1500p: Imperial Guard vs Chaos Space Marines

So I just finished building a lot of Cultists. The internet has decided they're terrible. I don't care much for what the Internet thinks anyway, as it's usually wrong. So I will try horde mode anyway! When building the list I basically chose stuff that I very rarely use. Just to make things interesting. So... I've not really planned this build.

Lets see if I can analyse it after making it and then see if I can make some tactical sense out of it... to just give me some hope for tomorrow (when the game is, yeah writing this the day before). First off I don't know what I'm facing... my friend said something about me not playing against his Imperial Guard so often though, so might be that... otherwise it's them Iron Hands.

So what do I have? Cultists. Lots of naked Cultists (no, not Slaaneshi-marked you perv! Just with no upgrades). A large mob of 27, another large squad of 25 and a small squad of 10. Two flamers each in the large squads. With so many Cultists on the board I felt it'd be necessary to try the Dark Apostle as well as he'll boost them all. Except for the small squad that is likely either being cannon-fodder (to send in to take Overwatch) or stay off the board and then come in and grab a backfield objective. The large mobs will simply advance forwards.

I also took a Level 3 Sorcerer. At first I thought he'd lead the other squad of Cultists... but then I thought, he's not Fearless anyway. Perhaps I should stick him in the same squad with the Dark Apostle and let him benefit from re-rolling Chaos Boons? We'll see what I do there... but the theme of the army is stuff that I don't use often... which I think will apply to my Psychic powers as well. I'm thinking something like Pyromancy and Telepathy... Making the Cultists invisible would be fun. But on the other hand Biomancy might come in handy if I'm aiming to take full effect of the re-rollable Boons... maybe one of each depending on what I roll then!

Heldrake hasn't seen any action in ages... maybe this is what'll save me this game? I also took a Forgefiend with extra plasma and Hades Autocannons. Never used those before actually. Let's see what they can do...

The rest of the Heavy Support was taking by two of my long lost faves! Predators! Not used them in ages, so that'll be fun to field! Unusually though I took full Lascannons on both. Suddenly I actually have decent anti-armour at range.

To complete the list I have a couple of Elite-slot Noise Marines in a Rhino with Blast Master and Sonic Blasters. My anti-infantry unit! So weirdly enough it seems I got most areas decently covered after all... at least in theory. This is a weird list, and it'll be fun to see what happens for sure...

Lists

Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Dark Apostle -Aura of Dark Glory, Burning Brand
Chaos Sorcerer - Level 3, Spell Familiar, Melta Bombs, Sigil of Corruption

Troops
27 Cultists - 2 Flamers
25 Cultists - 2 Flamers
10 Cultists

Elites
6 Noise Marines - 4 Sonic Blasters, Blast Master, Chainaxe, Doom Siren, Meltabombs
+Rhino - Combi-Bolter, Dozer Blades

Fast Attack
Heldrake - Baleflamer

Heavy Support
Predator - TL-Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons, Combi-Bolter, Warpflame Gargoyles
Predator - TL-Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons, Combi-Bolter, Warpflame Gargoyles
Forgefiend - Hades Autocannons, extra Ectoplasma Cannon

Imperial Guard
HQ
Company Command Squad - Straken, Regimental Standard, 2 Plasma Guns, Vox Caster
+Chimera

Troops
Platoon Command Squad - Power Weapon, Platoon Standard, Vox Caster, 2 Flamers
Infantry Squad
Infantry Squad
Platoon Command Squad - Regimental Standard, Vox Caster, 2 Melta guns
Veterans - 3 Flamers
Veterans - 3 Plasma Guns

Fast Attack
Valkyrie
Scout Sentinel

Heavy Support
2 Leman Russ Battle Tanks - Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Basilisk
Leman Russ Punisher 

Pre

We rolled for mission, got The Relic with Dawn of War deployment. We set up a ruins-filled board, and he won to chose side. He also won to go first and chose to do so. There was Night Fighting turn 1. His Warlord trait was to redeploy a unit, and mine was Warlord causes Fear. My Sorcerer rolled twice on Telepathy and once on Pyromancy. I got Molten Beam for Pyromancy which I kept since I had a lot of armour against me. Telepathy is where it's at though, I rolled perfect and got Invisibility and Mental Fortitude (give Fearless).
With this in mind I kept the small group of Cultists off the board and joined the Sorcerer with the Dark Apostle in the largest unit on the board. Both units started in Ruins (but within 12" of the Dark Apostle). My opponent Outflanked with his Sentinel. And also used his Warlord trait to move the 20-man blob closer to the Relic.

Then I stole initiative.



Turn 1 - Chaos Space Marines

I basically cast Invisibility on the large squad of Cultists giving them 2+ cover in the area terrain, and then Mental Fortitude on the other squad giving them Fearless. Then I simply moved them forwards as fast as possible.
On my left flank I noticed that he had deployed his Basilisk completely in the open, so when I deployed I put my Las-preds on that side as well. First shot only got one pen... but at least it forced Snap shots next turn (so no Ordinance!). With that in mind I decided to shoot my other Pred at his Punisher... and it exploded. Took half a Command Squad with it (who fled off the board) and about a third of all the Veterans as well. Well, not bad for one shot!
My Forgefiend shot the large mob of Infantry, killed 5.

Oh, and I forgot about my Noise Marines.



Turn 1 - Imperial Guard

He advanced forward with all Infantry and the Chimera carrying Straken. Then the Leman Russes shot all they got at the large squad of Cultists and Forgefiend in the middle. He only managed to kill 5 Cultists (2+ is pretty good I hear) and one pen on the Forgefiend causing it to shoot snapfire next turn (I failed my Daemonic Possession save...).

Turn 2 - Chaos Space Marines

Extra Cultsists arrive behind my army, but the Heldrake stays out.
Then I did the same routine with my Sorcerer and Cultists again and advanced forward. Remembered to move my Rhino, but the Noise Marines didn't do any damage anyway.
My first Pred finished off the Basilisk, and my second Pred killed the Chimera (killing the Vox Caster in the explosion). I think my Preds were hungry after not having seen any use in a very long time!
No more damage done, but my Forgefiend (who obviously missed everything since it had to shoot snap shots) managed to regain it's lost Hull Point with It Will Not Die.



