Opponent: Gary
Mission: Capture and Control
Deployment: Pitched Battle
1st turn: Blood Angels
Points: 1500
Location: 278.M41, Mandag, Hexen Sub, Skolarii sector
Background: The Chaos Daemons are drawn to the the Adeptus Astra Telepathica in Skardallen, sensing the flickering psychic beacons of two powerful psykers in the warp. The Blood Angels scramble to rescue Molossian and Epirote before their brains can be used as a bridge for more Daemons to manifest.
The photos aren't great in this report because I forgot my camera and had to use my mobile phone.
Blood Angels
- Chaplain, plasma pistol, jump pack
- 5 Death Company Marines with jump packs
- 10 Tactical Marines, flamer, Vet sergeant with Powerfist, missile launcher, Rhino
- 5 Tactical Marines, melta gun, Vet sergeant with Powerfist
- Furioso Dreadnought, Venerable, Death Company
- Predator Destructor with autocannon and heavy bolter sponsons
- Land Raider
- Land Speeder with multi-melta
- 10 Assault Marines, Vet Sergeant with Power Weapon, Two Plasma Pistols
Chaos Daemons
- Bloodthirster
- Winged Slaaneshi Daemon Prince
- Daemon Prince
- 10 Bloodletters, Standard, Musician
- 10 Bloodletters
- 5 Bloodletters
- 12 Daemonettes
- 8 Flesh Hounds
- 8 Flesh Hounds
- 3 Flamers
Terrain and deployment
Gary had invested in a black cloth for the table and had also put together some more ruined buildings to make a suitably dramatic backdrop for our game.
I put the first objective on the top of a three floored ruin in my far right deployment zone. It was right on the edge of my deployment zone so I couldn't fit my Marines on the narrow ledges; two squads of five would have to start on the ground and then move into the building. I placed the rhino on the far left flank ready to contest the Daemon objective which was in the centre left.
My plan was to draw the Daemons onto my objective and then charge in with my jump packers. The tanks would roll up and provide some fire support. My rhino and Land speeder would try to contest the enemy objective with the Land raider perhaps joining in in the late game.
The game
My Tac squads scrambled into the building with the missile launcher squad achieving the first floor. I drove the rhino forward at cruising speed.
Gary got his favoured group first and brought the Bloodthirster and a Flesh Hound squad down next to my rhino. They would spend the next three turns chasing it around the left flank. The Flesh Hounds caught it but couldn't stop it while the Bloodthirster got bored and moved off toward the Blood Angel objective.
One large Bloodletter squad warped in next to my objective. The Daemon Prince on foot landed in the building with the objective. The Daemonettes scattered back and off to the far right flank. A nasty template from the Daemon Prince killed two Marines from my flamer squad who promptly fell back.
My Death Company and Dreadnought came in from reserve along with an Assault squad. Pretty much my whole army was now clumped up behind my objective. I shot everything I had into the Daemon Prince and killed it.
More Daemons materialised around my objective. The first Bloodletter squad was joined by a second and the second Daemon Prince also arrived. The smaller Bloodletter squad landed on the Daemon objective.
The Daemonettes showed a surprising turn of pace (they got a six on the fleet roll) and assaulted my Death Company. Forty eight attacks later and four Death Company marines were dead. The combat continued so I could mob the Daemons with both of my Assault squads - the second unit had come on from reserve.
The Land raider and Predator also rumbled onto the battlefield. I killed eight of the Bloodletters in the unit closest to the objective.
The second Flesh Hound unit came in on my right flank. The winged Daemon Prince used Pavane to drag my missile launcher Tac squad off the objective and closer to the two remaining Bloodletters. They then charged in but I killed both before they could swing.
The other large Bloodletter squad broke left to hide in a ruined building.
I got my Land speeder from reserve and brought it into the centre to shoot at the winged DP. Pretty much the rest of my army did too but I rolled appallingly and the beast only lost a single wound.
My Assault squads raced up the right flank to charge the dogs. One squad hit first and held the doggies in place long enough for the second squad to charge in.
Eventually Gary got his Flamers from reserve. He tried a very risky deep strike on the extreme right. They scattered onto the combat with the Flesh Hounds and I got to place them where I liked. I put them in my far left deployment zone, well away from the action. They were effectively out of the game.
The Hounds were wiped out.
The winged Daemon Prince charged my Dreadnought. It immobilised him but was then pulverised by the return attacks. The Bloodletter squad assaulted out of the ruins and hit my speeder. They dragged it out of the sky and tore it's weapon off, ensuring it could play no further part in the battle.My number one priority was to take out those Bloodletters. I moved the Land raider up 12" and spat out the five Tac marines to rapid fire them. My Predator shot them up too and then my Chaplain slammed into them. The last Death Company marine was killed but all the Daemons died.
Now the whole game came down to whether the Bloodthirster could contest my objective and whether my rhino and the Land raider could contest the Daemon objective.
On turn five we had a draw but the game continued.
The Bloodthirster swooped in and killed several of my Tac marines. The beast was then counter charged by my Chaplain who was now leading an Assault squad. My raider moved up 12" again. My rhino moved onto the Daemon objective and if the game had ended I would have won, holding one objective and contesting the other.
The game continued.
I threw another Assault marine into combat with the Bloodthirster and the combat continued, meaning it couldn't get to my objective.
I pushed the Land raider 12" forward yet again, hoping it was within 3" of the objective. Crucially the Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds between them managed to get a penetrating hit on my rhino and blew it up.
The Land raider was just short so the game ended in a draw.
Result: Draw - 1 objective each
Learning points- What a great game! It was really tense and exciting right up to the end, with either player able to win. I have enjoyed my last few games of 40k much more than my games of Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Maybe it's because we know the rules better, maybe it's because the games are quicker, or maybe the 5th edition 40k rules make for a better game.
- I made lots of mistakes in this game; I moved the Land speeder so it could be assaulted by the Bloodletters when I should have just flew it 24" toward the objective, I started moving the Land raider toward the objective a turn too late, I underestimated the winged Daemon Prince.
- That DP was a surprise to me as I assumed it was the same Tzeentch DP I played in our last game. Pavane could have really messed up my ability to control the objective. On the other hand Gary also made the mistake of thinking that there was a squad of marines in my empty rhino, which explained why he spent so much time effort chasing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment