This is part 2 of our narrative campaign featuring my Black Legion army and Brennan's Children of Tarr. In this part, we have the attempted re-taking of the Imperial outpost in order to keep the Chaos forces from getting a solid foothold on the world. This battle we did the Crusade mission with 3 Objectives, with a Hammer and Anvil Deployment.
The Armies
Black Legion
HQ:
- Lord Ankhotep - Sorcerer with 3 Mastery Levels, Spell Familiar, Mark of Tzeentch, Terminator Armour, Sigil of Corruption, Gift of Mutation (+1 Weapon Skill), Veterans of the Long War, Combi-Melta, and Force Staff - 212
- Asarune the Perverse - Sorcerer with 3 Mastery Levels, Spell Familiar, Mark of Slaanesh, Sigil of Corruption, Gift of Mutation (Shred), Veterans of the Long War, Meltabombs, and Force Sword - 185
Elites:
- 5 Chaos Terminators with Mark of Tzeentch, 5x Combi-Meltas, 3x Chainfist, and 2x Power Maul with a Gift of Mutation (+1 Toughness) Veterans of the Long War - 273
Troops:
- 10 Chaos Space Marines with Lascannon, Plasma Gun, and Veternas of the Long War, in a Rhino with Havoc Launcher and Dozer Blade - 251
- 6 Thousand Sons with Force Sword, in a Rhino with Dozer Blades - 213
Heavy Support:
- Predator with Lascannon Turret and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
- Predator with Lascannon Turret and Lascannon Sponsons - 140
Fortification:
- Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Lascannon - 85
Total: 1499
In this battle I wanted to bring out the other characters leading this Black Legion army. The two Sorcerers would be working together in order to hold the ground taken by the more blunt Chaos Lords. Under the overall command of Lord Ankhotep, this force consists mainly of Tzeentch aligned units, in order to further illustrate his dominance over the ambitious and powerful Asarune. The Chaos forces have had a little time to fortify, and have put up an Aegis Defence Line at the edge of the camp for some added cover, and have brought in a pair of Predator tanks to defend against a potential armoured push from the puny Guardsmen. Ankhotep plans to wait in reserve with his Terminator Bodyguard until the time is right to teleport in, and put both his psychic might and his unit's firepower to good use.
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| The Black Legion |
HQ:
- Tank Commander Harris - in a Vanquisher with Multi-Melta Sponsons, Camo Netting, with 2 Leman Russ Eradicators with Heavy Flamer Sponsons and Camo Netting - 490
- Primaris Psyker with 2 Mastery Levels - 75
Elites:
- 3 Ratlings - 30
Troops:
- 12 Veterans with 3x Plasma Guns, Camo Gear, Snare Mines, and Grenadiers in a Chimera with Camo Netting and a Dozer Blade - 215
- 12 Veterans with 3x Plasma Guns, Camo Gear, Snare Mines, and Grenadiers in a Chimera with Camo Netting and a Dozer Blade - 215
Fast Attack:
- Drop Sentinel with Multi-Melta and Camo Netting - 80
- Hellhound with Multi-Melta, Camo Netting, and Dozer Blade - 155
- Hellhound with Multi-Melta, Camo Netting, and Dozer Blade - 155
Heavy Support:
- Hydra with Camo Netting - 85
Total: 1500
With a long trek from the main Hive on Badru through the dangerous jungles of the death moon, the Imperial Guard have come prepared, equipped with plenty of Flamers to help clear a path to the camp. Commander Harris also came prepared with a couple of Eradicators, who's shells can pierce through even the thickest cover. In addition he brought along a Primaris Psyker to help defend against any potential dark energies that they may encounter.
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| Children of Tarr |
Brennan and I rolled off for first turn and I won the roll, opting to go first. My deployment was easy with a Predator in the middle, and one on the right flank. The Sons in their Rhino went in between the two Predators behind a building. Finally the Chaos Marines with Asarune went on the left flank to operate the Lascannon. Ankhotep went into Deep Strike reserve with the Terminators. Asarune generated Fire Shield, Endurance and Smite, as well as Sensory Overload, and Ankhotep generated Psychic Shriek, Invisibility, and Mental Fortitude, as well as Tzeench's Firestorm. The Aspiring Sorcerer generated Doombolt and Tzeentch's Firestorm.
