ElectricPaladin
12-19-2012, 02:12 PM
Lexicanum Marad Amar-Sin glanced at the report, but it only confirmed his suspicions. He turned to his sergeants and spoke a single word that filled all those present with a mixture of elation and dread.
"Traitors."
They were Exorcists, a chapter of the 13th founding, a chapter of unknown geneseed and no personal connection to the events on Terra ten thousand years ago. However, they were still Space Marines, enemies of Chaos and defenders of the Imperium, and they knew what the traitor marines were capable of. Hadn't Exorcists been present at the birth of the Red Corsairs? Hadn't Huron, called Blackheart, survived only because the Exorcists failed to kill him in the madness surrounding the fall of Badab Prime?
"Iron Warriors again?" growled Sergeant Trisgemius. He was dour, even for an Astartes, and collected grudges the way some men collected books or curios.
Lexicanum Amar-Sin shook his head. "Word Bearers," he said. The Iron Warriors were scum, like all traitors, but at least they maintained some vestiges of their former pride, wielding Chaos like a weapon. The Word Bearers were zealots who had given themselves to Chaos, body and soul. "Governor Harkness reports that they have contained the insurrection and laid siege to the city, but cannot break them. Thus have they called for the help of the Astartes."
"And we will answer," Sergeant Akkad replied. He placed a single armored finger on the map before them. "Sir, I believe that we should strike here, where the wall is weakest. A thunderhawk bombardment will clear a path. If we can establish a beachead in the city then it will fall, in time."
"Thank you, brother. It will be so." He nodded to several of the other Astartes present. "I will fight with the Ravens of War." The veteran sergeant who led the terminators nodded. "We will bring Nergal and Enlil as well." The Astartes who crewed the company's vindicator tank smiled grimly at Brother Imakkad, who piloted the company's stormtalon.
"The bombardment will begin in one hour. Make those preparations that are needful." Marad turned away from the glowing holo-map and took up his force axe, psychoactive metal flaring with green light in response to his psyker's mind. He was no chaplain to stir his brothers with speeches about courage and duty. He was a librarian, and his way was to master disorder with firmness and force of personality. He spoke simply, "They will know that we are coming. Those that do not know fear will learn it, and we will teach them. The enemies of the Imperium will learn fear, and know death."
"They will know death," the men behind him chorused, and left to do what needed to be done.
The Lists
Word Bearers Chaos Marines (1250)
• Daemon Prince w/wings
• 5 Terminators (1 Reaper Autocannon)
• 10 Chaos Marines w/CCWs, Veterans, Mark of Nurgle
• 10 Chaos Marines w/CCWs, Veterans, Mark of Nurgle
• 10 Cultists (1 Heavy)
• 10 Cultists (1 Flamer)
• 10 Havoks (2 Missile Launchers w/Flak, 1 Lascannon, 1 Autocannon)
• Vindicator w/Siege Shield
Exorcists Space Marines (1250)
• Terminator Librarian w/Storm Shield
• 8 Terminators (1 Cyclonic Missile Launcher, 3 Chainfists)
• 10 Tactical Marines (1 Plasma Gun, 1 Plasma Cannon), Sergeant w/Meltabombs, Power Weapon, & Teleport Homer, in a Rhino w/Dozer Blade
• 10 Tactical Marines (1 Meltagun, 1 Multi-Melta), Sergeant w/Meltabombs, Power Weapon, & Teleport Homer, in a Rhino w/Dozer Blade
• Stormtalon w/Lascannons
• Vindicator w/Siege Shield
The Game
We played at such an odd points level because my opponent was coming back from a year-long hiatus and only had an odd assortment of models available. This was also only his second (or so) game of 6th Edition, and his first with his new codex. Overall, however, he played a mean game, and I still think that I deserve a little pride.
The mission was Big Guns Never Tire with a Dawn of War deployment. The terrain was unusually thick - I rolled a lot of 3s on d3s - which resulted in two large ruins dominating the center of the board, flanked by various smaller buildings, a forest, a bunch of fences and low walls, and a final ruin in my opponent's left backfield. The large central ruin on my side of the board had two objectives in it. The other two objectives were in the large ruin on his side, and the smaller ruin in his backfield.
