I did start putting the photos from the second battle in the existing Gedren Prime thread, but there were too many of them, and combined with other peoples photos and the video perhaps it deserves its own thread! It was a 5-odd hour game after all :D Some of the photos in the thead are slightly me-centric, so there will need to be a few more put up to get a more balanced look at the battle!

All of the Imperial players had 500pts of units each, and they were up against around 3000-3500pts of defending Gedrenite units which were set up around the board first.

The previous games played had an impact on this one. So, as Lucius' Blood Angels had destroyed the cloning facilities the defending troops would not receive that bonus. The Space Wolves under WL Mjolnir as part of their 'Saga of the Cheating Bastard' had successfully stopped an armoured convoy approaching Gedren Prime, and H-Gate had managed to roll his Shadowsword so that would not be present on the battlefield. My World Eaters had captured the artillery, which would add to the initial firestorm, and finally the unknown legionnaires of the Primarch Malibron had failed to destroy Hero of Istvaan's communications centre and planetary defenders on a world which looked very much like Endor! This meant that the defenders would be able to issue orders outside their usual range.

Before any of the attacking units had been placed (ignore the White Scars at the bottom!) it looked something like this:



There were 4 objectives for the Imperial invasion force to capture: The 2 bastions on each end, and 2 points on the large fortress (indicated by the quad cannons on the roof). The Imperial force would claim victory by capturing these points.

Before the first troops landed there was a firestorm, although this was largely innefectual, destroying perhaps a couple of tanks including a Basilisk



Thanks to a Master of the Fleet sat in a chimera and disrupting Imperial fleet operations with his laptop, the first turn troops arrival was extremely limited. WL Mjolnir's Wolf Guard landed alone on the Eastern flank, where virtually the entirety of H-Gate's forces turned their guns on them..



Vinnie's White Scar jetbikers flew in and landed right in the centre of the city, unfortunately for them in flamer-template formation and right infront of the Banewolf (I'll let you guess what happened next!)



There were a few more successful arrivals on the Western flank, with drop pods from Lucius's Blood Angels and Vinnie's White Scars arriving. One of the Fief Lords is very close to them, bravely leading his forces from the comfort of a Chimera :)



The retalliatory fire for the defenders was effective indeed, with virtually all of the attackers gunned down as they left their drop-pods, or shot down by the tower-mounted quad guns as they came in to land. Barely any troops survived, other than Lucius' Blood Angels, and a small World Eater Assault Squad which had landed off target and right in the corner of the board. Fortunately, that unit had been forgotten about (I wonder if Titus Pollo felt sorry for them? :D ) and they were able to come out of cover and take out a defending artillery unit:



More units arrived in subsequent turns, Vinnis's White Ccars in particular destroying several defending tanks:



Including this one where Jaghati Khan stomped round a corner to take out this unfortunate punisher!



Meanwhile, on the Western flank the Imperials began to attack in force. The Blood Angel assault units arrived to avenge their fellows, although a Basilisk shell landed directly on them and wiped out several of their number! I overhead someone at this point say, "I knew we should have taken out those Basilisks".

Josh's World Eater Terminators arrived and set about spending the next few turns trying to kick in the Bastion, all the while being shot by the units on the roof, although eventually it would fall and allow the terminators to get and the soft, mushy defenders within. Just out of shot to the left is a basilisk and some heavy weapons teams which the attackers would eventually destroy.



Perhaps the turning point in the game: The remains of a Capital spaceship came hurtling down through the atmosphere, smashing apart many of the defenders buildings. A large component of the ship landing some distance away caused a tremendous shockwave to pass through the defending fortress, knocking many of the units to the ground! The battlefield was beginning to look rather less pristine than it had done at the beginning..



Finally, my Berskers arrived and set about avenging Mjolnir's Wolf Guard and Hero of Istvaan's Imperial Fists (I think the one marine is tripping over one of their remains in the photo ^_^) They wiped out H-Gate's ogryns lead by a psyker (I remember H-Gate saying, "he's got a refractor field" while holding the fistfull of dice needed to save him :D ). The return fire was brutal though, and only the Captain and a single berserker survived. you can just see some of the 'unknown legion' rolling a Leman Russ in the top of the photo.