Turn 2 - Imperial Guard

Both His Valkyrie and Sentinel arrived, and not a turn too late. It looked pretty grim at this point, so he really needed it.
His Infantry squad ran up and grabbed the Relic.
And it shot both it's Hellfire Missiles at the Fearless blob of Cultists, killed about 12 I think. The Russes however unfortunately failed their shooting this turn and didn't do much (aiming for the Forgefiend who resisted). Now the Veterans with Flamers had reached the large temple ruins, and they toasted 7 Cultists (no more 2+ for you!). The Plasma Vets took a chance shot at the Forgefiend and the only result was one of them died to Gets Hot!
The Sentinel got in behind the Predators, and actually managed to stun one of them so it couldn't move next turn! Lucky me he didn't have a full squad of those... I had really forgot about it.

Turn 3 - Chaos Space Marines

My Heldrake came in, and it too haven't seen action in a long time so of course started off gloriously by getting 4 Vectorstriking hits on the Valkyrie which made it Crash and Burn. Luckily for him it crashed right into my Fearless Cultists and killed another 5 or so...
Baleflamer+Burning Brand+2 Regular flamers took care of the Relic holders... The mobile Predator turned around and exploded the Sentinel. The other could still see through a small gap in a window and shot at a poor Plasma wielding Veteran who totally died.
The Forgefiend managed to cause a glancing hit on the front Leman Russ.



Turn 3 - Imperial Guard

The Flamer Veterans focused on the small squad of Cultists that had gotten up close and wiped them out easily. The Leman Russes tried to bring down the Fearless mob of Cultists, but with some huge scatters they hit the other squad of Cultists (who were safe with their Invisibility) and took the extra Bolter off the Rhino instead... the Heavy Bolters killed another 7 Cultists though.
Straken ordered the remaining Plasma Veterans to Bring the Forgefiend Down. Didn't pen though.

Turn 4 - Chaos Space Marines

My Invisible Cultists turned around and decided it was time to give the Veterans a taste of their own medicine and flamed back, wiping them out. Heldrake Vectorstriked at Strakens Command Squad, killed all but Straken himself. Then with my various shooting I basically cleaned up all of his units (a Pred killed one Leman Russ!) except for Straken (Noise Marines put a wound on him though) himself and one of the Leman Russes (which had 2 HP left).



Turn 4 - Imperial Guard

Straken in a last effort of valour charged the 5 Cultists that had grabbed the Relic last turn... I have to Challenge, he has to accept... and we both wiff it. The Leman Russ causes another Shaken on the Forgefiend but I save it and only take a HP.

Turn 5 - Chaos Space Marines

I position myself to be able to charge/pick up the Relic next turn if there's one. I decided to make the unit in CC with Straken Fearless again, deciding it's better to have them there in his turn than running away. Forgefiend and Noise Marines put one glance each on the Leman Russ, making it a wreck.
Straken fails to save a wound caused by my Champion! But then strikes him down at the same initiative step. Both Fearless though.

Last Man Standing...

Turn 5 - Imperial Guard

Straken kills two Cultists (of course I take away two of the ones not holding the Relic) but in return he is swarmed and fails his last save as well.

So the final result is Chaos Victory, 5-0! (First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Relic)




Lessons Learnt 

So... I basically won this game when I stole initiative. It's really hard to deal with sometimes. But that combined with a mistake in deploying his Basilisk won me the game I think. I also rolled the perfect combination of Psychic Powers for this army. Since I got a large piece of area terrain in my deployment zone it means the Cultists were basically invincible! And then the Fearless-power made the Dark Apostle completely redundant. Sure, he used the Burning Brand and killed a lot of IG with it, and he made his unit Fearless... but I never used any of his special abilities. It simply never came into play. I think I'd been better off with a Slaanesh Lord making the Noise Marines scoring.
Speaking of which... I basically kept forgetting about them all game so they didn't do much at all this game... Heh.
The Predators however where MVP for sure! Punisher, Basilisk, Leman Russ, Sentinel, Chimera... They were my anti-tank and they took out every single vehicle but one! Damn good job! I've missed these guys!
Oh, and the Forgefiend was kind of crap. BS3 really hurts on this thing...
I certainly didn't expect to table him with this army... but I really got a very important head start and blocked his two most dangerous damage dealers turn one. The end-result may have been one-sided, but the game didn't feel one sided to play to me at least. I felt he was about to swing back when his Valkyrie arrive and the Flamers got in range... But in that one critical turn his Russes failed him who did really well in every other turn... ahwell!

Cultists!

Been busy converting up some Cultists this past week! Thought I'd show some pictures because I'm quite happy with the result.

So I kind of have a story-line for my Cultists theme in the army. Basically it's a Chaos cult that has infested a planet and then as the Chaos Marines have arrived the planetary defence force has also succumbed as well. This means I have a rag-tag team of Cultists... but with various military equipment that has been looted from the armouries. But  also some former Guardsmen that have retained some of their discipline and still fights as a unit.

Now I actually have a game with a list based around these guys planned tomorrow... let's see how that turns out...

The whole merry crew

 They're basically made from Cadian Shocktroops, Catachan Command Squad, Empire Flagellants and various Chaos-bits from my bitsbox... Lets take a closer look at some of the guys.

The Polearms.

This fella is my favourite. He turned out really badass.

The Sword-dudes. Yeah, the guy to the left has an Empire Knight arm...

Flame-lovers! Three flamers and various torches...

And well, while I have the camera out, why not show my latest painting projects? First is my cult-leader. Basically he's the Champion of one of my groups but it's too nice of a model to just be a Champion so he'll double for a Dark Apostle when I need one.

Very much work in progress

And then are some Ork Kommandos... lovely models!

Not quite done, but a decent table-top at least!

And lastly is a gift I painted up for a friend. Great fun painting camo!

1500p: Ambush!

So, another attempt at games mastering! This time we have Orks ambushing some Imperial Guard convoy possibly escorted by Iron Hands. Yeah I don't really know what he's bringing at this point, I told him either IG or IH works just as fine as long as he keeps in mind it should represent a convoy. So let me outline the scenario first.

