The Iron Winners are back with a Vengeance

[Brother Ambroz]

How'd the game go with the Termie sorceror Prot?

[Prot]

++++++++ EDIT: I apologize for the length of this monstrous post. I had a great, very fun game with an opponent I usually have a blast with. I took the liberty of including my fluff into the report. The fiction is bad, and basic, but it is my effort to bring life to some of the moments of the game while giving myself some fodder for future army lists and what not. I apologize again and for your ease of reading I made all of the fiction coloured gold so you can skip it and get to the basic report elements of the post.

 

As always, thanks for reading this!++++++++++++

 

 

Thanks for asking! Actually at the nudging of some friends I decided it was time to test something I never thought I'd touch again: A daemon weapon. Fickle little things that I never used to have any luck with.

 

I remember when this codex (and the previous codex came out) I said I never had a game where I didn't roll a one with a daemon weapon and I think some people thought I was exaggerating. It usually happened at the worst possible time and I swore I'd never use a daemon weapon again.

 

But time passes and I realized how ludicrous it was for me to believe in this daemon weapon 'mistrust' issue! So I saddled up a Termie Lord with the Daemon Weapon and gave it a go.

 

Please read on for the batrep but I have a little warning... this time there is some fluffy fiction that is in coloured text that you can skip (it's more for my own indulgence for list writing, etc.)

 

So without further delay here's the batrep:

 

Iron Warriors Batrep- Episode 6: A Balance of Iron and Chaos

 

This is my attempt at not using a Warpsmith! I said during this experiment I would try to use as many units as possible that fit some sort of siege theme.

 

My List:

- Terminator Lord (Captain Hormata): Terminator armour, MoK, Axe o' Blind something or other.

 

- 4 Terminators (Hormata's Scourge), MoK, 2 combi Plasma, 2 combi-melta, 3 axes, 2 mauls.

- Helbrute (Ortuss the Twisted Iron), Multimelta, Combi Bolter

 

- 8 Iron Warriors, Champ w/Maul, plasma gun, Votlw

- 8 Berzerkers (troops) in Rhino

- 10 Cultists, flamer

 

- Aegis wall, Quad Cannon

 

- 5 Havoks, 4 Autocanons, Votlw

- Maulerfiend, 2x Lasher Tendrils

- Maulerfiend, 2x Lasher Tendrils

 

- Heldrake, Baleflamer.

 

Interlude:

 

Warsmith Corveus looked down at his prized champion, Hormata,
clad in silver and gold terminator armour. Hormata hoisted a massive weapon hilt
to his shoulder and flicked the actuator. With a scream the dull,
metal face of the blade was overcome with a violent red flush of light that
seemed to change shape as Hormata rolled the weapon in his hand.

“Let me take it to our next test. Let me rake the Imperium’s

greatest defenders with this daemon weapon and you’ll surely change your mind,”
Said Hormata with a pleading look on his face.

“Change my mind?” The amused Warsmith replied, “This latest
escapade of yours might be truly entertaining. “ The Warsmith hesitated and
looked down at his sorcerer Valtus, before continuing, “Fine you can take
command of the next strike on Fillux-Beta, and show me the merit, or folly of
your latest Chaos toy.”

“What?!” The shocked sorcerer stammered. “You can’t be
serious? After the chastising I received…”

“Enough!” Corveus interrupted with a knife like gesture of
his massive bionic arm, slicing through the air to emphasize the point, “I’ve
heard all sides. You know my word is final Valtus.”

The Terminator Captain Hormata half grinned looking towards
Valtus with an air of smugness. Corveus caught the glimpse and pointed an
extended razor sharp appendage from his bionics at Hormata. “But, and there is
no debating this, you must take Valtus with you as your lieutenant on this
strike.” Hormata made no attempt to hide the appearance of utter disdain wash
over his face. Corveus raised his voice to catch his full attention, “Remember
this is a test of Imperial defensive capabilities in this sector, not a
personal blood bath test for your new toy Hormata. That is all. You are
dismissed.”

As the two turned to leave their Warsmith, Corveus stood from
his command chair and grabbed the sorcerer by the pauldron, "Not you Valtus. I
want a minute with you....."

