Yesterday, Craig and I took on Leigh and Sean’s Imperial Guard with our Marines.

I figured I’d give the Drop Pod army another shot, as it can be quite an amusing little side-army (hah, side-army… Expensive little distraction, wouldn’t you say?!)

Leigh, getting wise to the drop pod situation after our last game, decided to keep most of his force in reserve – a risky gambit, but sensible nonetheless.

Opting for a split deployment, Sean’s forces held their right flank, while a small group of Leigh’s troops set up on the left. Craig deployed most of his force opposite Sean.

We were lucky enough to get turn 1, which saw my Ironclad Dreadnought land and toast a few guardsmen – I had planned to assault, but in my eagerness, I burnt away the wrong unit and so was left standing around – luckily it was within minimum range of the Basilisks and the only heavy weapons nearby were some heavy bolters.

My Sternguard landed more central on the Guard’s board-edge, and, backed up by two tactical squads which had also dropped in, they proceeded to decimate a large unit of conscripts with massed bolter-fire.

The guard players first turn was spent re-arranging their lines slightly to adapt to the new threat – although some good shooting meant that a lot of my own marines went down under heavy fire from the Medusa and Leman Russ Executioner, with the added insult of seeing my remaining Sternguard heroically dive for cover under a Siege Mortar shell (Craig’s quote of ‘Emperor’s Finest my arse’ pretty much summed it up!).

As we started our second turn, I managed to fluff up my reserve rolls, with my assault squad being the only other pod out of four to arrive. I decided to put pressure on Leigh’s side of the board and landed them near his lines. My units which had arrived in turn 1 returned fire with the guarsdmen near the centre of the board, while my Ironclad decided to bash in the Griffon, which it did in due course. Craig’s two dreadnoughts made a good account of themselves, shaking or stunning two Leman Russes on Sean’s extreme right, while his Attack Bikes yet again proved their worth by gunning down various units (aside from the near-invincible Command HQ with their blasted Medic…).

Leigh’s reserve rolls were a little better, with his Leman Russ squadron showing up, along with one unit of his Rough Riders, plus a platoon commander and two armoured fist units. Figuring out how to get them on the board, however, was another story.

As expected, my assault squad bore the brunt of the rough rider charge, but thanks to some poor dice on Leigh’s part, I was able to weather the storm and hold the horsemen at bay for a turn. The Leman Russes came on towards the centre of the board and began pummeling my Marines (who were luckily in cover for the most part, and so didn’t suffer as many casualties as I’d feared).

Sean began to pour fire in at Craig’s Tactical squads and Librarian who had slowly been advancing towards his lines, and was lucky enough to see the psyker fall under a hail of Lasgun fire. One of the Armoured Fist units which had arrived in support of the Rough Riders managed to destroy the Seismic Hammer on my Ironclad (blasted rear-armour). By the end of turn two, things weren’t looking too rosy for the Astartes.

Turn 3 began with my final 3 drop pods showing up, putting my Captain, Command Squad and two more Tactical Squads into the fight – one Tactical squad landed on the Guard’s right-flank to reinforce Craig’s units, while my Command Squad and fourth Tactical unit landed centrally to bolster my own attack. The Ironclad, angered at the audacity of the newly arrived Armoured Fist unit, decided to charge in and batter the Chimera, immobilising it and taking off both weapons, leaving the squad inside helpless as they couldn’t deploy or fire for a turn. With a lucky meltagun shot, I managed to blow the Battle Cannon off of one Leman Russ, while during the assault phase I managed to destroy two more Leman Russes and blow another weapon off. (I have the bizarre Squadron rules to thank for that…)

With time running out, we squeezed in a final turn – my Ironclad, with help from the Assault Squad, finished off the Armoured Fist unit, while over on the right flank the Marines mopped up the rest of the guard resistance. Some late arrivals in the form of snipers and a second unit of Rough Riders still weren’t enough to turn the tide, and eventually the Marines prevailed.

I do enjoy using my Drop Pod army, although I think it’ll take a back-seat and only come out in bigger games – I’m going to go back to a more traditional foot-slogging Marine list, which is what I’m more used to. Plus I have two Vindicators just sitting around collecting dust at the moment!

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