The convoy consists of two Chimeras that deploys at the middle of the board on one of the short table edges in a line. The Imperial players objective is to bring these two Chimeras off the other side of the board, simply put. Then the escorting force deploys around the convoy. The Orks doesn't deploy, instead everything is in reserve, except that everything comes in automatically in the first turn (except for any fliers or other stuff that has to start in reserve normally, or by the Ork players choice). They come in from both of the long table edges, but at least 12" into the board, away from the Imperial board edge. The Orks objective is to destroy the two Chimeras before they leave the board. Quite simple. And to represent the Ork Warboss' cunning the Ork-player chose to go first (possibly blocking the convoy from turn one, but have to face AV12 on the convoy) or second (getting a better chance at side armour but letting the Chimeras get closer to their goal).

So then lets add a twist. I happen to have Snikrot and a couple of Kommandos because I really like the models. So what an excellent chance to use them. So, Snikkrot and his boys were fighting this Imperial Guard force, and Snikrot severely wounded their general and made them break... but just at the right time the Iron Hands intervened and routed the Orks. Snikrot was chased away before he could finish the job. Now, this doesn't sit well with Snikrot so he spied on them after the battle, and he noticed that the wounded General with his bodyguard was boarding a Chimera and was escorted through the No Man's Land by the Iron Hands, heading for a pick up zone. Snikrot quickly sought out nearby Orks, told them the 'umies were transporting valuable loot (fancy hats!) and made them set up an ambush. Snikrot's personal goal however is to kill said general...

So, on to details. Each player picks an army for 1500 points. The Ork-player will be granted a unit with Snikrot and some Kommandos with two Big Shootas extra. The Imperials will have two Chimeras... who will always move 12" forward. Now, they're transporting injured soldiers which means that if they go any faster they will risk the lives of the soldiers inside. One of the Chimeras contains a Company Command Squad (5 models) and the other 10 guardsmen, the Imperial player chose in which Chimera to put them. The Chimeras can elect to turbo-boost 6" in the Shooting phase, but doing so triggers a dice roll. The first time this happens roll a dice, if you roll 4+ D3+1 models on the inside will die. The next time it triggers on 3+, and so forth. Note that as these are injured soldiers they can't shoot out. If the guardsmen squad dies the Imperial loses 1VP, but if he gets it off the board with more than 50% of the squad alive he gets an extra VP. The Company Command Squad has the same rule, except that it's worth 2VP instead. If the Chimera with the guardsmen in it is wrecked or destroyed the guardsmen are counted as dead as well. If the Chimera with the Company Command is wrecked or destroyed however, the Company Command acts like a normal unit - they bite down and realise they have to fight to survive this... Note that the Commanding officer in the squad will always be the last to die, he'll automatically pass any Look Out, Sir! at all times to make sure of this.
Snikrots target is the general in the Company Command Squad. This means that if Snikrot is involved in the assault which kills the Company Command the Ork player gets an additional 2VP. Snikrot is also a sneaky ambusher, so instead of coming on to the board with the rest of the Orks in turn 1 he can chose to automatically come on in turn 2, with his special rule that he can chose which side to come on from freely.

So a summary of available VP's:
Imperials:
+1VP - for each Chimera that makes it off the board
+1VP - for getting the Chimera with the guardsmen off the board with at least 50% of the squad intact
+2VP - for getting the Company Command Squad (or rather the commanding officer) off the board (with or without the Chimera)
-2VP - for letting the Company Command Squad (commanding officer) die
+1VP - First Blood (good spotting!)
+1VP - Slay the Warlord
Total: 7VP

Orks:
+1VP - for each Chimera destroyed
+2VP - if Snikrot kills the Company Command Squad (commanding officer) in close combat (+1VP if anyone else does it)
+1VP - Slay the Warlord
Total: 6VP

I feel this should be quite balanced, because the Imperial player is very likely to get negative points as well (this is also why only the Imperials will be able to get First Blood)... so it should even out. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out!

Also, to give me as a game master something more to do I'll also add some Tau Pathfinders that happens to move on the board on the other side from the Imperial player... they spot the Orks and follow standard routines and stars killing them Orks. Because Orks Must Die, for the Greater Good. (it's basically to make up for the free Snikrot+squad)

I'm also hoping that at least the Imperials will bring a psyker or two... because rolling perils is going to spawn Daemons for sure. When writing this it's still a couple of days left before the game is taking place, so I might come up with some more surprises in the meantime...

So lets see what the players brought in their lists, and then let the story begin...


Lists

Orks
Warboss (Gutrippa Steelklaw) - Power Klaw, Boss Pole

5 Nobs - 2 Power Klaws, 2 Big Choppas, Pain Boy
+Battlewagon - Deffrolla
25 Boyz - Nob, Power Klaw, Boss Pole
25 Boyz - Nob, Power Klaw, Boss Pole
12 Boyz - Nob, Power Klaw, Boss Pole
+Trukk - Reinforced Ram
12 Boyz - Nob, Power Klaw, Boss Pole
+Trukk - Reinforced Ram

Blitza-bommer

3 Killa Kans

And 7 Kommandos - Nob, Power Klaw, 2 Big Shootas,
+Snikrot


Imperial Convoy
Librarian (Soriah McManus) - Terminator Armour, Storm Shield

5 Assault Terminators 5 TH/SS (led by Sergeant Martin "The Ferric" Mantle)
5 Assault Terminators 3TH, 2 LC (led by Sergeant Kanax 'Umbra' Ferrox)
 
10 Tactical Marines
+Rhino
10 Tactical Marines
+Rhino
10 Tactical Marines
+Rhino
10 Tactical Marines
+Rhino

10 Imperial Guard Veterans
10 Imperial Guard Veterans

And 2 Chimeras, one with a Company Command Squad (led by Commissar Nik Vargentaal). I decided to allow this CCS as the allied HQ for fluff-reasons!

Pre

Snikrot charged the Imperial Guard Command position. They never saw it coming, just as he had planned. The Boyz were swarming all over the Platoons across the field. Just as the Imperial Commander turned to face them Snikrot brought his knives down. But this human was fast, so he managed to dodge out of the way. Snikrot grunted and started chopping more wildly hearing the battle cries from his fellow Kommandos behind him. He slashed with his knives once again, he felt them connect, but before he could bring his full force behind the blow he was distracted by a loud explosion. He turned around and saw Black armoured Space Marines pour out of arriving tanks, and battle tanks blasting shells into his Orks as well as the Imperial Guard. He saw at once that he was suddenly the one being outnumbered.