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| Black Legion Deployment |
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| The Children of Tarr Deployment |
Turn 1
The Black Legion army moves very little, opting to hunker down in their fortifications while the Imperial armour advances. The Thousand Sons' Rhino advances slightly to glimpse a Ratling in the Dark.
Channeling the dark energies of the Warp, Asarune casts Endurance on his unit, and Fire Shield on the furthest Predator Tank. While casting the latter however, he suffers some psychic backlash, and is wounded.
The Rhino unleashes a storm of missiles from its Havoc Launcher into the dark jungles, and kills two of the Ratlings hiding in the swamp, who break and run. The center predator targets the lead Hellhound with its Lascannons, glancing the vehicle, before illuminating it with its searchlight. The other Predator attempts to finish the job, but only shakes the tank. Fire from the Icarus Lascannon, and the Marine's Lascannon stabs in at the Hellhound as well, but strike some intervening cover instead.
The Ratling manages to regroup and moves back towards his objective. Commander Harris orders a general advance and both Hellhounds and Chimeras move forwards. Unfourtunately, the Chimeras disturb a nest of Razorwings, and one of them takes some minor damage from the creatures before escaping the trees.
Harris orders his squadron to fire into the Chaos Marines manning the Lascannon, and between the Chimeras and Eradicators, half the squad dies, including the Lascannon Marine. Harris Fires his Vanquisher into the illuminated Predator, but misses his mark, while the Hellhounds both fire their Multi-Meltas at it, only to be blocked by the Aegis Defence Line.
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| End of Turn 1 |
With a flash of iridescent light, Ankhotep and his body guard teleport behind Commander Harris' squadron, Unfortunately, a miscalculation causes a rough transit, which wounds Lord Ankhotep, despite his Terminator Armour. The Marines advance to the wall slightly in order to draw better lines of fire, and the Thousand Sons exit their Rhino and climb onto the top of the watch tower.
As quickly as they came, Ankhotep and his Terminators disappear, their presence removed from the enemies' minds by the mighty Sorcerer Lord. Once again Asarune uses the power of the Warp to infuse his unit with unnatural vigor. Finally, the Aspiring Sorcerer sends a lance of psychic energy into the damaged Hellhound, but it is deflected by the vehicle's armour.
With a single command from their master, the Terminators unleash the fury of their Combi-Meltas, aiming for the ammo holds of the Leman Russ squadron. In a cataclysmic blast, all 3 vehicles have their ammo stores ignite, blowing their once-mighty vehicles to smithereens, and showering the Terminators with shrapnel. The rightmost Predator fires its Lascannons again into the damaged Hellhound, this time wrecking the vehicle, and the other Predator unleashes its weapons at the other Hellhound, shaking it as well. The Rhino once again fires the Havoc Launcher at the Ratling, but this time its missiles scatter wide, blasting harmlessly into the foliage.
Dropping in from the skies comes the Sentinel, landing right behind the Predator and Rhino. Heedless of their Commander's demise, the Chimeras plow onward, once again suffering some predations from the denizens of the moon. The Hellhound also advances, hoping for a lucky shot against the center Predator. With the Terminators so close, the Hydra drives off the hill.
The Sentinel fires its Multi-Melta into the rear of the Predator, but it's shot just clips the vehicle, merely glancing its armour. The Hellound shoots its Multi-Melta at the other Predator, but its crew is too shaken up to hit anything. Once again, both Chimeras and the Veterans inside unload on the Marines, killing the Plasma Marine, and a few others. Finally, the Hydra shoots at Ankhotep's squad, but their armour protects them.
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| End of Turn 2 |
With the Imperial forces approaching the battle line, Asarune orders his squad out to attempt an assault on the Chimeras. The Aspiring Sorcerer pushes his way to the back of his unit, ready to unleash his psychic might into the Sentinel, and the glanced Predator turns around to bring its Lascannons to bear, and the Marines' Rhino rushes over to reinforce their objective. Finally, after having fended off some carniverous plants in the jungle, Ankhotep urges his unit towards the lone Ratling and its objective.
Neither of the Sorcerer Lords attempt to manifest any powers this turn, deciding that the risk to their own being is not worth it. The Aspiring Sorcerer fires his Doombolt into the Sentinel and glances its armour.