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The scenario had 4 x 3 point objective markers. We deployed with a diaganol setup. My opponent would be a long time marine player who still loves to play some 'fluffy' lists and he was bringing out his Ultramarines. This was setting up to be a really fun match, and a welcome break from some of the overused stuff you see lately.

 

Ultra marines:

- Marneus Calgar in Termie armour

- 5 Termies with stuff...

- 5 more Termies with shooty stuff (inc missile launcher)

- 10 Marines, shooty lascannon,

- 10 Marines shooty, missile launcher, plasma (He may have had 2 of these squads or another partial squad, not sure.)

- Razorback, twin Las

- Thunderfire Cannon + Tech Priest

- Thunderfire Cannon + Tech Priest

- Typhoon missile laucher

 

I might be sketchy on the troops as he may have combat squad'd some of them and I can't remember where everything was in the beginning.

 

Early Game:

 

The table was set amongst hills which would provide 5+ cover (area terrain) and in the centre we had the only building structure in the game which was some sort of multi-leveled factory, surrounded by a fence (I have to seize something! This would be a manufactory of the Ultramarines producing blue paint for their armour. Without it, and being completely incapable of deviating from the Index Astartes subsection 743: article 27: Paint; re: And there will be no armour of 'deviant' colours on the battlefield. Without their blue paint, Ultra reinforcements to Fillux-beta could be delayed years.

 

Too lame? Ok, there is this friggin' Huuuuuuge Gun being built in the factory and Iron Warriors want it.

 

The Ultra's won first turn and deployed the 2 Thunderfire Cannons deep in his zone along the board edge. One was in his corner with a good vantage point on a hill, the other was on ground level with limited view, on the opposite side of the Manufactory

 

On my left he put his Razorback and multiple Tactical Squads in half cover areas, behind rocks, and craters. One squad of Terminators started on the table and with his Warlord Traits, Marneus would come in off a table edge with his Termie Squad. As well he held his Typhoon in reserve.

 

I looked down at this realized he had most angles covered, and the Thunderfires would be a real issue if I didn't handle them soon. Regardless the cultists and Havoks went to work on my back edge, erecting a Aegis Wall with Quad Cannon, getting ready to dig in and seize the Manufactory.

 

I really laboured over this decision but I looked at the rest of my army, and looked at the superior positioning he had on the table, and I held everything else in reserve, and he was surprised at that. Silly Index Astartes.... there are more ways than they are capable of understanding to siege a fortification.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

The Ultra's advanced slightly, which is what I was hoping for.... the Thunderfire cannons started unloading on my cultists, who were getting no respite behind the Aegis wall. Shell after shell of cover-robbing explosions decimated them pretty hard in the early going. The Havoks tried to hold on and control the Quad cannon waiting for reinforcements.

 

Somehow the cultists held together, I really didn't have much to do. I took pot shots with the Havoks at the Thunderfire cannon and did nothing. I saw the Razorback as a major threat as well to my Maulerfiends and a Havok took dead aim and a shot rang true right through the Razorback and got a pen 6. The ultra's outside were unaffected.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Mid Game:

 

This was starting to feel ugly, it felt like a scene right out of Angel Extreminatus on the Eldar dead planet. The Iron Warriors were down to a few quite early in the game, but clinging to life. The arrogant Ultra's advanced for greater killing range, which helped me a bit later in the game. I knew I had better start thinking about objectives. He sat on two of them, one at the Manufactory, one on my far left behind some rocks, and we still had an open one on my right. Not much was happening on the right side, but I couldn't ignore it as he had a speeder and Marneus could still flank in!

 

My only reserve to come in was the first Maulerfiend. I felt a little sick in the stomach. I instantly regretted my instinct to go heavy reserves. I had to make a push for an objective, but be conservative with Maulerfiend1.  I crept him up the left side with an outside chance at living and ran him up to get as much obscurement as possible.

 

The Ultra's saw me floundering and they couldn't help but trip over themselves trying to get the killshot. Lascannons, missiles, and everything he could bring to bare came at the Maulerfiend. It all bounced off the mechanical beast! One glance held true, taking a hullpoint. Maybe I could make a game of this yet?

 

The Cultists widdled down to dust. They did their job, they dug the trenches, then they rolled in them and died. The Havoks were down to three hardcore souls ripping autocannon after autocannon at the shooty Termies which crept behind the middle of the Manufactory trying to stay hidden. After literally 8-10 wounds, one finally pierced the terminator armour and took a casualty.

