3000p: Iron Hands vs Black Legion

In the far future of the grim darkness that is the 41:st millennium there is Only War... Meaning that we need to step it up a bit. This will be my largest game yet, and I just finished packing my army. That in itself was quite a job!

With that in mind I made a quite elite army to make it somewhat easier to pack at least. So we'll see how that goes. It turned out to be a very Nurgly army, since that is most often the most expensive mark... And one of the best for sure as well so!

This list is very light on Troops for this size of game for me to be entirely comfortable. But my model collection is my limitation! Ideally I would've liked at least two more Troops. But instead I suppose I have to try and make my stuff as killy as possible!

Knowing there's a big possibility of Land Raider, 2 Leman Russes and a couple of Dreads as well as Razorbacks I did take quite a lot of anti-tank. Chosen with Meltas. As they can no longer Outflank I took a couple of extra bodies to compensate though. They will also be helpful against Terminators, which I believe there'll be at least 10 of!

Of course my own Terminators had to come too, bringing Lightning Claws to shred troops. I'll also support them with a Sorcerer in Terminator armour. Trying out the Lore of Nurgle (but mostly Biomancy I believe).

Having four Obliterators available they too had to come of course. Splitting them up in two units, and I think I will deploy both units as I think I'll need their fire power from the start instead of the being lazy in reserve.

Then I was just filling stuff out with some armour of my own. I can't make a full mech army so it has to be half-and-half sadly. This does hurt me I think, and I could've left the tanks at home for some Berzerkers in the Elite slot instead... but then there's that transporting problem again so... I like my Preds anyway, we'll see what they'll manage to accomplish. The Decimator gets another chance as well, mainly because it's a huge points sink.

I also threw my Warpsmith in there... but at the time of writing this I haven't really figured out where he'll go... maybe I'll make a mini-Deathstar with the Plaguemarines and Chaos Lord? Oh well, I'll figure that one out eventually...

Not quite having enough of a collection to make a solid list at this level, making it very spread out. Most of the models I have are competing for the Elite slots these days after all... But it'll be a fun game I think! Let the mayhem begin!


LISTS

Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Chaos Lord - Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War, Gift of Mutation, Sigil of Corruption, Power Weapon, Melta bombs
Chaos Sorcerer - Mark of Nurgle, Level 3, Spell Familiar, Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Melta bombs, Veterans of the Long War, Sigil of Corruption
Warpsmith - Mark of Nurgle, Aura of Dark Glory, Veterans of the Long War

Troops
28 Cultists - 2 Flamers
10 Chaos Space Marines - 2 Plasma guns, Icon of Vengeance
10 Chaos Space Marines - 2 Plasma guns, Icon of Vengeance
9 Plague Marines - 2 Plasma guns, Melta bombs, Veterans of the Long War

Elites
5 Chaos Terminators - 3 Pairs of Ligning Claws, 1 Power Fist+Heavy Flamer, Combi-Melta&Power Axe, Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War
8 Chosen - 5 Melta guns, Combi-melta, Veterans of the Long War
Decimator - Mark of Nurgle, Storm Laser, Siege Claw/Heavy Flamer

Fast Attack
Heldrake - Baleflamer
5 Chaos Bikers - Mark of Nurgle, 2 Meltaguns, Melta bombs, Veterans of the Long War

Heavy Support
2 Obliterators - Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War
2 Obliterators - Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War
Predator - Twin-linked Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons, Combi-Bolter
Predator - Autocannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons, Combi-Bolter, Havoc Launcher
Maulerfiend - Magma cutters


Iron Hands Space Marines

HQ

Master of the Forge - Conversion Beamer. Blessings of the Omnissiah, Bolster defences.
Librarian - Terminator Armour, Stormshield. Biomancy.

Troops
Tactical (10) - Combimelta, Meltagun, ML.
+Drop Pod
Tactical (10) - Flamer, ML, Powerfist.
+Razorback - TL Lascannon
Tactical (10) - Stormbolter, ML, Meltagun.
+Razorback - TL Lascannon 
Tactical (10) - Plasmagun, plasmacannon.
+Razorback - TL Lascannon 
Scout squad (6) - 5 Sniper, ML, Meltabombs.

Elites

Dreadnought - TL autocannon x2.
Dreadnought - TL autocannon x2.
Assault Terminators (5) 3TH/SS, 2 LC.
Assault Terminators (5) 1LC 4TH/SS.

Fast Attack

Storm Talon - TL Assault cannon, Typhoon ML.
Bike Squad (3) Meltagun x2, Combimelta.

Heavy Support

Land Raider Crusader.
Devastator Squad (5) 4ML, Signum.
Devastator Squad (5) 4ML, Signum.
Vindicator - Siege Shield.


PRE

We rolled for mission and got the Crusade with 4 objectives and Hammer and Anvil deployment. Thankfully, as with this amount of stuff it'd be hard to fit stuff in a normal deployment zone... Warlord traits, he got VP's for killing characters in challenges and I got D3 Infiltrators (after a re-roll since my opponent thought it silly to get cause fear when facing Space Marines). We rolled for psychic powers, he rolled two on Biomancy and got Warpspeed and chose Smite for second. I rolled one on Nurgle (and chose Nurgle's Rot) and two for Biomancy and got Endurance and Life Leech. My Warlord got Cosmic Fate for his Gift of Mutation (re-roll failed armour saves). As there was only one ruin in his deployment zone (the large cathedral) I had to shatter that one with my Warpsmith, and he chose to enforce the other one close to him with his Master of the Forge.

