WH40K Batrep: Space Wolves vs CSM

Here's a quick batrep for my game with son, Charlie, last night. 

Introduction 

From the shadows of the ruined monorail bridge Rune Priest Jarl Frostblade could discern the ruins of the colonist town of Krul. Once a thriving industrial centre the ongoing battles between the heretical forces of the Lords of Abberation and the space marines of the Empire had taken their toll. Choking black smoke lingered like a a malovelent presence between the skeletal shells of habitation. To the west a half destroyed cathedral loomed as a last vestige of the faith the colonists once held; a faith now in tatters.

 'Air support won't make it, my lord,' Wolf Brother Sergeant Karl Bloodfist reported. 'We have Fenrir Frostreaver's tac squad ready to advance towards the heretics on your command.' 

'Are we certain the Ion Accelerator is in the ruins north of the cathedral?' Jarl asked. 

'Recon are convinced, my lord,' Fenrir said. 'Sergeant Bjorn Trueclaw has his Wolf Guard ready to advance in the razorback.' 

Jarl glanced at the tank, then up at the bridge. The comms relay was positioned atop the bridge for optimal reception. It had to be kept secure from any chaotic forces.

'Then give the order to...' 

A sudden pain tore through his body, working like an incandescent snake inside his glowing terminator armour. He moaned and crumpled before the shocked Grey Hunters. 

'My lord..?'

'Pain. The warp, it's... screaming. The chaos forces... there must be something terrible... something unholy...'

'Then it shall fall beneath the sacred axes and claws of the brothers!' Fenrir said. 'Krom shall be proud. I will signal the advance, and for Sven's descent.'

 'P-praise the Allfather,' Jarl said, and gripped his force sword a little tighter.

The Set Up 

Mission: The Emperor's Will 

Points: 760 

 Space Wolves 

 Jarl Frostblade: Rune Priest (HQ), Terminator armour; force sword; storm bolter; ML1. Psyker: living lightning; Fury of Wolf Spirits 

 Sven the Relentless: Dreadnought, assault cannon, DD close combat weapon; Drop Pod 

 Bjorn Trueclaw's Wolfguard: WGPL (wolf claw; combi-plasma); 4x WG (combi-plasma); Razorback : TL- Lascannon 

 Fenrir Frostreaver's Grey Hunters: WGPL (frost axe); 6x GH (one plasmagun; all with extra CCW) 

Karl Bloodfist's grey Hunters : WGPL (power fist); 5x GH (as above)

Chaos Space Marines 

Tyrik Gorespawn, Demon Prince of Khorne (DP; wings; Axe of Blind Fury; power armour) 

 2 mutilators (two seperate unit choices) 

 1 CSM squad (5): plasmagun; rhino 

1 CSM squad (5): plasmagun 

 1 Heldrake (Hades autocannon)

CSM (Charlie) win initiative 

Round 1 

 Chaos move the rhino forward from the north-west ruins to behind the ruined cathedral, with the CSM squad inside. 

Tyrik the DP flies (in glide mode) across to the top of the north-east ruins so as to better sight his prey. The second CSM squad stays with a mutilator guarding the Ion Accelarator hidden deep in the north-west ruins. 

 Bjorn's squad in the razorback race up the centre of the battlefield past the old town hall in the centre. They spot the DP and fire the lascannon, but he makes his cover save. Fenrir's GH squad run across the muddy land towards the Cathedral ruins to try and gain a view of the north-west ruins. 

 With a roar, Sven the Relentless arrives in his drop pod landing immediately adjacent to the north-west ruins and the chaos objective. Sven emerges and fires his cannon and storm bolter at the CSM squad inside. His cannon kills a marine in a shower of gore. 

Round 2 

 In absence of the reserves arriving, Tyrik takes flight and glides towards Sven, axe eager for blood. The mutilator in the ruins moves to try get within charge range for Sven. The encamped CSMs fire a plasmagun at the dreadnought, but it fails to penetrate his tough armour. 

The second mutilator lurks around the side of the rhino as it moved into the midfield, its eyes on the Razoback rumbling towards him. Amazingly both charges fail, and the overwatch shot narrowly avoids wounding the mutilator near Sven. 

 Fenrir's squad enter the Cathedral and move through the ruins towards it's shattered north facing windows. Jarl decides that it is not the Space Wolf way to lurk in cover under a bridge and signals an advance with Karl's Grey Hunters. They run in the wake of the Razorback towards the old town hall in the centre field. 

 Bjorn Trueclaw's Wolf Guard disembrak from the Razorback and fire a volley of bolter shots at the mutilator, causing one wound. The Razorback targets Tyrik, taking a wound from him with a lascannon hit. 

