Brennan and I decided to go back in time on the weekend to play a game of 3rd edition 40k using the old 3.5 Chaos Codex. We decided on 1750 points and rolled up a Night Fight mission. The Mission was a claim ground type deal with the table being divided into table quarters. In order to capture a quarter you had to have a unit above or at half strength, or a still-mobile vehicle (not including HQs) in the quarter and they couldn't have the same. There would also be Night Fighting the whole mission. In order to shoot at a target, the firing unit had to roll 2d6x3 for their spotting distance. If they couldn't see the unit, they couldn't shoot.
The Armies
Iron Warriors
HQ:
- Daemon Prince With Mark of Chaos Undivided, Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Frag Grenades, Dark Blade,
Terminator Armour, Daemonic Essence, Daemonic Resilience, and Daemonic Flight- 179
Elites:
- 3 Obliterators - 210
- 2 Obliterators - 140
Troops:
- 10 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Chaos Undivided, 2x Plasma Guns, Frag Grenades, Aspiring
Champion with Meltabombs and Power Weapon - 208
- 10 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Chaos Undivided, 2x Plasma Guns, Frag Grenades, Aspiring
Champion with Meltabombs and Power Weapon - 208
Fast Attack:
- 5 Raptors with Mark of Chaos Undivided, 3x Meltaguns, Aspiring Champion with Power Weapon
-203
Heavy Support:
- Vindicator with Dozer Blade and Parasitic Possession - 145
- Defiler - 150
- Defiler - 150
- Defiler - 150
Total: 1743
My goal here was pretty simple. Crush Brennan under the sheer weight of fire I was going to be able to bring to the table. Between the Vindicator, Defilers, and 5 Oblits I was pretty confident that any vehicles he brought would be turned to space dust pretty quickly and then my Prince and Marines could sweep in and do the rest.
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| Iron Warriors |
Emperor's Children
HQ:
- Chaos Lord with Mark of Slaanesh, Daemonic Aura, Daemonic Resilience, Daemonic Strength,
Daemonic Essence, Combat Drugs, Meltabombs, Dark Blade, Sonic Blaster, Bolt Pistol - 178
- Chaos Sorcerer with Mark of Slaanesh, Daemonic Aura, Daemonic Resilience, Daemonic Strength,
Minor Power, Power Weapon, Sonic Blaster, Bolt Pistol - 103
Elites:
- 3 Obliterators - 210
Troops:
- 10 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Slaanesh, Sonic Blasters, x2 Plasma Guns, Frag Grenades,
Aspiring Champion with Melta Bombs - 279
- 10 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Slaanesh, Sonic Blasters, x2 Plasma Guns, Frag Grenades,
Aspiring Champion with Melta Bombs - 279
- 9 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Slaanesh, Sonic Blasters, x2 Plasma Guns, Frag Grenades,
Aspiring Champion with Melta Bombs - 255
Heavy Support:
- Dreadnought with Autocannon and Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon with Heavy Flamer - 122
- Predator with Daemonic Possession, Twin-Linked Lascannon, Lascannon Sponsons - 165
- Predator with Daemonic Possession, Twin-Linked Lascannon, Lascannon Sponsons - 165
Total: 1754
Brennan's list didn't scare me too much. I didn't think the Sonic Blasters would be that big of a deal to face, but this was before I realized that rapid-fire weapons were a lot worse in 3rd edition. His Lord was pretty beefcake, which could cause some problems, and the Predators would make short work of the Defilers if given the chance.
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| Emperor's Children |
Brennan won the roll to pick his side and gave me the table quarter with less cover and took the side with the big hill. He then won the roll for deployment and had me deploy the first unit. It was an "I deploy, you deploy" system starting with Heavy Support, then Elites, Then HQs, then Troops, the Fast Attack. He then also won the roll for first turn and took it.
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| Iron Warriors Deployment |
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| Emperor's Children Deployment |
Turn 1
The Emperor's children begin to advance to try and get close enough to fire this turn. Both Predators attempt to shoot at the Vindicator, but are unable to see it in the darkness. The Dreadnought attempts to fire at a Defiler but meets a similar problem. The Obliterators try to shoot at my Obliterators but can't see them either. A real nothing turn.
