Events
and Battle Reports
Fall From
Grace III
Intro
<> Fighting Tigers <> Ozone
Scorpions <> Photos
Fall From Grace
III: Battle Summaries for Fighting Tigers
Long-time visitors to the Jungle
know that I'm constantly creating and tinkering with army lists, usually
basing them around some kind of theme (want more examples?).
For FFG III, I brought some new and revised Space Marine army lists, each
2000 points, to try out. Feel free to try one as is or with some tweaking.
"Tigers
Eternal"
This is an
all-infantry list based around the three Dreadnoughts (or "Tigers
Eternal," as I call them) in my collection. In addition to the
Dreads, the army has lots of Troops (to soak up casualties) and two Assault
Squads, led by a Librarian with a jump pack.
The concept
for this army is not much different than that of your typical Tyranid swarm:
some fast units to engage the enemy quickly, tying them up in hand-to-hand
combat and blocking lines of fire while the rest of the army advances.
In place of Hormagaunts, I used Assault Squads. In place of Termagants
and Genestealers, I used Tactical Squads and Scouts. And in place of Carnifexes,
I used Dreadnoughts. Though an odd composition, I think it captures most
elements of what I consider to be a balanced
army.
Of course,
Tyranids can do this sort of thing much better: they have more numbers
and superior hand-to-hand ability. This isn't a list designed to defeat
every foe and win tournaments: it's meant to be fun and challenging to
use. If it succeeds, fine; if not, that's fine, too. I'm old enough and
have been playing long enough that I don't feel the need to dominate every
game and crush every opponent just to feed my ego.
HQ |
|
Chandramatie Bahl.
Librarian w/ force weapon, bolt pistol, jump pack, frag grenades. |
122 pts
|
Elites |
|
Tiger
Eternal Shiva the Destroyer. Dreadnought w/ close combat weapon (ccw)
+ heavy flamer, assault cannon, extra armor, and smoke launchers. |
123 pts
|
Tiger
Eternal Shrendi Vashtar. Dreadnought w/ ccw + heavy flamer, multi
melta, extra armor, and smoke launchers. |
133 pts
|
Tiger
Eternal Surya Ashoka. Dreadnought w/ twin-linked lascannons, missile
launcher, extra armor, and smoke launchers. |
143 pts
|
Troops |
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran
Sergeant has bolter-flamer and ccw. Eight Marines have bolters. One Marine
has a flamer. |
181
pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran
Sergeant has bolter-flamer and ccw. Eight Marines have bolters. One Marine
has a flamer. |
181 pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran
Sergeant has storm bolter. Seven Marines have bolters. One Marine has a
plasma gun. One Marine has a missile launcher. |
186 pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran
Sergeant has storm bolter. Seven Marines have bolters. One Marine has a
plasma gun. One Marine has a missile launcher. |
186 pts
|
Tigers
of Puchan (Tactical Scouts). Scout Sergeant + 4 Scouts. Sergeant and
three Scouts have bolters. One Scout has an autocannon. |
85 pts
|
Fast Attack |
|
Tigers
of Kali (Assault Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran Sergeant
has plasma pistol and ccw. Seven Marines have bolt pistols and ccw. Two
Marines have plasma pistols and ccw. All have blind grenades. |
330 pts
|
Tigers
of Kali (Assault Marines). Veteran Sergeant + 9 Marines. Veteran Sergeant
has plasma pistol and ccw. Seven Marines have bolt pistols and ccw. Two
Marines have plasma pistols and ccw. All have blind grenades. |
330 pts
|
Total |
2000
pts
|
 
The
core of the army. Left: Surya Ashoka. Center:
Shiva the Destroyer. Right: Shrendi Vashtar
So how did this army do?
Battle Results for the "Tigers Eternal"
Army
Mission: Patrol (page
141 of the main rulebook)
Opponent: Tau (Dwayne
Powell)
Points per Player:
2000
What happened? In theory,
there's no way I could win this battle. My forces would have to arrive
piecemeal (thanks to the Reserve rule) and walk across a fairly
open table into the guns of the Tau. Dwayne certainly had the tools in
place: a Commander with Bodyguard, an Ethereal, a Crisis Battlesuit unit,
several squads of Fire Warriors, a guy in a Broadside suit, and two Hammerheads--one
with an ion cannon, the other with a railgun.
