Space Marines and Imperial Guard vs Daemons

[Zujara]

2 players on each side, each bring a 1000 point army

 

Mission: Invasion (from the Battle Missions book)

 

The board: Portal in the center, a 2 story ruins 12” to the south of it. 12” to the north is a 1 floor ruined building. 18” to both the east and west is some ruined walls. Some craters around the portal, to the northwest a forest, southwest and southeast both have a large pile of rubble, and the northeast has a building. See map for rough visual aid! The ruins are the 4 objectives

 

Sorry no photos, forgot the camera

 

The lists:

 

Imperial Team

Knights of Gryphonne(me)

 

Capatin Relic Blade, Storm Shield

10 man Tactical Squad Meltagun, Sergeant with Power Weapon, Las/Plas Razorback

5 man Tactical Squad Sergeant with Combi-Melta, Twin Linked Assault Cannon Razorback

Dreadnought Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod

7 man Assault Squad Flamer, Sergeant with Power Fist

Whirlwind

 

Total: 996

 

Catachan

Command Squad Medi-pack, Heavy Flamer, 2 Flamers, 2 Bodyguards, Officer with Power Fist, Chimera with heavy flamer in hull

Platoon Command 2 Autocannon Teams

Infantry Squad Grenade Launcher, Commissar with Power Weapon, Sergeant with Power Weapon

2x Infantry Squad Grenade Launchers, Sergeants with Power Weapons

Heavy Weapons Squad 3x Autocannons

Heavy Weapons Squad Mortars

Veteran Squad Shotguns, 3 Meltaguns, in a Chimera with heavy flamer in hull

Griffon

Hell Hound Smoke Launchers, heavy flamer in hull

 

Total: 1000

 

Daemon Team

 

Mixed Daemons

 

Lord of Change We are Legion, Master of Sorcery, Breath of Chaos

10 Pink Horrors The Changeling

5 Plaguebearers Chaos Icon

5 Plaguebearers

5 Pink Horrors

Soul Grinder Phlegm

 

Total: 1000

 

Slaanesh Daemons

 

The Masque

10 Daemonettes

10 Daemonettes

5 Fiends of Slaanesh

5 Fiends of Slaanesh One with Unholy Might

9 Seekers of Slaanesh

Daemon Prince Mark of Slaanesh, Iron Hide, Aura of Acquiescence, Pavane of Slaanesh

 

Total: 998

 

Deployment

 

Catachan player combined all 3 of his infantry platoon squads and deployed them in the northern ruins, and deployed the platoon command squad a bit to the west of them where the autocannons had a good view of the portal. Both heavy weapons teams deployed in the western ruins, the mortar team on the objective and the autocannons a bit away from it. The command squad chimera was deployed north of the western ruins, and the vet's chimera to the south of the western ruins. Hellhound was deployed by the southern ruins.

 

I deployed my Whirlwind in the northeast behind the building. I combat squad my 10 man squad, putting a plasma cannon and 4 marines on the second floor of the souther ruins, and the other 5 in the Razorback on top of the eastern objective. The Captain joined the 5man squad in their Razorback, and deployed south of the other Razorback beside the wall of the ruins.

 

 

Pre game thoughts: This is an interesting mission, since the daemons count as coming in from reserves if they use the portal and can assault when they arrive. The fast moving fiends could easily charge in early and overwhelm a position, and I am sure our southern objective is too weakly defended to be held. Our focus is more on the northern objective with the 30 guardsmen inside, and move to support it from either the east or the west whichever is being hit less and keep the others contested.

 

Turn 1

Daemons

 

Both players get their chosen waves. Mixed picks Lord of Change, 5x Pink Horrors, Plaguebearers with Icon, and Flamers. Slaanesh player picks Seekers, Fiends with unholy might, and the 2 Daemonette squads.

 

Icon plaguebearers deepstrike south of my assault cannon Razorback, but scatter directly south almost to the table edge. The 5 Horrors and Lord of Change come in through the poral, advancing towards the large platoon squad. The flamers also use the portal, moving south to be in range of my combat squad.

 

Fiends and 1 Daemonette squad use the portal, the other daemonettes and the seekers try to deep strike into the south west. The Seekers scatter into the veteran's chimera, and roll delayed. The Daemonettes scatter 11”, landing just a few inches from the front of the Hellhound!

