1850p: Black Legion Chaos Space Marines vs Orks

Long time since I last played the Orks now, always a tough opponent for me. It's hard to face all those shots they can bring and deal back in turn. Our record is pretty even at the moment. This time I have some stuff I want to try that I've never tried before though so it should be interesting!

First off I have the Dark Vengeance set... and the Chosen models are just amazing. But I look at their weapons load out and wonder what the hell they were thinking? I really don't think they will work that well in any given situation... and just to prove my point I'm going to field them exactly as they are and we'll see what happens! I added some meltabombs so worst case they'll have to chase some vehicle or so. And then to show how you're supposed to do it I take another squad of five Chosen with Flamers (since I'm playing Orks, usually I take Meltas) who will outflank. The thing is I always have huge problems with Lootas, I seem to never really reach them, so lets see what some outflanking can do! And with the same mindset I also took 3 Obliterators who will Deep Strike and burn those Lootas some more (I really want them dead this game!). And since I had the points for it I also added 5 Raptors with Flamers... now that's a lot of redundancy. We'll see where they end up after his deployment!

Then I also wanted to field my Daemon Prince, since I realized I've not really played him much lately for various reasons. I expect him to be shot out of the skies as usual. But I've never tried Nurgle's Rot, so I decided that Orks would be a good way to test it out! Thus Deep Striking him in the middle of some Boys somewhere should grant some fun.

And then for the Troops I picked up a pretty solid core. One unit of Berzerkers to have him worried, driving through somewhere and one unit of Marines following in their wake with Flamers. Some Plaguemarines with Plasmas to shoot light vehicles as well as grab some objective and another small squad of Marines kept in reserve to grab another objective. As I have pretty many Deep Striking elements in this army I added Personal Icons to the Berzerkers and Plaguemarines, as it could be a nice back up plan should things turn out that way.

Another thing I've been thinking about a lot about since sixth edition arrived is some Havocs. So decided to try one squad with Heavy Bolters one Autocannon and one Missile Launcher. Usually I wouldn't like to mix the weapons like this but these are the models I have so decided to try it out and see what happens. They should be good for both taking out light vehicles as well as supporting other units with taking out Boys. And to round the list off I put my Defiler in there, always a good choice against all hordes.

So a lot of templates from me this time. If he brings the Burnawagon I might get some troubles as I don't really have a reliable way to take care of it at range (I have horrible luck with Lascannons on my Obliterators...) but hopefully I can get something around it and shoot the sides or rear at least. I also know that there's a flyer sitting on his desk waiting to be built... so maybe he'll build that one in time? I don't have any answer for it except for getting lucky with the Daemon Prince, so I will probably just try to ignore it should it show up... Let the dice gods speak!


LISTS

Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Daemon Prince - Wings, Nurgle's Rot, Mark of Nurgle

Elites
6 Chosen - Aspiring Champion w. Power Maul, 1 Power Axe, 1 Pair of Lightning Claws, 1 Power Fist, 2 Meltabombs
5 Chosen - 5 Flamers

Troops
10 Chaos Space Marines - Aspiring Champion w. Power Fist, Icon of Chaos Glory, 2xFlamers
5 Chaos Space Marines - 1 Plasma Gun
9 Plaguemarines - 2xPlasma Guns, Personal Icon
8 Berzerkers - Personal Icon

Fast Attack
5 Raptors - Aspiring Champion w. Meltabombs, 2xFlamers

Heavy Support
Defiler
3 Obliterators
5 Havocs - 1 Autocannon, 1 Missile Launcher, 2 Heavy Bolters


Orks
HQ:
Wazdakka Gutsmek
Big Mek - Kustom force field, Burna

Elites:
12 Burnas + 1 Mek boy
12 Lootas

Troops
20 Boyz Sluggas - Stikkbombs - 2 Boyz with Big Shootas - Nob with Power Klaw / Bosspole
20 Boyz Sluggas - Stikkbombs - 2 Boyz with Big Shootas - Nob with Power Klaw / Bosspole
20 Boyz Sluggas - Stikkbombs - 2 Boyz with Big Shootas - Nob with Power Klaw / Bosspole
8 Warbikers - Nob with Power Klaw / Bosspole

Heavy Support
Battlewagon - 4 Big Shootas, Deffrolla, Red Paint Job
3 Killa Kans - Rokkit Launcha



PRE

We rolled for mission and got Purge the Alien. Great, so my objective based list is all ready at an disadvantage to the horde of boys. Not a good start! Rolled for Warlord traits, I got Acute Senses for Outflanking units and he got one that forced me to use my lowest Ld instead of highest. Neither was a big deal. Then I won the roll off for deployment and chose to go first as I wanted first turn. I realized I had one unit too much in reserve though, so I put my close combat Chosen as Inflitrators instead. There was to be no Night Fighting. Then he stole initiative.


Turn 1 - Orks

First couple of shots cause 4 wounds on the Havos... no problem... except that I failed two saves. Pass my Leadership at least. Then the Lootas went on and caused 2 glancing hits at the Defiler. Other than that nothing much happened as he just moved up pretty much.


Turn 1 -  Black Legion

Like I wrote in the intro, I really don't like Lootas. Luckily for me he actually moved them up though. So my Chosen got to Rapid Fire them, as well as a pieplate from the Defiler, and the remaining Havocs had a go as well, wiping them out. First Blood! So my grand plan for my flamers would have to be used at Boys instead then... oh well I can live with that!