'Back! Get back you gits. We fight anuvver day!'

He watched half of his Kommandos charge forward with a loud roar instead of retreating. Snikrot snarled and grabbed the closest Ork to him and threw him into the bushes they had come from.

'I'm da Boss 'ere and u lot do wat I say and I say get back there!'

---

'Are you commanding Comissar Nik Vargentaal?' a slightly mechanical voice boomed out. Nik turned his head to face the voice, and grimaced in pain as the move strained his injured shoulder. He saw before him a tall black armoured Astartes, looking straight at him behind the helmeted eyes.

'Yes sir, that is me.' he answered the looming Astartes.

'Good. You come with me, the Brother-Captain would like a word with you.' 

Nik groaned as he got to his feet to follow the Astartes. He was led to another Astartes, bearing the markings of a Captain. He saluted, and then sagged his shoulders to recover from the pain.

'Nik Vargentaal, commanding officer of this company... or rather, former company U should say. What do you have to say in your defence for loosing almost a full company of Guardsmen?' the figure turned towards Nik, and locked his bionic eye to Niks eyes. He began to stutter.

' S-sir, we were ambushed by orks, sir. This was only to be a standard reckon mission, no enemies expected... and...'

'Ambushed? By Orks? That is ridiculus. Mere xenos, and loud xenos for that matter. You should've seen them coming from miles away and prepared accordingly.'

'No sir, it's true. They appeared from nowhere! And...'

'Soriah, what can you tell me of this one?' the Captain interrupted as a figure clad in Tactical Dreadnought Armour showed up behind Nik. The figure locked eyes with Nik, and concentrated for a moment.

'He is afraid, as well as he should be. He seems to be hiding something too, something he doesn't want us to know...' the figure called Soriah said.

'Very well, we will have to send him to the Inquisition then. I'll charge you with that Soriah, while I lead the main force to continue the purge of these xenos.'

'The Inquisition? But...' Nik started to say. 'Ah, the Emperor Protect.'

'The Emperor only protects the righteous Commissar. We shall soon see if you're one of them.' Soriah gave a cold smile as he motioned for the Astartes behind him to grab the Commissar.

---

Snikrot lowered his tube that some Mek had looted and improved recently... what had he called it? Bino... Binekl... Binkulars? Something like that. It gave him good vision of the Imperial forces anyhow. He watched as the Space Marines led the human commander into one of the tanks. Oh no, he wouldn't get away that easily... Snikrot had a score to settle now. And if he was moving, that meant you could ambush him... yes...

'Nazspetz, u sed u saws some trakks from trukks some days back, diddent u?'

'Uh... yeah Boss I did. But I dun think...'

'No u dun think, ure 'eads to tiny to think. Dats why Im da Boss around 'ere. We had no trukks, so dat means dere's udder orks 'ere. We need to find dem, cuz we has sum fightin' to do...'

--- 

Turn 1 - Orks

'Uh Boss... I dun see anyfing... and him dat big Scary Un sed dey be 'ere...'

'You dun see anyfing cuz da suns not up yet! He sed dey have good hats wot fedders an stuff, and dey must pass 'ere. We wait and den we take hats, and smash humies!' Gutrippa Steelklaw growled at the Nob. He squinted at the mountain pass in the darkness. There... was something moving? Yes, definitely.

He smashed the comm in his Battlewagon and roared into the microphone. 'The umies ar 'ere go an' get 'em boys!!'

He hit the driver to get the Battlewagon to go faster, and saw that his trukks managed to keep up with him. 'Hey u git, dun let 'em get dere first! Fasta!'. Above the roaring engines he could hear the sound of rokkits in the distance. Good, they were all ready getting into position.

---

Snikrot watched from the distance... yes he saw the horde advance in front of the convoy. This would be a perfect distraction while he could sneak up behind... but wait. Was that really all the boys? No, it seemed like some were missing... Well, it just had to be enough to stop them for a while anyway.

---

Turn 1 - Iron Hands 

Nik Vargentaal groaned as the Chimera he was in rocked to a halt. This was not good. Where they under attack? He glanced out of the window and saw the other Chimera rushing by as well as all the Rhinos. Not good at all. Who was shooting at them? Why?

---

Soriah ordered Sergeant Umbra to move his squad up to the mountains. He had seen movements beyond them, it seemed like they were being ambushed from both directions.

'Brother Martin, do you read me?' he voxed.

'Yes sir, loud and clear.' the response came instantly from the Sergeant known as The Ferric for his iron resolve.

'It seems we're being attack from both flanks, so it wouldn't surprise me if they come from behind as well. Take your squad and protect rear, and bring those Guardsmen with you.'

'Yes sir, the Emperor protects!'

---

Turn 2 - Orks

Gutrippa watched the Bommer fly over his head and start it's diving bomb run towards the Chimeras... only to see it start rising again, but not dropping any bomb. And not fast enough, he heard a bang and saw something fly loose from the plane as it managed to regain altitude once again.

'Dummies... Always I have to do everyfing myself...' he muttered and ordered the driver to go faster, ramming the closest Rhino in front of him. He roared of joy as the tank exploded on his mighty Deffrolla. 'Dats how u doit!'

He glanced to his left out of the window and saw the Killa Kans fire more rokkits at the Rhinos and hitting right on. At least someone else did what they were supposed to! He watched the Boys come running up behind them over the hills as well. Perfect. Now, to those hats...

---

Snikrot threw his stikkbomb with full power.

'Boss... dey in da uvver way, not dat way...'

'Shaddap an' shoot dem den! Of course I know were da 'umies are. Im da Boss innit I? I just threw it were dey are goin' to be after we shoot dem...'

He watched the Bommer fire it's guns, and saw the guardsmen drop from both his squad and the plane. The humies couldn't handle being shot from two directions at once and started running towards him... just like he had planned. Obviously he threw the stikkbomb to make the ground more uneven for them to trip him. He was smart, wasn't he?