 

Late Game:

 

I'm not going to lie, the beef of the battle is in this part of the game. It was fairly epic and I'm indulging myself with some fiction surrounding the events for future use in my tournie lists. It became a pretty epic bloodbath.

 

 Warsmith Corveus had finally found a system in Fillux-beta that prompted a response from the Index Astartes, but was this test going to cost him dearly? Would the Ultra's hold on to the Manufactory? With superior positioning, the Iron Warriors siege tactics were being pushed to the limits. Would Hormata and his daemon weapon be enough to turn the tide? Was Marneus Calgar simply toying with the Iron Warriors? Would he even show? Can the daemonic-engine inventions of the Warpsmith and Sorcerer Valtus overtake the heavily fortified positions of Ultramarines?

 

Sorcerer Valtus watched on from high above Fillux-Beta aboard the command vessel Adamant Legend....

 

 

 Finally my reserves came through. Maulerfiend2 and the crazed Helbrute Ortuss. (I realized the turn before I had forgot to roll for some of my stuff. Apparently I was transfixed on the horrors of Thunderfire cannons annihilating my Aegis wall.)

 

The Maulerfiends continued to advance. Ortuss was supposed to follow up and provide a follow up punch if the Maulers survived long enough to reach the cowering Ultra's. But he couldn't resist taking a melta pot-shot at an Ultra Terminator and scored a searing bullseye right in the crotch of his target, melting him to the ground.

 

The Ultra's dug in,and attempted to fortify their advanced positions. I took a lot of firepower yet again. The repositioning Ultraforces afforded the Havoks a clean shot at one of the Thunderfire Cannons. BOOM! One down, one to go.

 

Ultra Tacticals fired away at the wall of iron advancing their position on the left side of the table. They had the objective, so I had to take a chance and expose the Maulers/Helbrute to either move them off or steal the objective entirely. The Maulerfiends took several shots resulting in hits, but only a few decent armour penetration rolls. I shrugged off one with a Daemon save (finally!) and the pen result was a Shaken which I laughed off.

 

The Typhoon dropped in and I warned my opponent I could potentially wack it with the Quad gun. He hid behind the Manufactory with remaining Thunderfire cannon to solidify the building.

 

I withstood the hail of bullets and on my turn the rest of my reserves came through: Hormata and his Scourge, and the Heldrake. The foot bound Iron Warriors advanced on the left flank up behind the crazed Helbrute and advancing Maulerfiends.

 

One Maulerfiend actually broke the front lines of Ultra's. They fired wildly at the charging monstrosity and once in close combat the Maulerfiend started to tear them to shreds.

 

End Game:

 

 

The Heldrake roared in. Sensing the bloodthirst the Maulerfiends were engaged in, it followed the path of destruction and melted a good portion of Ultramarines trying to hold an objective.

 

The Terminators with Hormata and daemon weapon finally came in, and sure enough Marneus followed right after. But it did not go well.... for either side....

 

 

Hormata teleported on the battlefield encircling the entrenched Ultra's who were dug in and distracted by the Maulerfiend. Hormata ordered his Termie squad to open fire on a Techpriest who was annihilated under a curtain of combi-bolter fire.

 

Valtus had calculated an 93% chance that Marneus Calgar and his retinue would appear within a few square kilometers of the threatened positions of the Manufactory, if he showed up at all. Hormata accepted this calculation and teleported down to the war torn sector of Fillux-Beta.

 

The ground was smoking and Hormata was ready, desiring of anything to happen. His retinue of terminators silently proceeded to take a defensive formation in the surrounding terrain. Without warning an Ultramarine techpriest detected their position and rounded the corner of a jagged hill. With his gun raised in a cautious advance, the techpriest would have no chance, as the Iron Warriors unloaded several rounds of combi-bolter fire, shredding the marine where he stood. The techpriest could only fire once, wildly into the mountains before falling to his death.

 

The air started to crackle. Blue fire, and electricity danced in a large pattern a few metres from the Iron Warriors' position. 'Be ready, and take aim,' bellowed Hormata. He raised his daemon axe in anticipation. He felt his hearts kick up in anticipation. "Fire!!!" He yelled as he extended his axe to the electrified area in front of him.