I lucked out on the Reserve
rolls and all my jump packers were on the board by Turn 3. I made good
use of what cover there was, advancing behind a clump of trees that blocked
most of Dwayne's line of sight. And Dwayne made two mistakes. His first
was concentrating most of his fire on my Tactical Squads, allowing my Librarian
and about half a dozen Assault Marines to make it to his lines. His other
error was in moving his Commander and guards a smidge too close to Shiva,
letting him charge into close combat.
But what really won the game for
me was the fact that it lasted 8 turns (thanks to the Random Game Length
rule). Once I was able to come to grips with the Tau, it was all over for
them. My jump packers tore through the Fire Warrior teams and Shiva shredded
the Commander, his friends, and their drones.
Outcome: Tigers win
(1034 Victory Points to 485 Victory Points).

"Master
and Apprentice"
I was inspired by Star Wars
Episode II: Attack of the Clones to create a strike force led by
two Librarians, one older and wiser, one still in training. The "master"
would be Zaghnal Maratha, the "apprentice"
would be an spare Librarian figure I haven't used in years, re-named and
brought back into active duty.

Left: Master
Zaghnal Maratha. Right: Apprentice Chandramatie Bahl
Because each Librarian has a jump pack, I thought it would be cool to
give each a squad of Assault Marines to command.
HQ |
|
Zaghnal Maratha.
Space Marine Librarian w/ force weapon, bolt pistol, jump pack, Terminator
honors, and frag grenades |
137 pts
|
Chandramatie Bahl.
Space Marine Librarian w/ force weapon, bolt pistol, jump pack, and frag
grenades |
122 pts
|
Troops |
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Tactical Marines. Vet Sarge
has bolter-flamer. Eight Marines have bolters. One has a flamer. |
181 pts
|
Man-eater I. Rhino
w/ extra armor, smoke launcher, searchlight |
59 pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Tactical Marines. Vet Sarge
has bolter-flamer. Eight Marines have bolters. One has a flamer. |
181 pts
|
Man-eater II. Rhino
w/ dozer blade, extra armor, smoke launcher |
63 pts
|
Fast Attack |
|
Tigers
of Kali (Assault Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Assault Marines. Vet Sarge
has plasma pistol and power weapon. Two Marines have plasma pistols and
close combat weapons (ccw). Seven have bolt pistols and ccw. All have blind
grenades. |
345 pts
|
Tigers
of Kali (Assault Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Assault Marines. Vet Sarge
has plasma pistol and power weapon. Two Marines have plasma pistols and
close combat weapons (ccw). Seven have bolt pistols and ccw. All have blind
grenades. |
345 pts
|
Tiger
Sharks. Squadron of three Land Speeders w/ multi-meltas |
195 pts
|
Heavy Support |
|
Tyger
Tyger. Predator Annihilator w/ lascannon sponsons, extra armor, smoke
launchers, and searchlight. |
154 pts
|
Sabretooth.
Whirlwind
w/ extra armor and smoke launchers. |
83 pts
|
Tigers
of Agni (Devastator Marines). Sarge w/ bolter + 4 Marines with heavy
bolters. |
135 pts
|
Total |
2000
pts
|
At Games
Day 2002, I used a smaller
version of this list, but I wasn't happy with the battle I played.
It was a fun and challenging game, and I managed to win, but I spent the
whole game running away from the attacking Space Wolves. I wanted to try
again and play a bit more aggressively.
To say it
had been an interesting week would be an understatement. The arrival of
a mysterious battle barge in Vedic space had heralded the coming of an
army of Space Marines claiming to be a long-lost Legion from the time of
the Great Crusades.
