the game had been. I hope this will be a good representation of the fun we can generate at the club when we get the escalation league up and running.

Happy wargaming.