Fall From Grace V: A Last Bit of Silliness
For quite a while, I had been thinking that it would be cool to use the “Tyranid Monstrosities” rules from the 2001 Chapter Approved compilation to bring Godzilla to the 40K universe and fight the Imperial Guard. On the trip down to Greenville, Ken and Pat and I had discussed how to write up Godzilla (take a look at the final result). When we got to Borderlands, sitting on the counter by the cash register was a 12" inch Godzilla figure just begging to be purchased and used in a game or two. So I did.

Pat was up for a challenge, so he scraped together 1000 points of Imperial Guard (part of his growing Daemonhunters army) and we played on a “ruined cityscape” table. Store owner Stan Reed was kind enough to buy a Blue Oyster Cult CD with their hit song “Godzilla” and crank it up on the boombox while Pat and I played.

In both our games, our objective was for the Imperial Guard to prevent Big G from reaching and devouring barrels of nuclear waste. We ran the first game as a “Hold At All Costs” mission, setting up the barrels in the center of the board, with most of Pat’s army around it. Godzilla easily reached the objective, and after 12 turns (which went by very quickly), the Guard still hadn’t brought down the monster. 

We called a halt and tried again. I urged Pat to re-tool his army, substituting lascannons for the autocannons, heavy bolters, and missile launchers he had used before. We set up the barrels at the far end of the table, forcing Godzilla to walk about 90" to the objective. This, I thought, oughta be good.

And so it was. Godzilla stomped across the length of the board, frying Guardsmen, destroying buildings, and slowly—SLOWLY—losing Mass Points and Wounds. After 15 turns, Godzilla was almost within arm’s reach of the objective, but Pat’s Guardsmen (whom we dubbed the Self-Defense Force, in honor of Japan’s army) brought him down before he could take it. 

Some folks had been watching this unusual match up, and Stan asked to give it a try. He brought 1000 points of Terminators—armed with power fists, lightning claws, and thunder hammers—and ran his veteran Space Marines right into melee with Godzilla. The King of the Monsters can kill just about anything he hits in close combat, but he doesn’t kill many little guys (meaning anyone smaller than him) at once. After many, many turns, Big G finally squashed the last Terminator, bellowed in triumph, and enjoyed a well-deserved snack of nuclear waste. 

You might think that fighting 40K games with Godzilla is silly, and it is—but it was also a lot of fun. And honestly, it’s not much sillier than playing 40K itself. I’ll have to try a game or two with Godzilla again—Ken seems to think that 66 Daemonettes can bring him down. We’ll have to see…. 
 

While we were down in Greenville, I picked up some Lizardmen figures to use as a basis for an army of Kurindans. Pat tried a hand at painting one of them as a test model, in some colors I suggested, and I think it turned out great:

I liked it so much that I asked Pat if he would want to paint up the rest of the army for me (for a feee, of course). Pat accepted. Look for more "Purple People Eaters" coming in 2005 to the Jungle.
 

That wraps up Fall From Grace V, and “Fall From Grace,” itself, probably. Player turnout this year was lower than other years, which Borderlands owner Stan Reed believes was due to DragonCon in nearby Atlanta, held at the same time. He suggested holding something similar to FFG sometime besides Labor Day weekend, perhaps in the spring. 

Regardless, this was probably my last trip to Greenville, at least for a while. I always enjoy visiting Borderlands (and my kids love the comics and toys I bring back for them), but as my schedule gets busier and busier each year, I find it more difficult to drive 1100 miles roundtrip to play 40K. But it’s been fun, and who knows? Maybe I’ll find myself down there again. 

Thanks again to Stan for having us; to Bryan, Ken, and Steven for the games; to Pat for doing the bulk of the driving (and for volunteering once again to take his car, the Red Battlewagon), and to the lovely staff at Bailey’s Sports Grille, where we spent our post-game evenings. 

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, October 2004
 

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