This is the first battle report of a series of games between my Black Legion army, and Brennan's Imperial Guard, the Children of Tarr. The battles will be depicting the invasion of a moon orbiting Tarr by a force of Chaos Space Marines for reasons still unknown to the Guardsmen defending their homeworld.
For this campaign, we will each have some named characters who will be leading our armies at different points during the campaign. Should one of these characters be killed in a battle, the controlling player will roll on a table to see what actually happens to the character. They may be killed, wounded in some way, or make a miraculous escape. We will also be tweaking some rules a little to make them work better for a long story. For example, any boons that my Characters get will stay with them until the end of the campaign, and we have decided to modify the Dark Apotheosis result on the boon table a little bit to make a little more sense. Should one of my Characters have mastery levels and become a Prince, the Prince will retain those mastery levels. Likewise, should a Character with a jump pack get Dark Apotheosis, the Daemon Prince will be gifted with Wings. Lastly, since Badru is a Death Moon, we decided that the likelihood of razorwing flocks and carnivorous jungles would be much higher, so we changed the table to reflect that.
There will also likely be some custom scenarios. We will endeavor to make these as balanced as possible, and may even redo games if the mission ended up favoring one side too heavily. With all this in mind, lets get to it.
This first battle is the first interaction between the two forces. The points limit was 1250. The mission is a custom scenario with 3 objectives, one in each deployment zone, and one in no man's land. The objective in our own zones is worth 1 point at the end of the game, the one in the middle is worth 2, and the one in the enemy zone is worth 3. This is to represent the Chaos forces attempting to push into the encampment, and the Guard force attempting to establish a perimeter. In addition, we agreed that no Heavy Support units would be taken, and instead up to 4 Fast Attack choices would be allowed. Also, we decided to give all fast attack units Objective secured, to help represent their importance in a scouting mission. We rolled for deployment type and got Dawn of War, with night fighting not in effect.
The Armies
Black Legion
HQ:
- Lord Festus the Undying - Chaos Lord with Mark of Nurgle, Black Mace, Bike, Sigil of Corruption Gift of Mutation (Re-Roll failed Armour Saves), Meltabombs, Warlord (Feel no Pain) - 185
- Zargor Thull - Chaos Lord with Mark of Khorne, Axe of Blind Fury, Juggernaught, Sigil of Corruption, Gift of Mutation (Icy Aura) - 180
Troops:
- 14 Cultists with Mark of Nurgle - 100
- 16 Cultists with Mark of Khorne - 112
- 7 Plague Marines with 2x Plasma Guns, Champion with Gift of Mutation in a Rhino - 243
Fast Attack:
- 5 Spawn with Mark of Nurgle - 180
- 8 Bikers with Mark of Khorne, 2x Meltaguns, Icon of Wrath, and Champion with Power Maul and Gift of Mutation - 251
Total: 1251
Led by 2 Chaos Lords, both mounted up, this was going to be a very fast and killy list. The Cultists would help give me some numbers and take objectives after the Lords and their retinues had cleared the way. The Plague Marines would be able to take an objective and hunker down, hopefully proving tough enough to survive.
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| The Forces of Chaos |
Children of Tarr
HQ:
Field Commander Lzick - Company Command Squad with 4 Veterans with Camo Cloaks, Carapace Armour, 2x Plasma Guns, Vox Caster, and Medi-Pack with Lzick with Power Sword, Carapace Armour, Bolt Pistol, Meltabombs, and Camo Cloak in a Chimera with an Autocannon - 246
Elites:
- 3 Ratlings - 30
Troops:
- 10 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Camo Gear, Vox Caster, 3x Grenade Launchers, in a Chimera with Autocannon - 175
- 10 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Camo Gear, Vox Caster, 3x Grenade Launchers, in a Chimera with Autocannon - 175
- 10 Veterans with Carapace Armour, Camo Gear, Vox Caster, 3x Meltaguns, in a Chimera with Autocannon - 190
Fast Attack:
- 3 Scout Sentinels with Lascannons - 135
- 3 Scout Sentinels with Lascannons - 135
- 3 Tauros with Camo Netting and Tauros Grenade Launchers - 165
Total: 1251
This list has lots of stuff that I would expect to see in an Imperial Guard recon force. Plenty of APCs, Sentinals, Tauros, and skilled men and women with good gear. The main thing that was going to be an issue for me was all the armour. I have basically 1 unit that can deal with armour well, and basically everything is all mech'd up, so if my Bikes die too soon I could have a really hard time with this list.
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| Note that the Hellbrutes and Heavy Weapons are stand ins for his Sentinels |
Brennan won the roll off for first turn and elected to go first. His deployment was pretty simple, with the Sentinels on either flank, and all the Chimeras stretched in between them. The Tauros went on the right , and the Ratlings infiltrated up a bit on the right.
