WH40K AAR 110109

PREMISE
After a hard-won battle to prevent the takeover of a planet by a tendril of the xeno menace, a group of space marines from the Salamander chapter discovered a tyranid brood-spire with an interesting prize inside; a new variant of genestealer, still in a fetal state, which the Salamander apothecaries hope to be able to analyze and develop a counter to.

Hearing of this, a Chaplain of the Black Templars declares the Salamanders' sparing of the brood-spire heretical. He takes a small strike force and drops on the site, to attempt to destroy the brood-spire himself, or if the Salamanders are resolute, to subjugate their leadership and call in an airstrike to purge the xenos.

The Salamanders have no love for the xeno, but they might be on the verge of a breakthrough and the loss of the sample to blind zealotry is unacceptable. All they have to do is get rid of the Black Templars before they can bring down fire from the skies. They have five turns in which to do so.



SETUP
The Templars had the initiative and Chaplain Fulgentius set up his strike force in a commanding position in and around the southwest bunker, and atop the shuttlepad overlooking the battlefield. Unfortunately the Chaplain also overlooked the fact that neither he nor Brother-Sergeant Torres' assault squad had any weapons longer-ranged than a pistol, an error in judgement he would soon have reason to regret.

The Salamanders approached from the direction of the Tyranid brood-spire, fanning out in front of it to guard their unsavory prize. Their sniper team infiltrated into the northern bunker, with excellent lines of fire towards the southern bunker.



TURN 1
BLACK TEMPLARS

Realizing his error, Chaplain Fulgentius lept down to take the fight to the enemy captain, heading for the cover of the ruins at the center of the battlefield. This is where Fulgentius made his second vital error: he forgot to run.

Brother-Sergeant Hannibal's tactical squad remained still in the bunker and waited for something to enter the crosshairs of their plasma cannon, which was pointed north. Two of the squad, watching through the window facing east, sighted part of the heretic captain's retinue and shot one of them down with accurate long-range bolter fire.

Brother-Sergeant Kurtz's tactical squad waited outside the bunker behind the protective sandbags and did likewise.



SALAMANDERS

Since Fulgentius had not made it to the southern side of the ruin, he and Torres' unit were exposed to a barrage of missiles and plasma bolts from the Salamander devastator squad. When the smoke cleared all of the unit apart from Torres were counted as casualties, including Fulgentius himself. Torres' resolve was unshaken, and he was able to maintain his position until the chapter's neophyte apothecaries could bring the casualties safely off the field.

The snipers in the northern bunker picked off two of Kurtz's men from the safety of their fortified bunker, and the Salamander captain's batsman tried to do likewise, but Kurtz and his crew kept their heads down this time.



TURN 2
BLACK TEMPLARS

Without Fulgentius to lead them, command of Torres' squad reverted to Torres. Unfortunately all of his men were being carried off the field on stretchers, so Torres resolved to handle the problem of the sniper bunker himself. Foregoing his plasma pistol (almost as much danger to himself as to the enemy) he engaged his jump pack and lept towards the northern bunker, tossing a meltabomb in through the window! The meltabomb was, sadly, thrown right back out.

Kurtz decided that the position behind the sandbags was not going to gain them any glory, and led his two remaining men towards the Salamander captain by way of a wrecked and sandbagged chimera left over from the earlier battle against the xenos.

Hannibal ordered that the plasma cannon be repositioned to look East instead of North, while his men laid down a covering fire with their bolters.

SALAMANDERS

The insidious snipers continued shooting from the darkness like cowards, but the bunker protected Hannibal's troops and Torres was too close and too fast-moving.

The Salamander tactical squad advanced and tried to gun down Torres with short-range bolter fire, but by the grace of the Emperor, immortal Light of Mankind, not a single shot struck a vital part of the enraged daredevil.

The devastators advanced, unable to fire their heavy weapons while moving. Their sergeant fired his pistol at Torres but to no avail; Torres' wrath had made him mighty. The heretical Captain, seeing Kurtz's weakened squad moving to take the chimera for cover, advanced towards it, bringing up his flamethrowerman while his other men fired their bolters. One of Kurtz's brother crusaders fell, but his spirit remained unbowed.

TURN 3
BLACK TEMPLARS

Climbing over the sandbags, Kurtz ordered his last man's flamethrower into play. It washed over the enemy's flamethrowerman with no effect at all; the Salamander's armour was sound.

Kurtz moved up the side of the bunker, using it as cover from the deadly fire the devastators could deploy if they were able to shoot from a stable position, and affixed another meltabomb to it. Although the heavily fortified building remained standing, the concussion from the blastwave stunned the snipers, preventing them from firing this turn.

Hannibal's squad opened fire on the Salamander command squad with bolters and their ancient plasma cannon, but this time they had no luck and their shots went wide. The plasma bolt burst harmlessly against an unused building to the southeast of the target.

SALAMANDERS

The heretic commander smelled blood and sensed that victory was near. He had already shot down the commander of the Black Templar strike force and the most dangerous of his forces. All he needed was to bring down either Torres or Kurtz and his victory would be inevitable. His flamethrower sent Kurtz's flamethrowerman fleeing in flames, and with this he ordered the assault and charged his men over the sandbag barricade to put Kurtz to the sword. But they could not get QUITE close enough to get to grips with him, having had some difficulty with the sandbags.

