Review: Planetstrike

[Hoxtalicious]

One bribe and a thinly concealed threat later I'm the proud owner of the Planetstrike supplement. Sadly no buildings included, those won't be reaching me for another month at the very least.

Nota: I play for fun so don't expect critical nitpicking or pointing out powerful exploits. Also don't ask for exact wordings, point values or anything else sensitive. You have been warned.

"Er.... Boss? Remember on Borsk when da sky caught fire and we saw them cometfings with da Emperor's Boyz in 'em? Well, here they come again...."

- Grudley, assistant Grot to Big Mek Ognutz

Introduction
Meet the latest 40k expansion: Planetstrike! A supplement that puts a heavy focus on attack and defend scenarios where attackers drop from orbit on wings of fire into the ferrocrete maws of the defender! As the back of the book aptly puts it Planetstrike is a game of glorious invasion and desperate last stands.

The game and rules
In just ten easy steps you'll be running a game of Planetstrike:

1. Determine attacker and defender, which is a nobrainer really. One player acts as the invader while the defender has to do everything possible to stop them at any cost.

2. Choose forces, as mentioned before both the attacker and defender have custom organization charts:



The attacker can load up on elites and fast attack while the defender has extra troops and heavy support at his disposal. This approach lends itself perfectly to building themed armies of say monstrous creatures or a terminator assault force pitted against an armoured company or clanking horde of Dreads and Kans.

3. Select a mission, the players select one of the six missions provided. More on those later.

4. Prepare the battlefield, here is where the oddness really sets in! The defender deploys ALL terrain in any manner as he desires. The attacker has no say in any of this. This includes defences, bunkers and other fortifications, which do not cost anything for the defender to use. Yikes! But again, the book hints at common sense paired with a sense of adventure.

5. Determine objectives, again this is one for the defender as he decides which terrain features count as objectives for the game. It is advised to go with an odd number of objectives, as to avoid ties.

Important rule: All models can contest objectives now, not just troops. More importantly it is stated here that if both sides contest an objective the attacker automatically counts as being in possession of it at the end of the game. regardless of being outnumbered or whatnot.

6. Attacker prepares invasion, meaning that the attacker chooses which table edge will be his dropzone for his reserves to arrive from and to prepare the troops in question that will drop into the action.

7. Determine stratagems, more on these below.

8. Defender deploys troops, anywhere on the board and the defender may keep as many units in reserve as he likes.

9. Attacker launchers Firestorm, incoming! The attacker bombards the defender with D6+number of objectives templates before the start of the game. These scatter as normal with no BS modifier and is generally used to thin the enemy ranks, destroy Bastions and generally churn open ground into a pockmarked crater scape.

10. Launch the Planetstrike! The attacker takes the first turn and things start off properly.

New buildings
No supplement would be complete without its special releases with smashing rules.

The Bastion: An AV 14 bunker with BS2 heavy bolters built into each facing that can each fire at a different target. A single infantry squad of any size can occupy it. Bastions are the most likely objective of the game in most cases, as the attacker must either occupy or destroy it in order to win. The rules for the Bastion are crisp, clear and to the point.



Comms relay: The Bastion kit comes with a comms relay that can be used by any player that has an unengaged model within 2" to re-roll a failed reserves roll.

Interceptor guns: Both the Bastion kit and Aegis defence line also come with an Interceptor gun, which are automated weapons designed to shoot down incoming attackers and craft. The Bastion has the Icarus Lascannon with a jacked up range (96") and the Aegis has the Quad-gun, which is basically an Exterminator autocannon array. The amount of guns that a defender can deploy is equal to the amount of objectives. Interceptor guns be mounted on Bastions and count as automated defences or they can be deployed in the field and operated by infantry of your own. What makes the Interceptor guns so special is their ability to forego their own shooting to shoot in the enemy movement phase at deep-striking enemies, this representing the weapons raking the incoming troops with lethal fire.