---

Turn 2 - Iron Hands 

Soriah quickly readied himself to be charged. It was Orks! Their ferocity surprised them, he saw four of his Terminator armoured brothers fall... 

'Brothers! Protect the convoy! This is no time to lie down and rest! Get on your feet and purge these foul xenos!' He breathed a sigh of relief as three of his Brothers stood back up again and started to fight the Orks with even more determination. 

'Agh, we're hit! Engines are down!' he heard on his vox channel and identified the voice as Brother Fen, one of the Rhino drivers.

'Stand fast, disembark and protect the flank! Hold at all costs!' he voxed back, before he concentrated and let lose a series of lightning fast attacks to strike down a couple of Orks, and get a moment of respite. A lot of Bolter fire was sounding by now, and Soriah glanced over his shoulder to overview the battlefield. He saw that the Orkish vehicles were still standing however.

'Engaging xenos now, they appeared from behind us!' he heard the voice of Brother Martin, The Ferric, in the vox caster. Suddenly Soriah lost his footing as something smashed into him from his blind angle... he turned around to see one of his brothers being decapitated in his stead by an huge Ork wielding a gigantic claw. He roared and threw himself back into the fight.

---

'You better hold on tight, this'll be a bumpy ride' the driver of the Chimera announced through the internal radio of the Chimera. Nik steeled himself as the Chimera shook as it was racing over the uneven ground... he saw trees outside. Where they off road suddenly?

---

Snikrot saw the huge Space Marines coming behind the puny humies... and he threw himself at them with a roar, and saw his boys follow him. Three of the heavily armoured hulks went down instantly, but the remaining two fought like possessed. Well, this just turned interesting...

---

'Shas'ui, there's Be'gel down there. They seem to be attacking the Gue'ron'sha. I know standard procedure is to kill the Be'gel at any contact, but we can't be sure what those Gue'ron'sha are up to. It looks like they're transporting something. Should we really engage?

'Yes, don't you remember what happened to Shas'ui O'ral'feas team? We can't allow the Be'gel to roam these lands at any costs. Set your marks, and fire!'

The Pathfinders settled down, brought their Ion Rifles to bear on the Orks as well as their Rail Rifles on one of the trukks. These Orks would pay for what their kin had done!

---'  

Turn 3 - Orks

'Dey fink dey can gettaway wiv my hats do dey? HEY YOU BOYS! GEDDINFRONT OF 'EM!' Gutrippa yelled over the roaring engines to the Trukk boys beside him. He also noticed that apparently there was only one Trukk left now. But that should be enough.









'Now, charge dat tank! Is de un dat Snikrot sed wud have dem hats innit! SMASH 'EM!' he screamed at his own driver. He jolted forwards as the Battlewagon smashed into the Chimera and exploding it, then yelled of glee. That's more like it!

Meanwhile he say the Trukk-boys jump out of their ride and charge the other Chimera, making it stop dead in it's tracks. He saw some humies jump out of the tank...

'Dat! Dats dem! Dey must have all da hats! GET 'EM!'

---

Gribblewrock laughed as he kept aiming the rokkits of his mighty Killa Kan in the general direction of those tanks. He laughed even harder as he saw his rokkits actually connect with the tank, making it impossible to even loot properly afterwards. This was the best thing he'd ever done in his life. He thanked Gork for giving him the sneaky plan of stealing the Kan, and Mork for the brutality to kill the last owner with his own machine.

He saw the boys charge past the Kans into some Space Marines. So few left standing, they'd die quickly for sure. To his great surprise one with a big flag on his back stayed up for a lot longer than he expected. Almost like if he'd had a Killa Kan or something. These Space Marines were scary indeed...

---

Snikrot chopped down under the slow arm of the huge Space Marine in front of him, letting the teeth of Mork sink into the armpit and penetrating the heavy armour. He roared in victory of his foe, turned around and saw two of his Kommandos get squished beneath those huge hammers. One of them was Nazpetz. Ah, more fightin' to do still!

---

Turn 3 - Iron Hands 

'For the Emperor! Purge these vile xenos! Let none stand before you!' Soriah yelled. But he saw that they were outnumbered still. Well, this wouldn't do for long, these greenskins were cunning and somehow managed to get through the Terminator armour more often than they should. They'd need some assistance here, he would try to enfeeble these creatures to end this fight more quickly.

With his enhanced senses he also managed to chop down the Orks closest to him and take a look around. He saw some of the Guardsmen hiding in the forest still. 

'You, Guardsmen!' he voxed on their channel. 'Get in the fight now! The Emperor needs you to do your duty!'

He watched them slowly crawl out of the trees and then start to charge... but hesitate and stumble to an halt as the Ork plane flew past in the distance. Bah, the flesh is indeed weak.

---

'You! Get inside the Rhino, now!' one of the Astartes yelled at Nik and his former command squad as they disembarked the same Rhino themselves. Nik bit down, pushed at the nearest, Corporal Hermann, to get to the Rhino.

As Nik was about to enter the vehicle he watched the Astartes open fire at the Orks that had wrecked his Chimera. Only a lone survivor left, and he quickly fled. Suddenly the vehicle jolted as the driver fired up the engines, and Nik almost fell out before a hand grabbed him from behind and dragged him in. It should've been painful, but he was too far gone to feel any pain by now...

---

'Shas'ui, those Be'gel doesn't seem to care we just shot down half their squad. They seem determined to fight these Gue'ron'sha no matter what. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to retreat and report to command?'

'Yes, your words are wise. Let's move out!'

---

Turn 4 - Orks

Snikrot only had two Kommandos left, and suddenly puny humies showed up behind them. Where did they come from? Suddenly he had to dodge the hammer aiming for his head, and it swooshed past him, he shoved at the unbalanced Marine and chopped down through the neck. He saw the last of his boys go down to bayonets at the same time... he turned his gaze at the humies and gave them his best Ork-smile... they turned and ran instantly. Shame that. 

Now, where was that commander that had managed to escape him? He couldn't even see the tanks anymore... Hm. Well, that looked like these Space Marines boss at least. He'd have to settle with him...

---

Nik looked out the window as he heard a loud roaring sound. He saw that blasted Ork plane dive right at them. He could even see the huge grin on the pilots face. Then he noticed something coming off from beneath the plane. That looked like a...

