WH40k family tournament 2: White Scars v Chaos Marines

So, onto game 2, this time Evelyn vs. myself. Now E isn't as regular a player as Charlie, but nonetheless has a grasp of gameplay from 6th Ed. She has usually played SM or Eldar before.

We drew our lots: I got Chaos (yay, MY army) and E drew Wildcard, so she chose Space Marines.

My army was: Sorcerer (terminator armour, ML 2, combi-melta); 5 terminators (reaper auto & mix of power weapons and chainfist-power fist); Chaos Marines (10- power fist; heavy Bolter; plasma gun; CCW); CSM (5 with flamer); 10 cultists; raptors (power sword; melta; plasma); predator tank (autocannon; 2 lascannons).

Evelyn took: Khan (on bike); librarian (ML 1); bike squad (6 and an attack bike with Multmelta; 2 plasma guns); 1 tac squad (plasma gun; rhino); 1 terminator squad (with assault cannon); 1 bike squad (3 bikes; meltagun; proxied by Chaos bikers and an attack bike!!); 1 ironclad dreadnought (proxy with Helbrute) with drop-pod.

Evelyn set up terrain as it was her home game. She won initiative. Same as before: 3 pts for objective secured, 1 for looking after it; 1 for units killed, and standard for 2nd goals.

Evelyn kicks off with the drop pod landing just behind the fuel tower. The librarian moves with his terminators to behind one of the ruins and casts Invisibility on the Dread. The Rhino trundles past the second ruin, which conceals her objective. Khan rides with the small bike unit up into edge of ruin for cover, and big bike unit boosts up the centre. Quick shooting from Dread onto Chaos Termies, with storm bolter and hK missile does nothing.

CSM round 1. Mainly movement. Terminators clamber onto the ridge; predator nudges around the fuel tower; the CSM squad moves around ridge to try get line of sight on Dread. Raptors jump across towards ruined parking lot, and small CSM squad runs after. The predator and CSM squad open fire on the Dread but the few hits (he's invisible!!) don't even glance the armour. Oh dear...

The Dread stomps into melta range on the Pred; the bikes roar up the centr of the battlefield. The rhino decides to pull back and protect the objective. The tac squad bundles out into the ruins. The terminator and librarian get into the second ruin- still within range to cast Invisibility on the Dread again!!

The Dread misses with his melta. The big bike squad opens fire with a hail of bolters plasma and melta at the raptors killing one. Bring it on! The small Khan squad fires at the Chaos Termies, the melta killing one. Acceptable losses for the dark god Tzeentch. 

CSM round 2. The Sorcerer is just out of range for his two template spells, as the Termies descend from the ridge. The raptors jump across towards the ruins with the SM objective in. The small squad run into cover.

The predator hits the Dread with its cannon and glances! Yay!! The CSMs open fire on the small bike unit with bolters, plasma and HB- they kill two, but not Khan. The terminators open fire at the other bike unit and totally fluff it. The chaos gods are fickle indeed.

SCars turn 3, and the round it all changes. Angered by the death of their brothers, the Scars unleash everything they've got. The terminators and librarian move around the ruins and into range; the bikes occupy the centre of the field.

The Dread melta glances the Predator. The big bike squad hit with eight bolter shots, a multi melta and two plasma on the Chaos Terminators. Two Termies die, and the sorcerer loses a wound. The second bike squad fire at the hapless warlord and hits with a melta. The two loyal Chaos Termies try and take the wound, but fail to do so, and the Sorcerer melts into a pile of chaotic ash.

Noooooooo!!!!

The Chaos Termies fail morale and do a runner. The loyalist terminators fire on the CSM squad and take out two, one with the heavy bolter. The tac squad in ruins shoot at Raptors, but raptors make save. Can they get the SM objective and save the day?

Chaos turn 3. The Termies stop running, thankfully. The small flamer squad emerge to avenge their warlord and fire at Khan and the sole biker... and do exactly nothing. Meh. The eight CSM fire at big bike unit but due to some awesome saves by Evelyn only kill one biker. The predator, intimidated by the approaching invisible Dreadnought, misses all it's shots.

