Hey everyone. It's been quite awhile since my last update, as I've been experiencing some blog burnout. I was finding that it was difficult to find new things to talk about, and I didn't have tons of time to be writing up battle reports, while still having time to do other hobby activities. There has also been a bit of a change within our gaming group, with one of the members of our Black Crusade group having moved over to Vancouver, so that aspect will be on hold, pretty much indefinitely.
Anyways, I've got an exciting "secret project" on the go, and a bunch of really cool list ideas, that I'd like to go over over the next few weeks, or months, so stay tuned for those. I'd also like to do a sort of analyses of the new Harlequins codex when I'm finally able to pick up my copy (Unfortunately, due to a perfect storm of trucker, and shipyard strikes up and down the west coast of North America, getting a codex will have to wait). I also hope to get back into the swing of things with battle reports, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of those coming soon. As always, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for new content soon!
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Eldar/Dark Eldar V.S Imperium
With the Imperium of Man encroaching on an Eldar maiden world, the forces of Alaitoc gather their strength, and along with a force of their Dark Kin, descend on the hapless Imperial Guard stationed there.
This was a 2v2 game of my Eldar and Ryan's Dark Eldar, verses Brennan and Todd's Imperial Guard (with Todd taking an allied detachment of White Scars and an Assassin, as of course, is tradition). The mission was Crusade with the Spearhead deployment. Each of use made a 1250 list and we each got our own warlord. Other than that, standard ally rules applied.
The Armies
Eldar
HQ:
- Farseer - 100
Elites:
- 5 Wraithguard in a Wave Serpent with Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, and Holo-Fields - 305
Troops:
- 7 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, and Holo-Fields - 236
- 3 Windrider Jetbikes - 51
Heavy Support:
- Nightspinner with Holo-Fields - 130
- Nightspinner with Holo-Fields - 130
- Wraithknight with Scatter Laser and Suncannon - 300
Total: 1252
Dark Eldar
HQ:
- Archon with Webway Portal and Clone Field - 120
- Court of the Archon with a Lhamean - 10
Elites:
- 4 Grotesques with 3x Liquifier Guns in a Raider with a Darklance, Nightshield, Advanced
Aethersails - 265
Troops:
- 5 Warriors with a Blaster in a Venom with extra Splinter Cannon - 120
- 5 Warriors with a Blaster in a Venom with extra Splinter Cannon - 120
Fast Attack:
- Razorwing Jetfighter with Nightshields and Splinter Cannon - 165
- 5 Scourge with 4x Blasters - 140
Formation:
- Scalpel Squadron with 2x Liquifiers and 2x Acothysts with Liquifiers and 2x extra Splinter Cannon
- 310
Total: 1250
These lists were built to have a good amount of synergy and hopefully deal with anything they would be bringing. Now we made a mistake with the Court of the Archon, as I didn't realise until after the fact that the Lhamean isn't an independent character, but it didn't actually matter. The Archon would be deepstriking in with either the Grotesques or the Wraithguard, depending on weather we needed to kill a vehicle or a unit of infantry. The Nightspinners were there to snipe out any special weapons, or characters that needed to die, while the Wraithknight was of course a beatstick. The Scourge would be able to take a vehicle and the Razorwing really gives a bit of everything, including some much needed air support. It should be noted that the Dark Eldar are heavily proxied as it is very much an army in progress. The Venoms would be played by Hornets, the Grotesques by spawn, the Scourge by Swooping Hawks, and the Razorwing by a Crimson Hunter. While I realize this can be confusing, it can't be helped, and we did our best to keep things well represented.
Imperial Guard
HQ:
- Lord Commissar with Carapace Armour, The Blade of Conquest, The Emperor's Benediction,
and Meltabombs - 105
- Primaris Psyker with level 2 - 75
Troops:
- 11 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Krak Grenades, 2x Grenade Launchers, and Heavy Flamer in
Chimera with Heavy Stubber - 175
- 11 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Krak Grenades, 2x Grenade Launchers, and Heavy Flamer in
Chimera with Heavy Stubber - 175
Fast Attack:
- Helhound with Camo-Netting, Multi-Melta, Storm Bolter and Smoke Launchers - 160
- Vulture Gunship with Twin-Linked Punisher Cannons - 155
- Vulture Gunship with Twin-Linked Punisher Cannons - 155
Heavy Support:
- Leman Russ Punisher with Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Camo-Netting, and Storm Bolter - 180
Fortification:
- Aegis Defence Line with Coms Relay - 70
Total: 1250
Imperial Guard/White Scars/Assassins
HQ:
- Company Command Squad with Vox Caster, Heavy Flamer, Kurova's Aquila and a Chimera - 200
- Librarian with Force Sword (Allies) - 65
- Techmarine - 50
Elites:
- Vindicare Assassin - 150
Troops:
- Infantry Platoon with 3x Lascannon Teams, 3x Plasma Guns, Vox Caster - 325
- Infantry Platoon with 3x Lascannon Teams, 3x Plasma Guns, Vox Caster - 325
- 5 Scouts with Sniper Rifles (Allies) - 60
Fortification:
- Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Lascannon - 85
Total: 1260
Well the main threat in this list is, obviously the numbers. 2 units with triple Lascannons that can ignore cover saves with make mince of basically all our vehicles, and the Vindicare can really do a number as well. Add in a couple of Space Marine characters to stack on all the special rules to the infantry blobs, and you've got a problem. The Vultures would also be a big pain to deal with, and combined with the Punisher, anything not in good cover or a vehicle is basically paste.
The Game
With minimal upkeep this game, we pretty much just set up and dive in. Brennan and Todd win both the roll for table sides and the roll for first turn. They pick the side with better cover, but only one objective (weird choice, as they have 2 defence lines, but whatever). They also select to go first.
They deploy the walls basically right across their deployment zone and hide the two blobs behind it on the right flank, whilst the Punisher and vets hold down the left. The Command Squad hangs out in the back corner, and one Platoon Command hides behind the wall, with the other in a forest just outside it. The Assassin deploys in the tower.
For us, we deploy the Venoms on the right flank, with one unit of warriors in our back field. The Wraithknight goes into the centre, as far forward as possible, with the Wave Serpents flanking him. The Nightspinners deploy in starting range for their Deathspinners, one on the right flank, and the other more in the centre.
Turn 1
With nothing really needing to move, and no useable psychic powers to start, Brennan and Todd jump right into the shooting phase. One Platoon fires on a Nightspinner, which despite its 3+ cover save has its Doomweaver blown off. The other Platoon fires at the other Spinner, and takes of the Shuriken Catapult. The Vindicare takes aim at the Nightspinner with its Doomweaver, but misses. A couple of shots from Brennan's Autocannons manage to immobilize it though.
Careening in from the skies comes the scalpel squadron, hoping to kill the exposed and isolated Platoon Command squad for first blood. Unfortunately, both venoms scatter into a building and mishap, one unit being destroyed and the other going back into reserve... Great. The Wraithknight jumps forward, as well as both Wave Serpents and the Venoms.
In the shooting phase, the Wraithknight fires everything into the Vindicare, and manages to deal a wound. A Wave Serpent fires into the Guardsmen and kills a couple, and the other fires into the Icarus, taking it to a single wound. The Venoms do the same. The Nightspinner fires its barrage, hoping to pick the Commissar or some Lascannons out of a squad, but the shot scatters and instead kills a Guardsman or two and the Icarus Lascannon.
Turn 2
Called in by their commanders, the Vultures both come in, as well as the Hellhound and the Scouts, who outflank near the Venoms. The Primaris Psyker jumps out of his Chimera and into the nearest platoon. In the psychic phase, Brennan fails to cast prescience on the infantry.
This time, Todd remembers his orders and orders the Platoon the went to ground to stand back up, and the other squad to ignore cover. With not much else to shoot at, the squad that got up fires at the Nightspinner without the big gun and despite a 3+ jink save, it is wrecked (The first 4 saves I rolled this game were 1s). The other squad and the Vindicare shoot the Wave Serpent with the Dire Avengers and Farseer in it and blow it up, but the squad inside takes no wounds. Unfortunately, there is a Hellhound and a Vulture right there and between the two of them, the whole squad is blown to smithereens. The other Vulture and the Punisher fire into the Wraithknight, along with basically everything else, and manage to do some wounds to it.
We roll our reserves, and only Razorwing and Jetbikes stay off. The Scourge land next to the Hellhound, the Venom drops right next to the outflanking Scouts, and the Archon's raider appears in the midst of the Guardsmen.The remaining Wave Serpent moves over near the Vultures, and drops off the Wraithguard, hoping for a lucky shot, while the Wraithknight leaps forward. The Venoms kinda scooch forwards as well.
Shooting begins with the Wrack's Liquifiers killing 3 Scouts, and the Grotesques Liquifiers doing a number on the Librarian's platoon, as well as some damage from a thrown plasma grenade from the Archon and a shot from the Dark Lance. The two other Venoms blast into the Platoon Command Squad and kill them all, and the Wraithknight targets the Librarian's Platoon. The Scourge attempt to destroy the Hellhound, but even with 4 blasters do no damage, forcing the Wave Serpent to wreck it. The Wraitguard, and a Blaster shot from the Warrior squad on foot all miss the Vulture, and again the Nightspinner gets a bad scatter and does minimal damage. In the Assault, the Wraithknight fails its charge, leaving it stranded in the open for yet another turn.
