GT wanted to try a few of the new models, so we had some proxies in play (Beserkers as Warp Talons, and a lump of terrain on a base for the Forgefiend). Here you can see him writing "old school" with pen and paper making his list across from my army.
1850 Chaos Space Marines
HQ
Chaos Lord (Power Weapon, Plasma Pistol, Sigil of Corruption, Mark of Nurgle)
Starting Chaos Boon roll: +1 Wound
EL
x6 Chosen (Double Lightning Claws, PF, x2 PW, Gift of Mutation)
Starting Chaos Boon roll: +1 Strength
Rhino
Tr
x7 Plague Marines (x2 Plasma Guns, Power Fist, Gift of Mutation)
Starting Chaos Boon Roll: +1 Wound
Rhino
Tr
x10 Cultists (Heavy Stubber, Shotgun)
Tr
x10 Chaos Space Marines (x2 Melta, PF, Gift of Mutation)
Starting Chaos Boon Roll: Feel No Pain
Rhino
FA
x7 Warp Talons (Mark of Tzeentch, Veterans of the Long War, x2 Gift of Mutation)
Starting Chaos Boons: +1 Init, Deny the Witch does S6 AP2 back to caster
(Game boon from winning a challenge, Adamantium Will)
Hvy
x3 Obliterators (Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War)
Hvy
Defiler
Hvy
Forgefiend Ecto Plasma x3
So yeah, he wasn't to going build the Forgefiend right there so he opened the box to get the base out.
1850 Tau/Blood Angels (Allies against the Chaos Tide)
HQ
Shas'el (Plasma, MP, MT, HW BS Filter, HW Drone Controller, 2x Gun Drones)
EL
x3 XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (x3 Plasma, X3 MP, X3 MT)
El
x3 XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (x3TL MP, x2Flamer, 1x BS Filter)
Tr
x6 Firewarriors
Devilfish (Disruption Pod)
Tr
x11 Firewarriors
Hvy
x2 XV88 Broadsides (x2 Drone Controllers, x2 Shield Drones, Team Leader, HW BS Filter)
Hvy
x2 XV88 Broadsides (x2 Drone Controllers, x2 Shield Drones, Team Leader, HW BS Filter)
Hvy
Hammerhead Gunship (Railgun, x2 Burst Cannons, Disruption Pod)
Blood Angel Attachment
HQ
Librarian (Force Sword, Shield of Sanguinius, Sanguine Sword)
Tr
x5 Assault Marines (Melta)
Razorback (LasTLPlasma)
Tr
x6 Assault Marines (Melta)
Razorback (LasTLPlasma)
Hvy
Stormraven Gunship (TL Multi-melta, TL Lascannon)
So I have a lot of shooting, but I am giving up a lot of kill points. Fortunately, Shield of Sanguinius benefits Tau units as it's not a targeted Psychic power and can affect Allies of Convenience. With disruption pods granting me constant Shrouding on my Vehicles + the Shield, I was planning on getting 3+ save on the first turn without having to move/jink.
We randomly rolled up the first mission from the tournament packet, Purge the Alien with Dawn of War deployment (First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker). Here's the table setup:
GT rolled up a Warlord trait from the new book and it gave him the option to infiltrate d3 units (he infiltrated the Warp Talons). I rolled up a Warlord Trait and got Master of Ambush (useless for me). Night fighting was going to be in effect turn one. GT won the roll to go first and setup his army. He needed to do some bookkeeping to keep track of all the boons he rolled. I setup in the corners and tried to get some good firing lanes. I failed to seize the initiative.
Turn 1
Chaos Marines
Rhinos roll up and pop smoke. Warp Talons move up and hug the center terrain. Forge fiend fires at the Firewarriors (note, we accidentally thought the range was 36", the Forgefiend plasma is actually range 24"). Two of the blasts scattered and the third hit one firewarrior who made his night fighting cover save). The Obliterators fire at a Razorback, but fail to do anything thanks to cover bonuses from night fighting.
