apocalypse victory on saturday

[T3mpl@r Crusade]

Victory! The forces of the Imperium and the Greater Good have triumphed over the legions of Chaos, the Ork hoards, and the Silent Necron Menace.

 

In a 9k vs 8k (us) apocalypse battle hosted by GW last saturday, the Black Templars saw a glorious victory over impossible odds. The game was pitched battle with a 36" deployment zone from the short edges over a 12' table. the objective was to have troops indie our small building on the front of our deployment zone, or to have troops on top of a large landing platform on the opponents side. most objectives at the end wins.

 

The enemy forces consisted of:

 

Chaos Demon Prince Legion lead by non other than Abaddon himself! Khârn the Betrayer and this badboy:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-4000...-OF-KHORNE.html

 

An ork Deff Dread and killa can swarm, fronted by a custom stompa with forcefield (12" radius area of affect cover save)

 

A 99 necron warrior swarm lead by the nightbringer

 

Total 9k (3k each)

 

We had our work cut out for us. Our forces consisted of:

 

Black Templar firing line (yes, I went heavy shooty). 2 potms vindis, 2 potms trilas preds, 2 venerable tank hunter dreads, grimaldus with 10 man assault termi furious charge squad, 2 rhinos each with an EC and melta power fist crusaders, 9 man lascannon squad, 3 typhoon speeders, 2 tornado speeders. vindicare assassin

 

Vanilla marines (inexperienced player). a few bolter squads, dreadnought I would essentially be directing this players directions all game as he didnt know what to do in terms of strategy

 

tau (my second in command, excellent strategist) 3 hammerheads, markerlights, baneblade

 

Imperial Gaurd and Eldar. Manticore, Executioner, 2 Valkyries (played as flyers), A few lemon russ', Devildog melta tank, eldar dire avengers, the avatar, tank with bright lance.

 

 

The battle lines were drawn, a 24" no mans line divided the forces. As we were down 1k points and had the inexperienced player compared to our opponents with 3 challenging adversaries, the staff determined we would go first. Abaddon was given a vortex grenade. we chose orbital bombardment as the str8 ap3 would wreck the hoards of tightly packed kans and necrons

 

I shall attempt this batrep as best as I can remember it, as I did not catalog with pictures unfortunantely, and over 4 hours one cannot remember every moment of glory and anguish. You will however be told of the highlight feats of heroism and glory.

 

Our first turn:

We looked upon the enemy deployment, the ork stompa broadcasted its forcefield over the bulk of the enemies army. swarms of killa kans writhed around it, abaddons land raider creeped in behind with the nightbringer. Swarms of necron warriors filled the backfield and the bloodthirster awaited demonic possession in reserve.

 

Realizing that they key to victory would be first taking down the stompa, then taking out abaddon before utilizing his vortex grenade, we aimed our guns at the stompa to take down the beast and rid ourselves of that pesky forcefield. at 5 structure points this wouldnt be easy. After a brief front line pulback, every heavy weapon in our arsenal fired on the stompa, those that were dinied LOS fired into seperate flanks. It would have been a first turn stompa death, however, the final blow, which was struck by a manticore ordinance barrage was denied by shielding. The staff ruled in the stompas favor (questions regarding the shield to follow this post).

 

their first turn:

saw the horde of vehicles moving up the field. a 13" move on the stompa saw an assault move towards our suicidal teammate who decided to speed bump. little occured from their shooting as we stripped most of the stompas weapons from it. After forcing a squad to flee, the stompa consilidated back towards the enemy lines.

 

Our second turn:

Movement was key to fortify our positions. using transports to create a wall, a shield for the front line vindicators was produced. Buildings completed the fornt line to our fortress, fortified by troops. Seeing the approach of abadons land raider, a second turn vortex grenade was iminent. grimaldus and his squad of terminators pulled back from the front to avoid such an agony. MM land speeders moved into melta 2D6 range of the LR. The tanks held thier positions to once again fire on the stompa to finish the kill. The baneblade moved up the oposite flank to hold the other side from what little forces the enemy mustered there. The avater moved towards the stompa for a final blow.

 

Shooting.

Firing commenced in a strategic order to leave us options for alternative targets once the stompa died. unfortunantely, the force field proved nigh impenetrable. However, in a moment of glory held by a BT trilas pred, the stompa wrecked in a 6" explosion. the squad inside taking casualties was left for the avatar. with the stompa gone, firing commenced upon abaddons LR. however, efforts were wasted as it was left weaponless and mobile. Typhoons weakened deamon princes, the baneblade mauled ork bikers on the far flank, and manticore missiles were delivered into the swarm of killa kans. A deff dread met its demise at the hands of a venerable tank hunter.

 

The avatar assaults the stompas squad, which is wiped out

 

Opponents Second Turn:

Reserve rolls see the arrival of terminators, which mishap to the opposite end of the board hehehe. Abaddons LR reaches our front lines, he, Khârn and a host of beserkers disembark in front of the rhino wall. Deamon princes advance on my vulnerable land speeders as well as the avatar. the mob of killa kans advance on the front lines intent on assaulting our critical firing line. the far flank dominated by the baneblade sees the advance of ork nobs and necron destroyers. Necron warriors claim the center objective

 

shooting:

in a surprise by one and all, abaddon does not throw the vortex, and instead dedicates some shots to destroying the rhino, revealing the EC and the crusaders inside. not much of note occurs in thier shooting phase other than rockets fired by the orks manages to destroy the manticore.