I won the roll off to go first and decided to take first turn. I then also won the roll off to decide who deployed infiltrators first since, we both had them. I chose to go first there as well, even though it'd been a nice opportunity to counter-deploy some stuff - but the board was so packed at this time meaning there was very limited space to infiltrate on so by going first I could deny him any infiltration pretty much.

I chose to infiltrate Chosen (so I've still not played them without infiltrate, heh) with the Warpsmith, two Obliterators and the Terminators with the Sorcerer. He left a unit of Terminators with the Warlord-Librarian in reserve for Deep Striking, as well as the Bikes and the Drop Pod with meltas.

Deployment. Objectives are in the two buildings to the bottom and on the balcony in the building at the top-right side and between the two buildings at the top-left side.

Deployment from the other angle, notice the infiltrating Chosen, Obliterators and Terminators. Also the Scouts who were forced to deploy inside their own deployment zone despite being Infiltrators thanks to me being everywhere.

No Night Fighting for turn 1, and he didn't steal initiative.

Turn 1 - Black Legion

So I basically moved forward with everything except for Cultists and Las-predator. Both Marine units moved through the woods, the red one was a normal forest and the white one a hungry jungle that ate one Marine. First Blood to the trees! I also revealed the objectives, and of course the one the Cultists were holding was sabotaged. The one on the balcony above was a Skyfire-nexus which was really nice! The Terminators also revealed the objective on their side as the one which lets you re-roll ones when shooting.

Everything that had something that could hurt the Land Raider and was in range shot at it, but only managed to take 3 hull points off it and shake it a bit. The Decimator then shot his Storm Lasers at the closest Marines he could see and killed one. All Marines and Plague Marines just ran closer while the Cultists shuffled away a bit from the scary objective while still holding it.


Turn 1 - Iron Hands

The objective he was holding turned out to half the charge distance. The Drop Pod arrived with five Marines with a Melta and a Combi-melta and it scattered off so it landed in front of my Auto-Pred instead of to the side of it. The Scouts were moving forwards towards the enforced building they had planned to deploy in but were denied from to try and re-capture it. The Land Raider moved 6" forward, but he forgot to get the Terminators out... at least they were protected for another turn!

The meltas from the Dropped Marines both hit the Auto-Pred and both got penetrating hits, he rolled two threes turning into fives, meaning two immobilised results and thus it took an additional HP loss and was Wrecked. The Vindicator then shoots it's scary large pieplate on my Plague Marines, but it scattered back and landed right on top of his Marines that had just got out of the Drop Pod (just like I told him it would!), but thanks to cover it only killed the three regular Marines (leaving the Sergeant and the melta alive) and one Plague Marine.

One of the Razorbacks then took a pot-shot at the Decimator and promptly exploded it. So that's 250 points that managed to kill one marine before it was gone. Thanks!

The Plasma Cannon managed to kill one Terminator from it's maximum range and the Land Raider used it's Machine Spirit and some Rapid Fire Bolters took both a Obliterator (and his buddy failed his morale and fled) as well as two more Terminators. The Chosen who had got into the enforced building were really enjoying their 3+ cover save however and only lost a Bolter-guy to the missiles and snipers coming their way.

Turn 2 - Black Legion

The Heldrake arrived and started swooping between the buildings, flying at it's maximum speed. The Obliterator actually managed to rally in front of the Land Raider. He just turned around and shot his twin-linked melta at it and wrecked it, forcing the Terminators to come out.

The Chosen moved further into the building and closer to the Vindicator, the difficult terrain made it so that only two of them got in melta-range though, with the rest having to do long range melta. It was enough though, and they blew the Vindicator up, and the explosion killed one scout and four Marines... both the Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun and a Sergeant died... that was some of the most unlucky saving throws I've ever seen!

The unlucky saving continued when my Happy Camper Marines sitting in the forest shot at the Terminators and got two Bolter hits and one Plasma hit, and two Terminators died despite Storm Shields! Obliterators took out another Terminator with Plasma Cannons. My Predator also managed to blow the Lascannon off the far away Razorback.

Then I decided to try and get an easy Boon-roll with my Lord, so I split him off from the Plague Marines, planning to shoot and charge the two remaining Marines from the Drop Pod. I actually killed the Sergeant with my Bolt Pistol, saving me the risk of charging an overwatching melta. And for the Boon I rolled... Spawn. D'oh! The Plague Marines, angry (or happy?) at seeing their Warlord turned into a Spawn shot at the remaining Marine. Both Plasmas overheated. And both died despite armour and Feel no Pain... At least the Bolters took the Marine down (only failing one out of 7 saves).

The Maulerfiend and the Bikers had moved up on their flank and was picking their targets. The Maulerfiend is extremely fast, so it reached the Razorback in the ruins with ease and blew it up. The Bikers first shot their squad of Marines, killing one with a Melta and then charged in, killing another one - which was enough to break them and they got away as well. The remaining Terminators also flamed and charged a separate squad of Tacticals, wiping them out.

The surviving Obliterator decided to try and charge the Assault Terminators that had popped out of the Land Raider. Turned out to be a bad idea, despite causing 3 wounds (all saved by Storm Shields). The Heldrake then flamed a squad and killed all four it could reach, leaving a lone missile-launcher.


