Escalation - you should try it

[kire]

Just this evening i tried out Escalation. game was 2000 points i used my normal all comers space marine list except i switched a thunder fire cannon for a Void Shield Generator. My opponent had a eldar titan and some wave serpents. i tabled him in one of the most fun games either of us has ever had. to those people how say that Escalation will ruin the game i say try it. understand the two of us are not hard core waac players but neither are we fluff bunnies who smile when we lose cause it was "cinematic". furthermore we play each other often and are pretty evenly matched (if anything i usually lose when we play). The point is lords of war are in practice equal parts powerhouse and liability.

[Quaade]

How would the game had been had you not brought the voidshield generator and had kept the thunderfire?

[Tyrendian]

short I guess?

[-Tom-]

Tried it the other day, just for the amusement of a friend to test out the new book. It was 1000pt game, which meant that I couldn't have fielded a legal army anyway if I were to have an Eldar titan (which I currently don't... it's on the wish list). He had an Ork Stompa, filled with some Mekboys who could repair it as it went, and just enough grots as troops choices to make a legal force. He had to drop the kustom force field that he would have otherwise liked to have as a 'standard build'.

It was interesting. It actually didn't go as badly as I thought it would. I got unlucky with a roll of turn order, and further unlucky with the mission. It was Purge the Alien (with his units either being a huge Stompa, or inside said huge Stompa), causing a lot of injuries was going to be tough. Although I would get VPs for causing hull point damage to the Stompa as per Escalation rules, it is only for damage remaining at the end of the game, not for those that have been caused but then repaired by Mek boys.

He had first turn so I decided I'd keep almost everything as reserves to avoid it dying too soon. Just had one squad of rangers hiding out in a wood, gone to ground, to maximise their cover saves. In the first turn, the bin-lid sized blast marker goes over the whole woodland, but in a stupid over-abundance of un-needed luck I roll 7 6's for their cover saves.

Nothing much I could do that turn, so Turn2 for him was much the same as Turn1, but the Stompa got a little closer to the wood. I got lucky with Reserves roles such that my Wraithknight, and 2 Wave Serpents carrying guardian squads entered the field of play. (It was a generic list, rather than one picked to take on a Stompa). The WK fired both heavy wraithcannons into the side of the Stompa (I couldn't quite get the movement for rear armour. Maybe I was unlucky to enter this turn as following turn, with him continuing to move the Stompa to the wood, I've have got in behind it). It hit, but then rolled a 1 and a 2 for the AP rolls. Spectacular fail.

Between them, the Wave Serpents wracked up a couple of hull points on the Stompa, firing off their shields. So, the decision came down of "Should I let him kill me in my turn, or make him wait till his own" when it came to combat time. The problem was, if I didn't get the hull points on at this point, I was going to start losing things next time it shot and it would get progressively harder to do so. I was really hoping that the WK would have done some damage shooting, which I could have added to with a suicide charge. If I didn't charge him, he was going to charge me, and being a monstrous creature I wanted to take full advantage of charging. So, I charged the Stompa with the WK. Hammer of Wrath from the charge played out nicely, I got a pen. hit, rolled a 6, and caused D3 hull points which in this case was 3. The remainder of the combat gave me 2 glancings and 1 more pen. roll of 5 leading to 2 more from the D3. The Stompa then got its turn in combat, and wracked up a few hits from its destroyer weapon, relating to a total of 12 wound on the WK. WK pieces left the field of battle.

7 hull points from combat, plus the 2 the Wave Serpents had got put the Stompa on 9. It had 12 total, so I like to think that if it hadn't been such a massive fail from the Wraithcannons that I could have actually taken it down. The Mek boys repaired 3 of the Hull Points at the start of the next turn and I was now down to 2 wave serpents and guardians. The guardians decided to go and bully the squad of grots that wouldn't fit in the Stompa just so I at least would have done some damage to him.

It ended with 6 VPs to him, and 3 to me. Closer than I expected with the combo of turn order, mission, and respective army lists.

[energongoodie]

I really wanna give it a go but no one at my club has anything bigger than a baneblade.

p.s nice post -Tom-

[SaveModifier]

Hopefully I'll get a game in with my Stompa soon, looks like it'll be fun but then, I'm the kind of player GW write rules for, one that just wants to have a laugh with his friends with some cool models

[Eberk]

Now this is a nice thread, very positive to read. A welcome relief :-)

I for one, eagerly await my books (Stronghold Assault and Escalation) and really want to try them out.

especially the Fortifications one, I really want to play some kind of siege :-)

And I might even buy a Superheavy just to try it out with the Escalation rules.

These are good 40K times :-D

[TimmyPowerGamer]

I don't see why either supplement would spoil 40k. Surely they are similar to Planetstrike in that they are more suited to pre-arranged games.

Don't know about Stronghold Assault, but Escalation doesn't allow you to use a SH in normal games and so won't affect normal 40k.

[Captain Bubonicus]

I don't see why either supplement would spoil 40k. Surely they are similar to Planetstrike in that they are more suited to pre-arranged games.