These so-called Borderlands
Marines were a strange lot. They spoke an ancient dialect, and their manners
and customs were at times awkward, to say the least. By far their most
disconcerting aspect was their sense of humor, which tended toward elaborate,
humiliating practical jokes. Nevertheless, the Fighting Tigers had welcomed
them and begun joint training exercises.
Chief Librarian Zaghnal
Maratha was the liaison with the Borderlands Marines. On the morning of
the fourth meeting between himself and Belisarius, the Master of the Borderlands
Legion, Zaghnal Maratha was interrupted by an aide-de-camp who reported
that the sacred pelt of the Tigers of Kali, the Assault Marines, was missing
from their temple. Chandramatie Bahl, Zaghnal's Apprentice Librarian, was
in a rage, meting out punishments and swearing revenge.
Belisarius laughed.
He explained that the Borderlands Marines were a training Legion, and thus
had a disproportionately high number of Scouts amongst its ranks. No doubt
these Scouts had “acquired” the pelt, partly as a prank, partly to test
their skills against the watchfulness of Space Marines.
With a scowl on his
face, Zaghnal Maratha explained to Belisarius that this was a serious matter,
and that he would be punishing his Tigers for their neglect of duty. He
expected Belisarius to administer corresponding punishments to the offending
Scouts.
Belisarius offered
a suggestion. “Brother Zaghnal, hear my words, and ponder their worth.
Truly, the Scouts of the Borderlands Legion have o’er stepped the bounds
of behavior of guests that have been treated in the honorable manner that
the sons and daughters of Veda have treated them! I propose the following:
before each of us administers the just punishment due our respective troops,
let us give your Vedic Marines the opportunity to regain some of their
lost honor.
“Earlier this week,
we held a training exercise. Let us hold another this afternoon. I will
have my Scouts in the field, unsupported by their battle brothers, with
but a few Veteran Marines to act as observers. Have the aggrieved Marines
from your Kali temple take the field against them. This will give your
troops the opportunity to exact revenge and restore their honor, and it
will teach my Scouts that their battle brothers will not always be there
to get them out of trouble if they foolishly seek it!”
Zaghnal agreed, and
the two forces met on the Urban Training Grounds.
Story © copyright
Stan Reed, August 2002. Used with permission.
So how did this army do?
Battle Results for the "Master and Apprentice"
Army
Mission:
Cleanse
(page 139 of the main rulebook )
Opponent:
Borderlands Space Marines (Stan Reed)
Points
per Player: 2000
What
happened? Stan, the owner of Borderlands,
has a large Space Marine army named after his store. Like the Fighting
Tigers, the Borderlands Marines have a distinctive paint scheme and use
the rules straight out of Codex: Space Marines. The role
of the Borderlands Marines is to train Scouts from other Space Marine Chapters
before they become full-fledged members. Thus, Stan has many Scout Squads
painted up to represent units from other Chapters: Blood Angels, Black
Templars, Ultramarines, etc.
He and I have
played before, and we had been looking
forward for quite some time to a rematch. As a form of good-humored taunting,
Stan had fashioned a "tiger pelt" (see below) and bragged
on the Millenium Gate
forum that he was going to "skin some more Tigers" when we played.
I was determined to go home with that trophy and proposed that the winner
of our impending game got to keep it for "bragging rights."
Above: Stan
and the "tiger pelt."
Photo © copyright
Stan Reed, August 2002. Used with permission.
Stan brought a way-cool "First and
Ten" army: two squads of Terminators ("First Company") and heaps of Scouts
("Tenth Company"). They were backed up by a squad of Assault Marines and
a Land Speeder with a multi-melta.
I stayed away from the Terminators,
hopping my jump pack troops between and on top of buildings, harrying Scouts
and the Borderlands Assault Marines. My Tactical and Devastator Marines
and my Whirlwind exchanged fire with the rest of the Scouts as my Predator
and Land Speeders took potshots at the Terminators.
It was a close and hard-fought game
throughout, and only decided on the last turn. One of Stan's Terminator
squads was threatening to claim my deployment quarter after my Devastator
Marines and Whirlwind had been taken out. My Predator Annihilator fired
all its lascannons into the Termies--and three Borderlands veterans fell!
