Battle Report #1 (14.01.2012)

Welcome, fellow war-gamers, to this Warhammer 40k battle report. This is a game between Daemons of Chaos and Space Marines. Each side has 2000 points of death and destruction ready to be unleashed upon one another. The victory conditions are one of the ETC (Europe Team Championship) missions. This means that there are two objectives – primary and secondary. The primary objective is Annihilation (kill points) , the secondary is Capture and control with three objectives – one is set up in the middle of the board, the other two are located on the line(along the long table edges)  that separates the table in two parts 6” away from the short table edges. The deployment type is Dawn of War.

Lets’ take a brief look at both armies – my daemons are what I usually bring (see First Post on this blog). The Space marines have: Tactical Squad (1 flamer, 1 missile launcher, a sergeant with a melta bomb), 2 squads of Scouts(in the first one there are sniper rifles, capes and a sergeant, the second one has shotguns, bolter and a sergeant), Rhino transport(heavy bolter, hunter-killer missile) 2 Land Raider Crusaders(melta, heavy bolter, hunter killer missile on both), Devastator squad(Sergeant with a Powerfist, las-canon, plasma, missile launcher, melta, 5 marines with bolters), 2 squads of Terminators(4 Lightning claws and 1 Hammer/ Shield in both), 1 Librarian (psychic powers – Null-zone, Vortex)Vulkan. Sure, the Space Marines army list looks a bit silly here and there. The thing is – the Space Marine player is new, as I am, and he does lack some models and knowledge about what is best to have in his army. Oh well, let’s see how it goes.

I won the roll-off, so I decided to give the first turn to the Space Marine’s player. He decided not to deploy any of his units, rather his army will come out in turn 1 from his table edge, except for two squads of scouts, who are in reserve, and will come out using the Outflank rule.

Turn #1 – Space Marines

Oh well, there is not too much to tell here. The mighty protectors of mankind came on the battlefield from their table edge. They seem to be trying to concentrate their forces in on part of the table – not a bad idea at all. Also the Devastator squad is heading towards that ruin to get a better firing position at any target that presents itself.

 

Turn #1 – Daemons of Chaos

Ah yes, finally we get to where the fun starts. Daemons are about to deep-strike onto the battlefield. I’ve put most of my hard-hitting units into the Daemonic Assault, so that on a 3+ they come out on the battlefield. Everything else supposed to come out later … I hope so. The dice is about to be rolled, intense moment, drumming beat ….. I roll a 2 ….. FAIL! All of my troops, Daemon Prince and a Soul Grinder come out to almost guaranteed slaughter. The Blood God wants Blood…. apparently my blood. Oh well, in order not to get killed outright I deep-stroke all of my units close to the far table corner (good thing the Space Marines are concentrated in one place). It seems like a good plan, though it did fail a little – the Soul Grinder managed to scatter into a wall. He mishaps, oh crap. I roll a 3 on the mishap table – the enemy gets to deploy him wherever he wishes. He decided to drop it directly in front of the Land Raiders, and if that wasn’t enough – he drops Soul Grinder inside are terrain! You know what happens next? That’s correct – I fail again! I roll a 1 on the dangerous terrain test for the ‘Grinder. Now he is immobilized. He did shot at the Devastator squad, managing to kill 2 of them, sadly –those were the guys with bolters. Pink Horrors and Plaguebearers ran to get in a better position.

Turn #2 – Space Marines

Reserve rolls! I wish I rolled for my reserves like this – I really do. Not only do the both Scout squads come out – both of them get to choose from which table edge to come out – talk about strategically positioned! One of them comes out from the table edge that is closer to most of his forces – those would be the ones with the sniper rifles. The other squad comes out close to me. Both squads hug cover. They are afraid … mwuhaha.

The Devastator squad has finally managed to get a position up on that ruin. One of the Land Raiders had moved and shot his weapons against a squad of Pink Horrors, killing all of them except for the one with the Bolt of Tzeentch. A lonely hero we have here. That Land Raider has also used his Machine Spirit to fire one weapon at another target – Melta against the immobilized Soul Grinder. That, in combination with shots from another Land Raider did absolutely nothing! The walker is alive to live another day, or, at least, another turn.

Turn #2 – Daemons of Chaos

Reinforcements! Finally I get to pull out some nasty cards out of my sleeve. Let’s see here. Another Soul Grinder, Bloodcrushers with Skulltaler, Flamers and Screamers arrive to lend a hand in fighting the evil. Because, you know, space marines are evil, as is the Imperium of Man, sort of evil. Never mind. I decided to drop Bloodcrushers close to the enemy – they are tough enough to deal with a lot of damage coming their way. The blue ‘Grinder is coming from the flank while Screamers arrive using the icon on the Plaguebeares to make sure they don’t scatter on top of someone – the battlefield is getting crowded. The Flamers are trying a bold move of deer-striking behind the Land Raiders. They did manage to come right on target though, and are ready to unleash the hell on those tanks.

Movement. First thing first – Plaguebeares are trying to get into the terrain and score that objective there. They do roll a double one on their moving … not so much of a fail, rather a minor setback. Everyone (who is able to) is moving to get in the best position for upcoming battle.