Turn 2 - Iron Hands

The Storm Talon came in, but both the Terminators and the Bikes stayed out. The Storm Talon showed up right in front of the Heldrake and unloaded everything it had at it. But turns out it's good being a Daemon. The lone missile spared by the Heldrake last turn, and the fleeing missile-launcher as well as some Devastators shot at the Maulerfiend and managed to cause one glance and one stunned (which was ignored by Daemonic Possession).

The Master of the Forge also ran towards the Razorback that lost it's gun, but couldn't quite reach it to try and repair it.

In the fight over the fortified building he managed to kill three Chosen with flamers and snipers. And more Rapid Fire Bolters killed my Terminator Champion (which I chose to let die since I wanted to keep my Heavy Flamer as Assault Terminators were incoming). By the time the Assault Terminators got all the way to my Terminators only the Sergeant was left alive, and thanks to Champion of Chaos I had to challenge and he couldn't refuse. All saves made on both sides though and my Power Fist just got front row seats.

Turn 3 - Black Legion

The Heldrake used Vector Strike at the Storm Talon and got four hits! Only one glance and one penetrating though, and the Storm Talon jinked and saved the pen. However, by this time my Marines had finally managed to climb up to the balcony and grab the Skyfire nexus, so with their plasmas the managed another glance on the Storm Talon so it crashed and burned... right on top of my Bikes! Killing my Champion which I failed to save.

My Predator, seeing the Master of the Forge trying to fix the Razorback he shot last turn decided to finish business and blew the Razorback up. The Obliterators were inspired and managed to take two hullpoints and immobilise the remaining Razorback as well.

Over in the fortified building again, the Warpsmith decided to return the BBQ-favour and flamed them back, and with the meltas the squad died. The Warpsmith melta was the one to take the Sergeant and for a Boon I rolled... a Spawn. Right. Oh, and my Warlord-Spawn ran and hid in the forest in the far back by the way, to try and deny and Slay the Warlord points.

The Maulerfiend ran out of the ruins and charged one of the Dreads... and died to Overwatch. The Bikers avenged him by killing the other Dread with their meltas.

The Sorcerer still managed to tie the combat with the Terminator Sergeant.

Turn 3 - Iron Hands

Terminators arrive surrounded and outnumbered by enemies but never... actually they were out-gunned too.

Both the Bikers and Terminators finally came in. The Terminators in a somewhat desperate move used their Deep Strike in the middle of my side of the board and scattered closer to the Cultists and then ran to spread out. The Bikes moved up and melta:ed some Chosen and with the help of lots of missiles and Rapid Fire and Snipers they killed off all but 3 Chosen. 3+ cover really saved them. Thanks Master of the Forge!

One of the remaining Obliterators also took a Wound to Bolters, and one Plague Marine died as well to Autocannon fire from the Dread. The Master of the Forge reached the remaining Razorback and actually managed to repair one hullpoint.

In the challenge between the Terminator Sergeant and the Sorcerer the Sergeant managed to cause one wound on the Sorcerer, but thanks to the Mark of Nurgle he wasn't insta-killed and stayed for another round.




Turn 4 - Black Legion

Cultists, Marines in the forest, Predator and Obliterators all shot at the Terminators. I rolled pretty average, but with some bad saving all that remained after that was the Librarian with 1 wound left. I had also moved the Cultists closer to get a charge in, planning to swarm the Terminators in lots of bodies, and then went through with my plan even as there was only the Librarian left... forgetting the Champion of Chaos rule, which forced my Cultist Champion to challenge... Crap. The Librarian went first and missed all attacks. What! I survived? Thanks to the 5 re-rolls I then also managed to cause 4 wounds. 2+ save should stop it though? No, he failed one and dies! And for a Boon I roll... Daemon Prince! I swear the Dice Gods are real and they have a twisted sense of humour...

The Chosen do their best to shoot the Scouts off the objective and kills one. The Warpsmith-spawn moved up around them and charged them from behind to force them to pile in away from the objective. Killed one scout even.

The Bikers charged the Razorback and with their Hammer of Wrath took off one hullpoint after failing to shoot it with two meltas.

The Sorcerer then actually managed to win his challenge, and with Endurance (which I by the way cast in every round but haven't mentioned) that gave him It Will Not Die I even regenerated my lost wound. And the Boon I got was also +1W, all though I realise now I did that in the wrong order, so he had no extra wound but in the end it didn't matter.

Plague Marines took some pot-shots and killed a few Marines as well and the Heldrake killed 6 Marines (the squad that used to contain the Plasma Cannon and the one next to it) after failing to Vector Strike the Dread.


Turn 4 - Iron Hands

The Bikers wiped out the remaining three Chosen with their meltas and the help of the Master of the Forge, and he scrambled his last remaining Troops forwards trying to at least contest the objective the Plague Marines were holding. My Bikers then got another chance at the Razorback with their grenades and took the last Hullpoint off.

Tie combat between the Spawn and Scouts. And then the Cultist objective actually blew up and killed three Cultists.




Turn 5 - Black Legion

The Marines on the Skyfire Nexus killed two of the Marines who had come closer last round through a building window which made them fail their morale. The Plague Marines charged the lone remaining Marine in front of them, killed him barely and the consolidated back on the Objective. The Heldrake torched the Bikers and my Bikers killed the Master of the Forge.