Sven moves towards the mutilator, hoping to increase the distance between him and Tyrik, the DP, and fires his AC and SB at the mutilator but fails to wound. 

 Round 3 

 Still no Heldrake! The Space wolves breathe a sigh a relief. Which proves to be short-lived, as the CSMs in the ruins open fire on Bjorn's wolf-guard and kill two. 

The chaos rhino shoots its combi-bolter and kills another. The CSM squad emerge from the rhino on the far side and open fire at the Razorback, with a plsmagun and Krak grenade, but fail to damage its armour. 

With a terible roar, the mutilator charges at the remaining two Wolf Guard. They fire overwatch with their comb-plasmas and score two hits and kill the unholy creature!! First blood to Space Wolves.

A transient victory as on the far side of the north-west ruins, both the remaining mutilator and Tyrik charge at Sven. Through the hail of overwatch, the Demon Prince gains nine attacks from his artefact axe. All nine hit the dreadnought, and with 5 penetrating hits and 2 glances, the mighty Sven the Relentless explodes.

Mourning the loss of his brother, Jarl's squad move past the town hall into sight of the chaos rhino. Jarl inokes the Fury of the Wolf Spirits against the rhino, taking off a hull point. Karl Bloodfist's squad fire plasma and throw a Krak greande and both hit and destroy the rhino. 

With no cover to aid them the CSM squad are shot apart by Fenrir's squad in the Cathedral, killing three. The remaining two CSMs fail their morale and run. 

Seeing the north-west ruins and the objective nearby, the brave Wolf Guard charge towards the CSM in the ruins. But a rain of overwatch shots kill another of the elite guard, leaving only one. 

 Round 4 

 With a creak of his ancient wings, the Demon Prince lands in the north-west ruins to aid the CSn squad against the lone Wolf Guard. The mutilator moves around the edge of the ruins and charges towards the razorback, his unholy flesh springing two whirring chainfists. In a ball of fire the razorback explodes. 

 The skies explode into fire as a terrifying Heldrake arrives from reserves. Its Hades autocannon tears through the Cathedral windows and kills Fenrir and one of his brothers. The Grey Hunters fail morale, and run through the Cathedral and out the south exit. Tyrik unleashes the Axe of Blind Fury on the lone Wolf Guard in the ruins and atomises him with six AP2 hits. Chaos seem to be gaining the upper hand in the battle!! 

 Calling upon their courage, the Grey Hunters rally and move around the edge of the cathedral. Eager to avenge Fenrir, they fire at the Heldrake, joined by Jarl's squad, who fire plasma and conjure Living Lightning. Despite two hits at the airborne monster, they fail to penetrate its armour. 

 Round 5. 

Tyrik explodes from the North-west ruins, and soars towards the remanants of Fenrir's grey hunters. The mutilator follows his lead and charges at the squad. The brave marines fire a volley of bolters and plasma overwatch and score two hits, but both fail to wound. The DP crashes into them, Axe cleaving and rending and killing the whole sqaud. 

 Jarl and his grey hunters fire everything they have at the Demon Prince, managing to strip another wound off the vile creature. But it still has two wounds left, and is easily within charging distance. 

 Round 6 

 In a last onslaught the Demon Prince charges into Jarl's squad. With his first blows he strikes down Jarl in his terminator armour, and then massacres Karl's squad. Truly the Blood God had been satisfied on this fell day. 

 *** 

 As the dark veil descended across Jarl Frostblade's vision he could see the huge demon hacking apart the brave warriors of the Fang. The warp swirled around Jarl, easing the pain of his sundered limbs, and his passage into the great hunting grounds of the afterlife. His one consollation was that Krom Dragongaze would come to learn of the massacre, and revenge was a drink best served hot and red to the famed Wolf Lord. 

 ****

 So there you have it--defeated by my lad in round 6, with his hefty Chaos list. Tactical errors on my part were (i) I should have combi-plasma'd the DP on round two, although out of rapid-fire range. Those five shots might have finished him, even though he's have a 4+ jink. (ii) I should have ignored the Heldrake and shot at the DP or mutilator in round four, even though he was in the ruins. A great laught though. Next game probably White Scars vs Tau. For the Greater Good!!!

Da Secret Waaaggghhhh.

The ongoing addiction to plastic crack has meant that Charlie and I have six armies on the go in 40k. This means great variety to the games, and a great motivation to paint as when I get bored with one style is change to another.