My opponent won the roll-off and decided that I should deploy first. I divided my tacs into combat squads and hid them in their rhinos, behind terrain, but posed to take the two objectives in my ruin. I also hid my vindicator behind the ruin, confident that the siege shield could let it drive through the ruin with impunity. My terminators started in reserve (deep striking) and my stormtalon started off the board (of course).
My opponent deployed his vindicator in his central ruin, with one squad of marines hiding behind it, poised to counter-charge anything that tried to get close enough to kill it. His second squad deployed to his right, hiding in a crater. His havocs deployed in the far corner, hiding in the ruin and ready to jump out and seize the objective there (thanks, Big Guns Never Tire!) and screened by the cultists, who deployed in two giant blobs. Finally, he placed his daemon prince in front of his vindicator.
My opponent failed to seize the initiative, and we were off…
Early Game
The early game was swift, brutal and decisive. It lasted only two turns.
On my first turn I maneuvered. Rhinos crept forward, driving through the ruin and unloading their tactical occupants onto objectives. One of them turned out to be a scatterfield (yay!) while the other was booby-trapped (meh - T4 3+ models don't really fear booby traps). The vindicator arranged itself somewhat and took a pot shot at the enemy vindicator, failing to penetrate (snake eyes!) but successfully taking out a few of the chaos marines hiding behind it.
On my opponent's first turn he maneuvered as well, though his pot shots were significantly more effective, with a volley of autocannon and missile shots taking out one of my rhinos (sadly, it was the rhino with the melta squad in it, the one I had been counting on using to kill his vindicator…). The terminators were less lucky, with their autocannon shots failing to penetrate the vindicator's armor. His vindicator returned fire, but the shot scattered into the dust. He also flew his daemon prince right up into my face and tried to assault my tacs. Luckily for me, he failed to close the distance. An incredibly lucky overwatch shot actually shaved a wound off the b@stard.
Speaking of this turn, my opponent said that he wanted to strike a decisive blow as quickly as possible. Bringing his powerful assault beast and marine-destryoing template monster into effective range ASAP seemed like a good way to do this.
The early game got really exciting on the top of turn two. I knew, right off the bat, that the biggest threats to my victory were the daemon prince and the vindicator. I'd never faced a daemon prince before, but I had seen the statline and I knew that I did not want to get into close combat with that son of a b^tch. I also knew how quickly vehicles, terminators, and marines evaporate under a vindicator's template. I prioritized my target: vindicator first, because it had the added advantage of being able to hold objectives and had the potential to kill more of my soldiers per turn than the daemon prince, but resolved to kill both if I could.
My terminators arrived - my stormtalon did not. Thanks to the teleport homer, my terminators (and librarian) were able to deep strike right up the daemon prince's nose. The rest of my army maneuvered slightly, with marines exiting their vehicles to clear firing lanes and block the daemon prince from getting to where I didn't want him.
Then, it was show time.
The first volley was aimed at my opponent's vindicator. A hail-mary multi-melta shot hit and failed to penetrate, which was too bad because I really wanted to use my vindicator on the daemon prince.
Whelp, no point in crying over spilled demolisher cannon rounds. My vindicator adjusted its aim and… one-shotted the vindicator, with the resultant explosion actually taking out one of the chaos marines hiding behind it.
Score.
Then it was time to unload a torrent of fire at the daemon prince. The T6, 3+, 5++ daemon prince. Really, I shouldn't have been concerned. Between ten marines in rapid-fire range (one with a plasma gun), five in long range, a plasma cannon, 8 storm bolters, a cyclonic missile launcher, and a terminator librarian with the I-suck-the-life-from-you biokinesis power, he folded like a paper fan.
And that was my turn.
On my opponent's turn, he retaliated, and it hurt. A goodly chunk of my terminator squad evaporated under the concerted fire of his chaos marines and terminators. More of them died in the ensuing assault. His havoks and cultists continued to take shots of opportunity at the marines I had holding objectives in cover, as well as the ones stranded when their rhino died.