 

It should have been a complete massacre. The Ultramarines materialized in a standard position right in front of the Iron Warriors. Barely materializing in the iron mountains of Fillux-Beta they were greeted with screaming plasma weapons threatening to overcharge on their arrival.

 

Several searing hot blasts of plasma ripped through their ranks. Some terminators realizing their peril tried to shield Marneus, only to be severed into pieces by the rain of high energy projectiles piercing their heavy armour. Within a heartbeat the plasma was spent. The air reeked of hot metal, and the strange tang of the planet's heavy sulfur content intermingling.

 

The Iron Warriors were prepared to execute a fatal maneouver to finish the ranged assault, but Hormata wouldn't have it. "Halt!" He yelled, raising his axe and swiping it in a horizontal loop to convey the message to anyone still deafened by the plasma burst. "We take what's left in close quarter. I will lead. Cover me!"

 

The smoke started to lift, and all that remained of the Ultramarine's reinforcement was Marneus Calgar and a solitary bodyguard. Somehow Marneus' armour had deflected or absorbed an immense amount of the firepower. Was this intentional, he thought. Could the twisted souls of traitors actually have this level of accuracy? He refused to believe it. It was the Emperor's will that saw him through a sure death, and he knew it. He turned to see his last remaining comrade. It was Pelusius, a mighty champion and wielder of a powerfist, and he wielded like no other. In all the grimness of the past 30 seconds, Marneus was glad to see it was Pelusius who would be at his side this day.

 

The moment was broken by a howling scream. Hormata accelerated towards their position but he was joined by only one other Iron Warrior terminator. The rest seemed content to watch. Marneus did not care the reason for this act, but he would not hesitate to make sure they paid for their mistake.

 

As a solitary Iron Warrior collided with Pelusius, he narrowly avoided a power weapon of alien design. Pelusius deflected the hilt of the weapon, causing the head to crash harmlessly into a jagged rock. The Iron Warrior was off balance, over committed and Pelusius knew it. He side stepped into the silver terminator and rocked him with one arm, keeping him off balance. The other arm raised in anticipation and fired up his powerfist. The Iron Warrior gave up on retreiving his over extrended power weapon and saw the glimmering white fist descending down upon him. With everything in his soul, Pelusius cracked through the rib cage of the heretic terminator suit, annihilating the internal organs of the soft enemy inside. Entrails spilled out as the Iron Warrior dipped in slow motion to his knees, as his servo bionics began to fail. A finishing blow from the Ultramarine sent the fallen warrior rolling across the ground, smashing into an outcropping of rock breaking his spine in several places.

 

Hormata had seen enough of the death of his belligerent bodyguard. He laughed at the audacity of the insubordinate fool. Always quick to prove themselves, he thought, always quick to die. The other Iron Warriors held ground. Marneus swept his tattered, smoking cape away to meet the charge of Hormata.

 

With his left hand braced in front of him, Hormata actually managed to leave his feet for a brief moment in the heavy armour as he ignited the mighty daemon weapon raised above his head. The actuator fired up and once again the dull, metal, axe head was brought to life with a crimson fire of deamonic faces, licking the blade in anticipation of killing once again.

 

Marneus saw this daemonic thing fire up and saw it start to expand, unnaturally.  He braced himself in a low defensive stance dating back to the earliest martial arts of Maccrage. It was intended to start a defensive combination of maneuvers based on using the attackers momentum against them, but he wouldn't have to test this maneuver today.

 

As Hormata came down upon Marneus the blade of hell started to expand larger than its owner had ever seen before. The red daemons that danced upon the blade surely sensed the height of the moment and anticipated the kill as greatly as he did. But something was different this time. The temperature of the hilt soared high enough to burn Hormata's gauntlet to the bone. The daemon powered blade was now three times larger than the head itself and the shape started to distort.

 

As his attacker descended, Marneus saw the weapon flare in an unnatural state. Using his position he simply rolled out of the way and Hormata fell to the ground, unbraced for the impact. His face was screaming in silence. The blade seemed to control his arm, he was unable to move it. His throat was on fire, unable to breath, panic set in, but he was still paralyzed. The face of the axe hovered above his head. Distorted daemon entities howled at him, mocked him. The energy of the blade seeped out around his neck as he suffocated in silence. Curse you Valtus! Curse you Warsmith, is all he could think even in this state of near death.