The Spawn then killed all but one Scout, and the Obliterators blew up the Drop Pod. The Terminator with a Power Fist charged the Dread and killed it.

At this point he conceded and there was a Chaos victory (3 Objectives, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord) 11 - 1 (First Blood).




Lessons Learnt

First turn isn't always that helpful, especially with this deployment. My first turn really didn't have much to it, as most stuff were out of range, despite infiltrate and what not! I think that if I get the choice, next time I play this deployment I will go second and let my opponent come to me instead.

Other than that I'm really pleased with how both my Terminators and Chosen were tying up their sides of the board respectively and drawing a lot of attention away from my Troops. I mean, in the end I still had all four of my Troops, and I was really worried it wouldn't be enough beforehand! Just too bad I didn't really get the chance to use my Sorcerer that much, but next time! Endurance was great however.

Other than that it was a really fun game with a lot of random stuff happening! Too bad my opponent couldn't make any armour saves though, because thanks to that it was somewhat of a massacre towards the end as I had pretty much half my army still left on the board compared to his few scattered Marines. And also some real bad luck with reserves coming in late. I think that the Librarian should have been sitting inside the Land Raider though, just to make sure he doesn't get stuck in reserve like that.

But wow, how different it is to play at this scale. I almost start to understand how it must be to play Orks or Imperial Guard... with all the stuff to do every turn!

1850: Iron Hands/Imperial Guard vs Black (Pink) Legion/Daemons

So, my first "real" battle coming up with the new codex! So I got this opportunity... since I don't think I've told my friend I had some new stuff coming in... Sun Tsu wrote in The Art of War:

"Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected."

So of course I have to take my chance! What I had coming in was Noise Marines and a new Battleforce as well as some extra bikes. Themed list coming up. Several new things in this list... first, I field three Fast Attack choices. What! And not a single Heavy Support. Weeeiiird! Then I threw more Slaanesh stuff in for fluff-reasons.

So basically I have absolutely no idea how this will work, but the plan is to hit fast. That's radically different from how I usually write lists. And then some Slaanesh-tricks to try out as well. At the time I'm writing this I've not even assembled all models I'm talking about here... so this should be interesting indeed...


LISTS

Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Chaos Lord - Murder Sword, Gift of Mutation, Melta bombs, Veterans of the Long War, Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil of Corruption
Chaos Sorceror - Level 2, Mark of Slaanesh, Steed of Slaanesh, Sigil of Corruption, Melta bombs, Spell familiar

Troops
10 Noise Marines - Icon of Excess, 8 Sonic Blasters, Blastmaster, Doom Siren
+Rhino
7 Chaos Marines - Mark of Slaanesh, CCWs, Plasma gun, Melta bombs

Elites
9 Possessed - Mark of Slaanesh, Icon of Excess, Veterans of the Long War
+Rhino

Fast Attack
5 Bikes - Mark of Slaanesh, 2 Meltaguns, Melta bombs,
5 Raptors - Mark of Slaanesh, 2 Flamers
Heldrake - Baleflamer

Daemon allies
HQ
Herald of Slaanesh - Exhalted Seeker Charriot, Pavane of Slaanesh

Troops
5 Daemonettes
5 Daemonettes


Iron Hands Space Marines
HQ
Space Marine Captain - Terminator armou, Storm Bolter, Power Weapon

Troops
10 Space Marines - Missile Launcher, Flamer
10 Space Marine - Missile Launcher, Meltagun, Combi-Melta
10 Space Marines - Multi-Melta, Flamer
+Drop Pod


Fast Attack
3 Bikes - 2xMeltaguns, 1 Combi-Melta
Storm Talon - Twin-linked Assault Cannon, Typhoon Missile Launcher

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

Imperial Guard Allies
HQ
Company Command Squad - Company Standard, 2 Flamer, Melta bombs

Troops
10 Veterans
10 Veterans
6 Special Weapons Team - Plasma guns

Fast Attack
Vendetta -  3 Twin-linked Lascannons



PRE

We rolled scenario and got The Relic and Vanguard Strike, he then won the roll off for table sides and started by deploying his Aegis Defence Line. For the random terrain I of course started by planting a mystical forest inside his Defence Line. We got some huge hills in the middle as well.

For Warlord traits he got his Warlord giving the Outflanking rule, and I got re-roll Chaos Boons. For Psychic Powers I generated two from Slaanesh (Hysterical Frenzy and Ecstatic Seuizures) and one from Biomancy (Smite, the Primaris). I rolled for my Gift on the Lord and got +1W.

He won the roll off again to deploy and took first turn. We also rolled for Night Fighting first turn which we got. I chose not to steal initiative.

Deployment from the Chaos side. Relic on the cliff. Bikers, Daemons and Heldrake in Reserve.

And from the Imperial side. Drop Pod with 10 Marines, Storm Talon and Vendetta with 10 Veterans in reserve.

Turn 1 - Iron Hands/Imperial Guard

First he rolled for which mysterious forest I had given him inside his Defence Line. Turned out to be a Brainleaf fond. Woo! In the Shooting Phase he failed both his Ld-tests for the units, but saved all wounds anyway. Ah well!