Then the Plague Marines actually managed to cause one wound on the Warboss. Not too bad! Killed a couple of Boys as well.


Turn 2 - Orks

His unit of Boys came in from reserve.

His Burnawagon moved up and flamed the Berzerkers. Caused 27 wounds, I failed exactly 8 of course, statistical. He then shot the Plague Marines some, shot away 5 then assaulted the remaining 3 with the bikers and wiped them.


Turn 2 - Black Legion

The small unit of Marines, the Obliterators and the Chosen came in. Was really hoping for the Daemon Prince at this point...

The Obliterators scattered away 8", so no melta at the Burnawagon for me. My horrible luck with lascannons made me melta the Killa Kans instead, causing a glance (...) and blowing one up. Instead I tried to shoot the Defiler at the Battlewagon... it scattered 11" and hit the Bikers instead, killing two (which both went on the nob which he failed both Look Out, Sir! rolls for). Some more boys died from shooting and then my Chosen charged the Boys, made their charge when they needed a 8. One died to Overwatch... They won the assault with five kills though, Fearless Boys sticking around.


Turn 3 - Orks

The Burnawagon moved up and flamed the Marines, I failed exactly 7 saves with 7 models left again. Everything else missed.

In the assault I killed 2 boys... and in return they caused 4 wounds (the Nob was too far away to strike still). I failed three saves...


Turn 3 - Black Legion

The Daemon Prince and the Raptors turned up. Both scattering 9 and 11 inches. Really bad scatters today! No mishaps though. Obliterators tried to melta the Killa Kans again for some reason, only exploding one and taking the close combat weapon off the other. Got some flamers on the boys, killing off a few. Then I tried Nurgle's Rot, passing the test... and he managed to deny it. The Obliterators wanted to finish business with the Killa Kan, but failed their assault. The Defiler turned around and flamed two bikers to death then assaulting them killing one more while Wazdakka failed to penetrate.


Turn 4 - Orks

Lots of shooting and flaming on the Obliterators ended up with 2 survivors with 1 wound each left (due to the angles they were shot at, no shenanigans with allocation). The boys then charged in to stop them from shooting next turn losing a boy or two for the trouble. The Warlord then killed the Defiler while two bikers died in return. Boys shot at my Daemon Prince, grounding him causing a wound, of course.

Turn 4 - Black Legion

Nurlge's Rot killed two boys, woho! Havocs and Marines shot at the boys at the bottom, taking them below Fearless but they passed their Leadership. The Chosen and Raptors moved up to flame the unit of boys, then both charged in and made their charges. I probably should've done the charges in the other order though as 2 Raptors died to Overwatch... Still won combat and the Fearless boys stuck around.

Turn 5 - Orks

Night Fighting happened, not that it had any effect. Bikers shot off the last Havocs with help from the Boys. Then all but one Chosen died (the survivor fled) and the Obliterators died to the Power Klaw that finally reached combat.


Turn 5 - Black Legion

The Marines moved up to try and finish those Boys that refused to die, killing all but two who of course passed their Leadership. The Daemon Prince could only Vector Strike at the boys due to the angle, killed 3 though. And that was all. At this point I had the Daemon Prince, 5 Marines and one Chosen (fleeing) on the board while the orks had every single unit still alive except for the Lootas. So I conceded since there was no way I could finish off enough units to make it somehow even. Crushing victory for the Burnawagon!


Lessons learnt

Don't build a list that ignores the Burnawagon when you know it will probably come. Yes, I had the Obliterators and they probably could have done something and I tried - but the scatter was ridiculous! Had I known that the Lootas would die so hard in turn one though I would've deployed the Obliterators instead of Deep Striking them. Perhaps my luck with Lascannons will turn at some point?

Flying and Nurgle's Rot doesn't go well together. For it to be effective you probably have to charge in and let them come closer to you... Flying around it's hard to get in a good spot where you can kill many models.

Special Close Combat on Chosen are (as expected) not worth it. They did way more damage with their Bolters! Infiltrate and Rapid Fire is a nice combination, perhaps I should try "naked" Chosen at some point just to see what happens?

And then one lesson I seem to never learn... Don't put too much stuff in reserve... it means you really depend on those reserve rolls... one or two units at most! (But it's so funny to show up in the opponents face from nowhere!)

Havocs need a very good deployment to do something. In this game they ended up far away from all light vehicles as well as bikers which were their primary targets. Perhaps I should've chosen to deploy second and hope to survive turn 1 just to get to counter-deploy. It gets a lot more important when you have shooty units after all.

1850p: Chaos Space Marines vs Iron Hands Space Marines

Time for another battle! Might be one of the very last games I get in with this Chaos codex, so lets see what we can bring. I went for a pretty solid all around list this time, to see if I could bring the pain. I also wanted to give the Decimator another chance, and this would be the first time I use him in my CSM army so perhaps he'll get better support this time around.

Everything in this army has a pretty defined role. Last time I played my harass Obliterator to great effect, so I thought why not drop two of them this time? Still keeping two deployed as well though to shoot at Razorbacks and/or Dreads and then I threw in a Predator that could support them with that.