In the shooting phase the Bloodcrushers used their run to spread out a little in order not to get caught under some nasty blast weaponry too much. The Plaguebeares ran, finally getting where I wanted to see them a while ago. The one heroic Pink Horror with the Bolt tried to shoot at one of the Land Raiders but failed to do anything, the immobilized (“But I’m still alive”) Soul Grinder keeps torturing the poor Devastator Squad – he shot both his Phlegm(big blast) and Harvester at them claiming some souls for himself. But, sadly, those were once again the bolter marines (also known as the “meat shield”). The Flamers, who were supposed to at least shake the Land raider did absolutely zero. That makes it a sad fail – 135 point thrown away in the window. The blue ‘Grinder found himself a delicious target – some scouts who appeared to be not very well hidden from him. He did manage to kill only 2, but the controlling player ordered them to go to ground, giving them a better cover save, but making them not able to do anything the next turn.

Turn #3 – Space Marines

And the Ultra strike back! Both Terminator squads, with Librarian in one and Vulkan in another, came out to face the Khorne’s finest. Some would consider staying away. Well, marines are supposed to be super-soldiers. We’ll see where this goes, but for now the terminators disembark. 

Dakka dakka! Firstly, the squad inside the Rhino decided that the flamers are not very beautiful. One flame thrower that they shot wouldn’t have did too much, but! The librarian has a Null-zone, which he successfully activated. That forces me to re-roll all my successful invulnerable saves within 24” from the librarian! The flamers have died altogether – this was just too much for them. The Devastators and a melta from the Land Raider shot at the Soul Grinder again managing to destroy only one weapon – talk about an indestructible vehicle! Bolters from both land raider fired a crazy volley of bolter rounds at the Bloodcrushers managing to kill one and wound a ‘Crusher and the Skulltaker … damn that Librarian and his null-zone!

 

But the Slaughter was just beginning… as were my epic fails. The terminators charged the Bloodcrushers, and because of high initiative the Skulltaker was hitting first… apparently this day was an April’s Fools day for Khorne – his best herald didn’t wound even once! Why, oh why are you so cruel today?! In the end the terminators won big – losing only a few, they killed all the Bloodcrushers and the Skulltaker - killing the most hard-hitting close-combat unit in my entire army – this does not seem to go well for me, not at all. 

Turn #3 – Daemons of Chaos

Time for some sweet-sweet revenge! What is left in the reserve came onto the table – another unit of Flamers and the Fateweaver are hungry for souls of those foolish mortals who dared to oppose us! 

While the Plaguebeares, Daemons Prince, Pink Horrors, Screamers and a Soul Grinder get into position I already start to think of a way to turn this battle to my favor. The chance is slim, but it does exist. First thing first – get those Plaguebearers into the cover in case they will start getting some attention from shooting units. Other daemons start to close in with the rest of the Ultramarines, making a circle around them and closing in on the targets – no one escapes!

Now, let us fire ze missiles! Soul Grinder’s shooting done nothing to the Devastators – I can’t blame him, he already lost his big blast, there was barely anything he could do now. The Flamers manage to do some damage – out of 4 terminators only 2 survived from their deadly flamers. Both the blue Soul Grinder and one lonely Pink Horror tried their chances against armor 14 of the Land Raider – both failed, proving once again that daemons are not a shooting army.

Now, you think that I’m the only one who fails? Really? No. Seriously, no. Why, you would ask. That’s why – those terminators, the ones that lost a half of the squad are running away! Yes, finally something. Yes, they will regroup the next turn or the turn after, but they will be further away from me – that’s some place where they are not useful at all.

Turn #4 – Space Marines

Not much left on the battlefield, but still the battle is raging on! The two terminators regroup and start making their way to join their battle-brothers. Ultramarines are moving their Land Raiders to engage the most dangerous targets – they want them out for good in order to get to my squishy troops and finish this once and for all. One of them moves to finally take down the red ‘Grinder, while the other one takes one squad of terminators and, accompanied by a Rhino with a tactical squad, moves in to engage the other Soul Grinder. While the first has all the chances to succeed, the other move might’ve been a mistake – there is nothing powerful enough in those Land Raider and Rhino to deal with the Soul Grinder effectively. Or maybe he just wants to stall it there. 

And finally, after a concentrated shooting from a Land Raider and a Devastator squad the infamous Soul Grinder plants his face into the ground and falls asleep … it’s a wreck. The Scouts hiding in the far corner has finally decided to run out of cover to try and grab the objective. By the way, remember those three scout that went to ground some time ago? Those three are still there, forgotten, lonely. Sad situation, really sad.

Turn #4 – Daemons of Chaos

The further we go the shorter the description of each turn is. But, hopefully, I will pull out at least some sort of a draw. While Daemons suffered heavy losses they still pack some fire power in them, and we are about to put it to good use. But, first, let’s move up to the opponent. Daemon Prince and Screamers jump closer to assist the blue ‘Grinder, while on the other flank Pink Horrors, Flamers and the Fateweaver close in on the other Land Raider and the Devastator squad. I did forgot about the librarian with a null-zone there, and I’m about to regret it.