He started by dropping his Drop Pod on my flank, it scattered in front of the Rhino with the Noise Marines in it. The Multi-melta missed the Rhino so nothing happened there. Everything else in the army ran forwards, towards the Relic in the middle since Night Fighting prevented him from shooting much. The Vindicator backed closer to the board edge to not get Outflanking Bikers behind it.

The forest on his way towards the Relic turned out to be a Carnivorous Jungle, but he made his saves there as well. Much hostile fauna on this planet apparently!


Turn 1 - Black Legion/Daemons

I got my preferred wave of Daemons in, with the Chariot and one group of Daemonettes. I placed the Herald in it's chariot close to the Drop Pod planing to use Pavane on the squad that jumped out, and the Daemonettes I hid behind the huge mountain in the middle, planning to run them towards the Relic.

Raptors jumped forwards, aiming their flamers at the Marines from the Drop Pod, the Noise Marine Rhino also moved a bit closer to be able to use the Doom Siren as well. The other Rhino moved forwards and popped smoke. The Marines moved up on the hill towards the Relic.

The Pavane missed but the combined efforts of the two flamers and the Doom Siren killed 8 Marines from the squad, including the Multi-melta and the flamer as well as the Sargent so a Boon for my Noise Champion (+1S on a ranged weapon). I tried to finish them off by charging in with the Raptors, sadly without the jump packs since I had to use them to get across the boulders in the movement phase. Perhaps that's what bummed them out, because they failed to kill any Marines and one Raptor died in return...

Turn 2 - Iron Hands/Imperial Guard

Both his flyers came in... and Night Fighting ended. Uh-oh. Everything else moved forwards, three guardsmen were eaten by the jungle. He then started shooting, and wrecked the Rhino with the Possessed and Lord with the Vendetta, two Possessed died despite Feel no Pain. Then the Storm Talon popped the other Rhino, making it explode and killing two Noise Marines despite Feel no Pain (see a pattern?). The Bikers then shot their meltas at the chariot and got one penetrating hit through my save, and immobilised it. D'oh. So it's now useless for the rest of the game. Much good it did!

In the fight between the Raptors and the two Marines one Marine died but the other stayed for another round.


Turn 2 - Black Legion/Daemons

Heldrake didn't come in. But the remaing Daemonettes and the Bikers did. The Daemonettes landed close to the other squad, and the Bikers came in next to the Vindicator. The Possessed now out of their Rhino moved forward, planning to assault the squad in front of them. and both Daemonette squads moved towards the Relic still hiding behind the mountain.

In the shooting phase all of my Biker meltas missed.... And because I had nothing else to shoot the Vindicator I ran my Possessed squad back behind a cliff to try and hide from the Vindicator. I casted Frenzy on the Bike squad as well, got +1I, kind of useless since they can't charge when they arrive from Outflanking anyway. Ahwell. The Herald jumped out of her chariot, used Pavane on the Bikers and danced them 1" closer to herself and then assaulted them and took one wound on Overwatch. Actually managed one rend and thus winning by 1, but the bikers stayed. The combat between the lone Marine and the Raptors was still a stalemate.

And the Noise Marines stayed in their crater, since they ignore cover anyway they shot through the unit of Marines in front of the Imperial Guard Veterans, annihilating the first squad.





Turn 3 - Iron Hands/Imperial Guard

Both fliers started working on the Noise Marines, having seen what they could do... killing off 4. The Bikes also took 3 causalities and one Possessed died. Thankfully for me the Vindicator scattered way off the Possessed squad at least.One squad of Marines ran up and grabbed the Relic.

In the Assault phase the Raptors finally killed the lone Marine and the Herlad tied combat with the Bikers as no wounds were caused on either side.


Turn 3 - Black Legion/Daemons

The Heldrake arrived finally, and Vector striked the Vendetta, only two hits and no damage caused. The Baleflamer however burnt the Devastator squad off the board.

The Noise Marines then proceeded to shoot the second squad of Veterans, killing that whole squad as well. I start to like these guys. Except that the Blastmaster scattered backwards and killed two Raptors, leaving the Champion the lone survivor... Before that the Raptors at least helped by flaming the squad on the Relic, and together with the Chaos Marines on the hill they killed them all off, so one squad of Daemonettes could run up and take the Relic from them.

The Sorceror used Smite on the back of the Vindicator that had moved up to shoot the Possessed last turn, caused a glance, and the remaining melta-biker blew the tank to pieces. Finally!

In the Close Combat between the Bikers and the Herald they continued to stare at each other. The Lord and the Possessed charged the closest squad, having to issue a Challenge I decided the Lord with his Power Weapon had better chances of not failing so used him to Challenge... hit with all attacks thanks to Hatred, but then failed to cause any wounds... D'oh. The Possessed then killed the other 4 Marines easily. The Sargent failed his morale, but I caught him due to superior Slaanesh initiative, and thus we were locked in combat once again since Marines can't be swept... turned out pretty good for me after all, since that meant my unit was protected from shooting next round!

Turn 4 - Iron Hands/Imperial Guard

The Storm Talon decided to enter Hover mode to get another round of shooting at the Noise Marines. Actually only two of them survived, the Blastmaster and the Icon. The army annihilated the poor Daemonettes who had the Relic with missiles and Thunderfire Cannon, and the Captain that had cowardly ran away from his starting unit to avoid the Murder Sword now charged the lone Raptor Champion and killing him easily. The Techpriest also failed his Brainleaf-test (as in every turn) and this time actually caused an unsaved wound on the Cannon!