 

Marneus hesitated no longer, and brought his hands above his head in a mighty arch and projected all his weight and force upon the fallen Hormata. As his powered fists met Hormata and his daemon weapon an explosion resulted and threw Marneus back. The Daemon weapon was propelled far into the distant mountain side.

 

The distraction was enough for Marneus to find cover as the Iron Warriors laid down a blanket of cover fire throughout the area. Botissi, an Iron Warrior terminator bodyguard, sifted through the smoke. He found the charred, smoking corpse of Hormata. The blast radius around him was immense, nothing could survive it. The radiation level warning in his suit went off with a chirp. Their scanners would not be able to sweep the area properly for survivors.

 

Botissi placed one hand on Hormata's corpse and the other activated a comm switch on his gauntlet. "Valtus are you there?" He waited a few seconds, "Valtus! Come in, Valtus are you there?"

 

"Yes, I'm here," Valtus repsonded in his usual monotone dry voice, "Report."

 

"Fix on my position," Botissi tried to yell over the background battle noises, "Prepare for an emergency extraction on my coordinates."

 

A few seconds later Valtus responded, "Where is Hormata? I don't see his readings."

 

"He's dead.... the daemon weapon, something with the daemon weapon went wrong. Calgar is here too." Botissi surveyed the area around him, looking for any sign of Marneus.

 

"Affirmitive," replied Valtus, "fixing on your position now."

 

Valtus sat back in the command module of the Adamant Legend. The mechanations would complete the calculations required to bring back the remaining terminators while the forces below would finish the siege on the factory position. He couldn't help but sit back in his chair, perplexed. Had Warsmith Corveus set this up? Impossible. Was this a lesson, or a joke? Surely the Warsmith saw Hormata as an asset so logic dictated an Iron Warrior would never waste an asset, even to make a point. Or would he?

 

The remaining terminators consolidated and retreated (most were dead from close combat with Marneus). Marneus was trying to swing the battle, but it was too late.

 

The Maulerfiend(1) continued to wail on the remaining Ultras on one objective until they were all paste. The Helbrute finally caught up and was advancing on the remnants of the retreating squad the Heldrake had just ignited.

 

The Ultraterminators holding the Manufactory were beside a scoring squad of Ultramarines. The second Maulerfiend broke off and got a good run at the tacticals. They were reduced to using krak grenades but they neede sixes. One guy had a fist, but he failed to do anything. The Maulerfiend did very little but managed to survive for another turn.

 

The World Eaters came in on my far right side. My tactic was to completely get stuck in on the left, high side, and use one troop (the World Eaters) to capture one objective that would be very hard for the Ultra's to respond to.

 

The World Eaters, not renowned for their mechanical abilities, totaled the rhino on an outcropping of rocks. They got out, and ran for the objective while taking light casualties from the last Thunderfire cannon.

 

The Ultra's were down to a few scattered marines, and Marneus advancing on one of my Maulerfiends. Surely I'd be toast if he reached me. The Helbrute still wildly fired at anything that moved within a country mile of his position.

 

The second maulefiend killed a few more tacticals and pushed him off the Manufactory. The terminators inside were dwindling to nothing, as my Iron Warrior troops were running over hills to procure a second objective.

 

We rolled off and the game ended in turn 5. Siege complete! Marneus was one of very few survivors. Somehow I'm sure he would have been a problem in one round of close combat, then shot to death probably. He was a machine for sure. The Heldrake didn't kill a lot, but enough to push him off an objective. I won 2 objectives to zero. He had kill the Warlord, but I did have line breaker. A good, fun game.

 

Aftermath:

 

As Valtus contemplated the confusing events of the past 16 hours, the holofield in front of him flickered to life. A miniature projection of Corveus resolved in font of him. Clad in a giant suit of terminator armour, Corveus seemed intimidating even in holo-form.

 

"You have questions?" The Warsmith showed no signs of emotion as he addressed the sorcerer.