 

Lord of Change uses Bolt of Tzeentch on the platoon command, but misses. He also uses Breath of Chaos and Daemonic Gaze on the 30man squad, but with bad rolling only kills 3. The horrors also shoot at the large squad, and casue 7 wounds but 5 are saved by cover. The flamers continue the bad luck, and out of 9 hits with breath of chaos only 2 marines die.

 

Plaguebearers in the southeast run 3” up towards the ruins, the Fiends fleet 6” towards the mortars, the Daemonettes threateing my easter ruins fleet 2” and the ones in front of the Hellhound only fleet 1”.

 

Lord of Change is out of reach to assault the platoon squad. Fiends assault the mortar squad through cover , and manage to get the unholy might fiend in contact with the veteran's chimera. The mortar squad hits first, but causes no wounds. In return all the weapon teams are killed, and the unholy might fiend rips both weapons off the chimera.

 

Imperials

 

Vet Chimera drives a few inches away from the Fiends. Hellhound heads towards the packed Daemonette squad a few inches. All other Catachan remain in place.

 

Drop Pod aims to land beside the daemonettes heading to the eastern ruins, but scatters 10” towards the building the whirlwind is hiding behind. Assault Squad moves 12” towards the plaguebearers in case something comes out of the icon there. Assault cannon Razorback drives a few inches towards the portal to get a better view.

 

Platoon command uses First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire! On the large squad, and they take aim at the Lord of Change. Lasguns and pistols cause 4 wounds, grenade launchers cause 2 and the commissar's bolt pistol causes another. The greater daemon saves 5 of the wounds and is down to 2. The platoon command squad takes aim at it with their autocannons, and knock off another wound leaving it with one. The command chimera fails to finish it off.

 

The Hellhound fires at the Daemonette squad, the flamers combining for 11 wounds, and only 3 were saved leaving 2 Daemonettes. Autocannon team fires at the Fiends on top of the objective, doing an impressive 5 wounds, none of which were saved. The vets then fired at the fiends out of their chimera, causing 4 wounds, only 1 saved and the unholy might fiend was left standing alone. The Griffon fires at the Horror squad, and rerolling the scatter dice manages to kill 2 of them.

 

My whirlwind shoots at the Daemonettes near my objective, rolling snake eyes for scatter so it barely moves(firing indirectly) and hits 7 of them wounding them all but 2 save. Lascannon/Plasmagun Razorback then firest at the daemonettes, doing 3 wounds and only 1 saves, then the assault cannon Razorback fires on them, hitting and wounding them all 4 times and again only 1 saves, wiping out the squad. My combat squad in the southern ruins fires at the flamers, the plasma cannon hitting dead on all 3 and wounding them, and the bolters causing 2 more wounds. He saves 3 of them, leaving 1 pesky flamer still standing. Dreadnought fires its multimelta at the horrors, hitting and wounding but it saves and the Drop Pod's storm bolter misses both shots on them.

 

Felt like a good shooting turn for us, crippling the Lord of Change and wiping out 1 daemonette squad, as well as taking the other down to 2 and most the Fiends dead. A lot of bad invul saves on their part helped.

 

Turn 2

 

Daemons

 

For the mixed player, only the Soul Grinder becomes available. The Slaanesh demons get their prince and the Seekers make their return. The prince deep strikes in using the portal, landing close to my assault cannon razorback while the Soul Grinder and Seekers used the portal.

 

The Grinder moved to the west towards the autocannon squad, and the Seekers went east to where the Daemonettes fell last turn. The plaguebearers moved 2” into the rubble. Lord of Change flies in between the platoon command and the infantry squads. Horrors advance towards the ruins again. The lone fiend moves through the ruins towards the stationary Griffon hiding just a short ways away with a good fleet roll, and the 2 remaning daemonettes go towards the hellhound.

 

Lord of Change fires a bolt of change at the platoon command, killing an autocannon team. It then fires Breath and Gaze at the infantry, killing 4 more. Horrors fire at the infantry squad again, killing 2 more. Soul Grinder shoots phlegm and its harvester at the autocannon team, but the phlegm scatters away harmlessly and the harvester fails to cause a single wound. Flamer kills 1 more marine in the southern ruins, and the plaguebearers in the rubble run 1” towards the Razorback.