The squad failed its Morale check and fell back. I was assured of at least
a tie.
Fighting Tiger Assault Marines
and Land Speeders (foreground) keep a safe
distance from the Borderlands
Terminators (center)
If I could knock down the other Terminator
squad (in another table quarter) to below half, I could win the game. Determined
to have her revenge, Apprentice Chandramatie Bahl and the few Tigers of
Kali she had left used their jump packs to crash through the windows of
a nearby building, where they confronted the Terminators. In the brief
but fierce melee, the Librarian and her attendant Veteran Sergeant hacked
down three Terminators, leaving neither side in control of that quarter.
In the end, the Tigers had one quarter, two quarters were contested, and
one was empty.
Outcome:
Tigers win.

"The
Redhead"
At
Fall
From Grace II, my favorite character,
Raja
Khandar Madu ("The Redhead," at right), was taken
out by a well-placed lascannon shot during
a game against my pal Thomas Prince. Thomas (webmaster of the excellent
Wolf
& Rabbit @ Arms, by the way) won that game and had been pretty
pleased with how easily he dealt with the Turbo-Hottie of Death. He was
so pleased, in fact, that for the next year, he frequently reminded me
of it during our discussions on the Millenium
Gate and Bolter
and Chainsword forums.
So when Thomas
brought his new "Urban Tiger" Tau army to FFG III, I decided to reacquaint
him with Raja Khandar Madu. This list expands on the Rogue
Trader Tourney and Games Day 2002
lists I used for her, bumping her back up to a Force Commander and adding
in a Command Squad. In addition, it lets me use three units I can't bring
to "official" Games Workshop events: my Vedic
Siege Gun (which uses the Vehicle Design Rules), a converted
Scout Squad, and a smattering of Gray
Tigers (which, like the Scouts, use non-GW figures).

The converted Scouts (left)
and Gray Tigers (right) want to play, too....
...and the Vedic Siege Gun
(below)
just wants to be the center of attention

HQ |
|
Raja Khandar Madu.
Space Marine Force Commander w/ master-crafted lightning claws, artificer
armor, Iron Halo, and Terminator Honors |
165 pts
|
Singh
(Command) Squad. Sarge + 4 Marines. Sarge has bolt pistol and close
combat weapon (ccw). Standard Bearer has Sacred Standard, bolt pistol and
ccw. Techmarine has bolt pistol and power weapon. Apothecary has bolt pistol
and power weapon. One Marine has a flamer. |
150 pts
|
Man-eater IV.
Razorback w/ twin-linked plasma guns and lascannon; dozer blade, extra
armor, smoke launchers. |
98 pts
|
Elites |
|
Gray
Tigers (Veterans). Sarge + 5 Veteran Marines. Sarge and 4 Marines have
bolters. One has a plasma gun. |
114 pts
|
Troops |
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Tactical Marines. Vet Sarge
has bolter-flamer. Eight Marines have bolters. One has a flamer. |
181 pts
|
Man-eater I. Rhino
w/ extra armor, smoke launcher, searchlight |
59 pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Tactical Marines. Vet Sarge
has bolter-flamer. Eight Marines have bolters. One has a flamer. |
181 pts
|
Man-eater II. Rhino
w/ dozer blade, extra armor, and smoke launcher. |
63 pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Vet Sarge + 9 Tactical Marines. Vet Sarge
has storm bolter. Seven Marines have bolters. One has a plasma gun. One
has a missile launcher. |
186 pts
|
Man-eater III.
Rhino
w/ extra armor, smoke launcher, searchlight |
59 pts
|
Tigers
of Rudra (Tactical Marines). Sarge + 4 Tactical Marines. Sarge has
bolt pistol and ccw. Three Marines have bolters. One has a melta gun. |
85 pts
|
Man-eater V.