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| Guard deployment |
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| Chaos Deployment |
With the chaos hordes approaching, the Commander Lzick orders a slight advance of all of his troops to try and take down as much as possible. All of the Autocannons and Heavy Bolters from the Chimeras unload on the Spawn, as well as all the Grenade Launchers in range. and in the end, 3 of the mutated monstrosites are destroyed. The Ratlings take aim at the Cultists, hoping to kill a couple, but thanks to the small shrine they are unharmed. With not much other armour to deal with, the Sentinels both fire into the Rhino, Immobilizing it and doing another hull point, but not destroying it.
With his bodyguard already dwindling, Lord Festus spurs his Spawn into action. Needing little encouragement, and not to be outdone by his fellow Lord, Zargor and his bikes blast forward recklessly, and Zargor takes an injury whilst charging through the dense jungles. The Khorne Cultists advance as well, though not as quickly as their commander, and the Plague Marines disembark from their damaged transport.
Electing not to fire, the Rhino's crew get to work trying to fix their damaged tank, and manage to repair its immobilization! The Plague Marines fire their Plasma Guns into the Sentinels, but their shots prove ineffective.
Finally, the Bikes and Spawn charge. The Bikes lose a member of their unit to overwatch fire from Lzick's Command Squad, but spurred on by their dedication to Khorne, they make the long charge into the vehicle. The Spawn charge into the Tauros, and despite it also being a long charge, also make it into combat. Zargor makes short work of the Chimera with his axe, the passengers spilling out of the rear hatch as he carves his way in and murders the crewmen.The Tauros fare a little better with a pair of their crews being killed by the Spawn and Festus.
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| End of Turn 1/ Shooting Phase Turn 2 |
His Chimera destroyed, Lzick and his squad fall back to try and put as much distance between himself and the crazed Zargor as possible. The other Chimeras adjust themselves to draw lines of fire on the Bikes, and the Tauros tears away from Festus and his Spawn.
Once again, both units of Sentinels fire into the Rhino, this time a Lascannon finding the feul tank, causing the APC to explode spectacularly. The two Chimeras on the left flank unload into the Bikes, but their armour does a remarkable job of protecting them and only one more biker is killed. The final Chimera, Tauros, and Ratlings fire into Festus' unit and kill another Spawn, wound the last Spawn, and wound Festus himself. Finally, Lzick orders his men to fire at Zargor Thune, who is wounded by a Plasma Gun.
Spotting the enemy commander, Festus leaves the Spawn to its own devices and heads off alone to fight Commander Lzick. Zargor likewise leaves the Bikes to take down another Chimera while they head over to kill the one on the left flank. The Spawn rushes over to destroy the last remaining Tauros, while both the Khorne Cultists and Plague Marines advance.
Taking a some pot shots at the Chimera's exposed flank with their Plasma Guns proves ineffective for the Plague Marines thanks to the dense jungle obscuring it. The Cultists, eager to prove themselves to their Lord run further, hoping to shed some blood soon. The Meltaguns of the Bikes manage to damage the Chimera, but not enough to destroy it, forcing the Bikes to assault once more.
In the Assault, Zargor charges and easily wrecks his second Chimera, and the Bike Champion smashed the other Chimera into a wreck with his Power Maul. The Spawn charges into the last Tauros and wrecks it as well. Finally, Festus charges into Lzick's Command Squad and challenges the commander to single combat. He has some difficulty controling the Daemon bound to his Mace however, and only manages to wound Lzick, who is protected by his refractor field. Unfortunately, the dark energies of the Black Mace take their toll on the Scout Master, who crumples to the ground in a heap. Taking their revenge, Lzick's Veterans deal another wound to Festus, who is busy basking in the reward granted to him by Nurgle, before running off with the body of their commander.
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| End of Turn 2 |
Turn 3
With Festus and Zargor both injured, the remaining Guardsmen target the two lords with all their firepower, and though Zargor is nearly brought down, when the dust clears, the two Lords are still standing, and more angry then ever. Thankfully, the Veterans of Lzick's command squad were able to relay a message to high command, who order a general retreat, leaving the forces of chaos to consolidate their position in the captured encampment.
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| End of Turn 3(ish) |
Post-Game Thoughts
That was a pretty fun game, and honestly the only reason it ended so quickly and decisively was that my dice were on fire! The two charges from the Bikes and Spawn turn 1 were 11 and 12 inch charges that I managed to make, thanks to fleet and the Icon of Wrath, and that really was the turning point here. Additionally, I made a ton of saves with my Bikes, and managed to save away 3 Lascannons firing at Festus on turn 3, which is pretty much when we decided to call it.
All that being said, I think that maybe Brennan should have gotten his Guardsmen out of their transports early to bring some more weight of fire down on me. Granted his lasguns would be wounding on 6s, but those extra dice could have made some difference.
On another note, having the named characters really made it feel more important that they survive for me. I really didn't want to lose one of my Lords in the first battle, and while it didn't make me play any more cautiously, it did make it a whole lot more exciting. It was also cool to have more of a reason for the battle to be taking place. Now that the Black Legion has a foothold, the Children of Tarr may have a much harder time wiping them off their planet.