The most recent pair are Space Wolves and Orks, via the Stormclaw box set I got for my birthday. Space Wolves are fab- I love the Viking ethos and the detail of the miniatures. But Orks are my fave at present- the style of the figures, the bonkers codex, and the flexibility during modelling and painting all appeal.

So here's the progress so far. The colour schemes of the main tribes didn't appeal, as they repeated colours from the other armies (yellow from Eldar, red/blue from Chaos) or was not to my taste (black for Goffs). So I did my own- purple and red, with a few chequers as I got more confident with it. 

Now purple to Orks is a colour of sneakiness, after all you've never seen a Purple Ork. Red is for speed- because it... Just is. So I present the fledgling Ork Tribe- Da Secret Waaagghh. An off-shoot of the Goff clan, so focused on big Choppas and Klaws, replete with huge Nobz, and a huge warboss.

Da Big Boss, Morgok Goregargler, leads the tribe. Formed from the remnants of a Goff horde slaughtered by Krom Dragongaze's Space Wolves, Morgok decided that his Orks needed to combine sheer strength and brutality with cunning. By painting their armour purple it would allow them to sneak close enough to the enemy to unleash a mighty Waaagghh and rip them to shreds. This purple was good enough to let them run down the middle of a battlefield without problem- at least in Morgok's twisted brain it was...

Morgok

Morgok wears mega armour, with a massive Power Klaw and big shoota built in. He usually leads his trusted Nobz into the fray, laughing at the bolter rounds skittering off his armour. 

Although convinced of the might of Orks, Morgok's hatred of the Imperium has meant he has allied with Chaos Marines a number of times in the past.

Gort Da Shredda

Morgok's trusted lieutenant is Gort , a massive warboss with a huge buzz saw grafted into his cybork power klaw. Gort's love of pain means he shuns mega armour and sees each bolter hole in his green flesh as a medal to be proud of. His faithful attack squig, NumNum, drags him across the battlefield with zeal.

Morgok's Mutilators 

The elite Nobz are the backbone of Da Secret Waaagghh, whether kicking the Boyz into shape, or as a distinct unit charging by Da Big Boss's side. They carry a mix of Big Choppas and Klaws. Currently I have eight, one having a combi-flamer for fun, and the Boss Nob (yet to paint, has a Waaagghh banner for Da win).

Da Boyz

I've got 36 of these dudes now, and have made it through 9 so far- a quarter done!!

They are mainly Slugga Boyz, with some shootas and big shootas. Gonna foot slog them across the field with a mighty Waaagghh!!

Da Kanz

The only heavy support so far, the Killa Kans, I really enjoyed painting. I think the clunky home made style is v Orky, even if they're not so robust in games as Dreadnoughts.

The Kans are piloted by the Mucuz brothers, three Grots who are convinced they are triplets. Not renowned for their bravery, they prefer to hang back and fire at a safe distance.

Scuzbucket's Stormboyz

My fave unit so far, the Stormboyz roar through the air in clouds of smoke and fuel. Led by the fearsome Nob, Scuzbucket, whose power klaw has an affinity for Space Marines, they are the main strike force for Da  Secret Waaagghh.

And Da Rest

Left to paint (not including 20+ Boyz) are a Runtbot (probably proxy a Kan or DeffDread), a Commisar, a Deffkopta, Boss Zagstruck, and 10 Gretchin with their runtherd. I'll post those as I do them, although I might have an Ork break and paint Tau and Wolves next.

Next steps for the army are Lootas and maybe some Ork planes and more Deffkoptas. Also, a Mek and Nob Bikers... Gaaahhh, damn that plastic crack...

Chaos in Conflict - CSM vs CSM

So after 18 months of playing Warhammer with my lad, Charlie, I finally had my first game against someone not related to me and able to call on the unbeatable reserves of his mum. Having said that, I’ve never won against Charlie—and yesterday’s game was following suite.

But what a great laugh! I met Iain by one of those weird coincidences wherein we’d both commented on the same photo on a Facebook group and I noticed his address said ’Greetland.’ Long story short, we befriended on FB and met up yesterday for the first epic game.

We’re both Chaos Space Marines players, and for our first battle chose to stick with the armies we knew. Iain’s been playing since he was a lad, and fortunately this was a fun game where I was reassured he was going to go easy on me!

My boys???