The raptors leap into the ruins and shoot the tac squad and wipe out three before charging in. The 4 vs 2 combat yielded no further casualties. The flamer CSM squad charge Khan and the single biker. With a sigh he swings Moonfang, and kills three CSMs! The squad of eight declare a charge on the big bike squad... and fail to make the (short) distance.

Not looking good for me at end of round 3.

SM round 4, and by this stage it was getting late for a 10y old, so it was looking like last round.

The big bike squad roared around the side of the CSM squad, in an unusual move. The Dread lumbers towards the Pred for final showdown. The terminators move out towards the CSM squad, and the SM in the ruins fight on with the raptors.

With a chatter of bolters and hiss of plasma, the bikers unleash doom on the cultists. Five down in one salvo!

The Dread hits and penetrates the predator with the melta. Crew stunned, as it watches the huge walker charge towards it- seismic hammer whirring. The terminators unleash bolter and cannon fire on the CSMs, killing three.

Into assault. The big bike squad make the 11" charge into the cultists! Between hammer of wrath and assault they leave one hapless cultist standing, who turns and scarpers. The Dread slams his hammer into the Pred and destroys it. The Terminators charge into the CSMs, over watch plinking off their armour. The power fists leave nowt but a smeared set of boots in their wake as they wipe out the squad. Khan, with a cheer of victory, carves up the two remaining chaos space marines. 

And in the ruins the raptor v SM scrap ends in stalemate. As the cultist scampers away like a scolded puppy, Chaos admits defeat....

So total points? Evelyn gets 9 (objective 3; kept her own 1; 1 slay warlord; 1 first blood; 3 of my units destroyed) and I get a round zero. 

A great game, with balance until round 3 when she abruptly took me apart. Invisibility is awesome, and my sorcerer never got close enough for his spells. In retrospect Chaos Lords better choice for me. Or Demon Prince. Also come to conclusion I'm not very good at the game, but I enjoy the laughter of playing anyhow!!

Next game Charlie vs. Evelyn. Could be some pouting lips ahead...

WH40K family tournament 1: Scars vs Orks

So in the interest of further drawing my children into the world of fantasy I’ve decided to play a little tournament with them in Warhammer 40k. The principle is to run 1000pt battles with armies chosen at random from our six forces: Space Marines (white scars), Eldar, Chaos Marines, Space Wolves, Orks and Tau. We’ll each do a home and away, and one wildcard allows you to choose your favourite army rather than what you’re allocated. They’ll be objective games with 3pt allocated to an objective capture in each half, 1 for keeping it safe, 1 for units destroyed and 1 for the usual Slay Warlord, First Blood and Linebreaker. 

 The first battle was between me and Charlie. He was delighted to pick Orks, and I picked SM—so a classic battle on the Orks home turf. 

 Charlie ran (with a fair few proxys as we’re just starting this army): 2 warbosses (both in mega-armour with cybork, Power Klaw, Big shoota); 3 mega-nobs (PK, BS); 20 Boyz (Ard armour; one rocket, one big shoota) and 2 nobz (PK); 3 killa kans (2 BS and one RL); and a Gorkanaut. He proxied the meganobs with normal nobs, and the Gorkanaut for a… Dalek. I ran Khan, a terminator squad (with Assault Cannon); biker unit (2 plasma; six riders + one attack bike with MM); Tac squad (ten guys; sergeant with Lightning Claws; 1 plasma cannon; 1 flamer; split into combat squads and with razorback, with Heavy Bolter); 2 landspeeders (Typhoon launchers and Multi-melta). And White Scars tactics. The setting was a ruined town, with my objective being a wounded marine of importance, and Charlie’s an Ork Commissar. 

Round 1—I went first. I raced up my left flank with the speeders, and Razor. I left the flamer squad with my objective in the ruins of a cathedral. The bikes and Khan raced across the centre. I got a lucky pot shot with one Typhoon on the Gorkanaut where it peered from behind an old silo, and got a hull point off and ‘crew shaken.’ My plasma cannon squad deploy from the razorback into the central ruins. 