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| End of Turn 1 Part 1 |
Shooting begins with one Defiler spotting the hulking form of the Dreadnought through the gloom. Opening fire with it's Reaper Autocannon, it manages to wreck it with a lucky penetrating hit. The other Defiler can't see the Predator up on the hill and so just hangs out. The Raptors fire their Meltaguns at the Obliterators, but their Daemonic nature saves them from all harm.
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| End of Turn 1 Part 2 |
The Slaaneshi Marines continue to maneuver around to get into position. The Lord's squad comes out from behind the building, hoping to fire on my Marines or the Raptors. The Obliterators move over to get a better shot as well. The Sorcerer's squad rushes over behind the large building in that quarter of the table, hoping to get behind it and hunker down. The last unit of Marines approaches the Daemon Prince a bit, trying to stay out of range of the Vindicator.
Catching a glint of metal in the dark, the Obliterators unleash their Autocannons into the Defiler on the flank, wrecking it. the Marines spot the fast moving raptors and manage to gun down the champion and the mook. Once again, both Predators fail to spot the Vindicator and so don't shoot. The small Marine unit see the Daemon Prince and unload their sonic weaponry on it, causing a wound.
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| Turn 2 Part 1 |
The defiler that moved manages to catch a glimps of the Predator on the hill and fires it's Autocannon again, and though he gets a glancing hit, the Possessed vehicle shrugs off the damage. The Raptors unleash their Meltaguns once more into the Obliterators and manage to kill one this time. The Large unit of Obliterators fails to spot the Predator on the hill, while the small unit fails to see the enemy Oblits. In a spectacular show of ineptitude, my Marines fail to spot the Lord's unit a mere 12 inches away. Once again the Vindicator can't shoot. The Raptors assault the Obliterators and fail to damage them, but lose one of their own in return.
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| End of Turn 2 Part 2 |
The Lord and his unit move towards my Marines, as does the smaller central unit. The Sorcerer moves out to try and shoot the Daemon Prince bearing down on him. Shooting begins with the Lord's squad shooting into my marines and killing 5 of them. The second squad fires at the Obliterators, but fails to do any damage. The Sorcerer's unit has similar luck against the Daemon Prince, who's armour manages to protect him this round. The Predators finally attempt to make themselves useful this turn and fire at the Vindicator. Luckily for me, the Vindicator's armour, coupled with cover from the building keep it nice and safe.
Assault begins and the Lord's unit assaults my Marines. The Lord kills a couple, as well as a few more going down to the Marines themselves. We decided to do challenges for style points, so the Champions square off, but it's just a slap fight. I do no damage in return. The Raptors fail to do any more damage again, and lose another one of their number, leaving only one in combat.
I move my Obliterators over, hoping to stall the advance of the Lord's unit for a turn or two. The large Oblit unit moves off towards the Predators. Both Defilers and the Marines remain where they are again to fire their Battlecannons. The Daemon Prince Jumps over towards the Sorcerer.
Finally presented with a target, the Vindicator launches its payload at the central Marine unit, but scatters badly and only kills two. The Defiler by the tall building fires into the Sorcerer's unit and only kills 1 Marine. The other Defiler can't see in the dark.
My Prince charges into the sorcerer's squad, and after the Sorcerer take a wound off it, manages to kill 2 marines and Crush the Sorcerer himself The Obliterators charge in to see the remnants of the Marine squad cut down, leaving just the two "champions" locked in their duel. The Obliterators only manage to kill two Marines themselves. Brennan's Obliterators finally dispatch of the last of the pesky Raptors
Turn 4
Things are hanging in the balance now. The Obliterators move farther downt the table to escape any possible retribution, while the central Marines hug the wall for the cover save. Shooting this Turn is once again underwhelming with the Predators and Obliterators unable to spot anything in the dark, and the Marines unable to wound the large Obliterator squad.
Assault goes much better for Brennan as his Lord and remaining Marines manage to wipe out the Obliterators, thanks to a slew of failed 2+ saves. The slap fight continues. On the other side of the board, the Daemon Prince kills another couple of marines and they reduce him to only 1 wound.