Turn 3
With both a Wraithknight and a unit of Grotesques bearing down on them, the Guardsmen are getting nervous. The Punisher turns to blow apart the Scourge before they can attempt to do any real damage, while the Vultures manoever to target the Wraithknight. Again, no powers of any use were cast.
In the shooting phase, it takes both Chimeras, the Vindicare, and both Vultures to down the Wraithknight, leaving the Platoons free to target the Raider. The Lascannons and the Command Squad's Chimera prove too much for the Raider, and it explodes, pinning the Archon's unit and leaving a Grotesque at a single wound. As expected, the Punisher tank murders the crap out of the poor scourge.
With the xenos forces rapidly dwindling, it's time for some decisive action. Both the Razorwing and the bikes come zooming onto the board. The Wracks head towards the Techmarine's Platoon, while the Venom drops off its Warriors to deal with the scouts and heads towards the Guardsmen. The Wraithguard get back into the Wave Serpent which heads to claim the objective near the rocks - a skyfire nexus, as luck would have it. Finally the Warriors head towards the objective behind the building.
Shooting this turn sees the Razorwing fire its whole payload into the Librarian's squad and kill absolutely nothing, thanks to a 2+ cover for going to ground. The Liquifiers do some more damage and kill a large chunk of the Techmarine's squad. The Wave Serpent takes the opportunity granted by the Skyfire Nexus and obliterates one of the Vultures. The Warriors absolutely obliterate the Scouts, and the Venoms do quite a number on the Guardsmen as well. Again, the Nightspinner fires and does little. With the shooting done, the Wracks attempt to charge, but fail the easy distance, and lose one of their number for their trouble.
Turn 4
With the Xenos threat making a comeback, the remaining Vulture drops into hover mode to deal with the Warriors on the objective. The Chimeras trundle forth from behind their defense line. In the shooting phase, all the Guardsmen from the Librarian's squad, as well as the Command Chimera pour everything into the Grotesques and deal a ton of damage, killing all but the Archon and a single Grotesque. The other unit fires into the wracks, but the wall offers some protection and only one is killed. The Vulture blasts the Warriors, who go to ground, and thanks to the objective (a Scatterfield) and their Feel no Pain, the Blaster Warrior survives. Finally, the Vindicare shoots at the Wave Serpent, but fails to damage it.
With no real target, the Razorwing leaves the board. the Jetbikes cruise over to reinforce the lone Warrior, while the Wraithguard disembark once again to deal with the oncoming chimeras. The Wracks climb over the wall, and the Archon and his bodyguard head over to the Librarian's squad to inflict some pain. The Venoms move forward, and the Warriors do as well.
The Nightspinner is finally able to hit, and manages to snipe out the Commissar and a couple of Lascannons. The Wave Serpent targets the Vindicare and annihilates him under a torrent of fire. the Venoms reap a bloody toll on the Guardsmen, including killing the Librarian, as do the remaining Liquifier Guns. The Wraithguard manage to blow up one of the Chimeras, and half the squad inside is killed, the others pinned.
Again, the Wracks attempt to charge, and again they fail and lose a member. The Archon's squad fares better, and they get into combat and kill a few of the Guardsmen, though the Archon is beaten down under a mass of Guardsmen.
Turn 5
Things are starting to turn against the Guardsmen. The Command Chimera moves forward into the crater, while the Techmarine's squad moves to get back into coherency. The Punisher and Chimera move towards the Wraithguard, and the Vulture whips around to shoot the Wave Serpent in the rear. The Primaris Psyker casts Force.
Shooting sees a pair of Wraithguard fall, as well as the Wave Serpent. The other Platoon Command Squad moves over and tries to destroy a venom with its Heavy Flamer, but the Flicker Field saves it. The Command Chimera's weapons see to its destruction instead. In the Assault, the Primaris Psyker is able to kill of the remaining Grotesque.
Again, the Eldar forces are put on the back foot. The Venoms move around to claim the enemy objective, and the Wraithguard get into range of theirs as well. The Razorwing moves in behind the Vulture, prepared to put its weaponry to good use. The Warriors make a rush towards the Wraithguard's objective to reinforce.
The Razorwing begins by failing spectacularly again, and does nothing to the Vulture. The Venoms shoot the Primaris Psyker's squad up and they flee off the board. The Nightspinner fires into the clustered Guardsmen and kill all but one, and stun the Lord Commissar's Chimera. The Wraithguard attempt to blast the Vulture from the sky, but only glance it. The Wrack finally makes its charge, but is easily killed and the squad consolidates to the contested objective.
We roll to see if it goes on...
The game continues, but we decide to call it in favour of the Imperium. At the time we had forgotten that the Commissar's Chimera had been stunned, and so couldn't move, which really gave us the advantage, but we had been playing for several hours by this point and were ready to call it and get a bite to eat.
Post-Game Thoughts
That was an interesting game, but I feel like it was a poor testing of the new Dark Eldar codex. Ryan rolled really bad in some key moments (i.e, anything involving a lance, or scatter) so things that should have been brutal did absolutely nothing. While the dice can rarely be blamed for a loss, this was definately a battle where we felt like nothing we could do worked. Failing my first 3 cover saves, and a Serpent Shield save really hurt our strength right out of the gate, and both of the Venoms from the Scalpel Squadron mishapping was even worse. Combine that with the Nightspinner scattering badly 3 out of 5 turns, Ryan's terrible lance luck, the Archon being pinned, a ton of failed charges, and Todd's crazy amount of wounds on the Grotesques, and its hard to not feel like it was an uphill battle the whole time.
Dice aside though, I am very happy with how we played tactically. We really used our speed and what fire power we had to our advantage, and even though our plans didn't always pan out, we were able to adapt to what Brennan and Todd were throwing at us quite well. I also think our opponents played a good game, though their decision to take the side with better cover over the side with the objectives, particularly when they had two defence lines was a terrible mistake that very nearly cost them the game. Todd forgetting his orders turn 1 could have been a terrible mistake as well, had I not failed every save anyways. Overall it was a fun game, and I look forward to doing more of these 2v2 matches in the future.
This was a 2v2 game of my Eldar and Ryan's Dark Eldar, verses Brennan and Todd's Imperial Guard (with Todd taking an allied detachment of White Scars and an Assassin, as of course, is tradition). The mission was Crusade with the Spearhead deployment. Each of use made a 1250 list and we each got our own warlord. Other than that, standard ally rules applied.
 |
| The Board |
Eldar
HQ:
- Farseer - 100
Elites:
- 5 Wraithguard in a Wave Serpent with Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, and Holo-Fields - 305
Troops:
- 7 Dire Avengers in a Wave Serpent with Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon, and Holo-Fields - 236
- 3 Windrider Jetbikes - 51
Heavy Support:
- Nightspinner with Holo-Fields - 130
- Nightspinner with Holo-Fields - 130
- Wraithknight with Scatter Laser and Suncannon - 300
Total: 1252
Dark Eldar
HQ:
- Archon with Webway Portal and Clone Field - 120
- Court of the Archon with a Lhamean - 10
Elites:
- 4 Grotesques with 3x Liquifier Guns in a Raider with a Darklance, Nightshield, Advanced
Aethersails - 265
Troops:
- 5 Warriors with a Blaster in a Venom with extra Splinter Cannon - 120
- 5 Warriors with a Blaster in a Venom with extra Splinter Cannon - 120
Fast Attack:
- Razorwing Jetfighter with Nightshields and Splinter Cannon - 165
- 5 Scourge with 4x Blasters - 140
Formation:
- Scalpel Squadron with 2x Liquifiers and 2x Acothysts with Liquifiers and 2x extra Splinter Cannon
- 310
Total: 1250
These lists were built to have a good amount of synergy and hopefully deal with anything they would be bringing. Now we made a mistake with the Court of the Archon, as I didn't realise until after the fact that the Lhamean isn't an independent character, but it didn't actually matter. The Archon would be deepstriking in with either the Grotesques or the Wraithguard, depending on weather we needed to kill a vehicle or a unit of infantry. The Nightspinners were there to snipe out any special weapons, or characters that needed to die, while the Wraithknight was of course a beatstick. The Scourge would be able to take a vehicle and the Razorwing really gives a bit of everything, including some much needed air support. It should be noted that the Dark Eldar are heavily proxied as it is very much an army in progress. The Venoms would be played by Hornets, the Grotesques by spawn, the Scourge by Swooping Hawks, and the Razorwing by a Crimson Hunter. While I realize this can be confusing, it can't be helped, and we did our best to keep things well represented.