While the snipers tried to regroup, dazed inside the blasted bunker, the tactical squad and the devastators advanced again to bring Torres back under their guns. Two bolters and two bolt pistols howled their wrath but Torres was covered in the grace of the Emperor, and His holy will turned every shot aside. The Salamanders gnashed their teeth in frustration but could not lay a hand on the seemingly immortal assault marine.

TURN 4
BLACK TEMPLARS

Firing his jetpack, Torres sprang over the bunker to land in its sandbagged courtyard on the northwest side, using the bunker as cover from the furious Salamander force. A last meltabomb through the window collapsed the bunker- as it imploded the snipers scrambled for their lives through gaping holes in the building, coming out on the southeast side. One sniper was not so lucky, crushed beneath the ruined bunker's armored concrete slabs.

Seeing Kurtz standing alone against the heretic leader and his whole squad, Hannibal ordered the plasma cannon to fire into the enemy before Kurtz disappeared under the opposing forces. The scintillating blue pulse blasted one of the Salamanders into ash, but the plasma cannon, an artifact of the Dark Age of Technology, was treacherous, and laid its unlucky wielder out with horrible burns as it vented superheated waste gas into his face.

With a cry of "suffer not the heretic to live!" Kurtz emptied his bolt pistol into the enemy squad that had overtaken his position and charged into them.

ASSAULT: Brother-Sergeant Kurtz vs. Salamander Captain & Entourage

The Salamander Captain struck first, his conventional but very sharp sword singing out before his men grappled with Kurtz in a tangle of fists, feet and smashing rifle butts. But the Eye of the Emperor was on Kurtz that day, and the grace that had protected Torres now gathered him up to the bosom of the Lord of Man. Every hand raised against Kurtz was struck down, and every blade turned aside.

Kurtz's power fist and bolt pistol butchered the heretic Captain's retinue without mercy, one shot through the glowing eye of his helmet and the other rended apart by the unstoppable force of a power fist.

The Salamanders' morale faltered in the face of Kurtz's most holy vengeance, but they were unable to escape the tight confines of the barricade. The most victory they could lay claim to was that no more of them were destroyed out of hand in the attempt to flee.

SALAMANDERS

On the north side of the battlefield, the Devastators advanced further, confident at the supremacy of their heavy weapons now that the plasma cannon was out of action, and prepared to open fire on the southern bunker.

The surviving snipers gathered their wits and were able to pick off one of Hannibal's men in the southern bunker with their excellent marksmanship.

Meanwhile, the tactical squad broke away to pursue Torres, firing through the ruins of the bunker, but were unable to hit the nimble assault marine.

Struck dumb by disbelief, the Salamander Captain could do little but defend himself, and redoubled his efforts to kill the startlingly unkillable Kurtz.

ASSAULT: Salamander Captain & Entourage vs. Brother-Sergeant Kurtz

The Captain and his last man may as well have tried to hew the bones of the Earth itself. Kurtz slew them both like cattle, crushing the Captain in his power fist and putting an end to his heresy.

TURN 5
BLACK TEMPLARS

Kurtz paused a moment behind the sandbags among the strewn bodies of his enemies.

Torrez put his back to the wall of the ruined bunker, clenched his power fist, charged his plasma pistol and waited for any man among the Salamanders to dare to poke their head around the corner.

Hannibal ordered his last two men to the windows to hold off the devastators. The devastator sergeant and one of the missilemen fell to highly accurate bolter fire, but three missile launchers remained trained on the southern bunker, ready to fire.

SALAMANDERS

The three devastators left let fly with their krak missiles, shooting not for the bunker itself but for the men inside. While antipersonnel frag missiles might've done more widespread damage, the cold-blooded Salamanders judged that their inaccuracy would have been a hindrance, and they reasoned that no man can survive a hit from an anti-tank missile. Indeed, both of Hannibal's men were blown to shreds instantly, painting the interior of the bunker and Hannibal himself with blood. But Hannibal survived, his back to the corner of the bunker, and as he shook the blood out of his ears he could hear the Black Templars' airstrike coming...

SUMMARY
500 point Annihilation Spearhead mission

Order of Battle

Black Templars
 * HQ: Reclusiarch with jump pack, artificer armour, Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum and bolt pistol
 * FAST ATTACK: 5 assault marines, power fist, 2x plasma pistols, meltabombs
 * TROOP #1: 5 tactical marines, plasma cannon
 * TROOP #2: 5 tactical marines, power fist, flamer

Salamanders
 * HQ: Captain with close combat weapon, bolter and Iron Halo
 * TROOP #1: 5 tactical marines, flamer
 * TROOP #2: 5 tactical marines, multi-melta
 * TROOP #3: 5 scouts, 5x sniper rifle
 * HEAVY SUPPORT: 5 devastators, plasma cannon, 4x missile launchers

Results: roll for overtime failed, game ended at the end of the fifth round. BT had scored 2 kill points for the Salamander HQ and Troop #1. Salamanders had scored 1 kill point for the BT HQ. Thanks to laughably unlikely dice, an unexpected victory for BT!