Aegis defence line: A simple line of pre-fab barricades that give troops sheltering behind is a 4+ cover save. Troops that go to ground behind its walls gain +2 to their cover save.



Skyshield landing pad: An AV13 structure that allows for skimmers and flyers to land on it. The landing pad has two modes: shielded and unfurled. Shielded means that the blast shields are up and that the refractor field is online. This confers a 4+ invulnerable save to all models sheltering on it and vehicles may still land on it and embard/disembark passengers. Unfurled means that the refractor field is switched off, but it makes it easier for vehicles to land on it and allow its passengers to disembark, regardless of how fast the vehicle moved that turn.



INDOMITABLE FORTRESSES: A catch-all phrase for large structures that are made up of three parts: two bunkers and a tower. It comes with a lascannon turret, heavy bolter and a missile silo. This entry is more given as an example what can be done when looking for a hobby project, the primary example given a the Fortress of Redemption manned by Dark Angels.

Missions
Six missions are provided that can be played as a small campaign to take over a world.

1. Planetfall: the basic invasion mission given at the start of the book

2. Desperate Assault: the attacker must expand his beachhead at all costs while the defender must try and hold out as long as possible

3. Seize and Destroy: the attacker must try and seize an important emplacement behind enemy lines

4. Stranglehold: a particular quadrant is essential to victory, seize all objectives there

5. Forlorn Hope: the attacker must plant a sacred standard on an enemy objective while the defender must do everything possible to cast it down

6. Planetquake: the war is so brutal and total that the planet itself is starting to crack, taking with it the fortifications of the defender.

Stratagems
Unlike Apocalypse and Cities of Death stratagems in Planetstrike are assigned in a different manner. Here Stratagems are bought with Stratagem points, which are calculated by simply counting all objectives on the table. Three objectives equals three points to spend on stratagems. Some are cheap at only one point while others cost three or in one rare case, even four points.

Stratagems are generally split into two categories: Defence and Attack, defence being the list of defender stratagems and attack being the ones the attacker can use. It is for the most part pretty run of the mill, with the defender being able to lay lines, upgrade Bastions or play some dirty tricks. The attacker can call on subterfuge, chemical attacks, Gremlin curses that befuddle electronics, orbital laser fire and even a meteor strike.

Most armies will also have a custom stratagem to call their own that touches on their background and adds a nice touch to the game. Space Marines have "Death from Above" which is tailored towards drop pod assault lists while the Orks can call on the "Unstoppable Waaagh!" to keep things rolling for them. Sadly absent from the list are both Inquisition armies and Chaos Daemons, other than that each army has a single stratagem, with the Imperium having two bonus stratagems seeing as they are one of the prime victims in these games.

In the end the stratagems are there to make the games more interesting, to help crack the defenders uber-fortress and to bring a little more spice to the games.

Hobby
Not much here sadly, though there are some nice battle examples, some studio made alien bastions and some glimpses at what can be done with the Bastion kit.

Final verdict
Planetstrike promises to be a lot of fun, along the same lines as Apocalypse really. The first games can be a bit chaotic but practice makes perfect as they say and the tricky stratagems take some getting used to. But in the end the hobby is about having fun and Planetstrike offers a tasty bit of spice and variety to regular games of 40k or an excellent opener to a campaign between several players.  

[Vikki Stardust]

Get a life you git.  

[Lady Blodwynn]

Could you please list all strategems along with a short description of what they do? Pretty please with sugar on top? mrgreen  

[Hoxtalicious]

Lady Blodwynn

Could you please list all strategems along with a short description of what they do? Pretty please with sugar on top? mrgreen

Eh, why not?

Each stratagem can only be bought once.

Defender stratagems are divided into three sections: Stronghold (Bastion and fortress upgrades), Obstacle (deployables so to say) and dirty tricks. And as before with Cities of Death, the enemy does not and can not benefit from your stratagems.