 |
| The Eldar/Dark Eldar. (Lots of Dark Eldar Proxies) |
HQ:
- Lord Commissar with Carapace Armour, The Blade of Conquest, The Emperor's Benediction,
and Meltabombs - 105
- Primaris Psyker with level 2 - 75
Troops:
- 11 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Krak Grenades, 2x Grenade Launchers, and Heavy Flamer in
Chimera with Heavy Stubber - 175
- 11 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Krak Grenades, 2x Grenade Launchers, and Heavy Flamer in
Chimera with Heavy Stubber - 175
Fast Attack:
- Helhound with Camo-Netting, Multi-Melta, Storm Bolter and Smoke Launchers - 160
- Vulture Gunship with Twin-Linked Punisher Cannons - 155
Heavy Support:
- Leman Russ Punisher with Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Camo-Netting, and Storm Bolter - 180
Fortification:
- Aegis Defence Line with Coms Relay - 70
Total: 1250
Imperial Guard/White Scars/Assassins
HQ:
- Company Command Squad with Vox Caster, Heavy Flamer, Kurova's Aquila and a Chimera - 200
- Librarian with Force Sword (Allies) - 65
- Techmarine - 50
Elites:
- Vindicare Assassin - 150
Troops:
- Infantry Platoon with 3x Lascannon Teams, 3x Plasma Guns, Vox Caster - 325
- Infantry Platoon with 3x Lascannon Teams, 3x Plasma Guns, Vox Caster - 325
- 5 Scouts with Sniper Rifles (Allies) - 60
Fortification:
- Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Lascannon - 85
Total: 1260
Well the main threat in this list is, obviously the numbers. 2 units with triple Lascannons that can ignore cover saves with make mince of basically all our vehicles, and the Vindicare can really do a number as well. Add in a couple of Space Marine characters to stack on all the special rules to the infantry blobs, and you've got a problem. The Vultures would also be a big pain to deal with, and combined with the Punisher, anything not in good cover or a vehicle is basically paste.
 |
| Brennan's Guard Force |
 |
| Todd's Guard |
With minimal upkeep this game, we pretty much just set up and dive in. Brennan and Todd win both the roll for table sides and the roll for first turn. They pick the side with better cover, but only one objective (weird choice, as they have 2 defence lines, but whatever). They also select to go first.
They deploy the walls basically right across their deployment zone and hide the two blobs behind it on the right flank, whilst the Punisher and vets hold down the left. The Command Squad hangs out in the back corner, and one Platoon Command hides behind the wall, with the other in a forest just outside it. The Assassin deploys in the tower.
For us, we deploy the Venoms on the right flank, with one unit of warriors in our back field. The Wraithknight goes into the centre, as far forward as possible, with the Wave Serpents flanking him. The Nightspinners deploy in starting range for their Deathspinners, one on the right flank, and the other more in the centre.
Turn 1
With nothing really needing to move, and no useable psychic powers to start, Brennan and Todd jump right into the shooting phase. One Platoon fires on a Nightspinner, which despite its 3+ cover save has its Doomweaver blown off. The other Platoon fires at the other Spinner, and takes of the Shuriken Catapult. The Vindicare takes aim at the Nightspinner with its Doomweaver, but misses. A couple of shots from Brennan's Autocannons manage to immobilize it though.
Careening in from the skies comes the scalpel squadron, hoping to kill the exposed and isolated Platoon Command squad for first blood. Unfortunately, both venoms scatter into a building and mishap, one unit being destroyed and the other going back into reserve... Great. The Wraithknight jumps forward, as well as both Wave Serpents and the Venoms.
In the shooting phase, the Wraithknight fires everything into the Vindicare, and manages to deal a wound. A Wave Serpent fires into the Guardsmen and kills a couple, and the other fires into the Icarus, taking it to a single wound. The Venoms do the same. The Nightspinner fires its barrage, hoping to pick the Commissar or some Lascannons out of a squad, but the shot scatters and instead kills a Guardsman or two and the Icarus Lascannon.
 |
| End of Turn 1 |
Called in by their commanders, the Vultures both come in, as well as the Hellhound and the Scouts, who outflank near the Venoms. The Primaris Psyker jumps out of his Chimera and into the nearest platoon. In the psychic phase, Brennan fails to cast prescience on the infantry.
This time, Todd remembers his orders and orders the Platoon the went to ground to stand back up, and the other squad to ignore cover. With not much else to shoot at, the squad that got up fires at the Nightspinner without the big gun and despite a 3+ jink save, it is wrecked (The first 4 saves I rolled this game were 1s). The other squad and the Vindicare shoot the Wave Serpent with the Dire Avengers and Farseer in it and blow it up, but the squad inside takes no wounds. Unfortunately, there is a Hellhound and a Vulture right there and between the two of them, the whole squad is blown to smithereens. The other Vulture and the Punisher fire into the Wraithknight, along with basically everything else, and manage to do some wounds to it.
We roll our reserves, and only Razorwing and Jetbikes stay off. The Scourge land next to the Hellhound, the Venom drops right next to the outflanking Scouts, and the Archon's raider appears in the midst of the Guardsmen.The remaining Wave Serpent moves over near the Vultures, and drops off the Wraithguard, hoping for a lucky shot, while the Wraithknight leaps forward. The Venoms kinda scooch forwards as well.
Shooting begins with the Wrack's Liquifiers killing 3 Scouts, and the Grotesques Liquifiers doing a number on the Librarian's platoon, as well as some damage from a thrown plasma grenade from the Archon and a shot from the Dark Lance. The two other Venoms blast into the Platoon Command Squad and kill them all, and the Wraithknight targets the Librarian's Platoon. The Scourge attempt to destroy the Hellhound, but even with 4 blasters do no damage, forcing the Wave Serpent to wreck it. The Wraitguard, and a Blaster shot from the Warrior squad on foot all miss the Vulture, and again the Nightspinner gets a bad scatter and does minimal damage. In the Assault, the Wraithknight fails its charge, leaving it stranded in the open for yet another turn.
 |
| End of Turn 2 |
With both a Wraithknight and a unit of Grotesques bearing down on them, the Guardsmen are getting nervous. The Punisher turns to blow apart the Scourge before they can attempt to do any real damage, while the Vultures manoever to target the Wraithknight. Again, no powers of any use were cast.
In the shooting phase, it takes both Chimeras, the Vindicare, and both Vultures to down the Wraithknight, leaving the Platoons free to target the Raider. The Lascannons and the Command Squad's Chimera prove too much for the Raider, and it explodes, pinning the Archon's unit and leaving a Grotesque at a single wound. As expected, the Punisher tank murders the crap out of the poor scourge.
With the xenos forces rapidly dwindling, it's time for some decisive action. Both the Razorwing and the bikes come zooming onto the board. The Wracks head towards the Techmarine's Platoon, while the Venom drops off its Warriors to deal with the scouts and heads towards the Guardsmen. The Wraithguard get back into the Wave Serpent which heads to claim the objective near the rocks - a skyfire nexus, as luck would have it. Finally the Warriors head towards the objective behind the building.
Shooting this turn sees the Razorwing fire its whole payload into the Librarian's squad and kill absolutely nothing, thanks to a 2+ cover for going to ground. The Liquifiers do some more damage and kill a large chunk of the Techmarine's squad. The Wave Serpent takes the opportunity granted by the Skyfire Nexus and obliterates one of the Vultures. The Warriors absolutely obliterate the Scouts, and the Venoms do quite a number on the Guardsmen as well. Again, the Nightspinner fires and does little. With the shooting done, the Wracks attempt to charge, but fail the easy distance, and lose one of their number for their trouble.
 |
| End of Turn 3 |
With the Xenos threat making a comeback, the remaining Vulture drops into hover mode to deal with the Warriors on the objective. The Chimeras trundle forth from behind their defense line. In the shooting phase, all the Guardsmen from the Librarian's squad, as well as the Command Chimera pour everything into the Grotesques and deal a ton of damage, killing all but the Archon and a single Grotesque. The other unit fires into the wracks, but the wall offers some protection and only one is killed. The Vulture blasts the Warriors, who go to ground, and thanks to the objective (a Scatterfield) and their Feel no Pain, the Blaster Warrior survives. Finally, the Vindicare shoots at the Wave Serpent, but fails to damage it.
With no real target, the Razorwing leaves the board. the Jetbikes cruise over to reinforce the lone Warrior, while the Wraithguard disembark once again to deal with the oncoming chimeras. The Wracks climb over the wall, and the Archon and his bodyguard head over to the Librarian's squad to inflict some pain. The Venoms move forward, and the Warriors do as well.
The Nightspinner is finally able to hit, and manages to snipe out the Commissar and a couple of Lascannons. The Wave Serpent targets the Vindicare and annihilates him under a torrent of fire. the Venoms reap a bloody toll on the Guardsmen, including killing the Librarian, as do the remaining Liquifier Guns. The Wraithguard manage to blow up one of the Chimeras, and half the squad inside is killed, the others pinned.
Again, the Wracks attempt to charge, and again they fail and lose a member. The Archon's squad fares better, and they get into combat and kill a few of the Guardsmen, though the Archon is beaten down under a mass of Guardsmen.
 |
| End of Turn 4 |
Turn 5
Things are starting to turn against the Guardsmen. The Command Chimera moves forward into the crater, while the Techmarine's squad moves to get back into coherency. The Punisher and Chimera move towards the Wraithguard, and the Vulture whips around to shoot the Wave Serpent in the rear. The Primaris Psyker casts Force.
Shooting sees a pair of Wraithguard fall, as well as the Wave Serpent. The other Platoon Command Squad moves over and tries to destroy a venom with its Heavy Flamer, but the Flicker Field saves it. The Command Chimera's weapons see to its destruction instead. In the Assault, the Primaris Psyker is able to kill of the remaining Grotesque.
Again, the Eldar forces are put on the back foot. The Venoms move around to claim the enemy objective, and the Wraithguard get into range of theirs as well. The Razorwing moves in behind the Vulture, prepared to put its weaponry to good use. The Warriors make a rush towards the Wraithguard's objective to reinforce.