'Oh shi... GET DOWN!'

---

Gutrippa watched the Bommer hit the tank in front of him dead on, and saw the bomb explode... but somehow the tank looked untouched. No matter, he was used to doing things himself anyway by now. He grabbed the driver and threw him out the window, and then stepped on the paddle to smash right into the back of the tank.

---

'Wow that was lucky...' Nik quickly had to take his words back as he saw the entire back hatch of the Rhino being ripped off and a beast of a tank was staring down on him. Suddenly he was thrown into the river outside, he gasped for breath as he reached the surface and started running again.

Certain days...

---

Turn 4 - Iron Hands 

'Brother Ferrox, we need to get to higher ground. I need to see what's happening.' Soriah said to the Terminator Sergeant beside him as they started walking towards the hills. The vox channels was either eerily silent or full of battle screams. No response from any of the Chimeras. Was the traitor dead then? He had to find out. He concentrated to enhance his senses and speed himself up once again... but suddenly he was distracted by a voice in his head... and it wasn't coming from his vox caster.

'Let usss inn... we'll reward you... yesss... just a little more, just a little...

---

Suddenly a rift opened up in front of Soriah and four burning creatures with blazing swords appeared from the Warp beyond. Daemons! 

'YOUR SOULS ARE NOW OURS! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!' a chorus of burning voices sang as the Daemons charged into the Space Marines beside Soriah and chopped them down before they could react. 

Soriah turned and ran for the hills.

---

'Shit oh shit oh shit oh shit...' Nik couldn't stop himself. He was so close now. Only Corporal Hermann and Veteran Sergeant Warg was still with him. He had seen that huge Ork tank ground to a halt on top of the Rhino and the largest Orks he had ever seen had jumped out of it. He saw Astartes in the distance that shot both missiles and bolters at the huge Orks, but they simply roared and shrugged it all off... 

'There! If we get into that shaft we can probably get away from them! Ruuun! Aargh' Nik fell as his ankle twisted in a unnatural way. Corporal Hermann dragged him back up again and they shuffled onwards...

---

Snikrot looked up as suddenly a lot of lasfire was falling around him. He took a hit in the shoulder and quickly threw himself to the ground laying very still...

Well, it seemed like he'd have to take his revenge another day, once he had assembled some more competent Orks... but that day would come... he grunted and muttered to himself as he slowly crawled away under the bushes.

---

Turn 5 - Orks + Iron Hands

Hermann fell in a bloody heap beside him. Nik turned around and saw the huge Orks slowly move across the river while shooting their crude guns... a mighty scream sounded from the largest Ork. Nik turned and ran.

---

'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH! GIMMEEEEEEE MYYYY HAAAAATS!'

---

Nik glanced behind him, and saw that the Orks seemed to have gotten stuck in the soft riverbank... seems like lady luck would smile upon him today after all...

---

Soriah saw Brother Umbra, the Terminator Sergeant, go down beside him with a crude rocket sprouting through his chest. The thing hadn't even exploded, it just got stuck in him... 

He turned around and saw the Daemons once more. 'You fell beasts, come at me then! The Emperor will protect me!'

---

The Daemons obeyed and surged in, Soriah felt their blows glance off his armour, and he felt the heat of their blades against his face. He was suddenly very angry, and swung his staff and crushed the head of one of the Daemons. The impact was so hard another Warp rift opened in the place of the Daemon, and the remaining Daemons were sucked into it. Soriah heard a combined laughter and roar of frustration as the rift closed again...

---

Soriah turned around, he saw that the battle with the Orks was still raging on the other flank. And there, by the river he saw some movement beside some wrecks... he used his psychic sight to scry across the area. He saw Nik Vargentaal and one of the other former Imperial Guard commanders slip down a crack in the earth, narrowly escaping some huge orks. 

'Well Nik... I believe we will have to meet again...'

---

'Sir, what do we do now? We need to get back to the convoy.' Veteran Sergeant Warg said between breaths. That last run had been taxing on both of them.

'Well Warg, it's only you and me now. Those Space Marines wanted to hand us over to the Inquisition... and I'm not so keen on that I think. We will have to see what happens...'

---



Lessons Learnt

Okay, that was interesting! So, the final result was actually a tie, 2-2! The game had a lot of tense moments, everything hanging in the balance depending on a single dice roll... and some spectacular fails as well as saves! For one thing... 4 Terminators died to shooting in turn 2... but thanks to the Warlord-trait they had Feel no Pain within 3" of the Chimeras so three of them stood back up again! The game could've been over right there! And the Bommer... first attempt it rolled a 3 for result, which meant S9 hits both ways... which of course failed to hurt the Chimera but took a HP off the Bommer. Then in turn 4 it comes back in, actually hits the Rhino with it's S7 Armourbane attack... needing to roll higher than 3 on two dice... and rolls a perfect snake eyes. No way!
Speaking of that Rhino, there was quite some decisions for me to make as a Game Master here. That Rhino being one of them. I felt the Orks had a huge advantage by the end of turn 3 so I decided to allow the Commissar and his Command Squad to board the Rhino while the Marines disembarked the same turn. Thus giving the Imperial player a chance to manage a tie (or even a win if he kept his Warlord alive while killing the Ork Warboss). I learnt last time I tried to GM that you can't wait if things tends to turn a bit one-sided, and I'm glad I acted on that because the game turned very tense and was kept exciting to the end that way.
I'm also happy with the outcome... because this ending screams for a follow up... what happens to our heroes now? Nik Vargentaal is deemed a traitor... now that he got away from the Orks and the Iron Hands were so far away... what will he do now? Surely not hand himself over to the Inquisition willingly? Maybe he'll even turn rogue for real, now that the Imperium doesn't trust him anyway...? Many possibilities...
Another intervention I'm happy with are the Tau. Around turn one I wasn't sure I would even bring them in... because I didn't want to mess with the balance there and it looked really even. But then the Iron Hands had an abysmal turn of shooting (how the hell does 3 quarters of an Space Marine army worth of shooting only cause 3 glancing hits on Trukks?! On Trukks! They're made of paper...!). So I brought them in, and started thinning the Orks down a bit, but making sure to avoid the targets that would be really important for the outcome of the game. And that's also why I withdrew them before the end, as I didn't want to mess with that too much.
I also had to give Nik and his squad some extra special rules... in addition to his automagic passing Look Out, Sir! mentioned above I made him immune to morale basically, making him so stubborn and determined to stay alive and get of that board as possible. Like for example in the very end the Orks had the chance to Tank-shock the squad, and potentially run the wrong way into the charge of the Warboss. I thought this simply felt wrong, he was 2" from getting away, nothing would make him run towards that Warboss... ever.
In the end we got some tense rolling. Like in turn 4 Nik and his squad could potentially run of the board if they rolled a 6 for their run move. Instead they rolled a 4. The turn after the Warboss and the Nobs had a 11" charge through Difficult terrain to reach them... with the Warlord trait that gave +1" to charge distance, and declaring WAAAGH for Fleet... he still only managed to get a 10 though. So close!
Really fun game anyhow, and I'm all ready letting ideas bounce around for the follow up...