Don't know about Stronghold Assault, but Escalation doesn't allow you to use a SH in normal games and so won't affect normal 40k.

I don't know what gave you that idea - from Escalation (p.34):

"LORDS OF WAR IN WARHAMMER 40,000

If you wish, you can take a Lords of War detachment when choosing your force. This is an optional detachment just like Fortifications and Allied detachments, as shown in the Force Organization Chart opposite...

If one or more players choose to include a Lords of War unit in their army, the additional mission special rule and secondary objective described below automatically apply in any mission that you play."

See? It's now an optional detachment that either player can opt to include in a regular 40K game.

[Mr.Pickelz]

Page 6 of IA 2: War machines of the Adeptus Astartes," These units are inteded for use in games of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse and in larger games utilising Lords of War units, within the game restrictions decided upon beforehand. As with other Forge World units these should be considered 'offical', but as they may be unknown to your opponent, it's best to make sure they are happy to play a game using Forge World models before you start."

Throughout this book there are units with the Lord of War stamp, I wonder if these can be used with Escalation.

[Captain Bubonicus]

Page 6 of IA 2: War machines of the Adeptus Astartes," These units are inteded for use in games of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse and in larger games utilising Lords of War units, within the game restrictions decided upon beforehand. As with other Forge World units these should be considered 'offical', but as they may be unknown to your opponent, it's best to make sure they are happy to play a game using Forge World models before you start."

Throughout this book there are units with the Lord of War stamp, I wonder if these can be used with Escalation.

Good question. I think it's interesting that they chose to use the "Lords of War" designation with Escalation...so I'd lean towards "yes?"

[TimmyPowerGamer]

I don't know what gave you that idea - from Escalation (p.34):

"LORDS OF WAR IN WARHAMMER 40,000

If you wish, you can take a Lords of War detachment when choosing your force. This is an optional detachment just like Fortifications and Allied detachments, as shown in the Force Organization Chart opposite...

If one or more players choose to include a Lords of War unit in their army, the additional mission special rule and secondary objective described below automatically apply in any mission that you play."

See? It's now an optional detachment that either player can opt to include in a regular 40K game.

Fair enough. I haven't read the book and was just going on hear-say. I'll remember to keep my trap shut in future.

[Captain Bubonicus]

No worries, mang.

[Gutzmek]

I just bring a couple of lists when ever I go out for a pick up game, I just make sure it's ok before dropping a Lord of War on an unsuspecting opponent. Always a good time regardless of what all nay sayers think.

[Pssyche]

Page 6 of IA 2: War machines of the Adeptus Astartes," These units are inteded for use in games of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse and in larger games utilising Lords of War units, within the game restrictions decided upon beforehand. As with other Forge World units these should be considered 'offical', but as they may be unknown to your opponent, it's best to make sure they are happy to play a game using Forge World models before you start."

Throughout this book there are units with the Lord of War stamp, I wonder if these can be used with Escalation.


If you go to the Forge World Website and click on Downloads on the right underneath their banner, there is a downloadable PDF "Forge World Lords of War choices for Warhammer 40,000 Escalation".

It gives a full listing of which Forge World models you can run in Escalation.
Have fun!



For Timmy Power Gamer
"Fair enough. I haven't read the book and was just going on hear-say."

I really admire your honesty.

I think half the battle in the community at present is that people don't read the books.
They just see throw away comments on forums by people who also haven't read the books and suddenly they believe their ill-informed, pre-conceived notions to be 100% fact.

If I could give you rep for that post, I would most definitely.

[John Bower]

I honestly can't justify 21 quid for 90% rules I already have (Apocalypse), it's just pointless for that money. I got more out of Stronghold Assault to be fair which was less. Even less cos I got 25% off getting it down to 15 quid.

[This Dave]

Page 6 of IA 2: War machines of the Adeptus Astartes," These units are inteded for use in games of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse and in larger games utilising Lords of War units, within the game restrictions decided upon beforehand. As with other Forge World units these should be considered 'offical', but as they may be unknown to your opponent, it's best to make sure they are happy to play a game using Forge World models before you start."

Throughout this book there are units with the Lord of War stamp, I wonder if these can be used with Escalation.

Forge World has a PDF on their site with all the units usable with Escalation. I've started using my Macharius Vanquisher as the armor support for my infantry Guard.

[deinol]

I honestly can't justify 21 quid for 90% rules I already have (Apocalypse), it's just pointless for that money. I got more out of Stronghold Assault to be fair which was less. Even less cos I got 25% off getting it down to 15 quid.

Yeah, if you've already got Apocalypse, all you need to know is you can bring one superheavy. Tada.

I'm guessing the Stompa in the above report doesn't have D weapons. Superheavies aren't really a problem, they are big and tough, but cost a lot of points. But a D weapon that can wipe the wraithknight off the table in a single hit? That's not right for "small" 2k point games. Not that it really effects me, I do more painting than playing. When I do get a game in, it'll be with friends and we'll only do superheavies if that's what we really want to play.