The Razorwing begins by failing spectacularly again, and does nothing to the Vulture. The Venoms shoot the Primaris Psyker's squad up and they flee off the board. The Nightspinner fires into the clustered Guardsmen and kill all but one, and stun the Lord Commissar's Chimera. The Wraithguard attempt to blast the Vulture from the sky, but only glance it. The Wrack finally makes its charge, but is easily killed and the squad consolidates to the contested objective.
We roll to see if it goes on...
 |
| End of Turn 5 |
The game continues, but we decide to call it in favour of the Imperium. At the time we had forgotten that the Commissar's Chimera had been stunned, and so couldn't move, which really gave us the advantage, but we had been playing for several hours by this point and were ready to call it and get a bite to eat.
Post-Game Thoughts
That was an interesting game, but I feel like it was a poor testing of the new Dark Eldar codex. Ryan rolled really bad in some key moments (i.e, anything involving a lance, or scatter) so things that should have been brutal did absolutely nothing. While the dice can rarely be blamed for a loss, this was definately a battle where we felt like nothing we could do worked. Failing my first 3 cover saves, and a Serpent Shield save really hurt our strength right out of the gate, and both of the Venoms from the Scalpel Squadron mishapping was even worse. Combine that with the Nightspinner scattering badly 3 out of 5 turns, Ryan's terrible lance luck, the Archon being pinned, a ton of failed charges, and Todd's crazy amount of wounds on the Grotesques, and its hard to not feel like it was an uphill battle the whole time.
Dice aside though, I am very happy with how we played tactically. We really used our speed and what fire power we had to our advantage, and even though our plans didn't always pan out, we were able to adapt to what Brennan and Todd were throwing at us quite well. I also think our opponents played a good game, though their decision to take the side with better cover over the side with the objectives, particularly when they had two defence lines was a terrible mistake that very nearly cost them the game. Todd forgetting his orders turn 1 could have been a terrible mistake as well, had I not failed every save anyways. Overall it was a fun game, and I look forward to doing more of these 2v2 matches in the future.
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Warhammer 40k Battle Report: Khorne V.S Slaanesh
Khârn the Betrayer is once again crusading for the favour of the Blood God, this time against Khorne's most hated rival: Slaanesh. Jumping into his landraider with a retinue of Berzerkers, and enlisting the aid of another Chaos Lord, this one on a mighty Juggernaut, he prepares to bring the fight to the Disciples of Excess.
This was a 1250 point game with my Khorne marines fighting Brennan's Slaanesh marines. The mission was a Crusade with a Hammer and Anvil Deployment. About the 5th one of those I've played in a row. The Objectives are placed on each hill, by the small building, right with the pile of rocks next to the fence and in the forest.
The Armies
Khorne
HQ:
- Khârn the Betrayer - 160
- Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut with Mark of Khorne, the Axe of Blind Fury, Sigil of Corruption,
Meltabombs, and Gift of Mutation - 185
Troops:
- 9 Khorne Berzerkers with an Icon of Wrath, Rhino with Dozer Blade and Havoc Launcher, and
Chapion with Meltabombs and Power Axe - 268
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Khorne - 70
Fast Attack:
- 9 Chaos Bikers with Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath, 2x Meltaguns, and Champion with
Meltabombs and Lightning Claw - 268
- 2 Chaos Spawn - 60
Heavy Support:
- Chaos Land Raider with Dozer Blades and Dirge Caster - 240
Total: 1251
This is a pretty basic list. There is no subtlety and really not much tactical flexibility here. The plan is to get stuck in to combat and beat him over the head with Khârn and the Juggerlord. The Zerkers and Khârn go in the Raider, while the Cultists go in the Rhino. The Spawn are kind of a distraction, that may do a bit of damage. The Bikes are the Juggerlord's retinue, designed to be very quick and good in combat. Mostly they're meat shields.
Slaanesh
HQ:
- Chaos Lord with a Jump Pack, Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil of Corruption, Gift of Mutation,
Meltabombs, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword - 165
Troops:
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Slaanesh - 60
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Slaanesh - 60
- 10 Noise Marines with 2x Blasmasters, 7x Sonic Blasters, Icon of Excess, and a Champion with
Meltabombs - 296
Heavy Support:
- Chaos Predator with Twin-Linked Lascannons and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- 3 Obliterators with Mark of Nurgle - 228
Formation:
- Mayhem Pack - 300
Total: 1249
I was a little concerned facing this list. While it didn't have a lot that would threaten a Land Raider, at least until the Helbrutes came in, and considering Brennan's luck with Multi-Meltas, I wasn't hugely concerned for Khârn's safety. The Noise Marines are what was really going to give me trouble. Those Blastmaster would absolutely destroy the Bikes, and if the Land Raider bit it, so would the Berzerkers.
The Game
With no psychic powers to roll, and only a couple of boons and a warlord trait to roll, this went quickly. I use Khârn as my Warlord, and Brennan gets preferred enemy (Space Marines), while we both get shrouded for our Lords' boons. Brennan wins his pick of sides, and takes the side with the forest and hill. I win the roll for first turn. Night fight is also in effect.
My deployment was quick and simple. Land Raider goes on the road (which we decided allowed vehicles to count as moving combat speed when moving cruising speed) and the Rhino goes behind it, with the Cultists behind the Rhino ready to jump in. The Spawn go on my left flank up on the hill, and the Lord and his Bikes go on the right.
Brennan counters by placing the Obliterators up on the hill, with a unit of Cultists behind them, while the Predator goes behind the forest, with the other Cultists next to it. The Noise Marines and Lord deploy all the way back.
Turn 1
Revving their engines, the Khornate vehicles drive forward at top speed, with the Cultists jumping into the Rhino. The Bikes drive forward, and the Spawn rush forward as well. In the shooting phase, the Rhino's Havoc Launcher fires into the Cultists by the Obliterators, who go to ground and only lose 1. The Land Raider and Bikes Turbo boost, and the Lord runs up with them. The Spawn run forward as well.
In Brennan's turn, the Predator fires at the Land Raider, but can't get past its armour. The Noise Marines fire their Blastmasters into the Bikes and kill 2, and the Obliterators fail to do any damage to the jinking bikes with their Assault Cannons.
Turn 2
Heedless of their casualties, the Bikes continue forward towards the Obliterators. The Land Raider continues into the swamp overrun with Razorwings, and the Rhino drives forward. The Spawn continue their course towards the Cultists. The Rhino shoots again at the Cultists, and once again they lose a member after going to ground.
In the assault the Bikes and Lord charge the Obliterators, and the Spawn charge the Cultists. The Spawn wipe the Cultists, and the Lord kills 2 Oblits, while the last one kills a Bike. The Obliterator runs for it and escapes.
With the Khorne force rapidly approaching, the Lord calls in his trump card. Slamming down from orbit come a trio of Helbrutes, One drops next to the Rhino, one scatters a bit off from the Land Raider, and the third lands near the Spawn. The Obliterator manages to regroup as well.
In the shooting phase, the Noise Marines once again go to town and blast the Bikes, killing all but 2, and wounding the Lord twice, while the snap-firing Obliterator and Cultists do nothing. The Helbrutes do one wound to the Spawn, blow up the Rhino and half the Cultists inside, but fail to do any damage to the Land Raider The Predator fires into the Raider and manages to get a glance through.
Turn 3
With a pair of Helbrutes closing in, the Cultists try to get away, moving towards the left board edge. Meanwhile, the Land Raider trundles on, disgorging Khârn and his Berzerkers right in front of the Noise Marines. The Lord splits from the remaining Bikes and heads to finish off the Obliterator, while the Bikes eye up the cowering Cultists. Firing everything they have at the Noise Marines, the Berzerkers do no damage thanks to the Icon of Excess, and the Land Raider only kills one marine. The cultists try and run, but stumble and only run a single inch.
In the assault, the Bikes move in and murder the Cultists, the Lord destroys the lone Obliterator, and the Spawn whiff hard, only doing a single glance to the Predator. Khârn and friends fare better and while they lose a couple to overwatch, they make it into combat and while Khârn himself takes 2 wounds, the Lord takes the same, and all but 2 Noise Marines are killed.
The Helbrutes roll their crazed results and get to act normally. The One near the Spawn moves closer, as does the one chasing down the Cultists. The last one moves towards the Land Raider, hoping to blow it up. Shooting is largely ineffective this turn, with a spawn taking a single wound, and that's it.
In the assault, the Helbrutes charge in, with the Spawn and the Cultists, but the last one fails its charge on the Land Raider. As expected, both Spawn and the Cultists are all brutally murdered. In the Berzerkers' combat, Khârn finishes off the Lord and mangles the last two Noise Marines, as well as a Berzerker, all by himself. The squad consolidates back towards the Objective on the hill.
Turn 4
With these Helbrutes all over the place, the Khorne force does some maneuvering. Khârn jumps back into the Land Raider, while the Berzerkers head to the Objective on the hill. The Bikes move off to try and help against the Helbrute, and the Land Raider turns around to bring its arsenal to bear. The Lord moves forward, hoping to get another charge off. Shooting from the Bikes and the Land Raider manage to take a couple hull points off the Helbrute and stun it. Unfortunately, the Lord fails his charge.
Infuriated, the Helbrutes roll a Fire Frenzy and are unable to move. Everything that can fires at the Land Raider, glancing it only once.