A small squad of Marines to take any back objective (which starts in reserve to deny an easy First Blood), a larger squad including an icon (which might help the Deep Striking Obliterators depending on when they decide to show up). A squad of Plaguemarines to grab any midfield objectives and take incoming fire. All with plasmas of course, so they can bite back. Then a squad of Berzerkers in a Rhino to keep him occupied as far on his side as possible (might even be there for Linebreaker if they survive long enough).

Knowing there's always a possibility to face a Land Raider playing the Iron Hands I of course have to take my Chosen with Meltas who will Outflank. If they're lucky they'll get the Land Raider (if it shows up), otherwise they'll always catch something before they die as usual.

Finally we have the Decimator... what will I do with you? It has some really cute flamers, so I think I'll tag team him with the Daemon Prince (who is now finally a Flying Monstrous Creature according to the latest FAQ!). Together they should be able to spit out some Template Death, and hopefully be pretty durable.


LISTS

Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Daemon Prince - Wings, Mark of Slaanesh, Wind of Chaos

Elites
5 Chosen - 5 Meltaguns
Decimator - Butcher Cannon, Mark of Tzeentch, Smoke Launchers

Troops
10 Chaos Space Marines - Aspiring Champion w. Power Fist & Plasma Pistol, 2x Plasma Guns, Chaos Glory
5 Chaos Space Marines - Plasma Gun
10 Berzerkers - Skull Champion w. Power Sword and Meltabombs,
+Rhino w. Dozer Blades. Twin-Linked Bolter
9 Plaguemarines - 2 Plasma Guns

Heavy Support
2 Obliterators
2 Obliterators
Predator - Twin-Linked Lascannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Twin-Linked Bolter


Iron Hands Space Marines
HQ
Librarian - Storm Shield

Elites
7 Terminators - 4 TH/SS, 3 LC
+Land Raider Crusader - Multi-Melta, Hunter-Killer Missile
Venerable Dreadnaught
+Droppod
Dreadnaught - Twin-Linked Lascannon, Missile-Launcher

Troops
10 Tactical Marines - Missile Launcher, Meltagun
10 Tactical Marines - Missile Launcher, Meltagun

Fast Attack
Storm Talon - Skyhammer Missiles

Heavy Support
5 Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum
5 Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum




PRE

First we rolled for mission and got Crusade and Vanguard Strike, we randomized some terrain, and the Iron Hands got to chose board edge first - I won the roll off for who went first though and took the first turn.

We rolled for Warlord Traits, I got Acute Senses for all my Outflanking units (not super useful but at least I had one unit that was Outflanking) and he got his Warlord as a Scoring Unit. He rolled for Psychic powers on Biomancy and got Smite and Iron Arm. We also rolled that Night Fighting was in effect from the beginning.

My deployment was pretty straight forward. I put the small squad in reserve, planning to grab the objective close to my board edge and then put Plaguemarines on the march towards the one opposite. Berzerkers were set up to drive for his far objective and cause some mayhem, while the rest was in the middle to drive towards his closer objective. I did put one squad of Obliterators in reserve as well as my Daemon Prince (didn't want him shot off in the first turn due to not flying). And of course the Chosen were Outflanking.

He did not steal initiative.






Turn 1 - Black Legion

Deployment. Objectives are, one in each building and one in the forest closest to the bottom.

So I basically moved everything forward then tried to shoot at whatever presented itself. I missed with everything. I'm not even sure he had to roll any saves this turn...



Turn 1 - Iron Hands

First his Droppod with a Venerable Dreadnaught came in behind my squad of Marines. Then the shooting started. Due to Night Fighting I had 2+ cover on both my Decimator as well as Obliterators... of course I failed on both and one Obliterator went down to Instant Death while the Decimator lost a Hull Point. The Land Raider drove up and killed two Marines, and the Dread in the Drop pod caused a Pen on the Predator which fortunately was only a Shaken result.





Turn 2 - Black Legion

Night Fighting continued. So both my Daemon Prince, Obliterators and Chosen came in while my small squad of Marines stayed in reserve - perfect there at least! The Rhino drove forwards a bit and the Berzerkers came out.The Plaguemarines grabbed their intended Objective in the corner.


Then everything went on to keep missing... This included the Twin-Linked Meltas of three Obliterators, Twin-Linked Lascannon of the Predator, Butcher Cannon... Everything failed. Except for the Marine squad who got back armour on the Venerable Dreadnaught so of course Rapid Fired Bolters and Plasma into it, and luckily managed to blow it up. First Blood! Oh and the Daemon Prince used Winds of Chaos to fry two Devastators who actually fled since they lost their Sargent but stayed on the board.



Turn 2 - Iron Hands

The Storm Talon came in and fired it's Skyfire on the Daemon Prince, and assisted by both Devastator squads as well as a Tactical Squad with Bolters they managed to bring my Warlord down (but he almost survived actually!). Then the Decimator lost his Siege Claw to a Melta. The Land Raider shot at my Marines, and managed to kill both of my Plasma gunners...

His Terminators had jumped out of the Land Raider, the Librarian attempted Iron Arm but got Perils of the Warp. The unit went ahead and charged the Obliterators anyway, wiped them of course but took one guy in return.