The berserkers then leapt onto the towers, skillfully avoiding having to take a dangerous terrain test (I reckon they would have just smashed through the wall of the fort head-first) and took out the lascannon teams which had killed several of their number the previous turn.



By this point the number of troops on the table were drastically reduced.. The remaining Gedrenite units muster amongst the smashed debris of the fortress for a final push on the invaders..



Sorry for so many Berserker shots, but they were more or less the only thing I had left to take photos of! After seeing off the lascannon teams, they jumped over to the next tower and took control of a quad cannon - Ray's wolf lord then used the weapon to blow the turret off the nearby Chimera!



Finally, photos taken at the end of the game.. On the western flank only a single terminator and assault troop remained...



The centre of the fort still had a number of defenders left, ready to take on the encroaching units of Imperials - Leman Russ had arrived and wiped out a few units of guardsmen, along with Sigismund.



Overall it was one of the most fun games I have played in ages, with more than its share of memorable moments. I believe that the attacking Imperials were awarded a victory (they held a couple of the bastion points) although the battle had been a real fight of attrition and both sides were badly mauled..

Brilliantly organised though and pretty fair (I think the capital ship crashing on the planet just swung things in the attackers favour), and perhaps the longest Planetstrike game in the history of the game!

WOW !! those are some cool pic matey - and a nice report

Ray found it 'unusual' to fire a heavy weapon !!

Great report and pics mate. There was some very acurate falling ship debris. :D

Thanks Pacific! Thats awesome... glad that people got tons of pics!

My highlights of the game were definately:

- Mjol's Wolf Guad of Doom turning up on their own surrounded by about a 1000 points of Gedrenites! Even with all of those heavy weapons it was the Lasguns and "First Rank fire..." that sorted them out!!!!

- The ridiculous effectiveness of my Officer of the Fleet and his laptop in a game of Planetstrike this size... 30 points well spent methinks!

- Pacific's Beserkers absolutely smearing my Ogryns and Primaris Psyker in a single round of conbat (still cant believe i didnt pass the 20 odd 5+ invulnerable saves on my Primaris Psyker... I need new dice!!). Those Beserkers are ridiculous!!!!

- The noble Augustus Von Rahn (my Fief Lord) being torn a serious new one by Leman Russ in CC (why the hell did i get him out of his comfy Chimera!!!!?)

- Realising that Basilisks fire 240" now and taking some impossible long shots over to the other side of Gedren Prime! Think they hit every time... loved the fact that I could get sweet vengeance on Vinnie from about 8 feet away after he rolled one of my Leman Russ' on the other side of the table!!!

Best game in ages... post your highlights and pics guys!!!

great report lacking in the 13th's efforts id like to add my 2 pence worth if i may.
The game for myself started as they usualy do i made sum rubbish rolls leaving the first grey slayers unit ten strong being placed by the Gedren defence forces and i was not spared landing in a nice compact formation infront of a land raider, a russ and Gedren squads my brave slayers took alot of shot i was praying to russ that there would be sum left and my prayers were answered with the loss of only a few men. then the assult was on my second squad and wolf lord arrived to support the first all be it in the next street porting in behind land raider number 2, it was then when i realised that there was a razorback that had appered out of nowhere and thinking fiddle sticks, Tom told me it was belonging to his ultramarines and i was feeling a little more relived. tom convinced me to let him take a shot at the back of land raider 2 i said go ahead his las cannons failed and so it fell to the brave men of the 13th to show the boys in blue how to kill a tank melta bombs in hand they assulted land raider 2 quickly vanished replaced with wreckage and the explosion taking sum Gedren with it, so slayers 1 took on land raider 1 and also going up in melta bomb heavan unleashing the squad inside complete with psyker who in his turn sent the last few slayers from slayers 1 to that big feasting hall in the sky and the razor back was targeted and was not able to fire in the upcoming turn. i had taken casualts in slayer2 and started my turn with my wolf lord and his loyal wolfguard. Tom had disemarked his captain and squad from the razorback and made their way up onto the battlements aslo he had a land speeder that removed the russ i spoke of earlier with a trusty multimelta. with that said my wolf lord and guard started their way up the battlements Toms Ultramarines were keen to dispatch the unit occupying the ramparts so i continued onto the the objective to face a command squad afta 2 rounds of combat my 2 good men dispatched the command squad and controlled the objective. Toms combat done his captain stood proud and then made his way to face the psyker and his men tho his men sucome to the Gedrens. my wolf lord made his way down the other side of the battlements ready to assult whilst the wolf guard took over the quad gun atop the objective and fired it apon the Gedren foes below killing afew with that done the wolf lord assulted the unit of guard lets just say he killed them in 1 turn then consolidated back to the top of the objective. with their obvious threat the Gedren moved in and i found myself on the reciving end of a posion cannon and the wolf guard fell. i was joined by two world eaters assult troop one of wich being a chaplin. the wolf lord took aim and made the tank below useless again these being the only times ive ever fired heavy weapons. then the psyker appeard and had a choice to make he decided to assult the world eaters and fell at the hands of the chaplin. Tom's land speeder took an objective destroying the quad gun in the process. And that was the way the Boys of The Games Shop showed their metal.