Turn 5
With victory in sight, Khârn jumps out of his transport, but not overly quickly, barely making it to the forest. The Land Raider turns to shoot the Helbrute holding the objective on the other hill, and the Bikes move over to claim the pile of rocks, keeping the remaining Meltagun in melta range. The Lord thunders forwards to destroy the Helbrute. SHooting is mostly ineffective this turn, with just the Land Raider blowing the Powerfist off the rear Helbrute. In the Assault, The Juggerlord easily wrecks the wounded Helbrute.
The Brutes get a blood rage this turn and head towards Khârn and the Landraider. In the shooting phase, Khârn takes a Mlti-Melta to the face and falls, while the other Brute does no damage to the Land Raider.
We roll to see if it goes on...
Total Points
Khorne: 9 - (2 Objectives, First Blood, Warlord, Linebreaker)
Slaanesh: 1 - (Slay the Warlord)
Post-Game Thoughts
Another slaughter fest! Just the way Khorne likes it! This was an interesting battle that really happened to be a great clash between bitter rivals. Neither of our lists were particularly optimized, with me taking Power Weapons on regular champions, and Berzerkers, and Brennan loading up on Sonic Weapons that aren't Blastmasters. This was excellent as it wasn't really a stomping for either side. I think that the real reason I won this game was because of my mobility. Brennan always has a really hard time cracking AV 14, so the Raider was an excellent choice to bring Kharn and friends up to where they needed to be, and the Bikes made a great retinue for the Lord, even though they took a serious pounding from the Noise Marines.
There were a few large tactical errors made in this game as well. Firstly, I got very caught up in racing all of my guys forward with no regards for objectives. If any of my units had ended up being tied up longer than they were, I would have been left very out of position while Brennan's Helbrutes and Predator could go around claiming the Objectives. Brennan on the other hand would have been much better off dropping all his Brutes in to surround and deal with the Land Raider. Between the three of them and a Pred, it should have been reasonable for them to be able to destroy, and possibly even explode it, leaving the Berzerkers nicely bundles up for the Blastmasters to destroy. That would have been a huge hit to my forces, and after the 'Zerkers had been dealt with, it would have been a matter of mopping up the remaining Cultists, Spawn and already pretty hurt Bikes.
This game was really interesting with the dice as well. I probably made only around 6 saves the entire game, while Brennan, true to form, really struggled to hit with his melta. I did have one great turn of rolling with the Berzerkers on the turn they charged in. I think I missed only 3 attacks after the Hatred re-roll that turn, and I did tons of wounds. Luckily, Brennan had his Icon, or they would have been wiped out first round. On the other side of things, Brennan missed only twice on the turn his Oblits fired their assault cannons, but then failed to wound pretty spectacularly, so I only had to make 5 2+ jink saves. Overall, it was a really fun game, with both sides taking big losses and fluffy mono-god armies.
This was a 1250 point game with my Khorne marines fighting Brennan's Slaanesh marines. The mission was a Crusade with a Hammer and Anvil Deployment. About the 5th one of those I've played in a row. The Objectives are placed on each hill, by the small building, right with the pile of rocks next to the fence and in the forest.
 |
| The Board, just before Objectives |
Khorne
HQ:
- Khârn the Betrayer - 160
- Chaos Lord on a Juggernaut with Mark of Khorne, the Axe of Blind Fury, Sigil of Corruption,
Meltabombs, and Gift of Mutation - 185
Troops:
- 9 Khorne Berzerkers with an Icon of Wrath, Rhino with Dozer Blade and Havoc Launcher, and
Chapion with Meltabombs and Power Axe - 268
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Khorne - 70
Fast Attack:
- 9 Chaos Bikers with Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath, 2x Meltaguns, and Champion with
Meltabombs and Lightning Claw - 268
- 2 Chaos Spawn - 60
Heavy Support:
- Chaos Land Raider with Dozer Blades and Dirge Caster - 240
Total: 1251
This is a pretty basic list. There is no subtlety and really not much tactical flexibility here. The plan is to get stuck in to combat and beat him over the head with Khârn and the Juggerlord. The Zerkers and Khârn go in the Raider, while the Cultists go in the Rhino. The Spawn are kind of a distraction, that may do a bit of damage. The Bikes are the Juggerlord's retinue, designed to be very quick and good in combat. Mostly they're meat shields.
 |
| Khorne Strikeforce |
Slaanesh
HQ:
- Chaos Lord with a Jump Pack, Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil of Corruption, Gift of Mutation,
Meltabombs, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword - 165
Troops:
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Slaanesh - 60
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Slaanesh - 60
- 10 Noise Marines with 2x Blasmasters, 7x Sonic Blasters, Icon of Excess, and a Champion with
Meltabombs - 296
Heavy Support:
- Chaos Predator with Twin-Linked Lascannons and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- 3 Obliterators with Mark of Nurgle - 228
Formation:
- Mayhem Pack - 300
Total: 1249
I was a little concerned facing this list. While it didn't have a lot that would threaten a Land Raider, at least until the Helbrutes came in, and considering Brennan's luck with Multi-Meltas, I wasn't hugely concerned for Khârn's safety. The Noise Marines are what was really going to give me trouble. Those Blastmaster would absolutely destroy the Bikes, and if the Land Raider bit it, so would the Berzerkers.
 |
| Slaanesh Force |
With no psychic powers to roll, and only a couple of boons and a warlord trait to roll, this went quickly. I use Khârn as my Warlord, and Brennan gets preferred enemy (Space Marines), while we both get shrouded for our Lords' boons. Brennan wins his pick of sides, and takes the side with the forest and hill. I win the roll for first turn. Night fight is also in effect.
My deployment was quick and simple. Land Raider goes on the road (which we decided allowed vehicles to count as moving combat speed when moving cruising speed) and the Rhino goes behind it, with the Cultists behind the Rhino ready to jump in. The Spawn go on my left flank up on the hill, and the Lord and his Bikes go on the right.
 |
| Khorne Deployment |
 |
| Slaanesh Deployment |
Revving their engines, the Khornate vehicles drive forward at top speed, with the Cultists jumping into the Rhino. The Bikes drive forward, and the Spawn rush forward as well. In the shooting phase, the Rhino's Havoc Launcher fires into the Cultists by the Obliterators, who go to ground and only lose 1. The Land Raider and Bikes Turbo boost, and the Lord runs up with them. The Spawn run forward as well.
In Brennan's turn, the Predator fires at the Land Raider, but can't get past its armour. The Noise Marines fire their Blastmasters into the Bikes and kill 2, and the Obliterators fail to do any damage to the jinking bikes with their Assault Cannons.
Turn 2
Heedless of their casualties, the Bikes continue forward towards the Obliterators. The Land Raider continues into the swamp overrun with Razorwings, and the Rhino drives forward. The Spawn continue their course towards the Cultists. The Rhino shoots again at the Cultists, and once again they lose a member after going to ground.
In the assault the Bikes and Lord charge the Obliterators, and the Spawn charge the Cultists. The Spawn wipe the Cultists, and the Lord kills 2 Oblits, while the last one kills a Bike. The Obliterator runs for it and escapes.
With the Khorne force rapidly approaching, the Lord calls in his trump card. Slamming down from orbit come a trio of Helbrutes, One drops next to the Rhino, one scatters a bit off from the Land Raider, and the third lands near the Spawn. The Obliterator manages to regroup as well.
In the shooting phase, the Noise Marines once again go to town and blast the Bikes, killing all but 2, and wounding the Lord twice, while the snap-firing Obliterator and Cultists do nothing. The Helbrutes do one wound to the Spawn, blow up the Rhino and half the Cultists inside, but fail to do any damage to the Land Raider The Predator fires into the Raider and manages to get a glance through.
 |
| End of Turn 2 |
With a pair of Helbrutes closing in, the Cultists try to get away, moving towards the left board edge. Meanwhile, the Land Raider trundles on, disgorging Khârn and his Berzerkers right in front of the Noise Marines. The Lord splits from the remaining Bikes and heads to finish off the Obliterator, while the Bikes eye up the cowering Cultists. Firing everything they have at the Noise Marines, the Berzerkers do no damage thanks to the Icon of Excess, and the Land Raider only kills one marine. The cultists try and run, but stumble and only run a single inch.
In the assault, the Bikes move in and murder the Cultists, the Lord destroys the lone Obliterator, and the Spawn whiff hard, only doing a single glance to the Predator. Khârn and friends fare better and while they lose a couple to overwatch, they make it into combat and while Khârn himself takes 2 wounds, the Lord takes the same, and all but 2 Noise Marines are killed.
The Helbrutes roll their crazed results and get to act normally. The One near the Spawn moves closer, as does the one chasing down the Cultists. The last one moves towards the Land Raider, hoping to blow it up. Shooting is largely ineffective this turn, with a spawn taking a single wound, and that's it.
In the assault, the Helbrutes charge in, with the Spawn and the Cultists, but the last one fails its charge on the Land Raider. As expected, both Spawn and the Cultists are all brutally murdered. In the Berzerkers' combat, Khârn finishes off the Lord and mangles the last two Noise Marines, as well as a Berzerker, all by himself. The squad consolidates back towards the Objective on the hill.
 |
| End of Turn 3 |
With these Helbrutes all over the place, the Khorne force does some maneuvering. Khârn jumps back into the Land Raider, while the Berzerkers head to the Objective on the hill. The Bikes move off to try and help against the Helbrute, and the Land Raider turns around to bring its arsenal to bear. The Lord moves forward, hoping to get another charge off. Shooting from the Bikes and the Land Raider manage to take a couple hull points off the Helbrute and stun it. Unfortunately, the Lord fails his charge.