Turn 3 - Black Legion

My small squad of Marines came on and moved straight for their objective. Got some scattered wounds from shooting here and there, nothing of note except for the Chosen who moved up and shot their Meltas at the Land Raider, was out of Melta-range though so only managed to inflict two glancing hits. The Berzerkers then charged the squad on the objective, slaughtered them but lost one guy to Overwatch.



Turn 3 - Iron Hands

The Land Raider and one squad of Marines shot at the Chosen, managed to kill three of them due to poor saves mostly... but they stayed in the fight. Then the Terminators assaulted my unit of Marines in the middle... The heroes actually killed one Terminator on Overwatch and then in some desperation I tried to challenge his Warlord expecting him to deny it but he chose to accept since he had his Storm Shield. Lucky for me! My Champion hit and wounded with both of his attacks and he failed one save! Slay the Warlord to me! He even survived the return blow! The rest of the unit was wiped off of course, but the Champion passed his Leadership no problem! Four Termiantors? No match for a rising Warlord like him!

Turn 4 - Black Legion

The remaining Obliterator who had tried his Plasma Cannon last turn (which scattered onto the Land Raider and did nothing) gave it another shot, and this time he fried 4 Tactical Marines in the middle - the thinking was to get rid of his Scoring Units. The Sargent passed his Leadership though. The same thinking went for the Predator who shot the unit coming closer and took them of the Linebreaker position actually. Then the two remaining Chosen wanted revenge against the Land Raider, caused one penetrating hit which exploded it. The explosion killed one of them in return though... the survivor stuck around though.


My Decimator who once again missed with his Butcher Cannon decided to try a ridiculous charge of 10" on the Tactical Squad holding the objective behind the building. And I made it with a roll of 11! He went on and kicked one guy to death, the remaining squad fled off the board due to Our Weapons Are Useless (he chose to do this so that he could fire his Devastators on the Decimator next turn). On the other objective on his side the Berzerkers charged the Dreadnaught, one died and then the Meltabombs only caused a Penetrating hit which immobilized it. Good for me! Meant they'd not be shot up next turn.


At this point I was considering converting my Aspiring Champion into a Lord for his great efforts so far... then he died to Lightning Claws so never mind that.



Turn 4 - Iron Hands

The Storm Talon flew over and managed to get an angle to shoot the Marines hiding in the Objective building (the Objective turned out to be +1 Cover Save by the way), I thought he would have to fly off the board... oh well, one dead Marine only, still had the objective. The Devastators who had nothing else to shoot at exploded the immobilized Rhino while the other squad missed the Decimator.


The Terminators continued their march, stepping over the lone Obliterator on their way. And in the combat between the Berzerkers and the Dread I actually only manage to inflict a Glance with meltabombs. Not too bad! Still protected from shooting by being locked in combat!

Turn 5 - Black Legion

All my shooting missed once again. The Berzerkers failed as well. Still safe in Close Combat then!



Turn 5 - Iron Hands

The Storm Talon decided to gamble and enter Hover mode to get another shot at the squad hiding in the building... and it paid off as half died and the other half fled off the board. The Terminators in lack of better things to do crushed the Predator, but the explosion killed one of them in return. Then the Berzerkers finally managed to wreck the Dreadnaught and moved off to claim the objective as well as activating the Brainleaf forest in their next Shooting phase... however the game ended there!


So calculating the points I had First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker as well as two objectives compared to his Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. So a Chaos victory with 9-2!




Lessons Learnt

So basically everything went according to my plan, despite rolling extremely poorly for three turns. I think the tables kind of turned when my hero Champion won his duel and the Decimator pulled off his incredible charge. At that point I felt pretty secure. That combined with that the Berzerkers and Plaguemarines did their job perfectly finally won me the game. Also my small squad that arrived from reserve did their job... but not much to do about the Storm Talon. My plan was basically to ignore it anyway since it's only one unit and the only thing I had in my list that could possibly deal with it was my Daemon Prince doing Vector Strikes... and he died in turn two...


Other than that I still think the Decimator is ridiculously overpriced, it simply does nothing worthy of those points. Okay, so this game I was lucky and it added a little bit to the win... but BS3 is really annoying on a 200+ point model that's supposed to be pretty shooty... Such a shame on such a nice looking model!


Crushing Troops however is ever so effective. I tried to kill them off as much as I could, and was helped by the fact that he made a list with few troops this time. This really hampered his chances to compete on the objectives. By the end of the game we had roughly the same amount of models on the board, but he only had 4 Scoring models left!

1850p: Chaos Daemons vs Iron Hands

So today I'm bringing my Daemons out to play. Since I don't really have the models to make a really good army of Daemons at the moment, I always expect to loose when I play them... But I can always take the chance and get a feel for what the units I DO have are up to!

So after my last game I actually got a Skulltaker from my friend (thanks again!), so of course I had to try him out (against the person who gave him to me! Always a gamble I suppose, who will he be loyal too? :P ). I also have a shiny Forge World Herald of Khorne who've not seen the battlefield yet so I figured he'd be a nice pairing with Skulltaker. I then gave them a retinue of 7 Bloodletters each... Kind of expensive and possibly not very effective either... as with Daemons your problem is the horrible Troop choices. But I figured since I knew I was playing Space Marines they might do something at least, and with Herald/Skulltaker in front taking armour saves they might actually reach combat and I figured I needed more than minimum squads to not be shot off the board.