i think i got everything that i saw anyway it was a great event and loved every moment

thanks guys
ray

WOW - Paragraphs Ray, paragraphs ;O)

i will try to remember next time Rhys

Ok so I realised all the pics I took of this battle are almost identical to a lot of Pacific's so I will just post this one. It takes place towards the end of the battle just before the Blood Angels are wiped out and the World Eaters finally manage to knock down my bastion!


Here is a bit of fluff about what happened at my side of the battlefield. It is illustrated best by Pacifics fifth pic. In the Chimera in the foreground is Nihl Macon, Supreme Fief lord of Gedren and in the red and gold armour is Captain Eli. I've taken a bit of artistic license but this is roughly what happed in turn 3 and 4 with those two characters;

Nihl Macon, Supreme Fief Lord of Gedren, felt a doomed resignation as he surveyed the field of battle over the last remnants of the capital city. His luxurious palaces had been shelled beyond recognition and the mining complexes were damaged beyond repair. He had come out from the safety of his command bunker this morning, ignoring the protests of his sycophantic lackeys and advisors. He would meet his destiny head on.

He continued staring at the green grey ruins and churned ground through the vision port of his armoured transport and mused on his legacy. His sons had proved themselves to be nothing more than pleasure seeking sybarites. When the invasion had begun they retreated into narcotics and orgies to escape the reality of retribution that they must all face. His cloning facilities had been captured and his army was reduced to a shadow of its former self. Would anyone remember his name? Would the great statues and boulevards of the capital be torn down, defaced and renamed? Bile rose in his stomach as pure hatred bubbled under the surface. He may not be able to repel the invaders but he would make them pay and suffer. The clones making up his body-guard saw their commanders face contort with anger.
‘We have approached the frontline sir’ said the driver over the vox. Macon, snapping out of his thoughts, rose from his seat and jabbed the button to talk back.
‘Stop here. Target anything that moves.’ Macon headed back to the vision ports. He could see the city walls lined with his men and a number of bastions at strategic intervals, bristling with bolters and anti-aircraft guns. The distant boom of artillery formed a sonic backdrop. Streaking in through the sky were the enemies drop ships. He noted in satisfaction when one or two were picked off by anti-aircraft lasercannon fire.

A sudden crack caused the troops in the transport to start. They felt the body of the vehicle rock with the impact of enemy fire.
‘This is it gentlemen.’ said Macon. ‘It is time to meet our destiny. Open the doors.’ A soldier moved to the rear hatch and started to lower the departure ramp. Not a moment too soon. The sound of more ordinance weaponry hitting the front of the vehicle reached them and a sudden explosion ripped through the crew compartment hurling the soldiers from the transport. Macon picked himself up and turned to see the flaming wreckage. It took a few moments to pick themselves up but his four remaining clones did not seem to be hurt just bruised and battered by the explosion.
‘Raise my standard, Ensign.’ A young officer of his guard unfurled the scarlet banner of the Macon dynasty with its coat of arms emblazoned on the front. Through the smoke in front of them Macon could see one of the drop ships of the enemy. Its hatches were open giving it the appearance of a huge iron flower with petals unfurled. Where was its cargo? The deadly warriors housed within. At first all he could see was the flash of gunfire. It drew nearer and then the shapes emerged. Warriors clad in blood red armour with whirring chain blades. He unholstered his pistol, took aim and fired a burst into the leading warrior. He did not even flinch but pressed on towards them at a run.
‘Hold fast men!’ Shouted Macon. ‘Protect me to the last!’ He drew his sword and activated the power switch. His men readied themselves. With relief Macon saw all the warriors bar the leader withdraw to the east. His relief was short lived, as quick as a flash, the remaining warrior was upon them.

