Warhammer 40K Campaign: Retake Amerigo Chorale

The first game of the campaign is a game of Kill Team a-la 4th edition as determined by the Imperium.  The forces of Chaos decided on this map tile as the start location of hostilities:

Imperial Guard Kill Team:
Taken from the Troop/Veteran squad entry of the IG codex.

1 veteran sergeant
9 Veterans                         70point base

Sergeant: Power weapon  +10
                Plasma Pistol    +10
1 sniper rifle                     +5
1 autocannon*                  +10
1 grenade launcher           +5
3 Shotguns                        free
3 lasguns                           free
                                        110 points

*The autocannon, while only strength 7, is a second heavy weapon choice for the squad and violates the "Immutable Laws of Kill Team" page 218 of the 4th ed. rulebook.  This gives the Chaos player 2 additional brute squads at the beginning of the game, and also and additional 25 points to spend on his officer or team gear.

It was decided not to use the codex doctrines for the veteran squad, but instead choose "Specialist Kit" from the Kill Team rules as it is an ongoing campaign they will be involved in and the kits stack game to game.  This squad took "Backstabbers" which allows them a generous d6 roll of 2-6 to avoid awarding the brute squad player a warning klaxon if they are able to wipe out a squad in an assault.  With two extra brute squads starting on the Chaos side, this would come in handy.  At 10points, this brings the squad's total to 120 points, 40 points below the 160 point max.

The Chaos Traitor Guard Brute Squads:

We have a partial, working traitor guard codex of our own design, but went with a WYSIWYG and Dark Vengeance stat line approach for the brute squads.

Base number: 10 squads of 3 models
Additional:     +2 squads for rules violation
Base boss points:  20 points
Additional:           +25 points for rule violation

Keeping the junior officer fairly generic, the Chaos player spent 40 points of "Reinforcements" from the Brute Squad Specialised Kit page 226.  This meant as soon as the Chaos player collected 3 klaxon counters, he would gain another "aware" brute squad every turn after.  With 12 brute squads already crowding the 4x4 play area, this wouldn't be a long process.

Objective/Storyline: Sabotage

The Kill Team has been inserted in secret to silence a major planetary defense laser in anticipation of a larger invasion now that the Imperial fleet is amassing just outside the system.  By rules of the campaign this first battle took place here on the first map tile from Planetary Empires:  A fortress was placed here though does not play a factor in this kill team mission.

 

Summary:

While the insertion went unnoticed, the Kill team wasted no time closing with their first victims, quickly wiping out the unsuspecting brute squad, but failing their Backstabber roll with a "1".  Not the silent start they'd hoped for an a klaxon was awarded to the Chaos player.  The Chaos player rolled "6" to activate squads on his side, but only controlled 3 after the control rolls were made.  The imperium player moved the brute squads he controlled away from the defense laser of course, closer to the ruins bordering the western table edge.  The other three squads made moves to pinch the Kill Team and force them to run a gauntlet of guard posts where inactive squads waited dutifully.  Shooting in this turn saw the loss of the Kill Team's grenade launching grunt  -- per 6th edition rules, closest to the firer takes the hit.  This same squad died in the following close combat, but again the Kill team failed their Backstabber roll and another klaxon went to Chaos.

The Chaos player consistently rolled "6"'s to activate squads, and while the Imperial player was able to keep two squads from ever participating, Chaos did succeed in bottle necking the Kill Team into the gauntlet leading to the cannon, acquiring 3 klaxon counters by turn 4, engaging his "Reinforcements" specialist kit.  Also, in turn three another of the Kill Team fell to enemy fire.

In the end it was a race to the cannon, but the Kill team was able to set their charges and protect them for a full turn.



Results: Victory Kill Team.
Consequences:  No defense laser fire in Battle Fleet gothic game representing planetary invasion

The Chaos player now had a choice to do a second Kill Team game to exact revenge and wipe out the kill team, or do a Battlefleet Gothic game to determine if there was actually an enemy fleet on their doorstep.  Battlefleet Gothic was chosen!  Battle report #2 on the way!