I also wanted to bring my Decimator who I've only played once (where he was lazy and didn't show up until turn 4...) to again see what he can do. And for him to not feel lonely as a vehicle I added a Soul Grinder as well. Giving the anti-vehicle weapons at least two targets to choose from.

For the rest I added the obligatory flying circus, with two Daemon Princes to bring the hurt supported by a Keeper of Secrets with Pavane. Then to fill out some extra Troops in case of objectives a cheap unit of Daemonettes who has one job that is only to camp a back objective all game and hide, and then some Horrors with the Changeling because he's fun. So let the carnage begin. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!


LISTS

Chaos Daemons

HQ
Keeper of Secrets - Demonic Gaze, Pavane of Slaanesh, Soporific Musk, Transfixing Gaze
Skulltaker
Herald of Khorne - Death Strike, Iron Hide, Unholy Might

Elites
Decimator - Siege Claws, Butcher Cannon, Mark of Tzeentch

Troops
7 Bloodletters
7 Bloodletters
5 Daemonettes
5 Horrors - Changeling, Bolt of Tzeentch

Heavy Support
Daemon Prince - Demonic Flight, Breath of Chaos, Bolt of Tzeentch, Mark of Tzeentch, Unholy Might, Instrument of Chaos
Daemon Prince - Demonic Flight, Breath of Chaos, Bolt of Tzeentch, Mark of Tzeentch, Unholy Might, Instrument of Chaos
Soul Grinder - Phlegm


Iron Hands Space Marines
HQ
Librarian - Terminator armour, Storm Shield

Elites
5 Terminators - 2 Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields, 3 Lightning Claws
5 Terminators - 5 Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields

Troops
10 Tactical Marines - Plasma Cannon, Plasma gun
10 Tactical Marines - Flamer, Missile Launcher
+ Drop Pod
10 Tactical Marines - Meltagun, Combi-melta
+ Drop Pod

Fast Attack
3 Bikes - 2 Melta guns, 1 Combi-melta
Storm Talon - Skyhammer missiles

Heavy Support
Thunderfire Cannon
Vindicator - Siege Shield
Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum

Fortifications
Aegis Defenceline


PRE

We rolled for mission and got The Scouring, Warlord traits was both personal - I took Skulltaker as my Warlord and got Feel no Pain when within 3" of an objective and he got Scoring unit for his Librarian. He rolled both his powers on Biomancy and got Enfeeble and Life Leech. Rolled of for first turn, he won and chose to go first - I of course didn't even try to seize initiative. No Night Fighting for Turn 1.

We placed the terrain and then objectives, and there at least I got a nice corner to hide one objective (that turned out to be worth 3 VP, nice!) behind a huge cliff. Daemonettes found their home all ready!

Here you see the board and the objectives, there's also one objective behind the cliffs at the top and in both woods.

Iron Hands deployed, looking at the nature.

Turn 1 - Iron Hands

So first turn, nothing much to do so he just moved towards the far away objectives waiting for the Daemons to arrive to the party.


Turn 1 - Daemons

I decided to gamble a bit and put all my "big guys" in my preferred wave. Turned out to be good this time, as I got what I wanted!

So I jumped in with all my guys pretty close to each other so they could give mutual support and hopefully grant me First Blood. So my Keeper of Secrets used Pavane to line up the closest Combat Squad for one of the Daemon Princes to breathe into. Killed all but the Plasma Cannon (in hindsight I really should've used Pavane to make sure he was not the last guy in line...). The other Daemon Prince Breathed onto the Thunderfire Cannon and killed 3 Tacticals who stood in between as well as took one wound off the cannon. Fired the Bolt of Tzeentch on it as well which hit and wounded... but he made his cover save for that.

So now I was left with the Soul Grinder and the Decimator. Decided that the Large Blast would be nice on the Vindicator, shot, hit and penetration... only to get a shaken. Ahwell. The Decimator tried to get First Blood by shooting his Butcher Cannons on the lone Plasma Cannon... Missed three shots and the last one was saved... So some damage made, but not nearly enough.



Turn 2 - Iron Hands

The first wave of Daemons arrive.

But units of Terminators came in as well as the Storm Talon. Terminators came in right were they wanted in the middle, and the Storm Talon flew in to try and get some shots on the Sould Grinder.

First thing to die was the Decimator, turned out he wasn't that hard to kill after all (at least not if you have three melta-bikers behind him). Then the Keeper of Secrets went down... he got a total of 5 successful wounds on him (from rockets and bolters) and failed every single save. Vindicator return fire on the Soul Grinder and took of the Reaper Autocannon and the Storm Talon took off one of the Close Combat Arms. The Librarian casted Enfeeble on one of the Daemon Princes.


Turn 2 - Daemons

Bloodletters with the Herald came in, decided to try and use his Death Strike on the Rear armour of the Vindicator and then hopefully survive with enough to kill some Marines on the objective.

However every single shot either failed to do damage or was saved. In a move of desperation I decided to charge the Soul Grinder into the Terminators to at least avoid being shot next turn. Storm Shields saved everything and suffered a penetrating hit in return.


