This was an 1750 battle between my Chaos Space Marines, and Brennan's Chaos Space Marines. The mission was the Crusade with a Hammer and Anvil deployment.
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| The Board |
The Armies
Nurgle and Tzeentch
HQ:
- Chaos Lord with Mark of Nurgle, Bike, Lightning Claw, Meltabombs, and Sigil of Corruption, Gift of
Mutation (Warlord) - 155
- Sorcerer with Mark of Tzeentch, Mastery Level 3, Terminator Armour, Gift of Mutation, Spell Familiar
Meltabombs, Sigil of Corruption, Force Axe - 205
Elites:
- 6 Terminators of Tzeentch with 3x Combi-Meltas, 3x Combi-Plasmas, 2x Power Axe, 1x Power Maul, 3x
Power Sword, Gift of Mutation - 260
Troops:
- 7 Plague Marines with 2x Plasma Guns, Meltabombs, Powerfist in Rhino with Dozer Blade - 268
- 7 Plague Marines with 2x Plasma Guns, Meltabombs, Powerfist in Rhino with Dozer Blade - 268
- 10 Thousand Sons with Gift of Mutation, and Force Axe in a Rhino with Dozer Blade - 315
Fast Attack:
- 4 Spawn with Mark of Nurgle - 144
Heavy Support:
- Maulerfiend with Lasher Tendrils - 135
Total: 1750
This was a fun list I threw together that heavily relied upon expensive troops in Rhinos to try and get them where they needed to be. The Plague Marines would be great for holding objectives, as Plague Marines in cover can be very hard to shift, and it would require nothing less than their complete destruction to get them off the objective. The Thousand Sons would be great for gunning down Marine squads, and for tarpitting anything big and scary, not to mention the Force Axe would be able to cut down some HQs. The Terminators and Sorcerer would Deep Strike in and deal with any armour or heavy troops that he may have.
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| My Army |
Slaanesh Marines
HQ:
- Chaos Lord with Mark of Slaanesh, Murder Sword, Gift of Mutation, Sigil of Corruption, Meltabombs
(Warlord) - 155
- Sorcerer with Mastery Level 3, Gift of Mutation, Sigil of Corruption, Meltabombs,
Spell Familiar, Force Sword - 165
Elites:
- Decimator Engine with Mark of Slaanesh, 2x Siege Claws - 220
Troops:
- 9 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Slaanesh with 1x Plasma Gun, Icon of Excess, 8x Close Combat
Weapon, Meltabombs in Rhino with extra Combi-Bolter and Dozer Blade - 256
- 9 Chaos Space Marines with Mark of Slaanesh with 1x Plasma Gun, Icon of Excess, 8x Close Combat
Weapon, Meltabombs in Rhino with extra Combi-Bolter and Dozer Blade - 256
Heavy Support:
- Predator Tank with Twin-Linked Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- Predator Tank with Twin-Linked Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- Defiler with Warpflame Gargoyles - 200
Formation:
- Helcult - 220
- 10 Cultists with Mark of Slaanesh - 60
- 10 Cultists with Autoguns - 60
- Helbrute - 100
Total: 1752
This was a sort of scary list for me, as I didn't have tons of anti-armour outside the Terminators and the Maulerfiend. If the Decimator and Defiler were to get stuck in with my troops there'd be pretty much nothing I could do about it. Unfortunately, the Terminators can only destroy 1 thing the turn they come in, and the Maulerfiend is fairly fragile, so it could easily be blown up right away.
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| Brennan's Army |
The Game
We started by rolling our upkeep. My Lord on the Bike got Re-Rollable Armour Saves, the Sorcerer got Feel no Pain, the Aspiring Sorcerer got +1 Toughness, and the Terminator Champion got Poisoned melee attacks.The Sorcerer got Iron Arm, Gift of Mutation, and Flame Breath, and the Aspiring Sorcerer got Doombolt. Brennan got Inferno, Endurance, and Invisibility on his Sorcerer. Neither of us got useful Warlord Traits. We rolled for table side and I chose the side with more buildings on it so he would have less to hide behind. We then rolled for first turn and I chose to go first.
I deployed first and Deployed my Maulerfiend, the Spawn and Lord, and the Thousand Sons in the middle behind the large tower in the middle. The two squads of Plague Marines went on either flank, and the Terminators and Sorcerer went into Deep Strike reserves.