Infuriated, the Helbrutes roll a Fire Frenzy and are unable to move. Everything that can fires at the Land Raider, glancing it only once.
 |
| End of Turn 4 |
With victory in sight, Khârn jumps out of his transport, but not overly quickly, barely making it to the forest. The Land Raider turns to shoot the Helbrute holding the objective on the other hill, and the Bikes move over to claim the pile of rocks, keeping the remaining Meltagun in melta range. The Lord thunders forwards to destroy the Helbrute. SHooting is mostly ineffective this turn, with just the Land Raider blowing the Powerfist off the rear Helbrute. In the Assault, The Juggerlord easily wrecks the wounded Helbrute.
The Brutes get a blood rage this turn and head towards Khârn and the Landraider. In the shooting phase, Khârn takes a Mlti-Melta to the face and falls, while the other Brute does no damage to the Land Raider.
We roll to see if it goes on...
 |
| End of Turn 5 |
Khorne: 9 - (2 Objectives, First Blood, Warlord, Linebreaker)
Slaanesh: 1 - (Slay the Warlord)
Post-Game Thoughts
Another slaughter fest! Just the way Khorne likes it! This was an interesting battle that really happened to be a great clash between bitter rivals. Neither of our lists were particularly optimized, with me taking Power Weapons on regular champions, and Berzerkers, and Brennan loading up on Sonic Weapons that aren't Blastmasters. This was excellent as it wasn't really a stomping for either side. I think that the real reason I won this game was because of my mobility. Brennan always has a really hard time cracking AV 14, so the Raider was an excellent choice to bring Kharn and friends up to where they needed to be, and the Bikes made a great retinue for the Lord, even though they took a serious pounding from the Noise Marines.
There were a few large tactical errors made in this game as well. Firstly, I got very caught up in racing all of my guys forward with no regards for objectives. If any of my units had ended up being tied up longer than they were, I would have been left very out of position while Brennan's Helbrutes and Predator could go around claiming the Objectives. Brennan on the other hand would have been much better off dropping all his Brutes in to surround and deal with the Land Raider. Between the three of them and a Pred, it should have been reasonable for them to be able to destroy, and possibly even explode it, leaving the Berzerkers nicely bundles up for the Blastmasters to destroy. That would have been a huge hit to my forces, and after the 'Zerkers had been dealt with, it would have been a matter of mopping up the remaining Cultists, Spawn and already pretty hurt Bikes.
This game was really interesting with the dice as well. I probably made only around 6 saves the entire game, while Brennan, true to form, really struggled to hit with his melta. I did have one great turn of rolling with the Berzerkers on the turn they charged in. I think I missed only 3 attacks after the Hatred re-roll that turn, and I did tons of wounds. Luckily, Brennan had his Icon, or they would have been wiped out first round. On the other side of things, Brennan missed only twice on the turn his Oblits fired their assault cannons, but then failed to wound pretty spectacularly, so I only had to make 5 2+ jink saves. Overall, it was a really fun game, with both sides taking big losses and fluffy mono-god armies.
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Black Crusade Character: Galgamesh the Glutton
Character Name: Galgamesh the Glutton Played By: Todd
Race: Chaos Space Marine Archetype: Sorcerer
Background
When the battered ship finally reached the planet he was the only one remaining and was barely alive. The ship on autopilot acted out its final pre-programmed orders and emptied as much of its payload on the targets specified before crashing into the planets surface.
Appearance
Galgamesh is a bloated, infection-ridden monster. His facial features are distorted and grotesque, and covered in weeping sores and pustules. Covering his disgusting frame is a suit of remarkably well maintained power armour, painted a deep green to symbolize his allegiance to grandfather Nurgle, He carries with him a force sword, and a flamer with which to cook his enemies for their consumption.
Personality
Tactics
Race: Chaos Space Marine Archetype: Sorcerer
Background
Like most other humans Garth was born into this world as an appendage ridden ball of flesh. Ironically his appearance as a baby closely resembles the creature he has become now more than any other time before his corruption. A severe disease had laid waste to the bloated body of the near dead child and he was actually presumed to be beyond life even before his birth. A rasping, wretched breath startled the doctors into action and over the course of 2 days they were able resuscitate the poor babe and remove the patches of green rotted flesh that covered his body and consumed his mother.
Even still Garth lived a terribly painful and difficult childhood, only surviving through an immense amount of willpower. His pain and his imperfections were slightly mitigated as he grew older, when he came to the realization that he had the ability to tap into a source of unknown and extreme power. Over time Garth was able to compensate for his weaknesses with his new found strength of mind. Even though great chunks of muscle and connective tissues were missing from various parts of his body he was able to recreate the use of his limbs through sheer telekinetic force of will. He was as spry and nimble as any healthy child with full use of their body and probably even quicker than most.
Before reaching adulthood Garth was contacted by a group of librarians from clan Raukaan who had been scouting him for some time. Specifically Zephyr the clans divination expert. Normally one with physical abnormalities as severe as Garth would not be considered a liable candidate for the gene seed but Zephyr prophesied that the strange boy would be the catalyst to important events within the clan. So after vigorous tests he was accepted into their ranks and started his transformation into a space marine.
Before reaching adulthood Garth was contacted by a group of librarians from clan Raukaan who had been scouting him for some time. Specifically Zephyr the clans divination expert. Normally one with physical abnormalities as severe as Garth would not be considered a liable candidate for the gene seed but Zephyr prophesied that the strange boy would be the catalyst to important events within the clan. So after vigorous tests he was accepted into their ranks and started his transformation into a space marine.
The biscopea implant was the most important to Garth as it was able to completely heal his torn body. The pain was excruciating, even worse than he expected or ever endured. Worse still was that after completion he was left with severe phantom pains making a mockery of his desires for comfort. They plagued his every waking moment, even still he was able to conceal this fact from the rest of the clan. Excelling quickly through the training he was promoted to power armour in short order and began his much anticipated initiation into clan Raukaan's force of librarians.
Not long after he was sent to help in the Siege of Vraks and was to be pitted up against Necrosius and his apostles of contagion. A vicious battle took place even before he reached the planet as a warp storm opened and spewed the spawns of Nurgle directly into his ship. Garth awoke from stasis to find half his contingent already dead and rotting. The only thing that saved his life was the sickness he endured as a baby for it granted him a subtle immunity to the corruption. With that defending him he was able to fend off the creatures and there corrupting joyous affection, ending them swiftly and with no joy of his own... In fact joy was something Garth never felt, for in his constant battle with the pain he endured there was no room for joy.
When the battered ship finally reached the planet he was the only one remaining and was barely alive. The ship on autopilot acted out its final pre-programmed orders and emptied as much of its payload on the targets specified before crashing into the planets surface.
Necrosius breached the crashed ship under guidance from Father Nurgle and found the decrepit form that was Garth nearly entirely rotten among a pile of his fallen allies, yet still clinging to life. Nearing his final breath Garth opened his eyes for what he presumed to be the last time. His gaze was held fast at that instant as he stared at the bizarre form that was Necrosius. A strange whisper entered his mind, a jovial fat mans voice and it promised him everything. It asked simply for him to embrace the infection and consume the rotted flesh of his fallen allies. Whispers of a life without pain, of immortality, of more power than he could possibly imagine and of course a promise to end the pain and let him for once experience joy like nothing he has ever before felt.
Garth began first with his closest friend who had been one of the first to die and thus was one of the most decomposed. He feasted upon the feted corpses one after another and with every bite felt the power of Nurgle flow into his body building up the rot and expanding it. Upon completion of his grizzly task Garth was no more and in his place was something new, something wretched, something bloated but most importantly something that was happy and without pain. Letting out a gargantuan belch that instantly turned into maniacal laughter he proclaimed himself Galgamesh the Glutton! In this selfish, traitorous act he fulfilled Zephyr's prophecies and brought much shame to the clan, forcing them to create new sanctions against aspiring librarians.
Nurgle then left his mind and it has been his joyous quest ever since to gain once again his fathers whispers.
Nurgle then left his mind and it has been his joyous quest ever since to gain once again his fathers whispers.
Galgamesh is a bloated, infection-ridden monster. His facial features are distorted and grotesque, and covered in weeping sores and pustules. Covering his disgusting frame is a suit of remarkably well maintained power armour, painted a deep green to symbolize his allegiance to grandfather Nurgle, He carries with him a force sword, and a flamer with which to cook his enemies for their consumption.
Personality
Tactics
Monday, 22 September 2014
Black Crusade Character: Quintus Helix
Character Name: Quintus Helix Played By: Ryan
Race: Human Archetype: Heretek
Background
Quintus is as much machine as man. His skin is extremely pale, and on the back of his skull he has a tattoo of the symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus, distorted and obscured with the legion symbol of the Iron Warriors. He wears robes of blood red, with patches of his cybernetics painted black. He has several cybernetic implants, including a servo arm on his right side, and optical and utility mechadendrites on his left. In his left hand he carries his power axe, a relic from his time in the mechanicum, and he also carries a lascarbine, for fighting at a distance.