Captain Eli of the Blood Angels, was relishing the taste of battle. His company had come under heavy fire on their drop pods but the enemy was beginning to melt away under the constant onslaught of superhuman warriors. He was leading Assault squad Artus to take an artillery position when out of the chaos of battle he spied a prize. Intelligence gathered previously meant that he recognised the flag flying in the distance as the personal standard of the ruler of this planet.
‘Sergeant Samuel. Continue with our task. I will leave you for a little sport.’
‘Acknowledged. With respect sir, would you like backup?’
‘By the Emperor! I think I can handle this myself Sergeant. My auspex reads five men. It wouldn’t be a fair fight if we went all went in together would it? Your mission should be carried out with the utmost speed then you can rendezvous with me hear to clear the mess up.’ Sergeant Samuel smirked under his helmet. The Captain was never one to miss an opportunity for glory.
‘Squad, move out!’ Artus activated his jump pack and flew towards the artillery position followed by the rest of the squad.

Captain Eli strode towards his target. He was glad Samuel hadn’t noticed the plasma burn to his thigh. He had been injured while disembarking from the drop pod. It caused him a little pain and made his right leg stiff. As he moved closer to the small band of men he caught a little incoming laser fire but this was nothing to his power armour and he strode onwards to the fight.

Before Macon realised what was happening the towering warrior skewered one of his men with his glowing power blade. Macon leapt in with his sword, swiping left and right. He was deftly parried each time then hurled back with a vicious riposte. He blocked it but the force of the blow jarred his arm and he reeled back to the ground. His three remaining guards continued the futile struggle with their bayonets. The astartes swung his sword again and cleaved the leading clones lasgun in two. Macon picked himself up slowly and looked again at the warrior, who was circling them. The armour plates seemed to have a few vulnerable points around the armpit and groin. The leg plate looked damaged. He reached for his pistol again aimed carefully at the damaged leg and fired. The giant stumbled for a second and fell to one knee. Seeing his moment of vulnerability a clone raced towards him, knife in hand. The Captains huge hand caught the knife arm and viciously twisted it past breaking point with a sickening crack. The knife was released and the clone screamed out in pain. The astartes clenched his fist and punched the clone, shattering his skull in a mist of blood and bone. Eli felt his life slip away. Macon had moved behind him deftly pushed his power sword down through the neck join of armour, piercing both hearts. Macon howled in triumph, pulling out the sword a gout of arterial blood spurted into the air covering his face. The astartes body slumped to the floor.


For all you loyalists out there don't worry Macon will get his arse kicked eventually. Just haven't written that bit yet!

That bloody Captain Eli - he was always one for trouble.

Love what you've written, it's brilliant. Nice work mate. ;)

Makes me wish i had bought a plane ticket and went
i am jealous
amazingly cool game :D

Delightful pics guys!

I'm not gonna lie, my favorite part of that game was having my bikes utterly rape the defenders Executioner from behind! Although it sort of ties with Khan becoming so engrossed in slicing up the Punisher, he (nor I) didn't notice it had been destroyed until a turn later :S

Also, H-Gate... not happy about your damned Basilisks! They did for my drop pod squad AND the last of my bikes! Grr... Although, having said that, Khan did just walk through two of your barrages... so I'll take that victory :P

Amazingly fun game guys, genuinely can't wait until our next sortie. I'll have to think of something new and shiny for my Scars to field :P

Excellent story Titus Pollo! Having read through again, I just realised that you 'power-emoted' the death of Lucius' poor old Captain Eli! :lol:

Doubt he will be recovering any time soon from a power-blade through both hearts... ^_^

It was a mild case of heart burn that's all. Some Gaviscon sorted him out nicely :D