Brennan Deployed second and deployed his Lord's Rhino on the left flank, and the Sorcerer's Rhino on the right flank The Decimator went alongside the Sorcerer's Rhino, and the Defiler went on the far left flank. One Predator was deployed on each flank, and the Helbrute with the Slaaneshi Cultists were deployed near the Lord's Rhino and the shooty Cultists went on a building in the rear of his deployment zone with the objective.
Turn 1
The Lord and his Spawn begin by rushing forward up the left flank of the central building. The Maulerfiend races up the central building to end up mostly hidden. The Thousand Sons Rhino moves forward to hide behind the central building, waiting for their movement to strike. The Plague Marines on the right move over to the building with the objective on it, and jump out into the building and onto the battlements. and the Marines on the left move forwards as fast as possible. Both the Plague Marines Rhinos pop smoke. The Plague Marines on the building take some pot shots with their Plasma Guns, but fail to do any damage to the Sorcerer's Rhino.
The Sorcerer casts Invisibility on his Rhino. The Slaanesh Lord moves his Rhino Towards the Nurgle Lord, who he has vowed to kill and the Marines jump out of their ride. The Cultists and Helbrute move forward hoping to get close enough for an assault. The Defiler moves along with the Predator to try and get line of sight to the Maulerfiend. The Sorcerer's Rhino moves up towards the Plague Marines on the right.
Shooting starts with the Defiler taking a shot at the Maulerfiend, luckily, it's Daemonic nature saves it. The Predator then shoots at it and manages to get a glancing hit through. The other Predator fires everything into the Plague Marine's Rhino, but thanks to the smoke, fails to damage it. The Lord's Marines shoot everything at the Spawn and manage to do a single wound. In the assault phase, the cultists attempt to assault, but fail their roll.
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| End of Turn 1 |
Turn 2
Seeing a time to strike, the Sorcerer leads his Terminator squad through the warp, stepping out of a portal behind the Helbrute. The Lord splits off from the Spawn and heads towards the Cultists, while the Spawn race up towards the Lord and his Marines. The Maulerfiend heads towards the Defiler, hoping to engage it this turn. The Thousand Sons drive over and hop out of their Rhino to blast apart the Slaaneshi Marines with their inferno bolts. The left Plague Marines drive forward, ready to lend their support where needed.
Unleashing their Combi-Meltas, and the power of the Warp, the Terminators manage and Sorcerer manage to blow up the Helbrute for first blood, and the Sorcerer's Flame Breath kills a single Cultist as well. The Thousand Sons fire into the Marine squad and kill over half the squad, while the Lord kills a single Cultist with his Bolters. The Plague Marines take some potshots at the Marines with their Plasma Guns, but fail to do anything. The other Plague Marines fire at the Invisible Rhino, but predictably, fail to do anything to it.
In the assault phase, the Spawn charge the Marines, the Lord charges the Cultists, and the Maulerfiend makes it in with the Defiler. In combat, the Maulerfiend tears the Defiler limb from limb, and manages to survive. The Lord kills a bunch of Cultists, but they're fearless because of the Helcult formation. The Spawn kill a Marine or two and take a wound in return, but again, it ends up mostly as a big slap fight.
The Sorcerer attempts to cast Invisibility again, but fails, even with the re-roll from his Spell Familiar (double elevens!). The Sorcerer's Rhino moves up and the Marines jump out to fire upon the Plague Marines on the objective. The Decimator moves over to help out the Lord with the Spawn. The Predators both turn to target the Maulerfiend this turn.
Shooting starts with the left Predator firing at the Maulerfiend and wrecking it. The other Predator fires its Lascannons at the Terminators and kills 2. The Cultists on the building kill another Terminator with their Autoguns. The Lord's Empty Rhino fails to kill any Termies. The Sorcerer casts Inferno at the Plague Marines, but they Deny the Witch. The Marines all shoot at them, and kill 2 Plague Marines.
In combat, the Lord reduces the Cultist unit to 4 and takes no wounds in return. The Spawn succeed in killing a few more Marines, but lose two of their number as well.
