StarDust Ground AAR: The Mothers Day Massacre

StarDust Ground made it back on the table top last weekend. It's been out of the rotation for a while but it's always a terrific time and scratched the gaming itch perfectly. I got to select my army and chose the Space Marines which I'd never played with. Ziggy used the Khans (Dawgs) - one of the OG armies of SDG - well tested and always a tough opponent.

The tabletop and initial deployments

We both had half of our forces off the table as reserves. There were two objective locations - the ruins and the landing pad. Having an objective under your control at the end of a turn would earn you a victory point. The first side to ten victory points would be considered the winner.

A Dawg sniper was in a fine position on the skyway.

Squad Helvetica advances through the ancient ruins on the right. Red Claws can be seen in the distance, also advancing towards the objective location.

Dreadnought Comidus also moves to the objective in the ruins. Comidus' assault cannon unleashes a volley of shells at the Red Claws but causes no harm.

Moments later, the Red Claws pile into the ruins and take up positions. Their gunfire at Squad Helvetica is accurate and eliminates a few of the marines. The Predator walkers can be seen closing in from the left.

Marine Squad Quintus arrives int he transport and heads toward the land pad objective. The Terminators of Squad Primus can be seen in the wooded area.

Right on time, the heavy hitters showed up for the Dawgs.

With the arrival of the Khan armor, the Terminators broke out of their position and moved towards the landing pad. Their storm bolter fire was effective, killing some of the enemy and pinning the rest down.

The Predator armored walkers of the Dawg force, having seen the Termies break cover, quickly shifted to deal with them. In no time, Squad Primus was backing off, looking for cover! (they took NINE pin markers from the first volley of auto-cannons and flame throwers.

The situation was grim. The Terminators were in full retreat. The Dawgs were in full control of both objectives and more of them would be showing up any minute.

The tanks continued their advance. Lucky for me, their aim was poor and my dreadnought right in front of them escaped harm for a bit longer!

The godforsaken Predators continue on the path of terror and unload again on my beleaguered Terminators,  this time eliminating a stand and piling on more pins.

My second Dreadnought, Brother Jehosephat, looses a torrent of assault cannon fire at one of the Predators. The walker is damaged and can no longer move. Unfortunately, it's still a very effective turret and has plenty of targets.

Witness... Squad Quintus takes a bit of a hammering from the Preds but surprisingly weather the storm well and don't run off! That absolutely felt like a victory compared to the earlier tragedies I'd been experiencing.

The nail in the coffin. The Seer VTOL arrived and immediately started working on my infantry on the right, in the ruins. Not pictured... the following turn it destroyed Dreadnought Brother Jehosephat with a well-aimed anti-vehicle missile. Ziggy's Dawgs had scored ten points to my ZERO and the game was mercifully over.

Well, as much of a one-sided beating as that was, it was still an entertaining evening of toy soldiers. My single biggest problem was that my activation dice were just downright tratorious. I doubt I got even 40% of my "full allocation" of activations due to garbage dice rolls. When it came to shooting, etc., the dice were fine and I had no trouble getting the reinforcements to show up in a timely fashion.

Ziggy played wonderfully and did a fine job of exploiting weaknesses and pressing the attack. It was a classic example of getting the other guy back on his heels and not letting up. Next week is Memorial Day! Woo hoo!

Be well and good gaming