1850p: Iron Hands vs Daemons

So... I'm gonna try out my Khorne Daemons from this battle again. This time against either Space Marines or Imperial Guard (or a combination...). So since I'll use the exact same list I don't really have anything else to add!


Lists

Daemons
HQ
Bloodthirster - Exalted Reward, Greater Reward
Herald of Khorne - Juggernaut, Exalted Reward, Exalted Locus
Herald of Khorne - Juggernaut, Greater Reward, Greater Locus
Herald of Khorne - Greater Reward
Herald of Khorne - Greater Reward

Troops
10 Blodletters - Bloodreaper, Greater Reward, Icon, Instrument
10 Blodletters - Bloodreaper, Greater Reward, Icon, Instrument

Elites
4 Bloodcrushers - Bloodhunter, Greater Reward, Banner of Blood

Fast Attack
20 Flesh Hounds

Heavy Support
Daemon Prince of Khorne - Daemonic Flight, Armour, Exalted Reward, Greater Reward

Iron Hands
HQ
Librarian - Terminator armour, Storm Shield

Troops
10 Tactical Marines - Plasma Cannon, Flamer
+Razorback - Twin-linked Lascannon
10 Tactical Marines - Plasma Cannon, Flamer
+Razorback - Twin-linked Lascannon
10 Tactical Marines - Plasma Cannon, Meltagun
+Razorback - Twin-linked Lascannon
Elites
6 Terminators - Assault Cannon
Dreadnought  - 2 twin-linked Autocannons

Fast Attack
Storm Talon

Heavy Support
Vindicator - Storm Bolter
Vindicator - Storm Bolter
7 Devastators - 4 Missile Launchers, Signum


Pre

We rolled Big Guns Never Tire (with 4 objectives) for mission with Hammer & Anvil deployment. He won to chose sides, I won to deploy first though. Night Fighting for Turn 1.
I got no scatter within 6" of Warlord for trait, and he got extra VP for winning challenges. His powers were Warp Speed and Smite. My Bloodthirster was doubly blessed (again!), and I rolled Warp Tether (come back from reserves with one wound left if you die) and a Etherblade. For Greater Reward he got re-roll invul saves. My Daemon Prince took the Portalglyph, and also got re-roll invulsaves. Grimoire on the Juggerherald with the Flesh Hounds again. The other Juggerherald got Greater Etherblade, but the Juggerchampion got 3+ armour. The two Heralds on foot got Touch of Uncreation (which I decided to keep since he had quite some armour on the board) and Feel no Pain. The Bloodletterchampions got a Greater Etherblade and a 3+ armour.

Look at that board! Objectives are two on his side (next to the buildings), one in the middle and one on my side (closes to the building at the bottom).

So after deployment I scouted the Flesh Hounds forwards!

Turn 1 - Daemons

So I made everything move forward as fast as possible. Imagine the look on the faces of those Marines... suddenly out of the darkness of night there are a bunch of burning Flesh Hounds in their faces. Of course the Grimoire failed me though.

The Warp Storm didn't want to be any worse, so it gave me -1 on my save as well. Yay. Great start indeed. 

The Portalglyph landed on top of my objective though and spawned 3 Horrors to sit on it. And the Bloodthirster flew up and whipped one Missile Launcher from the Devastators to death.

Turn 1 - Iron Hands

So this was his chance to shoot before I charged in. So he shot most of everything at the Flesh Hounds, but rolled really terrible. So despite me not getting any save whatsoever his entire army worth of shooting only killed 9 Flesh Hounds.

Turn 2 - Daemons

So I started by getting one squad of Bloodletters in and they dragged the other squad with them. I deep struck the first squad off the Bloodthirster since he provided an "icon", and then the other squad off the new icon, getting really close and personal while overloading that flank.

The Grimoire passed, so I moved up the squad spreading out to prepare for a big multi-charge. However, due to my causalities last round I didn't feel confident enough to charge both Vindicators and both 5 man squads in reach... so settled for one of each. A mistake in retrospect. The Hounds finished off the 5 Marines and put 2HP on the Vindicator. Had I charged at least the other 5-man squad I may have been able to stay in combat for his shooting phase... oh well.

The Bloodcrushers charged the Razorback on this side, bashing it to death and granting me First Blood.

The Bloodthirster charged the Dread and took a wound on Overwatch before wrecking it. And the Daemon Prince charged five Marines, killing 4 and thus staying safe next round.

Turn 2 - Iron Hands

Luckily for him the Storm Talon came on, but unluckily the Terminators stayed out.

The Vindicators wouldn't do the same mistake and staying still again so both backed off to be able to get their shots off. Combined fire between Devastators, Rapid Fire Bolters and one of the Vindicators killed off 12 Bloodletters (spread out on both squads), the Bloodcrusher champion and a couple of Flesh Hounds.

The Storm Talon shot the Bloodthirster and got one wound on him.

In assault the Daemon Prince dispatched his lone enemy.

Turn 3 - Daemons

Grimoire fails again. Both the Daemon Prince and Bloodthirster vector strikes at the Storm Talon, causing one glancing hit. The Portalglyph spawns one Daemonette that runs for the middle objective.

In the Warp Storm Khorne shows his wrath and slaughters 4 Marines and two Devastators! 