Seeing a time to strike, the Sorcerer leads his Terminator squad through the warp, stepping out of a portal behind the Helbrute. The Lord splits off from the Spawn and heads towards the Cultists, while the Spawn race up towards the Lord and his Marines. The Maulerfiend heads towards the Defiler, hoping to engage it this turn. The Thousand Sons drive over and hop out of their Rhino to blast apart the Slaaneshi Marines with their inferno bolts. The left Plague Marines drive forward, ready to lend their support where needed.
Unleashing their Combi-Meltas, and the power of the Warp, the Terminators manage and Sorcerer manage to blow up the Helbrute for first blood, and the Sorcerer's Flame Breath kills a single Cultist as well. The Thousand Sons fire into the Marine squad and kill over half the squad, while the Lord kills a single Cultist with his Bolters. The Plague Marines take some potshots at the Marines with their Plasma Guns, but fail to do anything. The other Plague Marines fire at the Invisible Rhino, but predictably, fail to do anything to it.
In the assault phase, the Spawn charge the Marines, the Lord charges the Cultists, and the Maulerfiend makes it in with the Defiler. In combat, the Maulerfiend tears the Defiler limb from limb, and manages to survive. The Lord kills a bunch of Cultists, but they're fearless because of the Helcult formation. The Spawn kill a Marine or two and take a wound in return, but again, it ends up mostly as a big slap fight.
The Sorcerer attempts to cast Invisibility again, but fails, even with the re-roll from his Spell Familiar (double elevens!). The Sorcerer's Rhino moves up and the Marines jump out to fire upon the Plague Marines on the objective. The Decimator moves over to help out the Lord with the Spawn. The Predators both turn to target the Maulerfiend this turn.
Shooting starts with the left Predator firing at the Maulerfiend and wrecking it. The other Predator fires its Lascannons at the Terminators and kills 2. The Cultists on the building kill another Terminator with their Autoguns. The Lord's Empty Rhino fails to kill any Termies. The Sorcerer casts Inferno at the Plague Marines, but they Deny the Witch. The Marines all shoot at them, and kill 2 Plague Marines.
In combat, the Lord reduces the Cultist unit to 4 and takes no wounds in return. The Spawn succeed in killing a few more Marines, but lose two of their number as well.
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| End of Turn 2 |
Turn 3
The Tzeentchian Sorcerer begins by casting Iron Arm on himself getting +2 strength and toughness. He casts Gift of Mutation on the Terminator Champion, but he gets something stupid. With the powers dealt with, the Sorcerer splits off from his bodyguard and heads over to help out the Spawn against the Lord. The Terminators move to go beat up the Predator. The Plague Marines in their Rhino move to try and put some fire into the Predator's side armour to maybe blow it up or something. the Thousand Sons jump back into their transport and drive over to lend their aid to the other flank. The last Rhino moves right up against the door of the building the Plague Marines are in to block it off.
The Tzeentchian Sorcerer begins by casting Iron Arm on himself getting +2 strength and toughness. He casts Gift of Mutation on the Terminator Champion, but he gets something stupid. With the powers dealt with, the Sorcerer splits off from his bodyguard and heads over to help out the Spawn against the Lord. The Terminators move to go beat up the Predator. The Plague Marines in their Rhino move to try and put some fire into the Predator's side armour to maybe blow it up or something. the Thousand Sons jump back into their transport and drive over to lend their aid to the other flank. The last Rhino moves right up against the door of the building the Plague Marines are in to block it off.
Shooting begins with the Plague Marines firing out of their Rhino at the Predator, but they fail to do anything. The Plague Marines on the other flank shoot into the Marines and kill a couple. The Aspiring Sorcerer fires off a Doombolt from the hatch of his Rhino at the Marines and their Rhino, but the Sorcerer denies him. The Bolter from the Son manages to kill a Marine though.
In combat, the Sorcerer charges into the melee with the Spawn and challenges the Lord to single combat. The Terminators charge the Predator tank. The Lord lashes out with his Murder Sword, but the Sorcerer's thick Terminator Armour protects him, and he dispatches the Lord with his Force Axe. The Spawn kill another Marine, leaving only the icon bearer left in the squad, but he holds. The Bike Lord kills another couple of Cultists, but the last two stick it out stubbornly. The Terminators mange to knock out one of the Predator's Sponsons, but it is otherwise unharmed.