Turn 3 - Iron Hands

And here is why I should've made sure that damned Plasma Cannon died in turn 1, as he shot the clumped up Bloodletters (since I didn't run them in favor of shooting with the Herald) and hit spot on. 5 dead Bloodletters. The remaining two and the herald then went down to missiles and rapid fire bolters. 2 Wounds on one of the Daemon Princes from bolters and the Storm Talon as well, but no grounding at that one at least... then he shot storm bolters on the other Daemon Prince... didn't cause any wounds, but he WAS grounded... rolled a 1 on the hit though so no damage taken and nothing close enough to charge him.


Turn 3 - Daemons

Skulltaker and his unit got in, decided to put him in the middle and try to get Slay the Warlord with him. Horrors also came in, put them close to the 4VP objective as well as the Vindicator to try and use the Changeling on it.

The Daemon Prince who was shot by the Storm Talon in the previous turn then wanted revenge and thus Vector striked (got 4 hits!) it to death, and because of the mission that was 1VP for me! The Bolt of Tzeentch then cause a penetrating hit on the rear armour of the Vindicator (which had turned the previous turn to deal with the Bloodletters... turned out they were dead before it got to shoot though), but just got a stunned result unfortunately. The other Daemon Prince on the flank killed a couple of marines with Breathe and made a failed Vector Strike at the Vindicator. The Soul Grinder then died in the assault, exploding but caused no wounds on the Terminators.


Turn 4 - Iron Hands

So he shot at the Daemon Prince on the flank with a lot of bolters, managing only to hit with two... but no wounds of course. But the Prince failed his Grounding Test and suffered a S9 with no armour save allowed (actually we did that wrong as I had invulnerability saves but oh well!) that took one wound off him, then more missiles took the last wound off him as well since he was now grounded and easy to hit. Everything else only had Blast (so could not hit flyers) or couldn't see anything to shoot or missed (I tried to Glamour the lone Plasma Cannon but he passed his Ld-test unfortunately and then missed anyway).

Oh, the Horrors took some Rapid Fire Bolters as well, and lost two of their numbers. Then the Terminators tried to charge over the hill, lost one guy to overwatch... and still came up short due to difficult terrain.


Turn 4 - Daemons

Skulltaker and his unit gets ready to charge at the top, and you can see the lack of Daemons left on the board at this point...

As I kept failing my come back rolls for the Decimator my opponent felt generous and decided to let it come back anyway. Yay! Daemonettes came on automatically as well, and of course they went straight at the objective I set up from them behind the cliffs. Something that went according to plan, finally!

The remaining Daemon Prince went for the Bikes for another VP as well as denying the objective there, killed two of them with Breathe/Bolt. The Decimator then who got a free chance to prove his worth shot at the last one as well... failing to hit with everything but one shot that was saved (and I paid 240 points for this thing?!). So had to use the Bolt from the Horrors to finish the last one, and luckily he did hit and killed the last biker.

Skulltaker and his unit then charged the Terminators with the Librarian in it, I issued the challenge only to find a Sargent accepting instead. Bah. No wounds in the challenge, but one Terminator went down as well as two Bloodletters.


Turn 5 - Iron Hands

Everything that could still shoot shot the Decimator. The Thunderfire Cannon finally got something it could hit and landed three blasts on it which was enough to kill it again. The Stormbolter on the drop pod killed two more Horrors so the Changeling was left on his own. The other unit of Terminators decided to charge the Horrors again, this time making it and slaughtering the poor little Changeling.


Turn 5 - Daemons

At this point it looked really grim for me. But I had a slight chance to turn it around if I managed to kill his Warlord (and had I wiped the unit I'd also claim 2VPs from the nearby objective as well) and thus I decided to charge in with my Daemon Prince as well. I made a grand total of 0 wounds (Storm Shields again...) and he killed my Daemon Prince in return.

So I decided to concede and it was a 7-5 victory for the Iron Hands! Actually it was closer than it looked in the end there, especially had the game ended in turn 5. There were a lot of points hanging in the balance there - but turn 6 had been a decisive victory for the Space Marines.


Lessons Learnt

Okay, so I didn't expect much from this list as I wrote in the beginning all ready but I still made a lot of mistakes. For one thing I was far too aggressive with the first unit of Bloodletters with the Herald because I was really annoyed by the Vindicator still being alive - I should just have ignored it and landed somewhere safer. Against this list of Daemons that Large Blast wasn't really that important - so bad priority from my side there. Bloodletters are decent for killing Marines after all and I left a whole flank uncontested for him to run on.

Another thing... never, ever let a Plasma Cannon stay alive if you actually have the means to kill it easily...

Because things went as they did with my shooting in turn 1 I changed my target with the Decimator. I think I'd been way better off if I'd stayed with my original plan and let him deal with the bikers (that's why I placed him on that flank after all!). And while on the Decimator, he really is overpriced as of now - he might do better if I can get him into an assault so I guess I'll have to give him another chance or two.

Oh, and I confirmed yet again that Bloodletters aren't worth it. Far to expensive for what they do, especially as they die so easily. It's especially not worth it to add Heralds to them - could use those slots for something useful instead! Granted, I didn't use them well this game but I don't think it would've made a huge difference. Probably better off taking two small units of Daemonettes (much cheaper!) and hide them away instead and spend the points elsewhere!