In the assault is where it's at though, Flesh Hounds finish off the Vindicator they started on last turn (one Flesh Hound dies in the explosion), the Bloodcrushers kills their five Marines and the larger squad of Bloodletters kills the five Marines on the Objective taking their place. 

Turn 3 - Iron Hands

The Terminators once again fails to come in.

The Storm Talon flies across the board and kills the three Horrors on the Objective easy. The remaining Vindicator backs up and shoots the Flesh Hounds... causing no wounds because I roll my needed 6's like a boss (not a single fail!). One of the Razorbacks causes a Grounding Test on the Bloodthirster but he stays in the air.

Turn 4 - Daemons

With the Flesh Hounds badly decimated I decide to use the Grimoire on the Bloodcrushers instead and manages it. They move across the board towards the remaining tanks, together with the Daemon Prince and Bloodthirster who lands in front of one each. 2 new Horrors are spawned.

Khorne shows his face in the Warp Storm once again, but this time the few hits he gets scatters way off target.

Bloodthirster smashed the last Vindicator, Daemon Prince takes out one of the Razorbacks and the Flesh Hounds takes out the last survivor from Khorne wrath the turn before.

Turn 4 - Iron Hands

Terminators finally arrive, but scatter way off target and almost into a building but avoids a mishap. 

Terminators and Razorback manages to put 2 wounds on the Daemon Prince, trying to get that extra VP for killing Heavy Supports. The Storm Talon, realising nothing can hurt it at this side of the board hovers to take care of the two new Horrors. Devastators and Plasma Cannon Marines shoot at the Bloodletters below them, but I go to ground in area terrain (3+!) and only one dies.

Turn 5 - Daemons

Flesh Hounds a bit isolated in the middle, so I use the Grimoire on them once again and pass, planning to charge the Terminators. Which is basically the only thing of note, the Daemon Prince flies into the middle to try and get closer to the Storm Talon and possibly deal with it should the game continue while the Bloodcrushers charge and explode the last Razorback. The Bloodthirster also charges the Terminators (taking the Overwatch instead of the Flesh Hounds, due to wounding on 6's).

The Terminator Sergeant steps forward and shouts challanges, before he can react my Herald Hammer of Wraths him to death though... The Bloodthirster goes on to kill three more Terminators, the Hounds take one as well leaving 1 Terminator and the Librarian standing.

Turn 5 - Iron Hands

It's looking grim for him and he's thinking about conceding, but I convince him to at least play the turn so we can have an epic Warlord Challenge.

His shooting turns out exceptional, and he kills every single Bloodletter denying me 2 objectives, the Storm Talon also draws it's straw and kills the Daemonette denying yet another objective. 

The Librarian rolls Warp Speed, and gets +3A and I... this is his chance (remember he gets +1VP for warlord trait if he kills me)... because I challenge and he accepts. I completely whiff my roll and only one wound is rolled which he easily saves with his Storm Shield. So he has five attacks, only one needs to go through for him to active Force Weapon... he hits and wounds 3 times... but AP4 staff so my 3+ armour saves it all.

The game continues however.

 
Turn 6 - Daemons

In a silly line of thought I don't move my Bloodcrushers. Thinking the game all ready over. The Daemon Prince Vector Strikes the Storm Talon, but accomplishes nothing but scratching the armour.

In the assault the Bloodthirster stomps the Librarian and the Herald + 2 last remaining Hounds kills the last Terminator.

Turn 6 - Iron Hands

The last remaining 4 Tactical Marines jump down the ruin and runs for the Objective. The Storm Talon kills the Daemon Prince with help from the Devastators. At this point it's just a narrow win for me... but the game continues.

Turn 7 - Daemons

I realise I might have to kill that last Tactical Squad to secure victory, so move up both the Flesh Hounds and the Bloodcrushers (who still has their Icon of Blood unused). The Bloodthirster Vector Strikes at the Devastators, killing all three for another Victory Point (Heavy Support). Now... the objective is the one that halves the charge distance... and my Hounds fail horribly. The Crushers however roll 12"... which means they charge 6"... but they're 7" away so impossible charge... had I moved them in turn 6...

The Bloodthirster also lands almost exactly 3" away from the objective, possibly close enough to deny but in the end it didn't really matter so.

Turn 7 - Iron Hands

The Storm Talon kills the last Horror.

The game ends, in a close 6-4 for Daemons! (all secondary objectives + 3 Heavy support kills vs one objective and one Heavy Support kill). Had that Librarian won the challenge in the turn I whiffed... he'd had +2VP (Slay the Warlord and warlord trait). So a damn close game in the end!

Victorious! Really need to paint this guy though...

Lessons Learnt 


Grimoire is really, really fickle. But, with a unit of 20 Flesh Hounds, you don't need a save anyway. T4 and 2W is really hard to get rid off. So despite suffering Grimoire fail and Warp Storm that lessens my invul save two games in a row now (and this one was worse as it was in the first turn when all the firepower was aiming for them!) my Hounds has still survived to the end! Really super tough unit. If you get the Grimoire off they become truly awesome, but without it they are still great. Just wow.
And the Bloodthirster... I really like this guy. He simply goes from target to target and annihilates everything he looks at. T6 is awesome.
I have also learnt that Daemons either go awesome, or horrible. Usually both in the same game. They are extremely powerful when they work, but also extremely fragile. Makes the army really interesting to play, as you have to adapt all the time. And with this super fast army you have a lot of fun... shooty edition you say? You get one turn, then I laugh at you. So if you fail to do enough damage in turn 1 you're probably dead.
Hanging on to that was my big mistake in this game. I had the chance to multi-charge both Vindicators and two 5-man squads with the Hounds (they were all lined up nicely so would've been easy). But I underestimated the hitting power of my decimated unit, which meant they killed off the five man squad they were fighting and exposed themselves to shooting next turn. I really should've charged both 5-man squads at least, to stay in combat. But I was lucky this time and got out of it anyway.
I think I need to get another Daemon Prince or two though... and try a real Flying Circus. That lone Storm Talon was really annoying, and I simply couldn't be everywhere to deal with it. Imagine what two of them would do to me... really annoying. We'll see what happens with this list though, because I'll definitely play mono-Khorne again... really fun army!