Battle at the Farm ! - Leadplague Version

This week end, I was in Paris with some friends and I took the opportunity to go meet my pal Goulven. You might remember how he single handedly crushed my chaos renegades with his squats in a game of 40k 2nd ed the last time we had met...

Well while this occasion was just meant to catch up, chat and have a beer, my host had secretly prepared an impromptu game of Rogue Trader.
I think you will all appreciate this kind of gesture but not only was this a proper game of Rogue Trader with proper oldschool miniatures and all, this was THE proper Rogue Trader scenario : Battle at the farm !

Now let me get back on this scenario for starters. The Battle at the farm is the first 40k scenario ever displayed in the Rogue Trader Rulebook. It's a typical Good Vs Bad scenario with a horde of orks facing a fistful of marines.
A fistful of marines... well not exactly.

I strongly advise you to read Zhu's brilliant article about battle reports of this scenario. The scenario is strongly unbalanced with point values not being equal on either side (marines have about twice more points than orks) and with many details in favor of the marines.

Now the thing is, this game was not strictly accurate to the rules. First of all, the set up was on a far smaller board which should probably be in favor of the orks who would be able to come quicker at the marines and with the cover being more efficient :

A few things changed too with the missile launcher being replaced by a Heavy Bolter (pros and cons for that), some of the orks getting carapace armour (as on the models available) and some other things. The fact I'm a very poor player (I managed to get the marines by luck) and Goulven is a far more talented one meant that MAYBE, just maybe, the orks could have a chance...

With all that prepared and with the beers open we just had to meet our heroes of the day, starting with squad leaders :

And Pedro Kantor himself :

"Feel the fist of revenge ! "

I roughly placed my marines in their farm and started to wait for the orks who had the first turn...

The orks started to move to my position and opened fire first, getting the first blood trophy. With 15 marines, I had to be careful to preserve my forces...

When my turn arrived, I made everyone shoot, which meant 14 bolters and a heavy Bolter :

3 hits and no wound after that (accompanied by the annoying laughter of my partner), it was time to change turns...

The boys were in good position, they could not fail with all odds in their favor !

"Seriously ? Did we really all miss ? Awkwaaaard..."

Orks were drawing nearer and they had gained a psychological asset with the casualties count in their favour. The marines tried to focus on the closest threats from that point...

Pedro Kantor spotted Thrugg, the cursed ork responsible for all that... would the 2 meet hand to hand or would they try to take the other down another way ?

"- Saw you first humie !
- No ! I saw you first, you green scum !
-OK, den I saw ya in second but I'ma kill ya !
- FALSE ! I also saw you in second and I AM gonna kill you !
- Fack, did is gonna be annoying..."

As the marines were slowly gaining the advantage back, some of the orks were crushed under the mental pressure and fled...

"- Pretty sure I left the gas on under the kettle, better go back and check..."

Pedro Kantor had already taken some severe wounds but this was not the moment to put a knee down...

He spotted one of the last orks who had hidden behind the barricades to try and take the marines Hero down...

"Huhuhu, now you see me, now you don't..."

 The threat didn't last long though and soon all the orks were wipded from the area...

The price paid by the marines was heavy though, two thirds of them had perished under the assault. The cost of victory is always paid in blood sweat and tears though... Duty had a bitter taste as ever, thier mission had been accomplished.

So here we were, the game was played in about an hour and was very fun to play while eating and drinking. Both of us felt the ork could win this game at the start but once the heavy bolter started to work properly, the balance quickly changed (that following fire rule...).

Zhu has proposed many ways to change the balance of the game and amongst the solution, I think I'd try to keep the forces as they are but I'd change the board. With more cover and perhaps a slightly different position of objectives to give more challenge to the marine player. I quite like that the forces are not equal so I wouldn't give anything else to the orks really.

One of the observations we made with Goulven was that grenades would have totally changed the game if some had been available... maybe having a couple on each side could be fun...

I'd like to thank Goulven again for this exquisite opportunity to have a game (first 40k game of the year), for being an excellent host and for a little present in lead form (more about that soon ;) )

Soon on Leadplague, some painted stuff...