I also think that my objectives placement turned out pretty well, it dictated the fight to the area where I wanted the fight to be on. So that was nice, and it really is an important aspect of the tactics to get the objectives right. So something positive to take away from the game at least! But yet again I had some really poor luck in the beginning which really shaped the game... but such are dice!

Cities of Death: 1750p Iron Hands vs Chaos Space Marines

First battle report! So at the time of writing the new Chaos codex is on the way, which means I wanted to try some silly stuff. First off I've had both Ahriman and Khârn standing on a shelf (unpainted!) for a while, so wanted to try them out before they get new rules. And what better way to accompany them than a host of Bezerkers and Thousand Sons? I also wanted to try some distraction tactics so add some Obliterators, of which one was alone which I was meaning to deep strike behind enemy lines to cause as much trouble as he could.
On the other side of the table were the Iron Hands who this time around fielded a very troop heavy list supported by Devastators and a Vindicator. I had a feeling both that and the Storm Talon would come today, but decided to simply ignore them...

Then we also wanted to try out some Cities of Death! So we chose the scenario High Ground from the book, which basically is king of the hill. The building/ruin in the middle is the one objective - the player who has a scoring unit in it at the end wins. We modified it a bit to fit 6:th edition, as well as limiting Stratagems to one each that we also decided to randomize from the Key Buildings chart. I got Fuel Reserve (= +1S to all Template weapons 6" from the building) and he got Feel no Pain while inside the key building.

LISTS

Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Ahriman
Khârn

Troops
10 Berzerkers - Champion w. Plasma pistol and Power Fist
+Rhino - w. Dozer blades and combi-melta
9 Berzerkers - Champion with Power Weapon and Meltabombs
+Rhino - w. Dozer blades and combi-melta
10 Thousand sons - Aspiring Sorcerer w. meltabombs and Doombolt (to be replaced by generated power)
 8 Thousand sons -Aspiring Sorcerer w. meltabombs and Doombolt (to be replaced by generated power)

Heavy Support
2 Obliterators
1 Obliterator

Iron Hands Space Marines
HQ
Master of the Forge - Conversion Beamer

Elites
5 Terminators - 2 Lightning Claws, 3 Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields

Troops
10 Tactical Marines - Missile Launcher, Flamer
+Razorback, w. Twin-linked Lascannon, Dozer blades
10 Tactical Marines - Missile Launcher, Flamer
+Razorback, w. Twin-linked Lascannon
10 Tactical Marines - Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun
6 Scouts - Telion, Camo cloaks, Sniper Rifle.

Fast Attack
Storm Talon - Skyhammer missiles

Heavy Support
5 Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum, Chainsword
5 Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum, Chainsword
Vindicator - Siegeblade


PRE

We rolled for Warlord traits, Iron Hands got Furious Charge in opponents deployment zone and I got a re-roll for reserves. Nice one!

I then generated my psychic powers for my two Aspiring Sorcerers (I decided to keep the original five powers of Ahriman rather than generating three new ones). I chose Pyromancy and Telekenisis, and got the primaris of Pyromancy and the Dome (blessing giving a unit a 5++ that can "bounce").
We then rolled for Night Figthing in turn 1 which we got.

The board!

The middle building with the antenna in it is the objective, the building to the left has a Medic and the one above has the fuel reserves.

Deployment from the Iron Hands perspective.

Iron Hands won the roll-off to go first and decided to do so. I didn't manage to steal initiative (rolled a five though!).

Deployment from the Chaos perspective.

Turn 1 - Iron Hands Space Marines

Movement for turn 1

So he moved up into the ruins on the left and started shooting stuff. The snipers who had infiltrated into the ruins on the right side saw the Rhino through the open door, one hit and it did rend... I made my cover though. Then two of the Devastators in the ruins to the left who had moved up one floor (which I allowed even though they were slightly too far away to get up) then shot two snapshot missiles at the same Rhino. Of course my kindness was punished immediately as he rolled two sixes to hit and I failed one of my covers saves and of course the Rhino exploded. Oh well. Khârn had been sitting on a shelf for a long time so I guess he could use the exercise.


Turn 1 - Chaos Space Marines

I turbo-boosted the Rhino at the top, my plan there was to get around and get my Power Fist onto the Vindicator or just go straight for the marines in the building. I also realised I made a mistake with deploying Ahriman, I was afraid of the Vindicator so deployed much further away than I planned, but due to Night Fighting and cover I'd been pretty fine deploying them closer to the fuel reserves and the middle...

Then I tried to shoot the Vindicator using lascannons on the Obliterators... rolled double one of course.


Turn 2 - Iron Hands Space Marines

First the Storm Talon fails to come in, and then the Terminators who do come in scatters 11"! Luckily for him he was still fine, he didn't manage to roll high enough on his run to really spread them out though.

The Razorback to the left popped the second Rhino easily, and there went my plan of trying to engage him on his side of the board with Berzerkers while the Thousand Sons moved on the objective... I'd just have to meet him in the middle instead. The snipers started shooting Ahrimans Thousand Sons and actually managed to kill one.

Then the plasma squad tried shooting the other unit of Thousand Sons. The Plasma Cannon overheated and promptly killed the marine (first time it was shot ever!).


