Conflict in Charm City: In Good Company
Immediately after my game with Pat, I switched table sides and took on my pal Ross Watson (you’ve read his articles in White Dwarf) and his 13th Company. 

Mission: Secure and Control (Gamma level)
Points per Player: 1500

I used the same list as before. Ross brought:

• Wolf Lord
• Rune Priest in Terminator armor
• Two packs of Gray Slayers
• One pack of Storm Claws
• One pack of Long Fangs
• Two large packs of Fenrisian Wolves

We deployed the loot counters; I set up in cover to shoot, Ross set up at the edge of his zone to advance. Before the game began, Ross’ army took its free move forward (as the whole army enjoys the Scouts special rule). I won the roll to go first and targeted the very-swift Fenrisian Wolves, combining fire from two squads to kill nine of them: that pack fell back. Agni #1 (the Devastators with the heavy bolters) inflicted ten Wounds on the Storm Claws, who saved EVERY FRICKIN’ ONE. I could not believe my eyes, and felt only slightly better when one of my Razorbacks pasted the Pack Leader of the Long Fangs. Meanwhile, Rudra #1 advanced in their Rhino towards the rest of the Long Fangs.

The Fenrisian Wolves that fell back rallied and headed back to the fight. The Rune Priest tried to use his teleport power but failed a psychic test, so he and his Gray Slayers went nowhere. Slayer shooting took down three members of Agni #1 and one of Agni #2. The Long Fangs fired on the advancing Rhino of Rudra #1, but only shook it. Ross had much better luck with the Fleet of Foot rolls for his second Fenrisian Wolf squad, who barreled into my front lines, killing three members of Rudra #2 and forcing Rudra #3 to fall back. 

Friends, it’s almost always a bad sign to find yourself in close combat with the Space Wolves on Turn 1.

In my panic, I forgot to roll for my reserves: “Shiva’s Guard” sat on the sidelines while I kept shooting, shooting, shooting. Rudra #1 got out of their Rhino and rapid-fired on the Long Fangs, killing two. Agni #1 killed two Storm Claws (finally!) while Agni #2 killed four Gray Slayers. Jirbu Ghosh charged into the Fenrisian Wolves, killing two of them. The Wolves snickered, wiped out Rudra #2, and formed around my Captain. 

On Ross’s turn, The Storm Claws charged Agni #1 but inflicted no damage. The Fenrisian Wolves that had initially fallen back made it into close combat, hitting Agni #2 and killing one of them. The Wolves on Jirbu Ghosh wounded her and lost one of their own to her power weapon. The only saving grace for me was that the Rune Priest again failed his psychic test and went nowhere.

On Turn 3, I remembered to roll for my Terminators. They showed up and shot dead three Gray Slayers; Rudra #3 killed a Slayer from another squad. Rudra #1 gunned down the last two Long Fangs. In the Assault Phase, Jirbu Ghosh continued sparring with the Fenrisian Wolves, while the Wolf Lord and the Storm Claws simply devoured Agni #1. Yuck.

Ross’ Rune Priest finally passed his psychic test and warped himself and a unit of Gray Slayers towards Rudra #1, gunning down two Tigers. The Storm Claws charged the Terminators: only the Wolf Lord left that fight alive. His counterpart, Jirbu Ghosh was not as fortunate: the Fenrisian Wolves brought her down. 

Time was called—Conflict was ending and we packed up.

Outcome: Tigers win (1392 Victory Points to 1062 Victory Points)

Post-Game Analysis
I got very, very lucky in the game against Pat, managing to take down his tanks with Glancing hits and scoring mondo points for each. The destruction of the Hellhound cut Pat twice: had it not gone “poof,” it would have given him points for being in my deployment zone and would have won him the game.

In the game against Ross, the terrain gave me little choice but to deploy more forward than I would have liked, which played to Ross’ advantages. I had no idea that Fenrisian Wolves were so fast or deadly: they’re like Hormagaunts for Space Wolves (and everyone knows how mean Hormagaunts are). The only thing that won me that game was that at the end, I had two loot counters (+600 points for me) and Ross held one (+300 points for him).

Can’t wait for Conflict 2006!

© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, March 2005
 

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