However, at the end of our first contact, my force was mostly intact and the guts had been ripped out of his army, and we both knew it.
Midgame
Frankly, the midgame kind of dragged. There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of posturing, and a lot of mostly ineffective shooting. The only really exciting thing was that my terminators died to his terminators, but his terminators melted under a vindicator template, broke, and started to run off the board, taking the occasional autocannon pot shot as they went.
My vindicator also - and this is key - cleared off the chaos marines holding one of his two objectives. And finally, my much-depleted melta combat squad ended up in combat against a mob of cultists and died an inglorious death. My stormtalon swept on, killed some terminators, killed some chaos marines, and swept off again.
Endgame
We began maneuvering towards the endgame around Turn 5, when we both simultaneously took stock of the situation and tried to figure out what we needed to win.
I held two objectives - both in the central ruin I had held all game, the one that also contained my vindicator - and had a squad in position to charge forward to take a third objective in his zone. I had three combat squads left, one empty rhino, which had been zipping around during the midgame, acting as mobile screening for the units I wanted to keep alive. I had my vindicator. I had the pitiful remains of my once-proud terminator squad.
My opponent had his havocs, holding an objective far in his back corner, he had a slightly depleted squad of marines, he had a ton of cultists, and he had a broken squad of terminators, slowly fleeing towards his table edge.
My opponent knew that to win he had to chase me off at least one of the remaining objectives while keeping his. I knew that if I could maintain the status quo, I could get a win.
My opponent struck first. His chaos marines swarmed my remaining terminators, gradually taking them down and killing my warlord, then moving on to kill the last two tacs holding the nearer - and more vulnerable - of my two objectives. I retaliated by charging at the nearest, now clear, objective, seizing it with my plasma gun squad. They quickly came under heavy fire from enemy havocs, and had to go to ground. My flyer zoomed on and unleashed a volley of las and assault cannon shots into the havoc squad, killing the autocannon and lascannon dudes. My opponent responded with his missile launchers, sending up a cloud of flak , which my stormtalon dodged by using evasive maneuvers (one of the fun things about the stormtalon is that all its weapons are twin-linked, so even snap shots stand a good chance of killing).
Just as planned.
The stormtalon was a total distraction, and I shoved it down his havoc's collective throat fully intending for him to kill it. The point was that instead of shooting at my tacs, he was shooting at a non-scoring flyer. As it turned out, the stormtalon did survive, killing a few cultists with snap shots as it flew away.
And then, the game ended.
Score
Exorcists: 8 (Objective + Objective + Heavy Support Destroyed + Slay the Warlord)
Word Bearers: 5 (Objective + First Blood + Slay the Warlord)
And I could have made nine points, too, if I'd remembered to press my forward tac squad just a LITTLE further into enemy territory.
Final Thoughts
The MVP on my side was probably the humble teleport homer. Adding the homers was the biggest difference between this list and the one I played last week, the one that got it's but handed to it by Iron Warriors. Teleport homers are why I was able to put my terminators exactly where I wanted them, so they could help me take down that daemon prince.
The terminators themselves weren't nearly as impressive. I don't know, maybe I expect too much from them. Maybe I just really want them to be alive at the end of the game. I really want them to do MORE. I always expect them to kill a lot of things, not just one daemon prince, then spend the rest of the game being beat up by enemy terminators and finally end up finished off by a Troops choice, of all things.
The vindicator was another big winner. I was able to keep it well protected, and it paid off. There was only one turn, late in the game, that there was nothing for it to shoot at, and when it shot, stuff died. Even that one time that I bungled the penetration role, I managed to place the template so that a couple of chaos marines bought it. I will definitely bring the vindicator to future games, and as soon as I'm done with my bascoated tac squad and two remaining terminators, the vindicator will be painted as a reward.
Finally, I have learned that I am not to underestimate chaos marines under any circumstances. Their ability to pack bolters AND pistols AND close combat weapons makes them very versatile, and Veterans of the Long War makes them extraordinarily deadly to everything in my entire freaking army. I don't think I would have done anything differently, under the circumstances, but they are a Troops choice to be killed quickly, when possible.