Turn 2 - Chaos Space Marines

The Obliterator did come in (after a re-roll, good thing I had that one!), and dropped behind the Vindicator to show his brothers how it's done. To prove my point the two Obliterators on the top decided to shoot Plasma Cannons at the Terminators. One of them overheated (but I made my save) and the other one was  a direct hit, hitting 4 of them! Then I rolled three ones and a two to wound... Which he saved.

The Obliterator behind the Vindicator scattered out of the 6" melta-range but was still within 12" so shot his twin-linked melta at the side armour of the Vindicator. Got a glancing hit. Then Ahriman, bugged by the Snipers last turn threw Doombolt and Bolt of Change (supported by Warptime) at them killing two, his unit then managed to miss everything.


Turn 3 - Iron Hands Space Marines

The Storm Talon still didn't show up.

The army was now a bit frightened of the one Obliterator amongst them, so that entire half of the table shot everything they had at him pretty much. Not a single failed save suffered, despite lascannons and missiles coming his way - and even a large blast from the Vindicator!

The Devastators however managed to kill a couple of Berzerkers and Thousand Sons with their blast missiles. Then the Terminators decided to charge the two Obliterators who shot at them last turn.The Lightning Claws failed to do anything and thus the Obliterators actually got a chance to strike back at the same time as the Thunder Hammers. They actually managed to kill two Terminators (one Lightning Claw and one Thunder Hammer) before going down.


Turn 3 - Chaos Space Marines

After turn 3

 Everything missed or failed to wound. Everything. Except for the one lone Obliterator who had moved up to within 6" and then blasted the cannon of the Vindicator. The Aspiring Sorcerer closest to the objective tried to cast the Dome on the Berzerkers like the earlier turns... but got perils of the warp and just died. Ahriman managed to kill two tacical marines with Doombolt/Bolt of Tzeentch.
The Obliterator then decided to finish the Vindicator in close combat and assaulted it, and exploding it. The Explosion actually killed one Devastator! The Berzerkers from the far away Rhino had reached the middle and charged one of the Tactical squads in the building, wiping the unit and suffering one dead in return. Then it was finally time for Khârn to do something this game as he had reached the middle and him and his lone remaining Skull Champion declared a charge against the tacticals with a plasma gun. It started well as the plasma gun overheated on the overwatch and killed the guy! Then Khârn rolled double one for charge range...


Turn 4 - Iron Hands Space Marines

So now the Storm Talon comes in automatically. The Iron Hands proceeds to shoot away both the remaning Berzerkers in the middle (the Skull Champion with a Power Fist survived though) and Thousand Sons (who failed 4 out of 5 saves). The Obliterator got some as well, but he still just shrugged it off. The snipers also managed to inflict one wound on Ahriman with their precision shots (which I chose not to Look out Sir! as troops was more important for me at this point).

The Terminators who've chased the Berzerkers all game finally catched up and charged the lone Champion and killed him with the re-roll of Lightning Claws (again I'm punished for being nice and reminding about stuff!).


Turn 4 - Chaos Space Marines

 Looking pretty grim for the Chaos this day, still have Khârn and his Champion on the objective, and two Thousand Sons in there as well with Ahriman and his remaining Thousand Sons closing in on the objective. There are two combat squaded (but somewhat decimated) tactical marines as well as the reaming Terminators on the objective. Ahriman uses Wind of Chaos and Bolt of Tzeentch and actually manages to kill two Terminators, while his Aspiring Sorcerer fails to do anything despite his +1S due to the fuel being close by. The Thousand Sons then manages to not make a single wound, yet again.

The Obliterator tries to kill more troops and thus flames the tacticals instead of going for the Storm Talon... manages to kill just one despite twin-linked. He then tries to charge in... and gets killed by overwatch... Still a hero though, and he did just what I wanted him to!

Khârn tries to charge again and this time he gets through. His champion kills two out of three guys before Khârn gets to go then... so then I roll his six attacks and... the Betrayer kicks in. I roll two ones that has to go on the hero champion... and I promptly roll another pair of snake eyes. Phew. Then the remaining four attacks slaughters the lone tactical. Whoo! First blood for Khârn!


Turn 5 - Iron Hands Space Marines

So he just continued to shoot everything except for Ahriman and three Thousand sons off the board.



Turn 5 - Chaos Space Marines

Ahriman and his three golems move on to the objective. So at this point I have three scoring models to his five scoring models on the objective. So I can still win this if this is the last turn.

Ahriman must've been depressed from seeing Khârn so dully shot down though, because he fails TWO psychic tests (5+6 and 6+6) and the perils of the Warp takes him off the board...

The Thousand Sons however finally decides it's time to do their job and manages to gun down 2 marines. So it's three scoring models to three... if the game ends it's a draw.
 ...which it does not. So I concede and it's a Iron Hands victory! 


Lessons learnt

Don't play with unpainted models, they perform abysmally bad!

In all seriousness there's not that much for me to take away from a game like this with a pretty goofy list and extreme bad luck with the dice... I am however very satisfied with how well my one harassing Obliterator worked out. That I'll probably try in more games!

Other than that my urge to get some Havocs to match those Devastators increases... Despite the incredibly dense terrain and cluttered board the Devastators really did a great job covering the troops on the objective. Even the unit in the back with the Master of the Forge who got a bit misplaced and spent most of the game moving forwards and only shooting snap shots finally managed to take out Khârn in the last turn. Those S8 AP3 missiles really bring the hurt!