 Charlie’s Gorkanut lumbers into cover with the Meganobz and bosses, eager for the termies to appear and start a klaw-fist battle. The Boyz moved up Charlie’s left flank alongside the ruins, looking for ‘umies to smush, and leaving the Kans with the commissar. The Kans fire a rocket and shoota at the squad in the ruins—and kill the dude with the plasma cannon and his buddy. Nooooooooo!!!

 Round 2- The bikers veer from the centre and down onto the right flank and start firing on the Boyz. I nail a few, but I’m on the edge of my charge distance and didn’t fancy charging a wall of overwatching shoota boyz. That proved to be a mistake. The speeders move around to try and get a bead on the Gorkanaut, and the Razor heads around to try and get towards the Meganobz. The Khan is eager for Ork blood, and prepares Moonfang. The terminators… don’t arrive. Balls.

 The Orks declare unleash a rain of dakka, the declare a Waagghhh. The sheer volume of shots rip apart the bikers, followed by the charging mass of Boyz. Two Nobz hurtle into Khan, who manages to survive the onslaught, wounding one of them. The bikers fair less well and are wiped out, with a few Orks going down too. Khan pulls away from the massacre, slamming the bike into reverse in a spray of mud (and bits of White Scar). The Gorkanaut comes out from its hiding hole, and sends a volley of shots at the speeders, exploding one. The Kans shoot at the squad in the ruins, killing another marine. 

 Round 3- Khan screeches to a halt and then revs his bike, before hurtling across the centre of the board towards where he knows the bosses to be skulking. In a crackle of energy the Terminators deep strike behind the Ork lines close to the Meganobs and Bosses. They fire storm bolters and cannon, but some excellent rolling by Charlie means only one Meganob is wounded. As they’ve just arrived, the terminators can’t charge and they can only watch as the two bosses and three meganobz activate their power klaws… The squad by the objective know they are better use across the field, and run to try and help their comrades. The two marines in the ruins break cover and scamper across the open ground towards the Kans, krak grenades at the ready. The Razorback screeches around the ruins towards the Ork boyz and shoots a few down with the heavy bolter. The speeder gallantly attacks the Gorkanaut, but the typhoon and melta only strip a hull point off with a glance. The heroic marines look in awe at the enormous Ork walker… 

 The two Nobz charge the Razorback and open it up with their Power Klaws, and smush the marine drivers. The Razorback is destroyed. The gretchin in the Kans chuckle as they unleash a wall of dakka on the two marines in the middle of the field, leaving only smoking white boots. The Bosses and Meganobz charge into the terminators. The melee is swift and brutal—one Meganob dies, and four terminators, leaving one brother to make his stand. With a clatter of dice, the Gorkanaut annihilates the land speeder, unleashing a ‘wagghh’ of delight at the shower of smoking space marine tech raining around. 

 Round 4- in a last ditch move of heroism, Khan charges across the field towards his terminator brother. His bolter fails to wound, but his mighty sword cuts into the bosses and meganobs. The terminator strikes at the bosses, but fails to kill them. In a hum of Power Klaw his armour is destroyed and he dies in his captain’s arms. The final battle—two warbosses and a meganob against a wounded Khan can only have one conclusion. Despite inflicting wounds on a warboss, Khan falls to the onslaught. The battle is over for the White Scars—and reluctantly I call the game. 

 A resounding victory for the Orks—Charlie gains 7 VPs, and I had 1. Although a fun game, I reflected upon my poor tactics. I’d have been better not hurtling forwards and picking away at the Ork horde, using my speeders against the Kans so as to get his objective, and not worrying about the Gorkanaut so early. Or perhaps the terminators may have been better used against the Kans, and the speeders against the Nobz as they lacked invulns to the meltas. Charlie plays well, especially as he hadn’t used Orks before and the Gorkanaut is awesome (although a 60 quid model—maybe next Xmas….).