The Lords of Aberration –Decay Division (2500 points)

HQ: (1) Lord Terganus—Chaos Lord: Jump Pack , MON, Sigil of corruption, Plasma pistol, Black Mace
(2)Boroth Bileblood—Daemon Prince : Burning Brand of Skalanthrax, Demon of Nurgle, Power Armour, Wings

Elite: (1) Chaos Terminators (x5) –Reaper Autocannon /Combi-melta, Powerfist x3
(2)Chosen (x5)—4xMeltagun, MON, Chosen Champion Gift of mutation, Plasma Pistol, Power Sword, Chaos Rhino
(3) Helbrute - Missile launcher/ TL lascannon



The Lords of Aberration chaos marines

Troops: (1) Chaos Cultists (x10) Autoguns /Flamer
(2) Chaos Space Marines (x10) Autocannon ,Plasma Gun
(3) Plague Marines (x6) Meltagun/Plasma Gun & Plague Champion - Combi -melta, Power Fist& Chaos Rhino
(4) Plague Marines (x5) : 2x Flamer & Plague Champion- Combi-flamer

Fast: (1) Chaos Bikers (x3) - MON, 2x Meltagun &Chaos Biker Champion- Melta Bombs, Plasma Pistol
(2) Heldrake - Hades Autocannon
(3)Raptors (x5) Meltagun/Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol

Heavy: (1)Chaos Predator : Autocannon, Lascannons
(2)Forgefiend –Additional Ectoplasm Cannon, 2xHades
(3) Obliterators (x2) :MON


One of the Nurgle Obliterators

Iain lent me a drake to play with, and his 2.5K of awesomeness included a Nurgle psyker DP, terminators in a land raider, two units of CSM (Nurgle), plague marines, Dreadclaw drop pod, heldrake, defiler, a vindicator, and… an Imperial Knight. Yes, I’m not messing with you—370 whatever points of awesomeness, with a big bugger melta pie-plate that made my troops do the impression of the wicked witch having a shower…

As it was my first game of 7th Ed we decided just to go for total wipeout, and off we went…

I didn’t take enough notes to do a detailed Batrep, but essentially we had a standard size play area with loads of terrain (and cover!!), an abandoned Aegis line with Quad-gun and statue, and a river with bridges. I had Helturkey and termies in reserve, he had Heldrake only.

First round I learned about absence of psykers in my army the hard way as his DP sends rotting magic and fly palsies across my troops. I slung some heavy shots against his vindicator and defiler, stripping a few HPs away, and raced up the field with raptors and bikes aiming to flank the Imperial Knight.
Then he flings a defiler, vindicator and imperial knight pie-plate in the manner of a 41st millennium Greek wedding. Think the raptors and chaos lord went down to that salvo, and predator/forgie got scorched. The awesome drop pod lands in the middle of my dudes and his marines spill out.



the ill-fated bikers racing towards the huge Knight....

Turn two the Chosen earned their money by melta-ing the land raider, and some lucky hits from my brute and bikers immobilises his Knight. Similar hits on the vindicator stop it dead in its tracks.
His DP cooked and rotted his way through my cultists, and the Knight blew up two bikers.

Turn three, I blew some more chunks out of his guys but nothing major, and the DP got medieval on some Plague Marines asses—well, the cankerous flakes of armour that resemble buttocks. He returned the favour by his DP toasting my PMs, and his other heavies almost finshing Forgie.



The Decay Division's finest Plague marines, looking for moisturiser...

Turn four, and still no drake, and the Termies deepstrike mishap back into ongoing reserves! Noooo!!!. DP finishes off the plague marines and sets his sights on Imperial Knight, whilst Helbrute and one biker keep chipping at it. Then Forgie and Predator nail the Defiler into demon-crab oblivion. In reply, he finishes off predator that round and his Termies annihilate the cheeky Chosen.


The Cheeky Chosen

The epic finale finds my plasma-melta PMs scrapping with his CSMs and losing; his Vindicator holds on still; and my DP charges his Imperial Knight. On my round of combat we are both still standing, albeit both with a wound left. And my Termies mishap again! 240 points of utter crappery there!



The shy Termies who never arrived at the party

Final round, Iain’s turn five, is like the end of the Godfather. He pops my Forgefiend, my Plague Marines, and my Heldrake. And the fight between the Imperial Knight and my DP? Incredibly I get the hits, and the pen roll—and he explodes. The wave of energy vaporises my last biker, and some of his marines.


Forgefiend, looking rather blue in this photo. Lad did well in battle--earned his points back

Iain is the victor—winning by 3 or 4 VPs due to his slay warlord, linebreaker and first blood. Most importantly we had a great laugh, and finished the game feeling like we’d known each other ages rather than for four hours. It’s funny how life throws these things at you—meeting someone who has such similar tastes and sense of humour in such an offbeat way. I’m hoping we’ve got many more games ahead, and many more laughs.