Personality
Quintus is a dedicated and zealous worker, who especially loves to uncover ancient and forbidden technologies, and devising ingenious devices for visiting destruction upon his enemies from afar. Though these are his preferred fields, Quintus will gladly fulfill the will of his masters to the best of his ability, regardless of what the orders may be, perhaps a remnant of the conditioning received as part of his training in the Adeptus Mechanicus. Due to his single-minded, and some might say, obsessive nature, he often is at odds with others who may have goals aside from their most immediate or direct orders. He also tends to take more pride in a well constructed engine of destruction than he ever could from any over display of martial prowess.
Tactics
Race: Human Archetype: Heretek
Background
Born to the Forge World Het, Quintus was groomed to the wants and needs of the Adeptus Mechanicus from birth. Trained and educated in the arts of war, the use and service of technology both new and old, and to serve the Machine God with his entire being, Quintus quickly reached the rank of Enginseer and sent out to the front lines of the Imperium in service to the Machine God. Serving throughout the Imperium, Quintus displayed great skills, and a rather unhealthy appetite for knowledge, banned or otherwise, amongst the other Enginseers and eventually was given the sub-rank of Reclaimator after being ordered many times into hostile situations to reclaim tech or materials and taking to the orders with relish, forever excited by the idea of new technology or the uncovering of ancient relics.
Over time Quintus was paired with a group of 5 other Reclaimators and formed into a specialised group that was to focus on the recovery of found ancient technology around the Eye of Terror and in the case of corruption from the warp being present, to destroy all traces of the object once all pertinent information was safely gleaned from the item in question. Technology unlike any found throughout the Empire became a common sight for Quintus as the group worked across the many systems around the Eye of Terror, but Quintus was growing discontent with their orders. Countless times they had to destroy a piece of tech that had traces of corruption without being able fully analyze the object, all due to the fear of the corruption spreading to those who were in proximity with the source. Countless times he tried to convince the others that there was more to be gleaned and that it was safe to continue to study the tech, but countless times he failed to convince them.
Finally the mission to inspect newly unearthed technology on the mining planet of Chinchare in the Chinchare system, though corruption was highly suspected due to the close proximity to the Eye of Terror, was handed down to the group. Included was brief description of the technology in question and it was believed to be a part of a large ship of unknown xenos origin, the largest tech the group would have the chance of investigating. They hurried off to Chinchare with excitement over this find, arriving quickly after receiving their orders, and without even a moments rest they set to work.
Their largest find yet, it took them months to fully excavate and explore the piece of ship for it was indeed a piece of a much larger ship which they believe had been torn off with great force, by what they didn't know though they suspected the storms that were common to the sector possibly had a hand in it. Once fully excavated the only place left to explore was what appeared to be the bridge of the ship and it was sealed behind an extremely durable blast door, none of their equipment on hand could get it to budge even an inch. Their only recourse left was to provide power to the ships remaining systems and try to interface with to open the door, which appeared safe enough as by this time they had successfully reversed engineered most of the ships basic systems and hadn't come across any signs of corruption, Quintus volunteered to attempt an interface.
They had only a moment, the briefest of moments to realize what was occurring before it was upon their minds. The system had shown no sources of physical corruption, but they were wrong. The entire ship had been infected by a virus with ties to Nurgle. Beset by ailments of the mind then the body, Quintus and the rest of his group were ravaged by the powers of the warp and twisted by the corruption of Nurgle until only Quintus remained alive, though barely as his body was withering away. In an emergency attempt to preserve his life, he performed Mechanicus Assimilation upon himself with the use of the servo skulls on hand. Miraculously he survived, but was now completely corrupted by the powers of the warp, and he found it was rather enjoyable.
No more restricting policies on the study of technology, no more limits to experimentation, he was free to explore and study what he wished if he turned on the Empire. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge and all he had to do was turn traitor, but he couldn't just leave and try to do so on his own. He was but one and the Empire was billions, he needed allies, he needed to join the traitor legions. Quintus disposed of the bodies of his former allies and quickly set to work, luckily most of the systems on the ships bridge were still functional including a long range communicator. Working with fervorous speed, he quickly reworked the communicator to send out a long range burst directly into the Eye of Terror with a basic message calling a traitor legion to his location.
The response from his comm burst was a return message requesting a sabotage of as many systems as possible on the planet before their arrival. Quintus sent a burst signal of the own infection that had now buried itself into his being and it had a devastating effect on the systems within range. Within moments of his spread of infection the invasion began. Quick and brutal, multiple dreadnoughts appear from the warp above the planet surface and hundred of drop pods came crashing down to the surface. Hundreds of traitor marines came pouring out and began laying waste to everything in sight, the explosions highlighting the symbols on their armor. Iron Warriors, the most brutal, well disciplined, and tenacious legion amongst the traitors had come to Chinchare and they were there for one thing and one thing only. Destruction.
A troop of Iron Warriors arrived at the ancient ship, led by one (insert Alex's char). Quintus' new Commander amongst the Iron Warriors.
AppearanceQuintus is as much machine as man. His skin is extremely pale, and on the back of his skull he has a tattoo of the symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus, distorted and obscured with the legion symbol of the Iron Warriors. He wears robes of blood red, with patches of his cybernetics painted black. He has several cybernetic implants, including a servo arm on his right side, and optical and utility mechadendrites on his left. In his left hand he carries his power axe, a relic from his time in the mechanicum, and he also carries a lascarbine, for fighting at a distance.
Personality
Quintus is a dedicated and zealous worker, who especially loves to uncover ancient and forbidden technologies, and devising ingenious devices for visiting destruction upon his enemies from afar. Though these are his preferred fields, Quintus will gladly fulfill the will of his masters to the best of his ability, regardless of what the orders may be, perhaps a remnant of the conditioning received as part of his training in the Adeptus Mechanicus. Due to his single-minded, and some might say, obsessive nature, he often is at odds with others who may have goals aside from their most immediate or direct orders. He also tends to take more pride in a well constructed engine of destruction than he ever could from any over display of martial prowess.
Tactics
Thursday, 11 September 2014
Black Crusade Character: Zargor Thune
Character Name: Zargor Thune Played By: Alex
Race: Chaos Space Marine Archetype: Chosen
Background
Zargor Thune was born on Olympia not long before the Primarch Perturabo was given control of the Iron Warriors legion, and the planet himself. His childhood, therefore was in the midst of many great changes to the planet, as old Tyrants were replaced and thrown down by Perturabo and his Iron Warriors. Life on Olympia was always hard, and for Zargor it was doubly so. His father was killed before he was born in a factory accident, and his mother died from a plague when he was very young. With no one to turn to, Zargor was forced to eke out an existence on a ruthless planet inhabited by a ruthless people.
Perhaps it is thanks to this early hardship that he was chosen by the Iron Warriors to join their ranks. The boy Zargor had joined a gang known for their reckless ferocity, and was arrested for his involvement in a riot. Rather than execute the young boy, the Legion decided to put him through their trails. If he proved strong enough to survive, he would be a useful asset in the conquests to come, and if not, it was a death sentence anyways. Luckily for the young boy, a lifetime of beatings, fights, and petty crime had done an excellent job honing him into a perfect candidate for the legion. His senses, physique, and ferocity was already far above the average student, and he quickly surged to the head of the class.
Training was extremely hard, and the discipline harder, but Zargor found great satisfaction in the exercises and drills of the IV legion, and though he was often chastised for his temper and recklessness, his instructors could not deny that he was quickly becoming an efficient and effective warrior. After many years, he had finally earned the right to join the legion proper. It was a great honour to be implanted with a gene-seed, and though the process killed many applicants, Zargor was not concerned. He was by far the largest and strongest boy to be chosen, with a fortitude unmatched. His confidence was not misplaced, and after a grueling period of implementation he was finally ready.
Thus began many years of fighting in the IV legion, during which time he was put into an assault squad, having made a name for himself as a fearless and ferocious close combat fighter, more than willing to throw himself through any breach in defenses. However, due to the nature of the assignments of the Iron Warriors, Zargor often became bored with the endless siege operations, and was often chastised for his temper and insistence on a frontal assault. During this time, his resentment of the other legions, the Imperial Fists in particular, festered and grew, along with that of the rest of the legion. When Perturabo announced his siding with Horus, Zargor was more than ready to throw off the shackles of the Imperium and begin to tear down what they had striven to achieve.
So it was that Zargor found himself on Terra, tirelessly working to batter down the defenses of the Imperial palace, so arrogantly defined by their creators as impregnable. When the innermost walls were breached, Zargor was among the first in the legion to pour through. During the mad assault, Zargor slew scores of enemy marines, mostly of the hated Imperial Fists legion. When Horus was defeated and the traitors went into retreat, Zargor had to be bodily pulled away from the battle by his brothers, such was his fury and bloodlust. For his actions on Terra, and undying loyalty to the IV legion, Zargor was promoted to Brother Sergent, taking command of the remnants of his old assault squad.
During the millenia that followed, Zargor's rage and battle fury only intensified, and though he was at times unpredictable, his loyalty to the legion was unshakable. Because of his reputation and unswerving loyalty, Zargor was sent to the Screaming Vortex, alongside a Tech Adept from the legion to seek out potential allies to the legion, as well as gather any lost technology that might lie within.