Stronghold stratagems.
- Ammunition store see Cities of Death
- Command Centre grants Counter-Attack to a unit within 6"
- Power Generator see Cities of Death
- Sacred Ground grants Fearless
- Imposing Edifices forces the enemy that tries to assault the building in question to check morale, if failed they cannot assault
- Turreted Stronghold gives the building an automated battle cannon turret with 360 degree arc of fire
- Void Shield gives the building a AV12 layer of ablative armour that has to be destroyed before the building can be damaged. Void shield is not affected by Firestorm but troops can move through it and assault the building
- Fortified Stronghold allows the player to ignore the first Wrecked or Explodes result

Obstacle stratagems.
- Krak Attack allows the defender to plant krak grenades so to say that are activated when the first enemy unit deep strikes. The unit takes D6 S6 AP 4 hits, every other deep striking enemy unit afterwards needs to roll a D6, on a 1 they are also hit by a krak trap
- Las-maze allows the defender to deploy 2D6+1 markers that are each 6" long, each marker must be connected to the other (Phil says that red wire works best!) if possible, thus creating a laser grid. Each non-vehicle model crossing a section must take a dangerous terrain test
- Minefield comes into play when the attacker wants to make one of his units run, all models in the unit must take a dangerous terrain test and a 6"x12" area must be marked as a minefield, with as many units of the target squad in it as possible
- Trench Network comes into play during the firestorm and first turn of play, representing the defenders having dug in, giving them a 5+ cover save or a 4+ if they go to ground
- Drop-pylons are the same as force pylons below, only these may be dropped in during the course of the game
- Force Pylons are stationary force fields, the defender places four markers 6" apart, no non-vehicle unit may pass through this, though jump infanty and jetbikes can fly over this, units with grenades can temporarily defuse the field and move through them with no trouble at all

Dirty Tricks
- Escape Hatch is not declared before the start of the game, instead the defender picks a building and notes this down as benefiting of the stratagem, when this is put into play the defender must show the attacker his note and place the escape hatch within 18" of the building, it is then treated as an access point for the building and the defender can assault from it in that same turn
- Drop-Bastion allows the defender to deep strike in a "spare" Bastion, though it will count as an extra objective. It can be occupied and held as normal.
- Drop Zone Denial allows the defender to force the attacker to use another table edge for his reserves

Attacker stratagems.
- Darken the Skies makes the first turn a night fight and forces the defenders to take their morale tests at -1 until the next turn
- Dawn Assault uses the night fight rules, at the end of each game turn you roll a D6, on a 4+ the sun rises
- Deathstorm is an attack that is held in reserve, when called upon EVERY unit on the map, friend or foe, suffers 3D6 S1 AP6 hits
- Confusion Reigns allows the attacker to swap the starting location of two defending units, including garrisoned units
- Crash and Burn allows the attacker to rain down orbital debris onto the defender, four counters are brought into play, no more than 6"x6" wide no more than 12" from one another, they scatter 3D6", any unit or building hit takes D6+1 S9 AP4 hits, after they have hit leave the markers as vehicle wreckage
- Desperate Last Push can only be played on the last turn, allowing for one extra turn of play, on a 4+ the defender also gets an extra turn
- Gremlin Curse affects D3 strongholds, place a curse marker at each building in question, any weapon mounted on that building cannot fire when a 1-3 is rolled on a D6
- Ground Observer allows for re-roll of scatter dice for targets within LOS
- Heavy Duty Drop allows all units to deep strike when coming out of reserve
- Phase-field Generator gives a unit blasting charges for cracking strongholds, any units within the stronghold receive 2D6 S8 AP 3 hits
- Planetary Convocation forces the defender to re-roll 6's for the duration of a game turn
- Scorched Skies gives the attacker 2D6+objective number Firestorm templates and the defender suffers -2 to morale checks
- Smoke Shield grants all models in the open a 5+ cover save, the next turn it is a 6+
- Supply Drop gives D3 units offensive grenades, defensive grenades and melta bombs for the duration of the game
- Sustained Assault allows a single Troops unit to be recycled once per game
- Stasis Bomb: choose a target building and on a 2+ the bomb drops from the skies, on a 1 the defender may choose the target. A building hit is taken out for a turn, it cannot be shot at, assaulted, nor can the occupants do anything
- Terror Tactics forces all non-vehicle, non-fearless units in the enemy army to take a pinning test on a 2+
- Laserburn allows the attacker to call for orbital lasers! Place two markers 8" apart, 3D6" scatter, once the markers have been placed run a line between the two markers, all models touched by the line suffer D3 S10 AP2 hits, vehicles are hit on their side armour
- Planetquake Bomb forces all non-vehicle units to take a pinning test and all Bastions take a S10 hit
- Meteor Strike lets the attacker rain down meteors, 3D6" scatter, S10 AP1 ordnance pinning large blast, any terrain hit is automatically destroyed, any models in it take a S8 hit on a 4+, any unit within 12" of point of impact must test for pinning, the impact point receives a nice crater or large rock wink