I maneuver everything into firing position. Thanks to Blacksun filters, my battlesuits are not hindered by night fighting. Surprisingly, I manage to only strip off a few hull points and immobilize the Defiler with all the Railguns. However, my battlesuits with the TL MPs penatrate and explode the Rhino carrying the Chaos Marines (First Blood!). I take a hull point off one of the Rhinos from a glancing hit. One of my Razorbacks loses a hull point from "gets hot". The Battlesuits do their assault move and get back in cover.
Turn 2
Chaos Marines
The marines drive close and the Warp Talons jump to within assault range of the Firewarriors. GT has a pretty bad round of shooting as his Forgefiend rolls two "gets hot" out of the three plasma shots and loses a hull point. He then rolled a '1' to wound on his only hit. The Obliterators have better luck and wreck a Razorback. The Warp Talons fail their charge against the Firewarriors, but do not lose any models to Overwatch.
The Stormraven fails to come on. Unfortunately for GT, that failed charge left his units pretty much in the open. My return fire on his army this turn is brutal. Railguns explode the immobilized Defilier. LasPlas from the Razorback wrecks the Rhino carrying the Chosen. More shooting at the Chosen kills off four of them. Rapid firing Firewarriors roll amazing shots at the Warp Talons and GT failed a lot of armor saves leaving only two left.
Turn 3
Chaos Marines
GT unloads his Lord with the Plague marines and they shoot up one battlesuit forcing a morale check for me (I fail, but stay on the board, barely). The Chosen from the wrecked Rhino can't assault, so they shoot a bit at the Assault marines. The Obliterators shoot assault cannons at one of the broadside units, but do not get any rending wounds and the Shield Drones make all their +2 armor saves. The remaining 2 Warp Talons assault the marines and have to challenge. I accept with my Sergeant, but lose and lose the combat but stay locked with one assault marine left. GT wins the challenge and rolls on the boon table (gains Adamantium Will).
The Stormraven arrives from reserve. Things are looking good for me at this point on Kill points. I concentrate shooting at the Chosen and take them out. Railguns kill 2 of the Obliterators (even with Mark of Nurgle). I shoot at the Forgefiend and glance it to death with Str 7 missiles. Not taking anything for granted, I move my Firewarriors in the Devilfish up the left flank to go for Linebreaker.
During my assault phase, the Warp Talons finish off the lone assault marine.
Turn 4
GT's bad luck continues. The last two Warp Talons die from Overwatch fire as they try to assault the Firewarriors. Hilarity ensues when the Lord and the Plague marines assault the Broadsides. One shield drone kills a plague marine and the broadsides put two wounds on his lord (think I rolled double sixes which GT follow up with snake-eyes). The broadsides make their saves against the Lord's power weapon, but still lose when the Plague marine with the power fist kills them off.
The last Obliterator dies to railgun fire. A blast template from the Hammerhead takes out some of the cultists which are then assaulted by some marines. The Lord and the remaining plague marines get torrented into oblivion by Firewarriors, Plasma Battlesuits, and the LasPlas Razorback.
The game is pretty much over at this point. We finish up the assault between the marines and the cultists. At the end, only the unit of Chaos Marines are left holding the center ruin. VP points Tau/BA 14 (11 KP+First Blood+Warlord+Linebreaker) to Chaos Marines 4 (4 KP).
GT had some bad luck this game. Nightfighting really helped me in turn 1. Also, not being able to assault out of Rhinos (wrecked or operational) really slowed down his advance. If that first assault from his Warp Talons hit, the game would have progressed a lot differently. Also, the get's hot rolls on his Forgefiend were really bad luck. Hopefully that will change when he actually builds the model.
As for my own list, I am not sure how much to take from this game. It worked, lots of long range firepower. I think I have too many kill points in the list, and no real counter assault. The shield of Sanguinius + Disruption Pod combo seems cool, but I am not sure if it's worth bringing allies for.
Hope you enjoyed the Batrep, thanks for reading!
Enjoyed it! Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteOutstanding job; it was fun to see how the new CSM codex works.
ReplyDelete