Not an infantryman in sight as 10,500 points of Imperial armored might clashed with 8,000 points of the enemy. As the tanks thundered to the start lines, the battlefield was choked from end to end with all manner of armored behemoths – 6 Baneblades, a Shadowsword, 2 Warhound Titans, 10 Land Raiders, 12 Predators, 15 Leman Russ, 14 Dreadnoughts, a Brass Scorpion and around 40 other AFV.
In the 3-hour mayhem that ensued, much carnage was to be had as tanks and other machinations from all sides clashed in mighty battle, blazing guns, roaring engines, thundering blasts and screaming commanders barking orders to their charges over the din of battle.
The phrase “much carnage was to be had” is no understatement. Within the first 60 seconds of battle, 6 Leman Russ were destroyed in quick succession, prey to a pair of Warhound Titans.
A formidable line of venerable dreadnoughts hurling themselves at the enemy were pulverized as they crossed open ground. Astartes Land Raiders and Predators faced off against an armored company as the might of IG gunnery took their toll on the Marines.
A Chaos Brass Scorpion skittered across no-man’s-land with amazing speed and hit the Space Marine gun line, miraculously not killing its targets, while nimble Land Speeders and Sentinels weaved amidst the carnage to deliver their disproportionately deadly munitions.
As Space Wolves reinforcements arrived, a communiqué rang across all the commanders’ headsets. “The enemy is amongst you! Turn your guns! Turn your guns!” Friend became foe as former allies set upon each other, individual tank commanders forcing their charges into impossible manouvers to bring guns to bear. A Space Wolves venerable dreadnought could be seen charging headlong into a Space Wolves Land Raider, utterly tearing it apart.
Suddenly, a blinding shaft of white light descended from the heavens as a lance strike from an orbiting battlecruiser hit home, instantly vaporizing a Baneblade and 2 escorting Leman Russ (the battle actually paused for a moment as the shock of the blast seared into the commanders’ minds).
As the battle continued, the frenzied Brass Scorpion was finally put down, and the resulting explosion claimed a Predator and a dreadnought which had the misfortune to be within 10” of the monster.
The comm-net buzzed again, this time re-affirming that the original allies were indeed true and loyal, and once again guns swung to acquire fresh targets. One of the Warhound Titans had advanced ahead of a Baneblade company, and came under fire from the rear and beneath void shield coverage. It did not stand a chance.
In the last few moments of the battle, a final dreadnought charge took out the last mobile Baneblade on the field.
As the smoke began to settle and noise of the battle began to die down (as the gamers were starting to lose their voices), scribes and servitors began the grisly task of counting the cost of the battle.
Of the 10 super-heavies that started the battle, only 3 survived, the Shadowsword, a Warhound Titan and a Mars-pattern Baneblade – both the latter were immobilized and heavily damaged, the Titan with one primary weapon remaining, the Baneblade with only its pintle-mounted heavy stubber still firing.
The commands of Azim, Han and Faris were all wiped out (for Azim, that’s 2,500 pts worth of the Emperor’s finest tanks). Quake, who started with 13 tanks, was left with 2 Leman Russ and the Baneblade, all heavily damaged. Jo, whose dreadnought line looked so menacing, was left with a couple of dreadnoughts and a Vindicator. Antu’s Monoliths were almost untouched, and his last surviving Predator still had 1 serviceable lascannon, though it couldn’t move. Firaya’s gloriously brave dreadnought unfortunately bit the dust, but the Shadowsword survived, as the enemy couldn’t be bothered to shoot at it after its primary weapon got knocked out. Iz’ glorious 344th were reduced to 1 Russ, 2 Chimera, a Hellhound and a couple of Sentinels. Peter’s menacing force was also badly mauled, with only the Titan remaining.
And from the ashes rose a new Legio Tank Ace, whose deeds shall be spoken of in ages to come, indeed the stuff of legends. The first recipient of the Legio Malaysia Purity Seal for heroic deeds upon the battlefield is the Son of Russ the Space Wolves Battle Leader Syamael. All hail Syamael!
(even as he has to explain to his Wolf Lord why one of his dreads took out one of his own Land Raiders).
To everyone taking part in and helping make this the amazing event that it was, I personally thank you all! It ranks as among the best wargames experience I've had in a long time. Let’s do some more!
Check out Peter's pics of the battle here, and more of Syamael's shots here.
=At precisely 0530 hrs on Sunday 8th June, I was packing up stuff in the room when the guys called from the lobby, raring to go (!). We left one of our transports at the hotel, and packed into 2 vehicles to make the crossing.
At around 0930, the 40k gamers were asked to display their armies, and everyone was given a form to vote for their top 3 painted and top 3 themed armies (you can’t vote for yourself). Judges were also going table to table scoring the armies for painting and theme.
Dice started rolling for the 40k tourney itself at around 1000 hrs. I won’t get into the details of the gaming side, suffice to say that it was 9 hours of furious battle filled with the clatter of dice-chucking, the huzzahs of the victors and the howls of the vanquished. Ok, maybe not so dramatic, but something like that.
I must say that the tourney was very well run. Nothing was delayed. Breaks and lunch and dinner were just the right time – not too long, not too short. The staff, despite being obviously snowed-under, were friendly and helpful. Lots of good marks all-round.
Anyways, that was simply one of the best tourneys I’ve been to. My congratulations and hats off to Dom, Donkey, Damien and all of the organizing team, staff and judges. You guys did awesomely well.
Btw, we took lots of great pics. I’ll put them up as soon as we get them together.