As expected, the Predator easily finishes off the Drop Sentinel with its payload. The other Predator fires into the Hellhound and wrecks it as well. The Terminators fire their Combi-Bolters long range and kill off the Ratling in the swamp, and finally the Marines throw a Krak Grenade at the nearest Chimera, but it bounces harmlessly off its armour. With their opening Gambit having failed, the Marines attempt a charge into the vehicle, only for the first member of the unit to be blown apart by Plasma fire from the hatch. With casualties taken, and the thick underbrush impeding them, the assault loses momentum before they can make their target.
With Asarune's unit now in the open, both Chimeras maneuver to try and finish off the Sorcerer. Unfortunately, in doing so, both of the transports disturb yet more Razorwings, which further damage their hulls. The Primaris psyker tries to use his powers on the Marines, but Asarune's psychic might easily denies his feeble attempts.
Both units and Chimeras unleash their entire payloads into Asarune and his unit, and though their power armour holds out for awhile, eventually the sheer weight of fire wipes out all the Marines, and fells Asarune himself. Once again, the Hydra fires into the Terminators, this time killing one.
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| End of Turn 3 |
His rival defeated, Ankhotep continues his relentless push forward, aiming to trap the Guardsmen in a pincer maneuver. The Rhino moves forward a bit to try and get an arc of fire on the Primaris Psyker's Chimera, and the Aspiring Sorcerer pushes back to the front of his unit to try and get a shot at the Chimera as well. With the Sentinel dealt with, the Predator turns back around and moves up to target the oncoming APCs, and the other Predator pivots as well. Once again, very few powers are cast, with the Doombolt on the Chimera being denied, and all other powers simply bouncing off the armour, and it takes both Predators to finally reduce the Chimera to a wreck.
The last Chimera plows over the Aegis Defence Line, and right up to the Icarus Lascannon, aiming to claim the objective held by the Rhino. Meanwhile, the Primaris Psyker stays where he is. Once again, he attempts to manifest his powers, this time at Ankhotep, but the mighty Sorcerer dispels them.
Firing all their remaining Plasma Guns, as well as their Lasguns, the Veterans manage to gun down two more Terminators. The other unit is a little less successful, only glancing the armour of the Rhino camped out on its objective.
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| End of Turn 4 |
The guardsmen finally in the open and their assault force in shambles, Ankhotep presses his advantage, moving in closer to the Psyker's unit. All the Predators shift around to Draw lines of fire on the remaining vehicles.
With their prey in the open, the two remaining Sorcerers unleash a devestating barrage of witchfire into the guardsmen, slaying all but four, including the Primaris Psyker. The Center Predator fires at the last Chimera, but fails to damage it, and the other one fires at the Hydra with similar results. Lastly, the Terminators charge the remaining Guardsmes, and though one is killed by overwatch fire, Ankhotep and his last remaining Terminator charge in and kill only two Guardsmen, the others running for their lives.
Their force in shambles, and their Commander's fate presumably grim, the remaining forces flee into the jungle, back towards the hive city.
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| End of Game |
This was another rough battle for Brennan, as it seemed like nothing went his way. As I mentioned before, we're using an alternate table for our mysterious forests, and so pretty much everything was either a Carnivorous Jungle or a Razorwing nest. While it shouldn't have been that big a deal, the amount of Hull points his vehicles took from the terrain was staggering. He also rolled about 50% 1s for his plasma guns. I think I only actually killed one of his Plasma Gunners, and the rest that died were killed by gets hot! rolls.
Besides that, I think my target priority was a little poor. I focused on the Hellhounds, mainly because I kept forgetting to pivot my Predators, but I really should have been dealing with the Chimeras so that he would have to walk. If I had been able to pop his transports, the rest of the battle would have been a shooting gallery for me.
Brennan also made an error early on, when he forgot to get his Psyker out of the transport to cast Telekine Dome on the Tank Commander. He was going to do it, but then forgot, and by the time he remembered, too much had happened, so we just left it. There's a good chance that it wouldn't have worked anyways, because I had so many dice in my pool, but you never know.
Ultimately, this game wasn't as fun as the first, as it really just felt like Brennan was fighting against circumstance as much as he was battling me, and it ended up being kind of lame. Still, he fought hard, and had certain things gone a little differently, this game really could have gone either way.
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