 

assault: the far flank sees an assault of nobs vs tactical marines in a speed bump manuever. Abaddon, Khârn and the beserkers annihilate my EC and crusader squad and consilidate back towards the Lr trying to spread thin.

My land speeders are assaulted by a demon prince and mob of killa kans. one is rendered weaponless but mobile and the other is stunned.

 

Our Third turn:

The pressure of destroying abaddon, Khârn and the demon princes increase as a summoned demon still awaits. we dedicate ourselves to this goal. grimaldus and the terminators advance on abadon. the vindicator front pulls back. my tank hunting venerable leaves the security of the building and advances on abadon. My goal is to kill abadon if nothing else, and dedicate my resources to this. The avatar advances on a nurgle demon prince and the marine player uses a tactical quad to deny a charge from a deff dread on my terminators. the banelblade maintains its position on the far side. a crusader squad disembarks from its rhino to engage a weakened demon prince. I use my mobile land speader to flea, leaving the other alone amongst deamons and killa kans who are close by.

 

Shooting:

shots bring down 2 deamon princes, leaving the nurgle weakened and the one in an assault with my land speeder dead. shots from a tri las pred disable armaments on a deff dread. the orbital bombardment finall comes in and annihilates a necron lord and 15 necrons claiming the objective, and excellent shot by my second in command. the vindicators and other components of my army reduce abaddon by one wound and to himself and fail to kill the LR. the far flank is held down by the baneblade. A few killa kans are destroyed and target prority of the valkyrie shifts to the ctan. My one crusader squad intending to assault a demon (killed) instead runs towards grimaldus. the vindicare wounds abadon with a shield breaker (alas, I forgot his invulnerable save is not granted by wargear)

 

Assault

The avatar assaults the remaining nurgle prince. grimaldus and the terminators contact abadon. my dread is denied the assault by range and casualties. my opponents fail to kill the immobile land speeder (what luck). Abaddon fails his demon weapon roll and is instead wounded by it. He is slaughtered twice over by the Black Templar terminators. with the threat of the vortex grenade now gone, the terminators move back into the objective building to begin the push on the offensive. The avatar fails to kill the demon prince and is tied up in combat.

 

Opponents Third Turn.

Now fealing the pressure of an imminent defeat, the killa kan mob and deff dread moves in closer for assault moves. the ctan advances. reserve rolls bring in a second round of nurgle terminators, but the demon fails to make an appearance much to our favor. the far flank sees a menacing ork nob squad move towards my vulnerable exposed crusdaer squad. more necrons shamble forward and more claim the objective platform. the other squad of terminators deep strike onto the objective platform of theirs. the ctan moves towards the center, the necron player sensing my anticipation of assaulting the killa kans in no mans land between our objectives. the Lr blocks vindicator LOS. The necron lord and other warriors fail to stand back up and are wiped from the field.

 

Shooting

the necrons on the objective open fire on my crusaders picking them off. other shots from the terminators do the same, leaving the squad at 6 with the EC. killa kans fire at my dreadnought but fail to wound it. They do not have much ranged weaponry at this point that can hurt us. I rightous zeal away from the nobs because of grimaldus in a sneaky maneuver leaving the ork player admiring my tactics.

 

Assault

the killa kans assault my dreadnought, and he swiftly removes one of their arms, knocking another around to stun it. He stuns me in return. Alas, the nurgle demon prince kills the avatar. the deff dread assaults a squad of tactical marines, and kills 3, they stand to fight another day. My land speeder is finally brought down by killa kans and they brace for an assault.

 

Our 4th turn

the day is almost ours. we have a small chance of preventing the demon from fielding close by if we kill the termis and a champion in one of the chaos players remaining rhinos. movement. I turbo boost my weaponless speeder towards their objective. I move my crusader squad towards the killa kans, and my termies move through cover towards the mob, but alas cannon escape cover, at the edge. the marine player moves his tactical marines in to assault the nobs, hoping to delay their assault. he moves another tactical towards my crusader squad for backup later. the vindicators maneuver around the Lr and gain LOs of the beserker rhino.

 

Shooting

The baneblade opens up a masive impact on the enemy platform annihilating the termies where they stood, bringing down some necrons with them. 6 lascannon shots and the other venerable dread try to bring down the LR, but alas, it is too durable. the vindicare finishes off the nurgle demon prince with a hellfire round. and a sqad lascannon brings down the beserker rhino. bright lances end up doing nothing. shots are aimed at the ctan bringing it down to 2 wounds. the vindicators shoot at the exposed beserkers finishing them to two men, the champion and one other. hammerhead rail guns bring down the final demon prince, leaving just the khorn champion and the terminators in the backfield to bring on the blood thirster. an orbital bombardment aims for the champion, but alas, a scatter and quadranting miss him. THE KHORN CHAMPION LIVES! CURSES!