In the shooting phase … well, almost nothing happened – the Fateweaver managed to kill two out of five scouts, they made their leadership test though, so they are still standing their ground. The shooting from the blue Soul Grinder was not effective enough to even somehow damage the rhino – so let’s get straight to the fun part – charging into the assault and opening up those tin cans – there are some delicious space marines in there you know. And, of course, my “luck” shows up again to teach me another lesson – not the Daemon Prince, nor the Screamers have managed to even scratch the Land Raider, and even the mighty Soul Grinder has only managed to immobilize the Rhino he charged in – here we go again.

 

Turn #5 – Space Marines

Decisions, decisions. So many targets, so many choices. The Ultramarines seem to be going to split up their forces in order to deal with several threats at the same time. While the Vulkan himself comes out from his comfortable Land Raider to deal with enemies that threat the humanity, his ride and the Terminators inside it seem to have pulled back, repositioning to attack a different target. The terminators from the Land Raider seem to be going after the Screamers, while the others that regrouped a while ago are hungry for those Flamers back there. None of these daemons are suitable for close combat, meaning that we are about to have a little slaughter going on. Also the Tactical squad comes out of their Rhino to make some shots against a target they will found dangerous enough. 

   

Have I already mentioned I hate that Librarian with his null-zone? Well I still do – he activated it once again, making all of my invulnerable saves pretty much useless. In the shooting phase the tactical squad has managed to blast 3 wounds off of a Daemons Prince! Even with his 3+ armor save he just couldn’t withstand so many shots. The Devastators and a Land Raider tried their luck against the Fateweaver but failed to do anything. This bird is all but invincible.

Now the Blood God will be happy. Or will he? I wonder does the Blood God enjoy when the strong slaughter the weak? Interesting, Ok. So, in the assault phase the Vulkan took on the Daemons Prince, while two Terminators squads engaged the Screamers and Flamers. Unfortunately none of my Daemons survived this – the Null zone was active, so all the successful invulnerable saves had to be re-rolled. The Prince still managed to take a wound out of a Vulkan though – it wasn’t a total loss.

Turn #5 – Daemons of Chaos

Turn 5 was … uneventful. Pink Horrors moved a bit closer to capture an objective and shoot at the Terminators, Fateweaver jumped closer to the Devastators, while still being in range to kill the scouts, and the Soul Grinder has turned around to attack the Vulkan. At this point I am trying to kill as many units as possibly while, hopefully, hold on to those objectives and score myself some points.  

Aha! And who told you the daemons were not a shooting army? Wait, me? Oh … umm … no. So apparently shooting in my army is not a bad as some might think – with some shots the Fateweaver has finally managed to take out the Scout squad, though he did fail to do anything against the Devastators. But still – a kill point for me. The Soul Grinder tried to get some shots at the Vulkan, but failed – it will be decided in a close combat duel. The shooting from Pink Horrors did nothing to the Terminators, but annoying them a little.

And now for the epic duel between the blue Soul Grinder and the Vulkan! Nothing really too epic here – Vulkan just caught a wound from the ‘Grinder and suffered and instant death, so yeah, not really an epic duel. It’s a very boring duel – that’s what it is. I wouldn’t pay money to see a one-hit-win fight. The Soul Grinder consolidates back towards the Tactical squad.

Turn #6 – Space Marines

And the Land Raiders emerge from all around, swarming upon a small and barely protected target. The two Land Raiders, with some of their Terminators inside decided that they don’t really like those Pink Horrors – so they both move up for the kill. At the same time the Tactical squad hides inside their immobilized Rhino in vain hope that it will protect them against the Soul Grinder.

What happens if suddenly you are in a storm of bolt rounds? You die! That is what basically happened here – the Horrors just died – so many shots and the fact that they are forced to re-roll their successful invulnerable saves make it difficult enough for even a bigger squad to fall. But what is this? The Devastator squad has finally managed to put a wound on the Fateweaver with all the shots from all the cool weapons they have. Fortunately the Proud Bird (aka Fateweaver) makes his leadership test and still stands to shoot some more.

Turn #6 – Daemons of Chaos

The blood was spilled, the metal was broken. All was done to come to this moment. I’m trying to pull out as much kill points as possible. The Fateweaver moves even closer and shoots all he can at the devastator squad, while at the same time the Soul Grinder tries to take down both the rhino and the tactical squad inside. Unfortunately, the fail is epic. The ‘Grinder only manages to take out a Rhino, while the Devastators didn’t lose as much as I had hoped.

 

At this point, the game was over. The Space Marines has won, bringing yet another victory for the glory of their chapter, while the Daemons return back to the Warp to plan revenge and regain their power.

But the most important is – both players had a lot of fun, both got some valuable experience out of this. And I hope you did as well. Leave your comments on what you think about the battle itself, about the battle report and about the blog altogether. Leave useful advice, constructive criticism or pure trolling.

I hope you enjoyed this battle report, good luck to you.