The Lord now determined to finish what he started last round managed to kill the Sargent and got a roll on the Chaos Boons table. I rolled +1S for a Ranged Weapon. But since I only had a pistol I decided to use my Warlord trait and re-roll it... and was turned into a Chaos Spawn. D'oh. That's what greed gives you!

The Bikers finally managed to kill the Herald in their combat and consolidated closer to the action. Which is also what the back units of Marines were doing, to try and snatch the Relic in the last rounds.

The Vendetta tried to avenge the dead Devastators and had moved up behind the Heldrake and shot it's three lascannons at it. Managing one glance and one penetrating hit, but only locking the velocity to 18", but it survived!

Turn 4 - Black Legion/Daemons

The Heldrake flies off the board to come back next round instead. The Bikers moved closer to the Thunderfire Cannon, shot a melta that actually managed to kill the Thunderfire Cannon, leaving the Techpriest on his own. They then failed the charge at him.

The Possessed moved closer to the Marine squad, and the Lo... Spawn moved up to the Command Squad. Both managed their charges, the Possessed had been boosted by the Sorcerer getting +1S as well. They caused 22 wounds on the 5 Marines, AND they rolled AP3 on their Vessels of Chaos-table. Overkill indeed. The Spawn killed one guardsman.

The Chaos Marines on their hill Rapid Fired into the Space Marine Captain and managed to cause one wound. Also the second Daemonette squad grabbed the Relic. The Blastmaster fires his S8 AP3 Blast at the Bikers, killing both. Another round of shooting, another squad killed off.

Turn 5 - Iron Hands/Imperial Guard

The Vendetta went down into Hover mode and unloaded it's Veterans. They then Rapid Fired into the Possessed... and killing three despite Feel no Pain and a 3+ save! The Second Daemonette squad on the Relic was also killed off by the combined efforts of one Marine squad and the Storm Talon.

The Space Marine Captain is facing down the Chaos Marines.

Then the Captain decided to charge the Chaos Marines in front of him to tie them up in combat and deny them the Relic, so he runs forward... I Overwatch my Bolters and one Plasma. Actually get two Bolter hits and one Plasma. All three wound. He has a 2+/4++ save, he rolls and saves the Plasma wound... but fails BOTH Bolter wounds and dies! Now that's one stroke of luck for me indeed!


Turn 5 - Black Legion/Daemons

So after the Warlord kill I feel pretty good, as there's only one squad of Marines left on the board and they're close to the Relic. My Heldrake comes back in automatically, I again Vector strike the Vendetta, and again only get two hits, and again nothing happens. The Baleflamer however burnt four Marines to death, leaving one hiding behind a hill that passed his morale.

The Chaos Marine squad grabs the Relic and then shoots their Plasma Gun at the Storm Talon that was now hovering, and killing it off with a nice wreck with the help of the two Noise Marines.

The Sorcerer split off from the Bike and used Smite on the Tech Marine, but he managed his Deny the Witch.

My lone remaining Biker with a Melta drove up to the hovering Vendetta and exploded that too, the explosion was pretty whimpy at only 1" and didn't hurt anyone. The Possessed wanted revenge after last turn and charged the Veterans, killing all but 4 which they then overran.

The Spawn killed three guys with his 6 attacks of the Command Squad, but the remaining passed his Leadership.

Does the game continue? It does.




Turn 6 - Iron Hands/Imperial Guard

A Tech Marine who finally passed his Brainleaf-test, a lone Marine, Company Command Leader and a Drop Pod was all that was left on the board at this point. The Tech Marine didn't manage anything, the Spawn-combat continued to be a tie, the Drop Pod missed it's shots and the Lone Marine shot and tried to charge the Chaos Marines holding the Relic, but he was killed by Overwatch. Don't mess with these Chaos Marines, they're damn lethal!


Turn 6 - Black Legion/Daemons

The Heldrake tried to flame the Tech Marine as nothing else was available but he passed his invul-save. The Sorcerer used Smite again and killed him however. Spawn, still tie. The game ended there!

The Chaos Marines celebrate their victory by bringing the Relic to the top of the Mountain.

Chaos got the Relic, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker, the Imperials got First Blood. So 5-1 Chaos victory!




Lessons Learnt

Okay, so I was trying out some new units and he was trying out some new units. First off, this was a really fun game and a fun list to play!


The Bikers did all right in the end, despite their terrible start. But with only one left managing to blast the Vendetta as well kind of redeemed them I think. But all in all I think the Outflanking kind of failed. And the Sorcerer were really kind of off all game since he was hanging out with the Bikers. Didn't use him that great I think, but at least he did buff the Possessed a couple of times helping them out with some extra strength.


Noise Marines. Wow. They killed everything they were looking at (except for that immortal Drop Pod)! When they got stuck in the backfield with their Rhino exploded I thought they were screwed for the rest of the game since they only have a 12" range on the move... but thanks to the mission he had to come to the middle which was enough for them! Of course it helped that they were shooting puny Guardsmen, but ignores cover is simply awesome! And the Blastmaster is damn lethal as well. So hard to decide how to field these guys because they have so many options that seem so good... One thing is for sure though, if they're a bigger squad, they should have the Icon. Feel no Pain helped them stick around all game for sure, and the same goes for the Possessed squad as well. They were also quite beastly once they got into Close Combat. 4 S5 attacks at I5 on the charge kills stuff. Hatred helped plenty too.