Appearance
Zargor is large, even for a space marine, and monstrously strong. He wears a suit of ancient power armour painted in the colours of the Iron Warriors, with the distinctive hazard stripes on the left shoulder pad, and his right shoulder pad a bright red, to mark him out as an assault specialist. His armour has also been modified with a chain loincloth to protect his lower extremities even further from damage. He carries at all times his ancient chainsword, bolt pistol, bolter, combat knife, and many frag grenades for driving enemies into or out of cover as he needs. Underneath his armour is large muscular body, criss-crossed with countless scars of old wounds. He keeps his head shaved completely bare, in the event that his helmet is ever damaged or knocked off, to prevent the enemy from getting any handholds in close quarters. His skin is quite pale, and his eyes have taken on a red hue that burns brighter when his temper rises.
Personality
Zargor is extremely aggressive, with a quick temper, and an impatient streak that heavily contradicts his legion's usual combat doctrines. Though he may seem like a wild berzerker, Zargor is by no means stupid, and is more than capable of thinking tactically when he needs to. Zargor is also notoriously arrogant, especially when it comes to matters of strength or melee combat. His disdain for anyone he deems unskilled in combat shows readily, and when fighting such a foe, he often will take his time wearing them down before finally decapitating them in a glorious fountain of blood. Against foes he deems worthy he is more cautious, and will use any advantage to defeat his foe, including distracting them, disarming them, or simply bearing them to the ground and smashing their face in with his massive fists.
Tactics
While Zargor is skilled with all types of weaponry, his favorite are always the ones that allow him to kill up close. While he is more than capable of grinding down a foe under a barrage of heavy weapons fire, or trading pot shots in a prolonged shootout, his favored method of taking down an enemy is always a frontal assault. His martial pride often drives him to issue individual challenges to opponents that look to be skilled enough to warrant his time, even those that may outclass him, but he is more than happy butchering hordes of petty adversaries as well.
Race: Chaos Space Marine Archetype: Chosen
Background
Zargor Thune was born on Olympia not long before the Primarch Perturabo was given control of the Iron Warriors legion, and the planet himself. His childhood, therefore was in the midst of many great changes to the planet, as old Tyrants were replaced and thrown down by Perturabo and his Iron Warriors. Life on Olympia was always hard, and for Zargor it was doubly so. His father was killed before he was born in a factory accident, and his mother died from a plague when he was very young. With no one to turn to, Zargor was forced to eke out an existence on a ruthless planet inhabited by a ruthless people.
Perhaps it is thanks to this early hardship that he was chosen by the Iron Warriors to join their ranks. The boy Zargor had joined a gang known for their reckless ferocity, and was arrested for his involvement in a riot. Rather than execute the young boy, the Legion decided to put him through their trails. If he proved strong enough to survive, he would be a useful asset in the conquests to come, and if not, it was a death sentence anyways. Luckily for the young boy, a lifetime of beatings, fights, and petty crime had done an excellent job honing him into a perfect candidate for the legion. His senses, physique, and ferocity was already far above the average student, and he quickly surged to the head of the class.
Training was extremely hard, and the discipline harder, but Zargor found great satisfaction in the exercises and drills of the IV legion, and though he was often chastised for his temper and recklessness, his instructors could not deny that he was quickly becoming an efficient and effective warrior. After many years, he had finally earned the right to join the legion proper. It was a great honour to be implanted with a gene-seed, and though the process killed many applicants, Zargor was not concerned. He was by far the largest and strongest boy to be chosen, with a fortitude unmatched. His confidence was not misplaced, and after a grueling period of implementation he was finally ready.
Thus began many years of fighting in the IV legion, during which time he was put into an assault squad, having made a name for himself as a fearless and ferocious close combat fighter, more than willing to throw himself through any breach in defenses. However, due to the nature of the assignments of the Iron Warriors, Zargor often became bored with the endless siege operations, and was often chastised for his temper and insistence on a frontal assault. During this time, his resentment of the other legions, the Imperial Fists in particular, festered and grew, along with that of the rest of the legion. When Perturabo announced his siding with Horus, Zargor was more than ready to throw off the shackles of the Imperium and begin to tear down what they had striven to achieve.
So it was that Zargor found himself on Terra, tirelessly working to batter down the defenses of the Imperial palace, so arrogantly defined by their creators as impregnable. When the innermost walls were breached, Zargor was among the first in the legion to pour through. During the mad assault, Zargor slew scores of enemy marines, mostly of the hated Imperial Fists legion. When Horus was defeated and the traitors went into retreat, Zargor had to be bodily pulled away from the battle by his brothers, such was his fury and bloodlust. For his actions on Terra, and undying loyalty to the IV legion, Zargor was promoted to Brother Sergent, taking command of the remnants of his old assault squad.
During the millenia that followed, Zargor's rage and battle fury only intensified, and though he was at times unpredictable, his loyalty to the legion was unshakable. Because of his reputation and unswerving loyalty, Zargor was sent to the Screaming Vortex, alongside a Tech Adept from the legion to seek out potential allies to the legion, as well as gather any lost technology that might lie within.
Appearance
Zargor is large, even for a space marine, and monstrously strong. He wears a suit of ancient power armour painted in the colours of the Iron Warriors, with the distinctive hazard stripes on the left shoulder pad, and his right shoulder pad a bright red, to mark him out as an assault specialist. His armour has also been modified with a chain loincloth to protect his lower extremities even further from damage. He carries at all times his ancient chainsword, bolt pistol, bolter, combat knife, and many frag grenades for driving enemies into or out of cover as he needs. Underneath his armour is large muscular body, criss-crossed with countless scars of old wounds. He keeps his head shaved completely bare, in the event that his helmet is ever damaged or knocked off, to prevent the enemy from getting any handholds in close quarters. His skin is quite pale, and his eyes have taken on a red hue that burns brighter when his temper rises.
Personality
Zargor is extremely aggressive, with a quick temper, and an impatient streak that heavily contradicts his legion's usual combat doctrines. Though he may seem like a wild berzerker, Zargor is by no means stupid, and is more than capable of thinking tactically when he needs to. Zargor is also notoriously arrogant, especially when it comes to matters of strength or melee combat. His disdain for anyone he deems unskilled in combat shows readily, and when fighting such a foe, he often will take his time wearing them down before finally decapitating them in a glorious fountain of blood. Against foes he deems worthy he is more cautious, and will use any advantage to defeat his foe, including distracting them, disarming them, or simply bearing them to the ground and smashing their face in with his massive fists.
Tactics
While Zargor is skilled with all types of weaponry, his favorite are always the ones that allow him to kill up close. While he is more than capable of grinding down a foe under a barrage of heavy weapons fire, or trading pot shots in a prolonged shootout, his favored method of taking down an enemy is always a frontal assault. His martial pride often drives him to issue individual challenges to opponents that look to be skilled enough to warrant his time, even those that may outclass him, but he is more than happy butchering hordes of petty adversaries as well.
Warhammer 40k Black Crusade
Hey folks! So me and my gaming group have recently become interested in trying out the Black Crusade RPG from Fantasy Flight games. In case you're unfamiliar with it, this is an RPG in which you play a Chaos Heretic to the Imperium of man, either as a Human, or a Chaos Space Marine. After having read up on the rules, we are almost ready to play, with the last touches of Character creation being finished up. As a good portion of my regular RPG group doesn't play Warhammer 40k or have much interest in its history or universe, there is only going to be a few of us playing. Brennan, Todd, Ryan, and Myself. I will be starting as GM, but may swap out in the future. Because there are only 3 players, I've decided to run the first "adventure" along with a GMPC in order to help shore up their numbers a bit and give them some help in combat.
So, why should you care? Excellent question! You should care because I will be bringing the action to you! We'll start with a page for each character, detailing their history, appearance, personality, fighting style, relationships, and any other information that may become relevant. These pages will be edited whenever something changes, so you may want to check them out as the story progresses as well.
The other thing I will be doing is writing up detailed recaps of the sessions as they happen. Sort of like battle reports, but a bit more intimate. These will include the story, the actions the PCs make, as well as some GM notes from myself, talking about things that may be interesting of fun to know, such as strange inter-party debates, or amazing dice rolls (whether for good or ill)
Now, keep in mind that this is our first time playing this system, and while we are all quite experienced with RPGs (D&D 3.5/Pathfinder being our games of choice) we aren't completely familiar with this system yet, so mistakes almost certainly will be made.
So with this in mind, I urge you to stay tuned, and if you like what you see, maybe try this or one of the other RPGs out for yourself. Make sure to leave comments and suggestions to help us become better players, or make the story more interesting!
So, why should you care? Excellent question! You should care because I will be bringing the action to you! We'll start with a page for each character, detailing their history, appearance, personality, fighting style, relationships, and any other information that may become relevant. These pages will be edited whenever something changes, so you may want to check them out as the story progresses as well.
The other thing I will be doing is writing up detailed recaps of the sessions as they happen. Sort of like battle reports, but a bit more intimate. These will include the story, the actions the PCs make, as well as some GM notes from myself, talking about things that may be interesting of fun to know, such as strange inter-party debates, or amazing dice rolls (whether for good or ill)
Now, keep in mind that this is our first time playing this system, and while we are all quite experienced with RPGs (D&D 3.5/Pathfinder being our games of choice) we aren't completely familiar with this system yet, so mistakes almost certainly will be made.
So with this in mind, I urge you to stay tuned, and if you like what you see, maybe try this or one of the other RPGs out for yourself. Make sure to leave comments and suggestions to help us become better players, or make the story more interesting!
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