40k - Carthis Prime - Invasion

Last weekend I hosted a 40k get together with the local lads and some of the regular visitors.

It was a narrative team event where all victory points were added to a players team total.  This is the brief I sent out to the participating players.

Carthis Prime is a forgotten world on the fringe of the Ultima Segementum.  Carthis was once a populous world until disaster fell upon it's people. Overnight the cities of the world were torn apart, it's people vanished and the air itself was ruined with a toxic concoction causing it to be uninhabitable for centuries. 

Explorator teams from the Adeptus Mechanicus studied the world trying to divine what had caused this blight but if it was an attack or global disaster was never determined.  So Carthis was left abandoned for a very long time.  Eventually the Mechanicus installed massive atmosphere regulators on the surface.  Towering pieces of machinery which processed the trace toxins and finally brought Carthis back from its blighted torpor.

The Imperium has since deployed defence forces from the 'Hub' and installed minor fortifications on the surface and a Starport was built in orbit to sustain ships and troops moving through the region.

Now something on Carthis has attracted the attention of outside forces, be they xenos or human is unknown...

As we wanted to mix it up from the usual 1750 point games we play, each round was using different points and scenarios.

Some of the players were only available for certain rounds so I was to act as GM and fill in player where required.

So the Invading forces were

Ryan L - Tau

Aaron - Tau

Dan - Chaos Marines

Stu - Necrons

We figured the Chaos forces posing as Imperials would provoke the Tau into launching an attack on Carthis Prime.  Stu was available for the larger later game, so the Necrons reasons could be left up to the players.

The Defenders were

Ryan S - Space Marines

Alex - Space Marines

Cody - Grey Knights

All Imperial so a pretty straight forward alliance

KILL TEAM
Each player picks a force worth 200 points using the following FOC
0-1 Elite
0-2 Troops
0-1 Fast Attack

No unique units

SPECIALIST TROOPERS
Each player is allowed to pick 3 different models as being specialists.  Each player picks these models before the battle and assigns them a USR in the 40k rulebook.  For example Tank Hunter, Feel No Pain, Fearless, It Will Not Die etc  You may not duplicate special rules.

The 2 Tau forces commanded by Ryan and Aaron had very convincing wins against Alex's Marines and Dan's Chaos marines posing as Imperials.  That put the attacking forces well in the lead on campaign points.

GAME 2

SCOUR THE STARPORT
Its on page 350 of the hardcover rulebook if people have it, otherwise
Standard FOC 1000 points

 

Cody and Ryan S had then arrived for the Starfort Assault.  Both joined Alex on the defending team while Dan revealed his true allegiance and sided with the Tau.

All 3 starforts had areas of open space where only flyers or skimmers could move.  All to wound rolls of 6 were AP2 to represent explosive decompression.  All forts had a laser battery which a controlling unit could shoot instead of their own weapons, hitting either the planet or enemy fleet to score additional VP.

I allowed the teams to have a good look at the Starfort tables before hand and they independently decided who would play on which table.  I thought this was more interesting  than random table assignment as they could attempt to put their forces on suitable terrain and predict who they may end up playing.

Ryan L played Cody.  Ryan has kindly sent me a full report of his games including a couple quick snaps of the action.  I will share these soon.

 
Alex played Dan's CSM.  Dan's Helldrake was invaluable as it swept across the starport, purging the strongpoints and bastions of the defending marines.  Dan also took control of objective areas early and managed to hold onto them for a convincing win.  Alex had the laser battery and managed to score a hit on the enemy fleet.

Aaron played Ryan S.

Aaron deployed a lot of crisis suits and Broadsides in a central tower.  He did alright early on but the defending marines soon took control of the outlying asteroid objectives.  Ryan's bike star got stuck into the crisis suits and in the end the marines had a big win.

Ryan L had to head home after that and Stu soon arrived for the big Planetstrike game.  

GAME 3

PLANETSTRIKE - 1750 points per player
uses the basic planetstrike rules on page 8 in the PLANETSTRIKE book

Attackers FOC

Compulsory 1HQ... that is all
Optional - 2 HQ, 6 Troops, 6 Elites, 6 Fast Attack, 3 Heavy Support

Defenders FOC

Compulsory 1 HQ, 2 Troops

Optional - 2 HQ, 6 Troops, 3 Elites, 3 Fast Attack, 6 Heavy Support

They played over a 12'x 4' table with 5 bastions and fortifications set centrally by the defenders.  So each side had 5250 points in total.

The Defenders opted to leave a lot of stuff in reserve and crammed as much as they could under a central Skyshield and in the bastions.  After the fairly ineffectual firestorm the attackers came on in mass.  They took advantage of the central deployment and were able to concentrate fire on the entrenched defenders.  The defenders had bad luck and 3 of the 4 Land Raiders carrying some elite forces came on the most isolated board edge.  This allowed the attackers to easily take control of the fortress then hinder any reinforcements.  By turn 3/4 I think the attackers had destroyed every defending unit so a massive win to the Invasion force.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and look forward to continuing Carthis' plight.  I didn't end up playing at all, but that proved handy as I was able to remind and clarify the odd scenario rules during the rounds for the players.  It also kept the massive Planetstrike game running along in some sense of order.

So Carthis Prime has been lost to Xenos invaders, how will the Imperium react?  Did the late revelation of a Necron presence have something to do with its initial downfall?  Will the invaders maintain their uneasy alliance?