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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Khorne Deployment |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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.
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