What didn't help was the option to re-roll Boons. Damn that temptation! But at least it was funny, and at least I won the game a turn later so it didn't really hurt me. It was also nice to discover that the opponent has to kill the Spawn before he gets Slay the Warlord as well. At least I got a chance to see the new Spawn in action, and at just one it's quite measly but at least it doesn't die! And before the Lord turned into a Spawn I guess the Murder Sword had the desired effect as well, since it made the Captain run as far away from the Lord as possible. And see what that got him? Three Bolter rounds in the head!


The Heldrake was scary too, despite coming in late it did kill a squad for every turn it was on the board. That's some amazing stuff. And also, I re-learnt again by watching my opponent go into hover mode that you should never do so. Both fliers dead in one turn. Which means I'll keep my Heldrake Swooping!


I also think that the Daemonettes did their job admirably. I sent them in one squad at a time to grab the Relic, which forced my opponent to deal with them least they run away with the Relic, and thus protecting my normal Marines so they could grab the Relic in the end barely with a scratch on them. Now, I did have some amazing luck by killing his Captain on Overwatch and thus being free to grab the Relic... But even if I didn't I could probably have run my Noise Marines past that combat and snatch the Relic with them instead. Meat shield tactics!

Now, I have a couple of Marines as well as some Sonic Blasters left... perhaps I should build me some more Noise Marines...

800p: Imperial Guard vs Black Legion

So, this was a bit of a unplanned game all in all. Basically my opponent has just started collecting an allied force of Imperial Guard and he wanted to try them out. But being in a bit of a rush he just grabbed what he had and made a list right before deployment. He thought it was around 500p, so that's what I made a list of but luckily I brought some more models because it turned out he could muster 800 points instead!

I didn't really know what he would bring, I knew he had some troops a Russ and a Valkyrie. So I thought to myself "I need something to bring down armour". Earlier in the day I had just started building and magnetising my Maulerfiend, and it's quite cheap so... Since in 6:th edition you pretty much have to go all or nothing when it comes to armour, so in went two Rhinos with Marines and I also wanted to try my Warpsmith. And that was my 500 points, then I suddenly got another 300 points to play with, so in went some Obliterators as well as a squad of Cultists and some extra upgrades!


LISTS

Black Legion Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Warpsmith - Aura of Dark Glory, Mark of Nurgle, Gift of Mutation

Troops
5 Chaos Space Marines - Flamer and Aspiring Champion w. Melta bombs and Combi-melta
+Rhino - Combi-melta
5 Chaos Space Marines - Flamer and Aspiring Champion w. Melta bombs and Combi-melta
+Rhino - Combi-melta
20 Cultists - 2 Flamers

Heavy Support
Maulerfiend - Magma Cutters
2 Obliterators - Mark of Nurgle


Imperial Guard
HQ
Lord Commissar - Power Weapon

Troops
Platoon Command Squad - 2 Flamers, Standard
10 Infantry Squad - Melta bombs
10 Infantry Squad - Melta bombs
6 Special Weapons Team - 3 Plasma guns

Fast Attack
1 Armoured Sentinel - Autocannon

Heavy Support
Leman Russ - Battlecannon, 3 Heavy Bolters
Leman Russ - Battlecannon, 3 Heavy Bolters

<Yes, this list is illegal as it only has one Troop choice - first list and he messed up a bit! Ah well! No big deal though, as I guess you could count them as a Company Command Squad and Pennial Legions instead or something>

PRE

First off, since it was a small points game we only played on a 4'x4' board. We rolled for Mission and got Big Guns Never Tire, fitting since we both had 2 Heavy Supports, we rolled for a total of 5 objectives and deployment map was Vanguard Strike. IG won the roll off for sides and thus got to place three objectives, he also won the roll off to go first and decided to go first. We rolled for Warlord traits, he got that his Warlord was able to Outflank and I got Re-rolls on the Boons of Chaos-table.

The empty bases are the objectives. His Sentinel is Outflanking.

The deployment from another angle, his Lord Commissar is in the ruins on the upper side of the picture.

I used the Warpsmiths Shatter Defences on the only piece of terrain that I could, the ruins where his Lord Commissar was. Then I rolled for my Gift of Mutation, and got +1S on one ranged weapon. Since the Warpsmith is a ranged guy I decided to keep it, and I put it on the flamer with the thinking that now his flamer wounds on 2+ instead of 3+.
 I didn't manage to steal initiative, and there was also Night Fighting for turn 1.


Turn 1 - Imperial Guard

The army moved forwards pretty much. The Commissars unit revealed the objective which was nothing of note. The Leman Russes were the only things to fire. The first one fired at the Cultists, got a hit but thanks to Night Fighting and Ruins they got 2+ Cover so only one died. The other one aimed at the Maulerfiend, but it scattered off 8 inches... right on top of the Rhino! Of course it penetrated and blew it up. First Blood to the Guards!

Turn 1 - Black Legion

The Cultists moved closer into their ruin and revealed their objective, and I luckily rolled a +1 Cover save. Thank you! The Marines who were out of their Rhino stayed in their crater to get cover from further Battle Cannon shots. The Obliterators and the Rhino moved up on their side, and the Maulerfiend sprinted forward as well (this thing is fast!). The Rhino popped smoke.