The Sorcerer casts Invisibility on his squad again, and they stay more or less where they are. The Rhino rams the Thousand Sons' Rhino, but neither vehicle takes any damage. The Decimator moves right up to the combat with the Spawn and Marine. The Predator on the left moves a bit and turns to blow up the Plague Marine's Rhino while the other one pivots to shoot the one blocking the door to the Plague Marine's building.
The Marines open fire on the Plague Marines, with the Sorcerer once again casting Inferno, and manage to kill 2 more. The Predators open fire on the Rhinos, but cover saves them both. The Cultists on the roof shoot at the Terminators again, but fail to do any damage.
In the assault phase, the Decimator charges the Sorcerer. The Decimator puts all of its attacks on the Sorcerer, but only gets one wound through. The Spawn fail to kill the Marine, and he has similar success. The Sorcerer sticks a Meltabomb on the Decimator, but it's saved by its Daemon save. The Lord only manages to kill one more cultist, leaving him stuck for yet another turn.
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| End of Turn 3 |
Turn 4
The Sorcerer again casts Iron Arm on himself and gets a 2. The Rhino in front of the door of the building moves forward to make room for the Thousand Sons who leap from their Rhino to lay into the Sorcerer and his squad. The Plague Marines in their Rhino move to try and take some shots at the Cultists on the building. The Terminators move to assault the building.
The Thousand Sons and Plague Marines fire everything they have at the Sorcerer's squad and kill all but the Sorcerer and one Marine. Firing from the other Plague Marines does nothing. In assault, the last Marine is finally killed, and the Sorcerer fails to do any damage to the Decimator again. The Lord finally manages to cut free of the Cultists, and the Terminators destabilize the building a bit and kill a couple of Cultists.
The Sorcerer casts Endurance on himself and his Marine and prepares to assault. The Predators once again fire at the Rhinos, but fail to blow anything up. The Cultists shoot at the Lord, but fail to do any damage. The Sorcerer Charges into the Thousand Sons, but it ends up being a big slap fight and everyone survives. The Decimator has a better time of it this Turn and manages to kill the Sorcerer.
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| End of Turn 4. |
Turn 5
The Plague Marines move over and hop out of their Rhino and move towards the objective, but they're pretty out of position and will need another turn to get there. The Terminators move into the building to try and go in and wipe the Cultists off their objective. The last few Plague Marines from the other squad leap from the roof of their building to engage the Marines.
In the assault. The Plague Marines assault the Marine and Sorcerer. The Aspiring Sorcerer wins the challenge with his Force Axe and cuts down the Sorcerer, while the Plague Marines easily finish off the last Marine.
At this point Brennan concedes as there's no way to pull a victory.
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| End of Turn 5 |
Total Points:
Nurgle/Tzeentch: 6 (1 objective, First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker)
Slaanesh: 4 (1 Objective, Linebreaker)
Post-Game Thoughts
That was a really interesting game with interesting lists. I thought for sure that I was going to have an uphill battle set out for me with all that armour, but some luck on my part really made it not so bad. The Terminators sticking the landing and taking out the Helbrute turn 2 was pretty clutch, as was the Maulerfiend making it into combat and taking down the Defiler. Without those two beasts in the game I had a much easier time gaining control of the board which really won me the day.
That being said, I definitely think I could have played a better game. Firstly, I think instead of sending the Terminators off to deal with the Predator it would have been more prudent to have kept them back to go help out the Lord, as he got stuck in combat for most of the game against a stupid unit of fearless Cultists. This would have freed up the Lord to rip around and maybe take out the Decimator, the Predator, or with some luck, both. Next, I really should have kept the Plague Marines in the Rhino right on the Objective in the center. Moving them up to try and engage the Predator and the Cultists was stupid, as they were unlikely to have done much anyways, and they would have been much better used sitting on the 3rd objective.
Brennan played a pretty solid game, but got betrayed pretty heavily by the dice once again. Failing Invisibility was bad, and he failed a charge against the Spawn on turn 2 which could really have swung things in his favour on that flank. I'm still having a hard time seeing a use for Decimators, at least with the Close Combat loadout. They just seem too slow to get to where they're needed.
On a side note, I'd like to give a shout out to Force Weapons. Both of Brennan's HQs fell in a single hit to Force Weapons, and I think they're totally awesome if you can bring them to bear.
As always, thanks for reading and make sure to comment below on the army lists and/or tactics used in this game!
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