"Traitors."
They were Exorcists, a chapter of the 13th founding, a chapter of unknown geneseed and no personal connection to the events on Terra ten thousand years ago. However, they were still Space Marines, enemies of Chaos and defenders of the Imperium, and they knew what the traitor marines were capable of. Hadn't Exorcists been present at the birth of the Red Corsairs? Hadn't Huron, called Blackheart, survived only because the Exorcists failed to kill him in the madness surrounding the fall of Badab Prime?
"Iron Warriors again?" growled Sergeant Trisgemius. He was dour, even for an Astartes, and collected grudges the way some men collected books or curios.
Lexicanum Amar-Sin shook his head. "Word Bearers," he said. The Iron Warriors were scum, like all traitors, but at least they maintained some vestiges of their former pride, wielding Chaos like a weapon. The Word Bearers were zealots who had given themselves to Chaos, body and soul. "Governor Harkness reports that they have contained the insurrection and laid siege to the city, but cannot break them. Thus have they called for the help of the Astartes."
"And we will answer," Sergeant Akkad replied. He placed a single armored finger on the map before them. "Sir, I believe that we should strike here, where the wall is weakest. A thunderhawk bombardment will clear a path. If we can establish a beachead in the city then it will fall, in time."
"Thank you, brother. It will be so." He nodded to several of the other Astartes present. "I will fight with the Ravens of War." The veteran sergeant who led the terminators nodded. "We will bring Nergal and Enlil as well." The Astartes who crewed the company's vindicator tank smiled grimly at Brother Imakkad, who piloted the company's stormtalon.
"The bombardment will begin in one hour. Make those preparations that are needful." Marad turned away from the glowing holo-map and took up his force axe, psychoactive metal flaring with green light in response to his psyker's mind. He was no chaplain to stir his brothers with speeches about courage and duty. He was a librarian, and his way was to master disorder with firmness and force of personality. He spoke simply, "They will know that we are coming. Those that do not know fear will learn it, and we will teach them. The enemies of the Imperium will learn fear, and know death."
"They will know death," the men behind him chorused, and left to do what needed to be done.
The Lists
Word Bearers Chaos Marines (1250)
• Daemon Prince w/wings
• 5 Terminators (1 Reaper Autocannon)
• 10 Chaos Marines w/CCWs, Veterans, Mark of Nurgle
• 10 Chaos Marines w/CCWs, Veterans, Mark of Nurgle
• 10 Cultists (1 Heavy)
• 10 Cultists (1 Flamer)
• 10 Havoks (2 Missile Launchers w/Flak, 1 Lascannon, 1 Autocannon)
• Vindicator w/Siege Shield
Exorcists Space Marines (1250)
• Terminator Librarian w/Storm Shield
• 8 Terminators (1 Cyclonic Missile Launcher, 3 Chainfists)
• 10 Tactical Marines (1 Plasma Gun, 1 Plasma Cannon), Sergeant w/Meltabombs, Power Weapon, & Teleport Homer, in a Rhino w/Dozer Blade
• 10 Tactical Marines (1 Meltagun, 1 Multi-Melta), Sergeant w/Meltabombs, Power Weapon, & Teleport Homer, in a Rhino w/Dozer Blade
• Stormtalon w/Lascannons
• Vindicator w/Siege Shield
The Game
We played at such an odd points level because my opponent was coming back from a year-long hiatus and only had an odd assortment of models available. This was also only his second (or so) game of 6th Edition, and his first with his new codex. Overall, however, he played a mean game, and I still think that I deserve a little pride.
The mission was Big Guns Never Tire with a Dawn of War deployment. The terrain was unusually thick - I rolled a lot of 3s on d3s - which resulted in two large ruins dominating the center of the board, flanked by various smaller buildings, a forest, a bunch of fences and low walls, and a final ruin in my opponent's left backfield. The large central ruin on my side of the board had two objectives in it. The other two objectives were in the large ruin on his side, and the smaller ruin in his backfield.
