Vor Battle Report: Shard vs. Pharon Hold Ground

Welcome to my second Bat Rep in the Vor series. In this game, I break out my old-school Shard miniatures for a go at the shambling undead hordes at my wife's beck and call.

We picked a Capture and Hold game, to see how Vor matches up to other game systems when it comes to capturing objectives. In Capture and hold, you choose one large objective (a building or terrain feature at least 12" wide or long) and place it near the center of the table, arraying the other terrain around it in a mutually agreeable fashion. Naturally, I chose my ruined building (measuring 16"x20") as the objective, and lay some terrain around it. To capture a building, you have have infantry models within 6" of the objective building by the end of the game (which is a pre-determined random number of turns). If your opponent also has infantry within 6" of the building, play continues until one of you don't have infantry within range of the objective. I kind of like this over 40k's method, since it doesn't allow for ties, but I think it could be problematic in a tournament setting due to time constraints.

Here is the picture of pre-game setup:



DEPLOYMENT:
-Leona won the roll for deployment, and decided to pick the side and go first. She also won the initiative roll, and force me to go first. (Don't need to twist my arm!)



TURN 1:
- First I flew my Axion into some cover. I felt he needed to get closer, but not at the expense of his safety.
- Leona moved up with the Fist of Anubis squad on the right side of the table.
- I decided to get my Prime with the matrix cannon to some higher ground as well. I got him as close to the ruins as I could.
- Leona countered by moving up with her second squad of Fists. (Exciting, huh?)
- I countered by running to cover with my Concussors (The game is really getting exciting now!)
- She runs with her Warlord (Oh stop, my heart can't take it!)
- So I run with my jagged.
- She runs with her Hierophant.
- I die from boredom.
- Finally, I unfolded my Eradicator from its encased mode, and had to look up to see if you could fire the same turn you entered battle mode. Finding nothing preventing it in either the Shard Forcebook or the FAQ, we rule that it must be legal and allow it. The war machine fires a Heavy Beam laser at a Fist of Anubis, but fails to wound it.


On to turn 2:


TURN 2:
After this turn, I got bad at remembering pictures. That's what usually happens when I try to play games late at night, so sorry!

- I win the initiative, and activate my Eradicator first. I move forward and fire off a salvo from my Fracture Cannon, killing 4/5 of the Fists of Anubis on the right side! Pretty lucky for me.
- Her lone surviving Fist and its Noble failed their Morale test, so they are pushed back to their DZ.
- I dashed with my jagged around the back side of the objective building, hugging cover where they could.
- Leona brings her Warlord around the far corner of the building, and looses a Reaver Cannon at the advancing Jagged. They pass their armor saves, however, and the one that did fail she failed to wound due to a bad roll.
- My Prime takes flight again, this time to the 2nd floor of the building.
- Her Fists of Anubis on the left open up on the Axion, but due to his hard cover they fail to hit significantly. The Noble, however, shoots his Fist of Osiris at the axion, killing 2 concussors nearby in the resulting blast. The two that remained were paralyzed with fear.
- My axion fires an Energy Burst, killing 3/5 fists on the left side of the table.
- The Hierophant summons his dark power and throws down a Purging spell, but only was able to kill a single concussor with it. The extra shielding I gave the axion paid for itself here!

I forgot to take start-of-turn pictures for the rest of the game, so sorry!

TURN 3:
- I won the initiative, and flew the Prime up to the roof.
- Leona moved up with the previously-pushed-back Fist squad (or rather the lone survivor and his noble) and fired at the noble for lack of better targets. The Eradicator saves on the Fist's weapon, but the Noble's Fist of Osiris sphere penetrates and immobilized it! Too bad I didn't take repair orbs.
- The Eradicator lashes back with its full fury, but only manages to kill the one Fist of Anubis that remained.
- The Warlord of Anubis spools up his Reaver Cannon... and totally whiffs. Due to the cover, she needed to roll an 8 or below due to the range, and she rolls a 9... it scatters into the wind and misses completely.
- My axion flies up to join the prime in the building, on the 2nd floor beneath it.
- The Fists and their Noble on the left side that remain fire at the Prime perched atop the building, and they take it down to 1 LIF left.
- The Lone Concussor, survivor of a Purging and a Carrion Sphere, runs for cover and snipes a Fist of Anubis on the way with a critical hit!
- The Hierophant again tries to Purge in a suicidal gambit... and fails. He shrivels and dies without effect.
- The Jagged charge the Warlord, but only one reaches CC with enough MP to attack so I stop the others short so they can charge next turn. The one in base-to-base attacks with his Impaler Spur, penetrating his armor for 2 damage.

The Eradicator and the Noble face off-



TURN 4:
- I won the initiative again, and the Prime strides up to the edge of the roof and looks down at the noble, a crystalline smirk etched into his features. He begins spooling his power, pumping up the Core Matrix housed in his chest, and prepares to unleash a Mighty Blast of.... nothing. He whiffs hard, crit-missing. Luckily, I had only pumped 7 MP into the attack so he was in no danger of Core Syphoning.
- The Noble decides discretion is the better part of valor... and quits the field. He high-tails it away from the Eradicator giving him the death-glare, and instead shoots at the Prime on the roof to no effect.
- My Jagged continue their stabbing party, turning the Warlord into a pin-cushion with their sharp appendages. Whew, that could have been ugly!
- The Fist and Noble on the left fire at the Concussor in cover, and due to his cover they fail to inflict a hit.
- The Concussor fires back, missing twice.
- The Axion fires his Energy Focus, taking a wound off the already-wounded Noble.





TURN 5:
- I finally lost the initiative, and Leona moved her Noble. He fired a sphere, but it failed to damage my prime. The Fist with him misses the prime as well.
- My prime pumps 7 MP into his Matrix, and fires! This time, he failed to do any damage due to the noble's higher Armor stat.
- The Jagged engage the unwounded noble and his fist, locking him in CC, but are out of MP for an attack.
- My concussor moves to a window on the bottom floor, ready to take a shot if needed.
- The Axion is finally in range to Devolve, and turns the noble into a puddle of goo.



TURN 6:
- I again lost the Initiative. The Fist and the Noble whiff in CC though.
- That opens them up to counterattack from my Jagged, who kill the fist and wound the noble.
- The Prime flies down and charges, hoping to end the battle early, but he whiffs.
- My axion and my Concussor shift uneasily. The eradicator is essentially out of the battle, as he has no LOS to anything at this point. Even if he did, they would likely be tied up in CC.

TURN 7:
- I win the initiative.
-My Jagged triumphantly raise an Impaler for the killing blow, bringing it down with a sharp jerk. The battle is over, the last infantry lies dead, and my Shard hold the building in victory!



Units Controlling the Building:
1 Concussor
1 Axion
4 Jagged
1 Prime

Casualties:
3 Concussors KIA, both Prime and Eradicator damaged.

Confirmed Kills:
10 Fists of Anubis
2 Nobles
1 Hierophant
1 Warlord of Anubis


Hope you guys liked the writeup, and what few pictures I remembered to snap! Hopefully more games to come.