My Obliterators move towards the Predators hoping to do something to them finally. The Vindicator pivots to get a better shot at the Marines. Both Defilers hang out. Shooting sucks again, but I manage to get 3 Marines with the Vindicator and one Battle Cannon this time, reducing the squad to less than half strength.
In assault the Lord finally gets frustrated with his underling's incompetence and steps in to end my Aspiring Champion. My Daemon Prince continues to do poorly, slowly whittling away at the Marines, but not taking any wounds this turn.
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| End of Turn 4 |
Emboldened by his victory against the Marines, the Lord rushes forward to get rid of the Vindicator hammering his other squad. The remaining Marines move around bit to fire at the Obliterators again. Shooting once again does nothing though this time the Obliterators were able to fire on the Vindicator, but hit the statue in the center of the board. The Lord and his squad assault the Vindicator and finally manage to blow it up. The Daemon Prince punches out a Marine
Hearing the commotion with Daemonic ears, the Defiler that had been hanging back moves back around the building to get in range of the Marines. The Obliterators decide to go after the other Obliterators, hoping to drop them to less than half strength and take that quarter. Flailing with it's Heavy Flamer, the Defiler manages to kill a single Marine before charging in. All other shooting fails.
In assault, the Lord only manages to get one penetrating hit through on the Defiler, but only stuns it, which the beast ignores thanks to its Daemonic nature. The Defiler crushes two marines in retribution, before the Aspiring Champion clamps a Meltabomb to the walker, which also is ignored. Once again, the Daemon Prince punches a Marine to pulp and takes no wounds.
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| End of Turn 5 |
With the end of the battle in sight, the Obliterators move towards my Obliterators to try and take them out. The Predator on the hill pivots to shoot at them as well, and the other Predator pivots to shoot my Defiler. His Obliterators unleash their Plasma Guns, and manage to down one of my Obliterators. Luckily the Predator is basically useless.
In assault the Lord manages to wreck the Defiler, which flips over, nearly crushing him and his squad. The Daemon Prince finally kills the Marine squad and consolidates off towards the Predators.
The remaining defiler moves towards the Predator hoping to blow it up this turn. The Marines finally leap into action and move up to shoot at the lord and his squad. The Obliterators move towards their intended target. Shooting begins and the Obliterators fail to do any damage. The Defiler spots the Predator on the hill and peppers its flank with its Reaper Autocannon, wrecking it. The Marines fire at the Lord's Squad and manage to reduce them to only 4 models.
The Obliterators assault, but due to the long distance, only the front two get to attack. He downs one of mine, and I fail to kill his. The Daemon Prince assaults the remaining Predator and manages to wreck it.
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| End of Game |
Iron Warriors control 2 Quarters (Marines and Defiler)
Emperor's Children control 1 Quarter (Obliterators)
Post-Game Thoughts
That turned out to be a really close and really tough battle for me. The Night Fight mission definitely had a huge impact on the game, as it basically shut down most of the shooting. Brennan's Predators only got to fire 1 turn the whole game, and I also had turns where I felt like I didn't get to shoot at all.
Tactically I think I could have played a better game. I probably should have had my Obliterators all focus on his Marines with the Lord early on, and I should have held my Raptors back and used their speed to move in and take/contest a quarter at the end of the game. I also underestimated the Sonic Blasters and the flexibility they give you. Brennan was able to move around and fire with much more freedom thanks to the 24" range, while I effectively had 12".
The dice really made a big difference in this game. My Obliterators failing 2 2+ out of 4 rolls was terribad, and my Daemon Prince basically stayed in one combat the whole game. It seemed like every time I needed a 2+ I would roll at least one 1 in there, so it took him forever to get through that unit. Brennan felt it too though. His Predators basically sat around and did nothing all game, and while he cleaned up pretty well in assault, not having that Vindicator there really would have helped him a lot.
In the end though it was really fun to go back to the edition that Brennan and I first started playing in, and looking through the old Codex was a blast. We both agreed we'd have to do more of these retro battles, so stay tuned for some more 3rd, 4th and maybe even 5th edition games of Nostalgiahammer!
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