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...

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….).