Dropzone Commander Battle Report #8 – Shaltari Tribes vs United Colonies of Man

It’s back to basics today, as the United Colonies of Man and the Shaltari Tribes square off at 2,500 points in Targets of Opportunity.

It was quiet.

It was always quiet, until men started shooting, and calling for backup, and screaming while they died. The damn Shaltari never made a sound.

Corporal Jance shrugged to himself as he covered the darkened hallway, his team moving on in search of the objective. He heard Dropships moving deeper into the city, muffled by the tons of brick and plaster and glass that surrounded him. His heart hammered against his ribcage as he peeled out of cover and followed his team down the hallway.

Vibrations shook the walls of the high rise, subtle at first, but growing in a staccato rhythm. A painting fell from the wall a moment later and a deafening boom tore through the structure.

Then, a gauss projectile came through the wall, disintegrating the soldier in front of Jance.

The team choked on dust as the hallway was opened to the sky. Jance took cover and smiled grimly, knowing how little effect it would have, trying to ignore the bits of his friend scattered around the hall.

“Contact, contact!” screamed Sergeant Torres. “I have soldiers down, the Shaltari are bracketing my building with Gauss Cannons! I need armor support, now!”

Outside, the roar of cannons answered his call. It begins again. Jance smiled grimly and moved on down the hall.

The Armies

Ubii Tribe Raiding Party

Shaltari Tribes – 2,500

Wings of the Chieftain (Gate Pool)

Gaia Heavy Gate

3x Eden Medium Gate

4x Spirit Light Gate

2x Haven Terragate

Court of the Elders

COMMAND – Coyote Warstrider with Prime Warchief (CV6)

HEAVY – 2x Caimain Heavy Grav-Tank

SCOUT – 4x Yari Light Grav Tank with Light Ion Cannons

Shaltari Swordpoint

STANDARD – 5x Tomahawk Main Grav-Tank

SUPPORT – 3x Kukri AA Grav-Tank

Shaltari Swordpoint

STANDARD – 4x Tarantula Battlestrider

Shaltari Warrior Clan

TROOPS – 2x Braves

SUPPORT – Totem Warspire

Shaltari Warrior Clan

TROOPS – Braves

SUPPORT – Firedrake

Shaltari Warfist

HEAVY – 2x Jaguar Warstrider

SUPPORT – Dreamsnare

Shaltari Speartip

SCOUT – 3x Yari Light Grav-Tank with Light Ion Cannons

EXOTIC – Firstborns

EXOTIC - Firstborns

After Action Review

It was fun to return to the original mission after so many games in the extra content. We never wanted to play this mission until it became boring, and so far that goal is paying off. It was refreshing to go back to the beginnings of what drew us into the game.

I’m still uncertain with the Firedrake. Although he is doing his job, I keep thinking of how many other units I could put into the army in his place. I suppose I will continue to play him for now, in an attempt to really learn the ins and outs of his role.

The Prime Warchief, however, was completely worth his cost. Even though I’m basically giving up a small unit to make him CV6, it seems imperative to me that the Shaltari dictate initiative. There were so many instances where I absolutely felt that I had to go first in the following activation, and then the higher level commander made it happen.

The Command Decks also felt more powerful in this mission, and it makes me wonder if either this mission is more completely balanced than the others, or the cards are more targeted to the basic mission, or if maybe we just drew way more cards at valid times than before. Whatever the case may be, it seemed that we both got more mileage from our decks. The extra card for the CV6 commander just added to the feeling.

More Dropzone and 40k coming your way, stay tuned!