 

The fiend fleets 5” towards the Griffon, and the Seekers fleet 4” towards the las/plas Razorback. The prince runs 1” towards the assault cannon Razorback.

 

Daemonettes assault the Hellhound, Lord of Change assaults the platoon command squad, the Fiend assaults the Griffon and the Seekers assault the las/plas Razorback. Despite a large number of rending attacks on the razorback that hit automatically, the Seekers only manage to immobilize it, take off the lascannon and shake it. The Fiend explodes the Griffon, but takes a wound in the blast and the Lord of Change wipes out the platoon command and consolidates towards the large infantry squad. Daemonettes can't hurt the Hellhound.

 

Imperials

 

Vet chimera moves 6” towards the Soul Grinder. Hellhound backs up a few inches away from the Daemonettes, and the rest of the Catachan remain stationary.

 

Assault Marines move 12” back up towards the Seekers attacking the objective, and the Dreadnought moves towards them as well. Assault cannon Razorback moves a few inches forward. Marines in the southern ruins move a little to get all in sight of the last Flamer.

 

Command chimera fires its multilaser at the Lord of Change, wounding it once and it fails its save, putting an end to it. Autocannon squad fires at the Fiend, killing it. The vets fire 3 meltaguns at the Soul Grinder out of their chimera, but only are able to shake and stun it which does nothing to slow it down. Infantry squad fires at the remaning horrors, wiping out the squad and the Hellhound finishes off the last of the Daemonettes.

 

My whirlwind fires at the Seekers, but scatters off. Dreadnought fires its heavy flamer and multimelta into them, causing 6 wounds, 2 are saved. The assault squad shoots their flamer and pistols, doing a surprising 8 wounds, 3 are saved and the Seekers are all dead. Marines in the south fire on the lone Flamer with 2 bolters and a bolt pistol, hitting and wounding all 5 times but then the Flamer saves all 5. Assault cannon Razorback hits the Daemon Prince all 4 times, doing 3 wounds 2 that are rending. The Prince saves 1 of the rending wounds, and fails his armour save on the other leaving him with 2.

 

Turn 3

 

Daemons

 

The second squad of Fiends becomes available for the Slaanesh player, and the mixed player gets his Plaguebearers and 10man Horror squads. The Fiends come in using the portal, the Plaguebearers deep strike in right by the southern ruins and roll a hit and the Horrors use the icon that's closeby to my easter objective. Soul Grinder moves towards the veteran's Chimera, and the Plaguebearers with the icon move 3” towards the assault cannon razorback, and the Prince moves right beside it as well. The fiends move towards the Dreadnought.

 

Half of the Horrors are within range of the Assault squad, and fire on it, killing 2 of them. The lone Flamer fires on my combat squad, and wipes out the last 3 marines on the southern objective. Soul Grinder's phlegm scatters off the vet's chimera, and the newly arrived Plaguebearers run 5”, securing the southern objective with the Hellhound lurking nearby.

 

Soul Grinder assaults the vet's Chimera, and the Daemon Prince and Plaguebearers assault the assault cannon Razorback. Fiends assault the Dreadnought.

 

The vet's chimera is exploded by the Soul Grinder, and 3 of them die in the explosion but they are not pinned. Daemon Prince wrecks the Razorback, and the Captain and tacticals come out on the opposite side, not pinned. Fiends explode the dreadnought, but take 2 wounds from the explosion and one fiend dies. They consolidate 5” towards the large infantry squad in the northern ruins.

Imperials

 

Command Chimera moves 12” to the northern ruins. Hellhound moves to get sight of the Plaguebearers on the southern objective. Veterans shuffle a little bit, readying meltas at the Soul Grinder. Assault marines move 12” towards the Horror squad. Captain and his squad move to get sight of the Daemon Prince.

 

Changeling declares a glamour on the Assault squad. Infantry squad unloads on the Fiends threatening them, causing 9 wounds but 5 are saved. The autocannon team then shoots at the fiend, causing 4 wounds, 1 of which is saved leaving one fiend with a single wound. Hellhound does 7 wounds to the plaguebearers, but only 1 dies. Veterans shoot 3 meltaguns at the soul grinder, hitting twice and penetrating twice, destroying its maw cannon and stunning it which it ignores.

