Battle with Dark Templar (WH40k)

I recently had the pleasure of running a Warhammer 40K game with my friend Michael, pitting my Valhallan Imperial Guard against his Black Templar space marines, at his FLGS.


It was to be a contest of objectives, each player beginning in control of one, mine being the properly Guardariffic ICBM in the second photo.

This game would also mark the debut of my new tank hunter (counts-as-Vanquisher), whose heavy AT gun should bring some much needed punch against the oncoming wall of steel. The tank lies in wait behind a bastion to ambush unwary marine tanks.

From the other side, the line of guardsmen stretches across my deployment zone, entrenched in an Agis line and other defensive terrain.

The Land Raider disgorges its passengers in Terminator armor into the woods to rain missiles on the Guard entrenchments.

An assault squad bedecked with jetpacks deepstrikes in front of the fortification, taking direct hits from two battle tanks.

Their combat shields stop their utter destruction, allowing the remaining stragglers to assault and destroy the tank squadron.

After obliterating the Templar commander's retinue, Guardsman Marbo gets gunned down in the street for his trouble.

The much thinned ranks of Templar pour towards the dug-in defenders, who make quite an account of themselves. In a last ditch attempt to break the Guard's position, the Templar drive their amror straight through the veteren squad, who valiantly destroy it in a glorious sacrifice as the vehicle explodes and takes out half the squad.

The line held, but at a high cost. Though the incoming waves were eventually stopped, the other objective remained firmly in the Templars' hands, leaving the battle a costly stalemate, and an evening well spent.