My opponent won the roll-off and decided that I should deploy first. I divided my tacs into combat squads and hid them in their rhinos, behind terrain, but posed to take the two objectives in my ruin. I also hid my vindicator behind the ruin, confident that the siege shield could let it drive through the ruin with impunity. My terminators started in reserve (deep striking) and my stormtalon started off the board (of course).
My opponent deployed his vindicator in his central ruin, with one squad of marines hiding behind it, poised to counter-charge anything that tried to get close enough to kill it. His second squad deployed to his right, hiding in a crater. His havocs deployed in the far corner, hiding in the ruin and ready to jump out and seize the objective there (thanks, Big Guns Never Tire!) and screened by the cultists, who deployed in two giant blobs. Finally, he placed his daemon prince in front of his vindicator.
My opponent failed to seize the initiative, and we were off…
Early Game
The early game was swift, brutal and decisive. It lasted only two turns.
On my first turn I maneuvered. Rhinos crept forward, driving through the ruin and unloading their tactical occupants onto objectives. One of them turned out to be a scatterfield (yay!) while the other was booby-trapped (meh - T4 3+ models don't really fear booby traps). The vindicator arranged itself somewhat and took a pot shot at the enemy vindicator, failing to penetrate (snake eyes!) but successfully taking out a few of the chaos marines hiding behind it.
On my opponent's first turn he maneuvered as well, though his pot shots were significantly more effective, with a volley of autocannon and missile shots taking out one of my rhinos (sadly, it was the rhino with the melta squad in it, the one I had been counting on using to kill his vindicator…). The terminators were less lucky, with their autocannon shots failing to penetrate the vindicator's armor. His vindicator returned fire, but the shot scattered into the dust. He also flew his daemon prince right up into my face and tried to assault my tacs. Luckily for me, he failed to close the distance. An incredibly lucky overwatch shot actually shaved a wound off the b@stard.
Speaking of this turn, my opponent said that he wanted to strike a decisive blow as quickly as possible. Bringing his powerful assault beast and marine-destryoing template monster into effective range ASAP seemed like a good way to do this.
The early game got really exciting on the top of turn two. I knew, right off the bat, that the biggest threats to my victory were the daemon prince and the vindicator. I'd never faced a daemon prince before, but I had seen the statline and I knew that I did not want to get into close combat with that son of a b^tch. I also knew how quickly vehicles, terminators, and marines evaporate under a vindicator's template. I prioritized my target: vindicator first, because it had the added advantage of being able to hold objectives and had the potential to kill more of my soldiers per turn than the daemon prince, but resolved to kill both if I could.
My terminators arrived - my stormtalon did not. Thanks to the teleport homer, my terminators (and librarian) were able to deep strike right up the daemon prince's nose. The rest of my army maneuvered slightly, with marines exiting their vehicles to clear firing lanes and block the daemon prince from getting to where I didn't want him.
Then, it was show time.
The first volley was aimed at my opponent's vindicator. A hail-mary multi-melta shot hit and failed to penetrate, which was too bad because I really wanted to use my vindicator on the daemon prince.
Whelp, no point in crying over spilled demolisher cannon rounds. My vindicator adjusted its aim and… one-shotted the vindicator, with the resultant explosion actually taking out one of the chaos marines hiding behind it.
Score.
Then it was time to unload a torrent of fire at the daemon prince. The T6, 3+, 5++ daemon prince. Really, I shouldn't have been concerned. Between ten marines in rapid-fire range (one with a plasma gun), five in long range, a plasma cannon, 8 storm bolters, a cyclonic missile launcher, and a terminator librarian with the I-suck-the-life-from-you biokinesis power, he folded like a paper fan.
And that was my turn.
On my opponent's turn, he retaliated, and it hurt. A goodly chunk of my terminator squad evaporated under the concerted fire of his chaos marines and terminators. More of them died in the ensuing assault. His havoks and cultists continued to take shots of opportunity at the marines I had holding objectives in cover, as well as the ones stranded when their rhino died.
