Counter Offensive 2: Space Marines (Part 2)  by Kenton Kilgore
My second game with this list was against Rob Van Pelt-Cathcart and his Necrons in an Alpha-level Secure and Control. We had three counters in our game, one of them deep in enemy territory, the others toward the center of the board. 

Once again, I was determined to have my bikes, “assault” Scouts, and Assault Marines (with my Librarian) avoid the mass of the enemy army, going up my left this time, taking refuge behind several buildings. My plan was for the bikes and the jump pack Marines to swing a big left hook at the enemy while my “assault” Scouts grabbed the objective near the Necron deployment zone. The rest of my army would stave off Necrons coming up the center and hopefully grab an objective or two near the end of the game.

This time, the plan worked very well. On my first turn, my Devastators wiped out one group of Destroyers (whom Rob had moved using the Deceiver’s Grand Illusion ability) and my Speeders took out a Destroyer in the other squadron. Rob’s Necrons advanced, the Immortals downing two Speeders and stunning the last while his surviving Destroyers immobilized one of my Rhinos.

On Turn 2, my Marines weathered more fire from the ‘bots as my Assault Marines and bikes advanced (my Librarian suffered a wound from a Perils of the Warp attack and shooting brought down three of my bikes). The Necrons continued their advance up the center of the board, and the seemingly overconfident Necron Lord charged out ahead of his troops to attack my other Rhino, loaded with troops. 

He failed to damage my ride, however, and my Devastators pasted him with krak missiles. My Assault Marines lit in with flamer and bolt pistol into a mess of Warriors, then charged and chased them off. Simultaneously, Raja Shamshir and the surviving bikers charged another Warrior squad and started kicking them around. On Rob’s turn, the Necrons shot up eight of my Tactical guys (six from one squad, two from the other) and the Deceiver smashed the Rhino that the Lord had attacked.

In Turn 4, my Devastators did JACK against the nearby Deceiver, reminding me of their exceptional shooting against the Templars’ tanks. On the left, my Assault Marines joined the fun with the bikers and brought down some more Warriors. Unengaged Toasters fired on my Tactical guys again, and the Deceiver assaulted the “tactical” Scouts (killing three newbies) that I had thrown his way to keep him off my Devastators. In Rob’s Assault Phase, my bikes and Assault Marines mopped up the Warriors and swept on to other targets: the last batch of Warriors and the Immortals. 

The bikes and Assault Marines started Turn 5 by gunning down five Immortals and three Warriors, then charged. I lost a bike to Dangerous Terrain on the way in, but Raja Shamshir hacked down four Warriors by himself and the Assault Marines chopped up two Immortals. The Warriors broke, the bikers caught and destroyed them, and what was left of the ‘bots went “POOF!” as they Phased Out. 

Outcome: Fighting Tigers win 

Post-game analysis: I was VERY pleased that the bikes (which got mauled in the first game) did so well in this one. Rob chewed up my Tactical Squads, but I managed to bag the Necron Lord (and his obligatory Resurrection Orb) and keep the Deceiver from doing too much damage. On Turn 5, my Devastators had no targets—all of Rob’s infantry was in hand-to-hand combat and his surviving Destroyers were out of line of sight—so they started walking towards one of  the objectives. Usually, it’s bad when your heavy weapon guys have to move. In this case, it was a good thing, like when the quarterback kneels down at the end of the game to run out the clock. 

Related Pages 
Counter Offensive
Countdown to Counter Offensive 2

© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, September 2005
 

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