Now that GW seems to be dusting off some of the classics and taking us back to Armageddon, it felt like the perfect excuse to dig out the good old campaign booklet that came with the 2nd Edition boxed set. You know, designed to teach you the rules through three linked scenarios, making use of everything included in the box.
So, in a casual conversation with my mate Hetairoi (I never cease to recommend his work) we thought we could give it a try. I have like tons of Orks, and he could get his Lamenters to finally see some action. I was able to field the forces exactly as listed in the booklet, while he had to make some adjustments to the Space Marine forces, swapping units while keeping the points value the same.
So let's have a look at this Armageddon revisited!
First scenario is named
Against the Odds
A force of Gretchin infiltrators in Sector 306 poses a grave threat to the security of the bridgehead. Your squad must kill or drive back the Gretchin and secure the perimeter. Though you may be heavily outnumbered, such is the meat and drink of the Emperor's chosen warriors. The strength of righteousness is with you.
For the battlefield I dusted off some old scenery pieces that must have been ingloriously painted sometime between 1998 and 2003 maybe. They're showing their age, but they still do the job.
Hetairoi took command of five Space Marine Scouts, armed with shotguns and a flamer. Opposing them, I fielded thirty Gretchin. Yes... thirty. Those poor Scouts were going to have their work cut out for them.
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| Battle for nostalgia |
Five Lamenter Scouts:
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| Still learning the camouflage thing |
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| Ready to hassle those hummies |
Four turns from now! The Scouts moved forward...
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| Looking for cover |
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| Ready to shoot the moment they poke their nose around the corner |
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| Some Gretchins turn around the corner themselves... |
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| ...just to see what the Overwatch rule means! |
Right, the Scouts were in fact waiting for the Gretchins to make that very mistake! The moment they poked their nose around the corner, the Scouts shot their weapons in the rival's turn. Glorious.
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| But the Gretchins move forward and kill one Scout! |
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| The Scouts move slightly back while shooting |
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| The Gretchins fail their Leadership roll, run and look for cover |
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| The other unit opens fire and kills a second Scout |
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| Eat flamer, you Xenos scum! |
Four casualties and two survivors left burning for the next turn!
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| Four more casualties with the shotguns! |
All three Gretchin units had to pass a Leadership roll...
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| And you know what? These are some seriously motivated Gretchins! |
They held the line in an admirable way and fought back. The two guys in fire ran in random directions, but the others spread the lines and opened fire with all they had. One by one, all the remaining Scouts fell:
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| Oooops! |
First victory for the Greenskins! Well, the totally unexpected Leadership rolls were the key, I have to admit, but this was fun as hell!
Just a minute after that we rearranged the board and were ready to play Scenario 2,
High Ground
With the perimeter stabilised Squad Mephisto was ordered to set up their missile launcher on high ground in the ruins of the Shrine of the Emperor Triumphant. From this forward position it could cover the road leading to the bridge and bring fire down on forces attacking the perimeter. Before midday the squad spotted two Ork battlewagons roaring towards the bridge at high speed. The squad’s first krak missile smashed the lead battlewagon off the road, making it crash into a wall. Their second missile tore a wheel off the other battlewagon and brought it skidding to a halt with Orks spilling out in all directions. Shortly afterwards the survivors of the two battlewagons were joined by another group of Orks on foot and the combined force prepared to assault Squad Mephisto’s position.
Another couple of friends came to this "2nd Ed Event", so we let them play and share the fun.
We have five Space Marines kind of surrounded and 15 Orks coming up...
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| New scenery! Yay! |
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| Sarge, shall we call for backup or something? |
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| Oi, Boyz, let's go dere! |
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| Boyz just wanna have fun! |
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| Not a very promising start, let's admit it |
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| WD style aerial view |
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| These Orks suffered some heavy losses, but they stood |
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| The other mob managed to charge the Marines... |
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| ...and the fight was truly intense up there |
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| So it was all reduced to this firefight |
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| In which the Lamenters eventually ended up wiping the remnant Orks out |
Intense encounter! The Space Marines survived this time, but could they endure the last battle of the campaign? Dun dun dunnn...
Battle 3 The Battle for the Bridge
Ork forces have been spotted advancing through Sector 307 towards bridge across the Skeletus. Your squads of Space Marines must hold the bridgehead against the forward elements of the Ork advance until relieved. Do not allow the Orks to capture the bridge under any circumstances – if the situation warrants it the sacrifice of your entire command may be necessary to prevent this. Place your faith in your sanctified weapons and commend thy souls to the Emperor. Let the slaughter commence.
The final encounter! The four of us got to play, two playing the Orks and two playing the Lamenters.
For this battle the Orks deployed all the canonical content:
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| Waaagh! |
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| Sorry, I didn't use the cardboard Dreadnought |
This was what the Maines had, which was more or less equivalent in points value to the content in the box:
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| Now I need a Land Speeder for me. I love the model |
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| General view of what's about to come |
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| The Land Speeder made an aggressive open on the flank and massacred the Orks down there |
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| Massive advance! |
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| The Scouts bravely moved forward to slow them down as they could |
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| The Gretchins on the centre were heavily punished too |
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| The encounter we all were waiting for! |
The Land Speeder hit the Dreadnoughrt hard. So hard that, in fact, it set the walker immobilised and caught in fire. The resulting explosion affected the Land Speeder itself, which got hit and taken down too!
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| Shwwiiiiishhhhhh |
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| Kabooom |
Dammit, I should have recorded a video.
I should note that the crew managed to jump off and kept on fighting. In my mind it happened in slow motion, just like in an A-Team episode.
On the flank, the surviving Scouts had some choices to make:
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| Still got that flamer, bro? |
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| Then let's hit them on the flank! |
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| I think we're still in trouble... |
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| Aaagghhh |
Things weren't getting specially good for the Lamenters...
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| Three men left on top of the building... |
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| ...three other men down there and the Land Speeder pilot. That was all! |
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| That's what Realscale is meant for! |
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| Despite all his efforts, he was finally taken down |
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| In a final firefight, all the Lamenters were lamentably killed |
The Orks took the battlefield! Waaagh!
The whole mini campaign was fun as hell. We played the three battles in a row and it all took like three hours, we could do it all in just an evening. It had been ages snce I had last played 2nd Edition, and it was such a good experience as always. Some sentences like "I hadn't have such fun in a long time" and similar were heard through the evening, and just for that alone I can tell this was a success.
In my opinion, 2nd Ed is still unmatched by its successors (though I haven't played any of the latests editions, so I cannot fully judge). We got so many unexpected events, so many turns in the narrative of the battles, it was all really exciting from the beginning to the end, and I cannot honestly expect anything else from a game. We all ended up with that stupid smile that means happiness, and that's the best thing you can say about such an experience!
I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did! I'm seriously determined to get more games this summer, will I succeed...?
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