Maximum Annihilation

It's Thursday night Legion night at my FLGS Games Cube. Fresh from lots of spacemen pew pew at ANZAC Cup, I lined up another game with my mate Damo.

I've just finished painting my Imperial Royal Guard, and was pretty keen to give them a spin. I dropped a few things (Snowtroopers, Comms Tech) from my ANZAC Cup list in order to fit the IRG in. Damo took a Krennic, Deathtrooper and AT-ST list which is quite different to anything I've faced so far. This should be fun!

800/800

Director Orson Krennic (90)

AT-ST (210)
DW-3 Concussion Grenade Launcher
 

Scout Troopers (Strike Team) (44)
DLT-19x Sniper

794/800

General Veers (90)
Improvised Orders

Stormtroopers (44)
 

Boba Fett (154)
Hunter, Emergency Stims

Scout Troopers Strike Team (44)
DLT-19x Sniper

I win the bid and choose to be Blue Player this time. Learning from my mistakes! For the second game in a roll I'll be playing Sabotage the Moisture Vaporators. The pay off for choosing blue is immediate as Vaporators always favour the blue player. We will deploy using Advanced Positions and Conditions are clear.

My deployment zone is at the bottom right of the table from the blue player's perspective. I deploy my main strength of Bobba, Veers plus three DLT squads to the left of the Communications Tower (tall structure at the centre). The IRGs and another DLT squad deploy to the right of that tower. A naked four-man Stormtrooper unit deploy next to the Bunker ready to do some sabotaging. With advanced positions, both forces are almost on top of their Vaporators on deployment.

Closer look at my main force. Bobba is out of shot hiding in the forest to the left. From left to right: DLT squad with Medical Droid, DLT squad with Imperial Officer and DLT squad. General Veers takes cover next to the Communications Tower ready to support the troops.

How will my IRG perform in their first battle?

And to round off my deployment, the two Sniper strike teams deploy on top of the Communications Tower, which makes a great snipers nest.

Damo's deployment zone is on the top left of the table from the Blue Player's perspective. His main force deploys in a diagonal skirmish line. From left to right: DLT squad, Sniper strike team, DLT squad, Krennic (camouflaged in black to blend in with his Deathtroopers, how cunning), Deathtrooper Squad 1, DLT squad and AT-ST. The FD canon is just terrain by the way.

The power generator you see to the right of this shot will become significant throughout the battle. It blocks LoS for almost every unit on both sides and will act to divide the battle in two.

Reverse angle shot of Damo's deployment. Deathtrooper Squad 2 deploys behind a wall on Damo's extreme left flank.

Deathtrooper combat stack ready for some flanking shenanigans.

As most valuable targets are behind LoS blocking terrain, we both play Standing Orders to start this game.

I activate my snipers first and picks off the leader of Damo's sniper team.

Damo moves two DLT squads on his right flank into position to repair the two Vaporators on his side.

On my side mirror moves are made. The IRG advances whilst the four-man Stormtrooper squad sabotages one of my Vaporators.

One of my central DLT squads move up to sabotage the other Vaporator on my side. Damo's second Deathtrooper squad peaks out from behind their wall and picks off a Stormtrooper.

Damo's centre advances. The AT-ST splits to the left of the Power Generator where most of my army is and puts some suppression on. In return it took two wounds from DLT fire.

Bobba goes last in the round and picks off a couple of Deathtroopers. His bounty Director Krennic can be seen in the midst of his bodyguards. Whilst Bobba is in a good attacking position, he is also way out on my left flank facing most of Damo's army alone.

Voracious Ambition will give Damo very good order activation this round, especially as he's running an 8-activation list. I play Bobba's Jetpack Rocket with the plan of finishing the Deathtroopers squad 1 off.

Deathtrooper squad 1 activates first. They roll a bucket load of dice, most of which hit. In a display of Mandalorian hardassery Bobba shrugs all of them off.

I immediately activate Bobba to attack the Deathtroopers, and realise they're inside the rocket's range. So I switch target to Krennic and wounds him twice. The Director is not pleased.

If you want something done right you gotta do it yourself. Krennic advances past his bodyguards and wounds Bobba.

The AT-ST advances again into grenade launcher range, and blasts two troopers from the DLT squad next to the Vaporator. They finish sabotaging the Vaporator though.

In return my main gunline opens up on the AT-ST, dealing it 5 wounds! It is now only one wound away from its damage threshold.

In my back field, the four-man unit finishes sabotaging the other Vaporator and moves around the Bunker to flank Damo's second Deathtrooper squad hiding behind the wall.

Damo also finishes repairing the two Vaporators on his side and then advances with those DLT squads and the remaining Sniper.

One of the advancing DLT squads now has LoS to Bobba.

In a masterstroke Damo plays... angry Krennic voice on... "Are we blind? Deploy the Garrison!"

Now Deathtrooper squad 1 and a DLT Stormtrooper squad facing Bobba at close range has Stand Bys, face up Order Tokens and Aim in the case of the Deathtroopers.

Krennic wins initiative ties automatically so Damo has the first activation of the round. His Deathtroopers blast Bobba again, this time dealing two wounds to him.

In an act of self preservation Bobba shoots at the DLT Stormtroopers, getting rid of their Stand By as well as a couple of troopers. He then jumps back into the forest next to the friendly DLT squad with the Medical Droid.

Bobba has suffered three wounds now. But no worries I'll just heal him back up right? Wrong! The AT-ST fires on the squad with the Medical Droid next. In a spectacular display of the protectiveness of Stormtrooper armour, three troopers plus the Medical Droid go down!

The AT-ST then shrugs off most of the return fire by rolling amazing white surge saves. It did reach its damage threshold this round though and Damo rolls a "Damaged" result.