 

The twin linked plasma gun from the remaining Razorback rapid fires on the Prince, wounding it twice but it saves one of them. The sergeant fires his combi-melta at the prince, but its invul deflects that as well and the Tactical's bolt pistols fail to cause a wound on it. Whirlwind fires at the Horrors, landing dead on with a hit, wounding 7 times but 4 are saved. The Assault squad passes its test for the glamour, killing 2 more Horrors with shooting. Drop Pod aims its storm bolters at the fiend, causing 2 wounds, and it only saves one so the last fiend is dead!

 

Captain and Tacticals assault the Daemon Prince, and the Assault squad assaults the Horrors. The prince aims all its attacks at the Captain, hiting and wounding 3 times but 2 are saved by the storm shield. The captain then attacks back with his relic blade, killing the Daemon Prince and the squad consolidates 2” into the ruins. Assault squad wipes out the horrors before they can strike back, and consolidate 2” back from the plaguebearers.

 

Turn 4

Daemons

 

The Masque comes into the battle, the last of the reserves. She enters using the portal, moving 6” towards the southern ruins. The Soul Grinder moves towards the autocannon team, the plaguebearers on the east move 6” to the assault marines and the plaguebearers to the south move 3” towards the Hellhound, and the Flamer moves beside it.

 

Flamer shoots the Hellhound with Breath, glancing and immobilizing it. The Masque uses Pavane of Slaanesh on the Veterans, moving them 5” towards the portal. Catachan player was confused until the Slaanesh player reminded him that the missions rules said that any non daemons within 6” of the portal got ripped apart by the chaos energies, and the Veteran squad is killed. Soul Grinder fleets 4” into the ruins after the autocannon team, passing its dangerous terrain check.

 

Plaguebearers to the east assault the assault marines, and the ones to the south assault the Hellhound. Soul Grinder assaults the autocannon squad. Assault marines don't kill any, while one assault marine is dragged down and the power fist sergeant kills one plaguebearer, drawing combat. The ones fighting the Hellhound manage one glancing hit, and destroy the inferno cannon. Soul Grinder wipes out the autocannon squad and consolidates 3” towards the northern ruins.

 

Imperials

 

Command squad abandons their chimera and move north towards the table edge, while the chimera drives towards the Soul Grinder, trying to act as a speed bump in case it moves to contest the north objective.

 

Captain and squad advance towards the plaguebearers fighting the assault marines.

 

A few of the infantry platoons lasguns and grenade launchers are in range of The Masque, but no damage is done to her. Hellhound tries to burn the plaguebearers in front of it with the heavy flamer, but does no wounds.

 

Captain's squad assault the plaguebearers, and the captain kills 2 with his relic blade. The combined attacks of the tactical and assault squads bring down 1 more, and the last plaguebearer kills and assault marine before the power fist kills it.Tacticals consolidate 3” into the eastern ruins, assault marines 4” towards the southern ruins. Plaguebearers engaged with the Hellhound are unable to hurt it.

Turn 5

Daemons

 

The Masque moves south towards the Hellhound, and the Plaguebearers there move back on to the objective. Soul Grinder tries to move towards the Chimera, but immobilizes itself on the ruins. Flamer moves behind a wall in the ruins, passes terrain check.

 

Masque fleets 5”, Soul Grinder fires its harvester at the command squad and kills one bodyguard.

 

The Masque assaults the Hellhound, rends it and wrecks it.

 

Imperials

 

Assault marines move 12” towards the southern ruins, all other forces stay put

 

Dice rolled for continuing is a 1, and it's a victory for the Imperials 2-1

 

Post game thoughts: Pretty bloody game, though my forces weren't really that hurt. I only lost a combat squad, a few assault marines and a razorback. We had a lot of success blunting the daemons assault in our first few rounds of shooting, thanks in part to some horrible cover and invul save rolls which kept us from being back on our heels. I felt the Slaanesh player was a bit reckless with his fragile models, leaving them unsupported or out in the open and easier to pick off. My ally seemed rather concerned about keeping his Command squad safe and out of range, even though they were armed to be closer.