Counter Offensive 6: Battle Summaries, Part 2 
So what happened at CO6? Alas, Beth and I only made it to one day of gaming, but what a long, awesome day it was.

AquaMarines of so-gaHan  by Beth Kilgore
I’m still learning the game and how to use my Space Marine army, but I was pretty confident going into Counter Offensive after winning a practice game against my dad. I was especially looking forward to using and showing off my custom-made Predator model, “the Shark.” 

My first game (aided and abetted by Mountain Dew) could aptly be described as a bit of a fiasco. I was playing my Aquamarines against Bryan Layton’s infantry-heavy Imperial Guard, which was a first. The mission was Capture and Control, with the Pitched Battle deployment. I spread my army out on the table, staying in cover and planning on driving up in the Sea Cobras, jumping out, kicking some hand-to-hand butt, and therefore winning the game right? Well, in a word, no. 

Foolishly, I decided to shoot as I drove up there, leaving ample time for the IG guys to do what they do best, which is (I learned) to blow stuff up. A few shots later, the Shark was dead, as was one Land Speeder and quite a bit of the rest of my army. Bryan also immobilized one of my Cobras, but fortunately, it was disabled over an objective (yes!!). However, Bryan still wound up with two objectives, winning the game....

The second game, against Mel Glover (aka The Penguin) and his Emperor’s Wolfhounds Space Marines, was a little better. This one was also a Capture and Control, this time with the Dawn of War deployment. The Shark stuck around to stop some Rhinos, which I then learned had the nifty little ability of say, getting themselves back in gear again  (annoying!).

I managed to hold one objective with a Tactical Squad as the Land Speeders flew to the back of the table to try to pincer the Wolfhounds. Unfortunately for me, the leader of the Wolfhounds, "Pedro Kantor," decided that he’d had enough of the Tactical Squad holding that same objective and then proceeded to decimate them. Still, I played better than I had before, and even though I lost, I was happy with the outcome. Oh, and I hate Pedro!

My third and last game, an Annihilation with Pitched Battle, against James Arnold and the Black Templars, was completely different. For one thing, the Shark did some major damage early on, killing a Land Raider that carried some Terminators. I also had the very good luck of managing to kill some of a Templar squad. They took a break test, failed, and ran off the table! Well, that was sudden. The Shark also managed to knock off a few of the Dreadnought’s guns, which certainly helped. 

When the Templars finally got to my side of the board for a little hand-to-hand combat, the surprises continued to roll (no pun intended there). My regular Tactical Squad, which should have just been cut to bits, actually managed to kill the Emperor’ Champion, finishing him off with a power fist. The Shark meanwhile still made itself useful, killing Terminators this time. It all finished with a great hand-to-hand battle that lasted for a few turns. At the end, I had won, but not without tons of luck and some really great advice. Thanks to everyone I played! 

Dvergar Steeljacks  by Kenton Kilgore
I took my latest army, the Dvergar Steeljacks, against the formidable Ken Lacy and his Slaan (Tau converted with Lizardman heads and tails). This was a 1500-point Seize Ground game with the Pitched Battle Deployment and four objectives, represented by snazzy Eldar miniatures that Ken had.

Ken set up first and spread his numerous Fire Warriors across the length of the board, with a pair of Broadsides on his left flank and some Devilfish, loaded with Warriors, waiting to move forward. I took a wedge formation (as much as you can “wedge” a whole mess of proxied Orks), with my Cave Nomes (Gretchin) out front, followed by my Regulars (Slugga Boyz). My other squad of Regulars (Shoota Boyz) massed around an objective, and my Marauders (Nobz) and Flametongues (Burna Boyz) clustered nearby, out of sight of the Tau guns. Finally, I placed a Dvergar Crawler (Battlewagon), carrying Warspar Krom (my Warboss) and his Trowe bodyguard (Meganobz), on my right flank.

Ken went first, unloading a heap of fire that killed one Slugga Boy, six Shoota Boyz, and a few Gretchin. The weedy Nomes panicked and were pinned. My guys—except the Nomes, of course—advanced. Ken moved forward his Devilfish, dismounted the Warriors, and continued the shooting, whittling down my Dvergar. 

The Battlewagon made it to Ken’s flank, with Warspar Krom and the Trowe dismounting near the Broadsides, and I foolishly had the Trowe “throw rocks” (translation: had the Meganobz open fire with their shootas) on the Broadsides. They managed to kill one Broadside, which left the Slow-and-Purposeful Trowe out of assault range of the other one. DOH! Ken rewarded me for this error by directing a lot of firepower their way.

Basically, the rest of the game went like this: Ken used his mobility to stay out of my Dvergar’s reach while rapid-firing my Steeljacks into scrap metal. I tried to assault his Devilfish, with limited success, and my Marauders (Nobz) hacked up some Warriors. One of my Overseers (Runtherds) kept advancing on an objective, hugging cover and making far more saves and Pinning tests that is statistically possible, but ultimately, Ken killed most of my dudes, the Flametongues never got in the fight, and I conceded at the end of Turn 5. 

This game did not go the way I wanted it to, but I learned a great deal. I need to finish buying, building, and painting more Battlewagons for my proxied Orks to get to the fight: they were way too slow against Ken’s proxied Tau. I also need to remember to use the Go to Ground rule, as well as some of the fiddlier abilities the Runtherds and the Gretchin have: that would have made them more useful. Practice will help with that.

Related Pages 
Other Counter Offensives

Posted September 2009
 

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