Planetary Empires: Round One! (part 1)

With our Space Puppies resting peacefully in their cozy new doggie beds, and not those crappy Wal-Mart ones either - we're talking about the real deal Costco super soft beds, on the super secret moon base it was time to venture out into the night and find some kibble. Five of us gathered in the 'gaming shed' for an afternoon of rapid fire 1,000 point gaming. Arrayed on the table were Dark Angels, Orks, Eldar and another Space Wolf player. For the first week of battles the games were to be played at 1,000 points on a 4x4 table, this represented the players sending out their reconnaissance forces to find the enemy. Also in this round the Hive City, which is very important apparently as it 'counts as' one of each of the other building types, was 'in play' becuase at the end of the two week round whomever won the most 'cities of death' games would gain control of the Hive city.

It has been a little over a year since the resource-rich Belsbeth sector has come to the attention of the leadership of the denizens of the galaxy. The brightly colored nebulas that densely litter the system possess unknown properties that seem to wreck havoc on technology and warp based communications. Those that head into the Belsbeth sector are effectively on their own.

Despite failed attempts to establish bases of operations on Belsbeth Prime, and rumors of an entire Tau fleet just disappearing from the sector, you are tasked with creating foothold a for your forces on the slightly smaller, Belsbeth II. The planet, and its moons, actually sits at the far end of the sector, furthest from the anomalous nebulas that make it so difficult to be in communication with your other forces.

Since your arrival there have been reports of enemy forces throughout Belsbeth II and time is of the essence. It has been decided that you should make planet fall now, with few forces, in order to deter and disrupt the enemy from spreading across the surface of Belsbeth II.
 
My list for the first round was fairly straight forward and designed for only one thing, punching you in the face - repeatedly:

1x Rune Priest with Wolf Tooth Necklace, Chooser of the Slain and Melta Bombs, Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Power Fist, 8 x Grey Hunters with Meltagun, Power Fist, Wolf Standard in a Rhino

2x Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Power Fist, 9 x Grey Hunters with Meltagun, Power Fist, Wolf Standard in a Rhino

1x Longfang Pack with 5x Missile Launchers

1x Longfang Pack with 2x Missile Launchers

Why the two different sizes for long fang packs? In Planetary Empires if you win a game you get to roll for two veteran abilities, once a squad gets an ability it can not 'grow' in size to be larger than the size it was at the start of the game where it got a veteran ability. So in this case I maxed out one of the Long fang squads so that if I won a game I could try and get either tank hunters or relentless on a maxed out squad.

Round one saw me drawing my first opponent of the campaign, space elves! Long time since I have faced Eldar and I honestly couldn't remember any of the stuff they do, so my strategy was simple; drive fast, pop smoke and beat face. Well turns out that on a 4x4 table there isn't much Eldar can do, my Rhino's were on him by turn three and his bevy of space elves were off the table by round 4, quick and bloody with much beaten face. Highlight of the match was the Wraith Lord charging a rhino only to get counter charged by the wolves inside, and then a phrase that would be repeated several times during the day, 'they have how many melta guns and power fists?!'

After the game we rolled for veteran abilities (page 263 of the big red book) and *Cha-Ching* my maxed out Long Fang pack became relentless, my Rune Priest rolled and got Fearless, which of course he looses if he joins a non-fearless unit, whoopie!

Summary for games two and three tomorrow, (this wall of text was getting HIGE!)

still practicing_

Tallarn