However, at the end of our first contact, my force was mostly intact and the guts had been ripped out of his army, and we both knew it.
Midgame
Frankly, the midgame kind of dragged. There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of posturing, and a lot of mostly ineffective shooting. The only really exciting thing was that my terminators died to his terminators, but his terminators melted under a vindicator template, broke, and started to run off the board, taking the occasional autocannon pot shot as they went.
My vindicator also - and this is key - cleared off the chaos marines holding one of his two objectives. And finally, my much-depleted melta combat squad ended up in combat against a mob of cultists and died an inglorious death. My stormtalon swept on, killed some terminators, killed some chaos marines, and swept off again.
Endgame
We began maneuvering towards the endgame around Turn 5, when we both simultaneously took stock of the situation and tried to figure out what we needed to win.
I held two objectives - both in the central ruin I had held all game, the one that also contained my vindicator - and had a squad in position to charge forward to take a third objective in his zone. I had three combat squads left, one empty rhino, which had been zipping around during the midgame, acting as mobile screening for the units I wanted to keep alive. I had my vindicator. I had the pitiful remains of my once-proud terminator squad.
My opponent had his havocs, holding an objective far in his back corner, he had a slightly depleted squad of marines, he had a ton of cultists, and he had a broken squad of terminators, slowly fleeing towards his table edge.
My opponent knew that to win he had to chase me off at least one of the remaining objectives while keeping his. I knew that if I could maintain the status quo, I could get a win.
My opponent struck first. His chaos marines swarmed my remaining terminators, gradually taking them down and killing my warlord, then moving on to kill the last two tacs holding the nearer - and more vulnerable - of my two objectives. I retaliated by charging at the nearest, now clear, objective, seizing it with my plasma gun squad. They quickly came under heavy fire from enemy havocs, and had to go to ground. My flyer zoomed on and unleashed a volley of las and assault cannon shots into the havoc squad, killing the autocannon and lascannon dudes. My opponent responded with his missile launchers, sending up a cloud of flak , which my stormtalon dodged by using evasive maneuvers (one of the fun things about the stormtalon is that all its weapons are twin-linked, so even snap shots stand a good chance of killing).
Just as planned.
The stormtalon was a total distraction, and I shoved it down his havoc's collective throat fully intending for him to kill it. The point was that instead of shooting at my tacs, he was shooting at a non-scoring flyer. As it turned out, the stormtalon did survive, killing a few cultists with snap shots as it flew away.
And then, the game ended.
Score
Exorcists: 8 (Objective + Objective + Heavy Support Destroyed + Slay the Warlord)
Word Bearers: 5 (Objective + First Blood + Slay the Warlord)
And I could have made nine points, too, if I'd remembered to press my forward tac squad just a LITTLE further into enemy territory.
Final Thoughts
The MVP on my side was probably the humble teleport homer. Adding the homers was the biggest difference between this list and the one I played last week, the one that got it's but handed to it by Iron Warriors. Teleport homers are why I was able to put my terminators exactly where I wanted them, so they could help me take down that daemon prince.
The terminators themselves weren't nearly as impressive. I don't know, maybe I expect too much from them. Maybe I just really want them to be alive at the end of the game. I really want them to do MORE. I always expect them to kill a lot of things, not just one daemon prince, then spend the rest of the game being beat up by enemy terminators and finally end up finished off by a Troops choice, of all things.
The vindicator was another big winner. I was able to keep it well protected, and it paid off. There was only one turn, late in the game, that there was nothing for it to shoot at, and when it shot, stuff died. Even that one time that I bungled the penetration role, I managed to place the template so that a couple of chaos marines bought it. I will definitely bring the vindicator to future games, and as soon as I'm done with my bascoated tac squad and two remaining terminators, the vindicator will be painted as a reward.
Finally, I have learned that I am not to underestimate chaos marines under any circumstances. Their ability to pack bolters AND pistols AND close combat weapons makes them very versatile, and Veterans of the Long War makes them extraordinarily deadly to everything in my entire freaking army. I don't think I would have done anything differently, under the circumstances, but they are a Troops choice to be killed quickly, when possible.