Lords of Aberration- a CSM warband

Thought I'd post some 'fluff' on my main WH40k army- the Lords of Aberration. First go at this sort of thing, so bear with me...

Terganus Dire first rose to prominence amongst the chaos forces of Tzeentch as a callous yet efficient Lord and Commander. His battleforce of Scourged Chaos Marines achieved a notorious run of victories against the Necrons in the outer Darbin quadrant.

Ambition can be a double-edged sword, and soon Dire came under the gaze of Ahriman and his Thousand Sons. Ahriman sought an ancient artefact hidden deep on the planet of Croziek IV, in the Dantin quadrant and chose to exploit Dire's local knowledge, and skill against the Necrons. The combined host of Ahriman and Dire fell upon Croziek IV and annihilated the scanty Cron forces of Overlord Tyr. The host delved deep into the caverns of the planet, but disaster was to await them. Croziek held a long dormant Necron tomb, and the curiosity of Ahriman brought it back to its imitation of life.

The Chaos forces were swamped by thousands of Necrons, gauss weapons tearing into the Tzeentchian forces. Ahriman withdrew, blaming Dire's arrogance somewhat unfairly, for the debacle. Dire fought onwards, the remnants of his Scourged falling back to the planet surface. His unit's sorcerer, Sarvin Ebonyheart, used the warp to activate a terrible bomb that ripped across the planet surface tearing apart Necron and Scourged alike.

In the aftermath, Dire lay ravaged. His head was shattered, and only hate kept him from death. Sarvin, similarly wounded, used the last iota of warp within him to save Dire- grafting a golden Necron head to Dire's ruined flesh.

In time, the remnants of Dire's Scourged found him. They took refuge in the caverns, calling upon dark powers to save Dire and Sarvin.

As if in answer, a dark acolyte came to them. Robed in darkest shadow, the Apostle bore the name Vyrik, and preached an unusual creed. Called simply The Paradox, Vyrik spoke of Chaos Unified- the belief that Chaos would only become victorious through order and unity, that ancient enmity had no place in a new universe.

And from these origins, invigorated by the teachings of the Paradox, Dire's warband grew into The Lords of Aberration. Many of his marines still bore the armour of the Scourged, but now the Eye was replaced by the symbol of the gold skull- an eternal reminder of the betrayal of Ahraman, and the finding of new faith.

The warband is led by an eclectic group of leaders, all loyal to Dire, who in turn bends the knee only to Vyrik and the Paradox.

Dire, himself is a terrifying figure. Clad in battle- scarred power armour, his golden head glowing with an unholy aura, Dire wields a cursed power-maul, rumoured to be the Black Mace itself. Dire's favoured units are his fast assault units- The Dark Scream bikers, and The Unseen Death raptors. They are often supported by Brother Xyrin and Brother Olvyx, two mutated Helbrutes.

His lieutenant, Sarvin, favours a combi- melta and staff, both distractions for the terrible warp powers he unleashes. Clad in terminator armour, he usually accompanies a unit of Chaos Terminators into battle.

Lord Baan the Pestilent, is a Nurgle lord commanding a unit of Plague Marines and Obliterators, whose nickname The Fever goes a way to explain the torrents of flaming terror they unleash. 

Similarly feared is Lord Ingrol, a former World Eater whose power sword, Calban, constantly thirsts for blood. Ingrol is often accompanied by his Chosen- The Bloodreapers- armour red with the blood of their enemy. His Beserkers, the Dire- Axes, are notorious for their insane desire for blood letting, and even Ingrol struggles to keep them in check.

The fifth, and perhaps most hideous leader, is Boroth Bileblood- a Demon Prince of Tzeentch. Constantly vying for leadership with Dire, Boroth  is rightly held in check by the triad of Dire, Vyrik and Sarvin- though his Psyker mastery is the equal of Sarvin. It is through Boroth's fell ingenuity that the Lords of Aberration have use of the accursed Forgefiend and Heldrake.