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.
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.
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!
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...
"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 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...
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