To add insult to injury, my four-man squad gets perfect flanking position on Damo's second Deathtrooper squad and...

Star Trek memes are basically the same as Star Wars memes right?

Picking myself up from the floor I forge ahead into Round 4. I've held back Maximum Firepower this game, waiting for a high value target to present itself. I could have targeted the AT-ST earlier. However I reasoned with 4 DLTs I had enough impact to deal with the big boy. At the start of this round I move Veers to bring Deathtrooper squad 2 into his sights, and deals two wounds to them with Maximum Firepower. Damo chooses to put both wounds on stims.

The four-man squad makes amends for their dismal shooting last round. They aim and fire at Deathtrooper squad 2. The first roll produces a single crit. I reroll three dice using Precise 1 and get two surges! Damo fluffs his armour saves and the squad is reduced to just two members.

The remaining Deathtrooper squad leader and DLT trooper advance and return fire at my four-man squad. Between the two of them they dish out 5/5 hits! I only manage to save two. Then the stims run out for the Deathtroopers and they both go down. When the dust settles only Stormtrooper Sergeant Steve was left standing.

This firefight reminds me of the Rogue One final battle, where a Deathtrooper drops a grenade with his dying breathe to finally take out Baze.

The AT-ST attacks again and wipes out half of the DLT squad with the Imperial Officer Captain Miller. Having had a gutful of the Walker slaughtering their comrades, the Officer and two troopers roll 3 crits against it and it finally goes down! Captain Miller knows that shooting blaster pistols at armoured vehicles works.

The death match between Bobba, Krennic and his bodyguards reaches a climax. The Deathtroopers fire upon Bobba again and score four hits. Bobba's normally sturdy Mandalorian armour buckles under the weight of all that fire. Even with emergency stims, Bobba goes down.

Our two best pieces both went down towards the end of this round, and casualties are mounting across the board. This game is building up towards an epic finish.

Command card time - it's a Coordinated Fire-off!

My Royal Guards had been taking damage from the Deathtrooper squad 2 and shooting their pistols in return so far. In short they've been acting like a very expensive Scout squad. With the second Deathtrooper squad finally dealt with, they charged forward into an already decimated Stormtrooper squad. I eagerly pick up a fistful of dice for my first IRG charge, roll 3 hits, only to see Damo block every single one of them.

Elsewhere I get on top of the attrition battle this round. Passing aim tokens around, picking off Stormtroopers and dealing three more wounds to Krennic with my Snipers.

Finally it is time! The Deathstar's shadow stretches across the battlefield and hearts sink on both sides as annihilation looms. I run out of suppression tokens to apply to my troops and had to fetch some more.

Annihilation Looms works both ways though. Director Krennic outsmarts himself when he fails all four rally rolls and runs away in a panic! He was on the verge of greatness. He was so close!

Double tap! As Krennic runs out into the open; General Veers first rallies one suppression, then steadies his aim and rolls double crits.

Krennic was already on his last wound. He makes one save which was pierced. The Director goes down!

With their command bubble gone, Damo's forces flee in dissaray. My Royal Guards pursue their Stormtrooper prey with glee and easily cut them down from behind.

Panic spreads through Damo's army and Trooper Hudson loses his nerve big time.

The two remaining Deathtroopers from squad 1 sight in on the back of my Royal Guards, only to watch them make all of their saves.

And that was all she wrote! At the end of a hard-fought battle there are only four troopers left in Damo's army, and Trooper Hudson is still losing it.

The casualty count was high for my force as well. These plus two Royal Guards and two Sniper Teams are all that I had left. With Victory Points tied at 4-4, I come out on top with 538 kill points versus Damo's 241. Veers and the Stormtrooper Corp had carried the day!

Oh and let's not forget Sergeant Steve who is way out on the right flank by himself and outside of Veers' command bubble. He is right next to the table edge and managed to rally one suppression to stay on the board. He had an important job to do before returning to base.

• That was a really fun and swingy game! It was my first time playing against Krennic and Deathtroopers in a full six-round game, and I got to see their power. All three of Krennic's command cards are good. Voracious Ambition gives you great activation control without tipping your plan off to your opponent. Deploy the Garrison is deadly at short range. Annihilation Looms could've tipped the battle in Damo's favour at the end, if only Krennic managed to rally one suppression. The Deathtroopers have all of the guns to be effective across range 1-4. They accounted for Bobba as well as decimated several of my squads. Even 2-3 Deathtroopers can put out a significant amount of damage.
• Annihilation Looms is a double-edged sword. Yes suppressing the entire enemy force is powerful, but two suppressions on all of your own units is not a joke. Damo was unlucky with Krennic's rally roll, which started the rot in the final round that swung the game decisively in my favour.
• Don't send Bobba to take on half of the opposing army on his own. At one point Bobba was in a firefight with Krennic, one squad of Deathtroopers and two squads of Stormtroopers. The Mandalorian Army Knife has many capabilities, but single-handedly taking on the enemy Arnie style ain't one of them.
• Royal Guards are tanky. They endured several rounds of shooting from Deathtroopers, and the two remaining IRGs were still able to wipe out a weakened Stormtrooper squad. Not a stellar performance for their first outing, but solid enough.
• AT-STs are still under-powered. Even though Damo rolled amazing white surge saves, and I failed most of mine against the AT-ST attacks, I still won the battle between the DLT Stormies and the AT-ST. One of my DLT squads was reduced to the leader, and two others were reduced to half strength. I consider that a good trade for 200+ points of downed walker. 

That is it for another Mini Obsession batrep. Hope you enjoyed it. Please subscribe and comment so I know what you guys think. Until next time, may the force be with you.