Race Specific stratagems are just that!
Imperium: Machine Spirit, grants BS3 to Bastion automated weapons
Imperium: Teleport Barrage, the attacker picks one defending unit in a building and forces them to take an armour save, all passed armour saves result in death by fusion with walls of the stronghold
Space Marines: Death From Above, any defending unit within 6"of a drop pod landing must take a morale check
Imperial Guard: Mass Drop, instead of rolling for reserves per unit, one roll is made for ALL reserves, when they arrive roll a D6 for each unit, on a 1 they suffer D6 S5 AP- hits, vehicles are hit on the side
Orks: Unstoppable Waaagh!, every time a building is destroyed the Ork player can call a free Waaagh!
Tyranids: Hypertrophic Flora, allows the attacker to place D3 woods and D6 hypertrophic flora anywhere on the map, these give a 4+ cover save
Chaos Space Marines: Blasphemous Broadcast, every turn a building may be picked, the occupants must pass a morale check or leave the building as quickly as possible
Eldar: Webway Assault, allows for re-roll of deep strike scatter and allows for rolling all reserve rolls at once and only then assigning the good rolls to the units in reserve
Tau Empire: Sunburst Bombardment, all automated weapons count as BS1 for a single turn, all non-vehicle units have +1 to BS
Necrons: Euclidean Mindphase, once per game all of the the attacker's units movement counts as moving through difficult terrain
Dark Eldar: Hellish Cacophony, defenders must subtract the turn number from their Ld value (pour example: turn 3 = -3 to Ld)  

[Vikki Stardust]

So the titty nuns get nothing? scream  

[Caleidah]

Neither do Daemonhunters or Dark Eldar, but those are the three armies that just generally get shafted on these sorts of things.

That said, Guard, DH, and WH get to use the "Imperium" stratagems.  

[Vikki Stardust]

Dark Eldar do get something:

That Boring Git Who Has Nothing Better To Do With His Life

Dark Eldar: Hellish Cacophony, defenders must subtract the turn number from their Ld value (pour example: turn 3 = -3 to Ld)

 

[Lady Blodwynn]

Thanks a million, I'm mailing this to the others so they can do a bit of preparing for the big game. This is going to be great! whee  

[Hoxtalicious]

I want to hear how the game went afterwards and what stratagems you lot used.

Oh and Winnie? Be sure to pick up a blister or two of Imperial Guard advisors, the Naval Officer and Astropath with their +1/-1 to reserve rolls for friend and foe will win games for you. Best of all their effects can be stacked, so two command squads plus two Astropaths = +2 to reserve rolls.  

[Lady Blodwynn]

I find the advisors blister a nice defence package of ordnance, reserve denial and reserve protection. But seeing as I'm an attacker..

I've been trying to convince my co-commanders to go with scorched skies, those extra firestorm templates are a welcome addition to the opening barrage. How strong are those templates btw?  

[Hoxtalicious]

Firestorm is S9 AP3 large blast barrage.  

[Lady Blodwynn]

Sweet and they make craters on impact right?