Batrep Imperial Knights Vs Legio Astorum - 2170pts - Brutal Broadside Smash-Up

+++ Proximity Alert. Enemy Cerastus Knight Lancer Assault. Critical Damage Imminent +++

Hello Readers, hopefully you enjoyed the last batrep with Legio Astorum triumphing over the Imperial Knights running the long gauntlet of big guns. So we tried another smaller battle, across the shorter table length and using one Reaver and Warhound Vs 5 Knights and a Vindicare Assassin to make up the points. This time it will be a Broadside Exchange, bloody, short ranged and brutal.

First Turn was won by the Legio which was great news, it will be a quick bloody encounter once the Knights close in on the Titans and kill them in close quarters combat! The Titans will need all the chances they can get to fire on the approaching Knights.

Legio Turn 1 - Canis Praetor opens fire on the three standard Knights with his Turbo Lasers and completely annihilates the red Paladin! In the ensuing apoc explosion, the red Paladin falls backward onto the Knight Warden and the centre of the blast being 'D' strength rips through the Warden destroying him too! Wow! What an opener, Canis Praetor with one salvo reduces his threat forward to a single Knight Paladin, down from three! (LH- We forgot to roll the 'scatter' of the second destroyed Knight- With Siph's luck he would have scattered into the 3th knight..) Elsewhere, Reaver Honorum is facing the Cerastus Knight Acheron and Cerastus Knight Lancer, opening fire with all weapons only manages to take 1HP off the Lancer, the Ion Shield taking the brunt of the Reaver attacks...

A great turn one for the Legio, really reducing the IK hunters to the hunted!

IK Turn 1 - In reply, the lone Paladin advances forward towards Canis Praetor, opening fire with the Missile Pod taking out one void from the Warhound, but the battlecannons fail to take down the other shield.. The Vindicare in the tallest ruins fails to hit the Reaver even with a re-rolled BS8 (needing a two or re-roll of 4) - common theme with this particular model, in a previous battle he failed to hit the Lord of Skulls at point blank range!

Both Cerastus Knights run toward the Reaver to get into combat as quick as possible and force the Reaver to fire dangerously close to itself if it wants to defend itself - one bad scatter and it could be disastrous.

Legio Turn 2 - Honorum is forced to point blank fire at the Acheron to avoid being cut to pieces by the Chainfist like a previous battle, in the urgent manoeuvring and defence, Honourum's targetting Moderatii fire the Laser Blaster point blank into the Cerastus Knight Acheron obliterating it but also doing severe damage to itself across the Head module and causing 10HP destroyer hit to itself! Ouch! Reducing the Reaver to 8HPs.

Elsewhere, Canis Praetor aims at the lone Paladin and easily destroys it in a flurry of 'D' hits, freeing the Warhound to come to the aid of the ailing Reaver.

IK Turn 2 - Finally getting into CC, the Knight Lancer Shock Lanced the Reaver voids before getting into combat, hitting Honorum three times with the 'D' Lance, stripping a potential 17HPs, stripping the 8HPs and the mighty Reaver is destroyed! The Vindicare Assassin hits the voids of Canis Praetor but fails to penetrate.

Legio Turn 3 - Canis Praetor vs the Lancer, opens fire on the Lancer but strikes the Ion Gauntlet Shield, failing to do any damage.

IK Turn 3 - The Cerastus Knight Lancer closes on the Warhound, The Vindicare hits the void shield but again fails to collapse the shield.

Legio Turn 4 - Canis Praetor backs off and opens up with the Laser Blasters again, this time hitting with two Destroyer hits and two other hits causing 27HPs worth of damage against the Knight, wiping it out.

IK Turn 4 - sensing his imminent destruction, the Assassin fled the field, victory to the Legio!

Wow! The first turn was the decisive turn, and if we rolled for scatter for the second destroyed Knight, may have even caused more damage! It was a mortal blow for the Knights force, nullifying the threat on the right side and freeing up Canis Praetor to defend himself from the inevitable approach of at least one Cerastus Knight once they dealt with Honorum. The Reaver died as expected, but managed to take out the Acheron (and mortally wound himself 10HPs) which helped Canis Praetor in the next stage too. The Titan did more harm to itself than the Imperial Knight force did, such is the power of a triple shot 'D' Weapon to the face!

I thought the battle was going to be a one sided affair with the Knights ripping into the Titans, after the long 'charge the guns' scenario of the previous battle, this was going to be the Knights turn to earn some honour markings, but unfortunately for Lord Halfpenny, the Legio Astorum was in no mood to lay down quietly!

Great day of battling, showing that when Knights think they are the big fish of 40K, there is always a bigger fish in the pond to bring them down a peg or two ;)

Another great, if frustrating battle! I had hoped that the Knights could have got into combat with only the loss of 1 or 2 knights, however the smash up with turn 1 resulted in the lose of 2 knights, and really from there it was going to be tough to get into combat with HP's remaining. The moment of the match was seeing the Reaver getting hit with friendly fire- which ultimately lead to his destruction by the Lancer. Following the battle it is with sadness that the Vindicare Assassin is going to hang up his guns with retirement- following so many misses!

Hope you enjoyed this short and sweet battle report, it was great fun re-living the smash-up! In your face Imperial Knights! Cheers for reading, Siph and Lord Halfpenny.