The Obltiterators shot the Plasma Squad with their Assault Cannons and killed them all easily. The Marines in the crater actually managed to snipe two guardsmen as well. Then the Maulerfiend tried to assault the unit in front of it which was 8" away, but despite having Fleet and I rolled a 5 for one dice I still failed the charge...

After turn 1, Plasma squad gone, Rhino gone.

Turn 2 - Imperial Guard

The Sentinel didn't come in. The infantry kept coming forwards, thinking it's better to deny the charge by charging themselves instead.  One of the Leman Russes shot at the Obliterators, hit but the wound was saved. The other one tried to shoot the Rhino, direct hit... but despite rolling two dice choosing the highest... he rolled a double 1 so nothing. One squad of Guardsmen shot rapid Fire at the Obliterators which they just shrugged off.

Then the brave guardsmen decided to charge the Maulerfiend since they had melta bombs. One of them died at once, and then the melta bomb actually hit and did a penetrating hit... but the Daemon-save stopped it. The guardsmen lost by one, and promptly rolled double 6 for their Ld-test... but thanks to the banner being close enough they got a re-roll and passed with double 1 instead. Guess that banner was real inspiring!


Turn 2 - Black Legion

The Rhino moved up on one side of the squad being close by and the Obliterators on the other side. Planning a nice little BBQ. And the Marines in the crater now got out of it and ran for the objective in front of them.

The augmented flamer of the Warpsmith slaughtered the squad with a little bit of help from the normal flamer. Only one trooper survived. Granting me a roll on the Boons table! I first rolled a 1, but then got to use my Warlord trait and re-rolled it so I got +1T instead making him into T6! The Rhino picked off the last guardsman.

The Obliterators now had side-armour angle on the far away Leman Russ, so used their Lascannons. Got one penetrating hit and I rolled a 6 so it exploded. The explosion touching the Command Squad and killing the standard bearer.

The Marine-squad decided to run, and feeling daring I put one guy in the duck pond... of course it turned out to be a Iceblood! You could tell from the icy look of it after all. I also of course rolled a 1 for Dangerous Terrain (it always happens in this piece of terrain), but passed my armour save at least.

The Guardsmen and Maulerfiend was looking at each other for another round.


Turn 3 - Imperial Guard

The Sentinel came in where he wanted it, behind the Cultists. The surviving Leman Russ then tried to shoot the Obliterators, and actually caused a wound which I failed to save. But thanks to Mark of Nurgle there was no Instant Death.

The Sentinel killed one Cultist and then charged them missing all attacks. I had nothing to hit it back with, but decided that it was in a good spot so rather than fleeing I stayed in combat.

By now I remember that Daemon also gives Fear - so we tested for that and the Guards failed. Woo! This suddenly meant I got three hits and three dead Guardsmen. They ran, and was overrun as well.


Turn 3 - Black Legion

The Warpsmith and his squad jumped out of the Rhino next to the Leman Russ and the Obliterators moved up to the objective in their corner (since they where scoring thanks to the mission). The Marine in the Duck Pond decided he didn't like it there and moved out of it... of course I rolled another 1 on the Dangerous Terrain test! But yet again I passed my Armour save. The squad that had been riding in the Rhino moved up to grab the Objective around the corpse of the Commissar.

The Combi-Melta of the Champion missed, but at least the Warpsmith knew what he was doing. got a penetrating hit and rolled another 6. Poff! The Obliterators used their Assault Cannons on the Platoon Command Squad annihilating them but leaving the Lord Commissar alive thanks to his Refractor Field. The Rhino still had it's Combi-melta though, so lacking anything better to shoot I shot it at the Commissar and insta-killed him.

The Maulerfiend had also moved up behind the Sentinel (yes it's that fast!) and assaulted it. Only managing 1 glance on it's normal attacks, but then got the killing blow with the Magma Cutters.

With that the last Guardsmen were wiped off the board! I had 4 objectives, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker as well as killing his two Heavy Support choices while he got First Blood. So Chaos victory with 16-1!


Lessons Learnt

Stay focussed. I messed up in the deployment, thinking beforehand that I would deploy one Rhino behind the Maulerfiend to grant cover with it's higher armour and Daemon save. Instead I deployed the Rhino on the far side of the deployment zone for some reason, and of course I paid for it as it was blown up in the first turn! Shameful! It was one out of my three losses in the game...

Other than that I also got it confirmed that the Maulerfiend is very easily tarpited by weak troops. Of course, I forgot Fear half the game so that helped the Guard stay longer, but had it been some other cheap unit that was Fearless or so it would've taken ages to get away from that mess!

The Warpsmith was a real blast to use though! He really caused some mayhem in this game. When you first look at him he looks kind of defensive, but with those guns he gets really offensive. I think he needs a ride to get around however! And then he can make sure the ride stays mobile so...!

I really had some luck where it mattered in this game. Like rolling +1 cover for the Cultists. When they get a 3+ cover save suddenly it feels wasted to shoot Battle Cannons at them, no? And then the Boons I got really benefited me as well. That combined with the IG being completely unable to hit anything in turn 2 was pretty devastating. And of course his list was just a make and go, see where it gets us as well! Running in the open with Guardsmen wasn't great though, as they have no 3+ armour to save them...