 

Assault

the terminators make their assault move upon the killa kans, enveloping all 5 in an assault. the crusader squad joins the fray, and my allies attack the nobs. my venerable dreadnought is still in combat with the killa kans, and so is my allies tactical with the deff dread. the dreadnought com killing a few before falling to power claw volume. bats stay at a standstill, and my allies tactical squad passes another Ld teest to delay the deff dreads advance. The BT assault termies reach combat with the killa cans but they get to go first due to movement through cover. they kill 3 lighting claws. Grimaldus lifts a holy relic high into the air inspiring the terminators to greater heights of ferocity and the kans are brutally smashed by 20 str9 hammer attacks with a furious charge. All 5 are destroyed and the termies consolidate towards the enemy platform.

 

Opponent Turn 4

the chaos player brings his dreaded demon into play. the beserker champion feels a gut wrenching pain streak through his body, and as quickly as the pain had come, he instantly bursts into a fine mist of blood as the bloodthrister breaks into reality. The chaos and necron player bring their gods into assault range of grimaldus and the terminators. having no other option, more necrons pile onto the platform. the nobs advance from their previous combat victory towards my allies baneblade, but are confronted with another tactical squad blocking their path. they cannot have their prize yet. the lone beserker follows the bloodthirster.

 

Shooting

The blood thirster and ctan both fire thier shots into the terminators and miss. Necrons attempt to shoot down the land speeder boosting towards the platform but are denied the pleasure of harming it.

 

Assault

another tie combat is brought about from the dreadnought combats. the venerable tank hunter removes another arm and my ally passes another Ld test to tarpit the deff dread. the nobs assault my allies tactical squad, but are cut down to 2 before failing to kill enough to gain an edge. the nobs flee and are cut down by the tactical squad. In a fit of rage, the blood thirster smashes terminators left and right. landing 11 wounds I barely fail them all as I absorb wounds into grimaldus' retinue and grimaldus himself. Grimaldus falls in combat but passes his LD test and stands defiantly. The terminators are bareley cut down. Only grimaldus remains and attacks the night bringer, failing to wound it before he is cut down from ctan weaponry. my opponents required quite a bit to take down that squad, and rejoice in its death. They consolidate toward their objective.

 

Our turn 5, the final strike

movement

this would be the deciding moment to see how the game ends. on one hand, if we did not destroy the demon, it would annihilate the dire avengers holding our objective. on the other, if we killed it, there would be nothing stopping us from taking their objective aside from 50 odd necrons still inhabitting the backfield. my weaponless land speeder now inhabits the platform contesting it from the edge.

 

Engage operation demon slap

 

I move my remaining crusader squad towards the bloodthirster, as does my ally with his tactical squad. all guns turn to face the demon.

 

Shooting

we hit the demon with everything that could penetrate its 2+ armor save. melta guns, lascannons, demolisher blasts, sniper rifles, lances, everything. only 4 wounds were issued, with 5 remaining. The typhoons finished off the nightbringer and orbital bombardment bombed the platform again to clear the remaining necrons from it. luckily my speeder escaped harm.

 

Assault

In a suicidal last ditch effort to halt the demons advance, a charge from both the crusaders and the tactical squad engage the demon. 5 attacks are dealt to both squads. the emperors champion remains the last barrier between obliteration and victory! he survives the onslought as his fellow knights dive into harms way to preserve his life, while the tactical squad dies valiantly absorbing attacks. The emperors champion fails to wound the blood thirster and successfully survives all his fearless saves! HE STANDS DEFIANTLY

 

Final turn 5

with only 40 necrons left and a majority of our army still intact, our opponents concede as the emperors champion halts the demons advance. we hold our objective and have cleared theirs free from necron presence. the remaining necrons are too distant to claim the objective and this is the final turn. The lone weaponless land speeder at the front lines stands upon the platform. Final assaults are completed, the venerable dread finally destroying a killa kan while the deff dread wiffs its attacks against my ally. The emperors champion dies valiantly and the bloodthirster stomps away. The lone beserker attempts to constest our objective but cannot run far enough.

 

Victory!

 

Against 4 deathstar units (abaddon and Khârn, bloodthirster, ctan, stompa) we prevailed even being down 1k points. My 3 stars of the game were the EC standing against the bloodthirster, grimaldus and the terminators, and the tri las pred that took down the stompa. special mention goes out to the typhoons for dishing out many many wounds to demon princes and ctan.

 

My teammates did very well, even the inexperienced marine player was very helpful. without him in the final assault we would have lost that combat and the demon would be upon us doing a king kong impression on our objective. My second in command was awesome at coodinating attacks to the best efficiency.

 

Which leads to some final questions if youve read this far.

 

Could someone clarify the force field given off by the stompa? ordinance barrage ignores intervening terrain, but would it also have ignored the area of effect custom force field? if it did the stompa would have been dead turn one which would have been a much different game.

 

Also, lets say I drive a MM within 1 inch away from the stompa to make a point blank shot, since there is very little space between the speeder and the stompa, would it still get its cover save?