Razorback w/ twin-linked lascannons; dozer blade, extra armor, smoke launchers,
and searchlight. |
104 pts
|
Tigers
of Puchan (Scouts). Vet Sarge + 4 Space Marine Scouts. Vet Sarge has
bolter-flamer. Three Scouts have bolters. One has an autocannon. |
108 pts
|
Fast Attack |
|
Tiger
Shark. Land Speeder w/ heavy bolter. |
50 pts
|
Tiger
Shark. Land Speeder w/ heavy bolter. |
50 pts
|
Tiger
Shark. Land Speeder w/ heavy bolter. |
50 pts
|
Heavy Support |
|
Tyger
Tyger. Predator Annihilator w/ lascannon sponsons, extra armor, smoke
launchers, and searchlight. |
154 pts
|
Vedic
Siege Gun. Fully armored, w/ Earthshaker cannon |
140 pts
|
Total |
2000
pts
|
So how did this army do?
Battle Results for "The Redhead" Army
Mission:
Take
and Hold (page 145 of the main rulebook )
Opponent:
Tau (Thomas Prince)
Points
per Player: 2000
What
happened? We rolled the mission randomly, then used Strategy Ratings
(page 129 of the main rulebook) to determine who would be the attacker.
I won and pondered my options--while I did that, Thomas placed the objective
(a small bunker) at one end of the board, smack in the middle.
I'm not the
world's brightest guy, but I figured out fairly quickly that I was better
off letting Thomas defend, forcing him to deploy his Troops (four Fire
Warrior Teams and two Kroot Carnivore Squads) and Heavy Support (two Hammerheads
and a Broadside unit) where my entire army could swiftly reach them. If
I was going to charge his forces anyway, why not make it easy on myself
and have most of them already in the middle of the board?
Above: On Turn
1, the Tigers rush the Tau, transports using their smoke launchers
Below: On Turn
2, Fighting Tigers dash from their transports and assault the Tau.
Towards the left, Marines
in yellow trudge through the "toxic waste pool"

By Turn 2,
my Tactical Squads (led by Raja Khandar Madu) were tearing through the
Tau lines. As each Tau unit fell back or were wiped out, my Tigers swept
forward, ignoring the fierce counterfire the Tau pumped into them. The
difficult terrain (the toxic waste pool in the photo above)
slowed some of my foot troops and immobilized one of my transports, but
I persevered, my Tactical Squads swarming over and even entering the objective.
Surely, I had the game won, right?
Above: Thomas
brings on his Reserves, his Commander and Bodyguard
Well, perhaps
not. Thomas gave me a scare late in the game when he used Tank Shock
to shove a Hammerhead past my Tactical Marines and get its nose up against
the wall of the bunker/objective. If the game ended at that point, he could
argue that he had forced a tie even though I had Marines inside the bunker.
Fortunately,
the game went on another turn and the plasma gunner of my Gray Tigers unit
successfully hit the tank, rolled a "6" to score a glancing hit against
the front armor, then rolled another "6" to destroy the Hammerhead. Truly,
that "fallen Tiger" redeemed himself and would be welcomed back into the
Chapter!
Outcome:
Tigers win.

DOH!
I played one
more game with my Tigers, against my pal Ken Lacy and his all-consuming
Ripper Swarm army. Ken's army consisted of six Tyranid Warriors, two Carnifexes,
and 60 (no, that's not a typo) Ripper Swarms. We played a Recon, and Ken
won (2094 Victory Points to 1135). But it might have been closer (or even
had a different winner) had I not forgotten to deploy and use:
-
5 Terminators
(including one with assault cannon and one with Cyclone missile launcher);
-
3 Land Speeders
with heavy bolters (in a squadron);
-
3 Land Speeders
with heavy bolters (in a squadron); and
-
3 Attack Bikes
with heavy bolters.
Yes, folks, it's
hard to win a game when you only bring 1300 points to a 2000 point battle.
Learn from my mistake and always, always, ALWAYS double-check your
list during deployment.
How frustrating...and
embarrassing....
Fall From
Grace III
Intro
<> Fighting Tigers <> Ozone
Scorpions <> Photos
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Other
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© Copyright Kenton
Kilgore, September 2002
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