It's a beautiful thing to see- the fires of battle in the eyes of a rookie. When the Emprah's light can be spread to the willing, his grace is euphoria. Um... yeah, that's all the poetry I can come up with today! We recently got a new game store in the area, with a brand-new community and that small home-town feel when someone with passion wants to share it. So I was able to coerce one of my buddies to go with me and try out his first game of 40k. It was awesome for so many reasons!
Now, I must admit that our game had a bit of a pare-down for the rules (basically no strategems or enhancements just to keep things easy), but definitely no 'Combat Patrol' silliness. Because of the upcoming new edition, I grabbed up some Ultramarines (the "lucky boys" because they're blue, of course!) and Orks (gitz by all measures) to make a 1000 point game out of all the modernized basics. We still did the mission objectives, terrain, deployment, and all that so that it wasn't so simple- my buddy is a gamer-at-heart and pretty smart to boot. I wanted the full grim-dark experience and some bolters versus krumpin' deserves that!
It started with both armies advancing toward the objectives, but the greenskins weathered what little firepower came their way and jumped the combat squad right away to get the bashing going. Some less-than effective shooting quickly swing the battle away from the Imperials...
After his bodyguard was destroyed, Captain Acheron leapt in to face the Warboss one-on-one. While the battle was epic and lasted for a while, Acheron's armour eventually failed and the boss stood victorious, taunting the Techmarine to join the fray.
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| Not very lucky... |
Eventually, even the Techmarine fell, but only after dispatching the Warboss's bodyguard on the way out. This led to the Redemptor dreadnought rounding the corner of the ruins to exact revenge, utterly annihilating the brute commander. He then turned his attention to supporting his surviving forces against the deep-striking Deffkoptas appearing behind the lines...
It wasn't enough, however, as the rest of the greenskins had already surrounded the final combat squad of marines with the full intention of krumpin' them with rokkits AND choppas! With a massive gap in victory points and no forces left, the Ultramarines quit the battlefield to recover and rearm. The Orks crushed the Imperials!
During the game, there were so many other customers in the store coming around to watch and check out the models and terrain. We may have even chattered a bit about armies, the upcoming rules changes in the new edition, and even a league-style tournament for all the 40k players. The community was great and the new store is definitely and epic little treasure not far from my house. And to see the enjoyment of my buddy after his first game? Great time! Even if my lucky blue-boyz weren't so lucky...
As always, Happy Gaming!!!