 

"Yes, my Warsmith, many." Valtus replied still looking for a hint of emotion on the Warsmith's face but finding nothing but the grim determination he'd always seen."I have to ask if you knew.... if you knew this was going to happen with Hormata, and his daemon weapon. You are always warning me of the lure of Chaos. The downsides, and trade offs with Iron and Chaos."

 

"That is the obvious question," interrupted the Warsmith, "but what you should be asking is 'why' this happened." The Warsmith let that thought linger with Valtus then continued. "No I did not know the future or fate of Hormata, but the lesson is just as important regardless of his loss."

 

"Lesson?" Valtus knew what was coming, it was a discussion that he and the Warsmith had debated over many times. "You mean the lesson of Chaos and Iron? The balance of hell and steel in all our wars."

 

"Of course," completed the Warsmith. "Now do you realize? Now do you see why I have denied you a deep passage into the darkness of the Warp? Do you see that only through bending Chaos and twisting it with Iron can we succeed? Do you see that to make too deep a collusion with the dark entity would be our undoing?"

 

Valtus understood full well the intent of the Warsmith but only now was it sinking in. All those times he wanted to conjure or make pact with something of the deep warp; he had always been denied. Corveus had always instilled a balance must be maintained or we, the Iron Warriors, would lose our way.

 

"Yes," almost inaudibly he responded. "Yes, I understand, completely my Warsmith."

 

"Good," the Warsmith reponded with the faintest touch of actual emotion in his gravely voice. "Now you are more than the company Sorcerer. You are a Captain. You will take possession of all of Hormata's forces, and you will work with the Warpsmith and create war that brings our enemies to their knees. Do you understand now?"

 

"Absolutely," responded a wide eyed Valtus. "Iron Within."

 

"Iron Without," finished the Warsmith as his gauntlet raised and the holo-field went blank.

 

It was a lot for Valtus to absorb. All of these years, clamoring for perhaps the wrong thing had actually lead to this moment. He swore to not repeat the mistakes of Hormata. He would show the Warsmith he truly understood the balance of Iron and Chaos.

 

 

Things I took from this battle:

 

-Do I need to write this? I will never take a daemon weapon again. I hated the randomness of it and it's far too expensive/random for my liking. I'm a siege animal, not a gambling lunatic. I need reliability, not the chance to hit myself in the melon. My luck with this daemon weapon thing is horrid. It always has been, it always will. Definitely better suited to a true follower of Khorne.

 

-The Maulerfiends. Talk about a glass cannon! These guys are it. I threw as much medium AV as I could at my opponent. I had no idea who I would be playing before the match, this was supposed to be an all comers list. I felt I had put too much faith in AV12, and Daemon rolls to be sure. I barely made any, but whenever my opponent would actually hit me, his penetration result was abysmal. Incredible. But when they got to their target, it was mixed results. I was always afraid I couldn't do enough.... reducing attacks by 2 is cool, but it's that one fist that terrifies you. I can't believe they lasted this long, and they did take a lot of heat off of my dwindling Havoks when they arrived.

 

- Terminators. Incredible as always.Tactically difficult to use, but so rewarding when used properly. Sure they can poop the bed once in a while, but they're just too damn cool to not include in my IW force.

 

- As you may have read above, Hormata's demise was purely the fault of the daemon weapon, however he may have died anyway to Marneus' fists. The sad thing is at Weapon Skill 1, and taking a wound, and getting no additional bonuses to attacks really does suck. It's a hard pill to swallow. I had a bad feeling going into that assault and I COULD have had the squad champion 'challenge' Marneus and had Hormata try to wack his remaining underlings, but I could not do that to my opponent.

 

As the fiction eludes to, I did combi-plasma-melta the bejesus out of him. I wanted to give my opponent that moment to flex his Marneus muscles and I think he enjoyed it. (If he reads this I apologize for my less than stellar representation of 'the man' in my fictional portrayal of the event, but you gotta admit that whole battle was friggin' stellar!)

 

- I found out after the game I was only moving 6" and that could have been 12". Ouch. I goofed. My opponent had some bad luck with Thunderfire cannons. After he smoked my cultists without cover, he had trouble getting a bead on me. By then I was well into him.

 

 

Yet another wonky, unconventional list against a surprisingly unconventional opponent. Siege onwards.....

[Malatox]

Loved it!
It seemed like you had a fun game, and learned a few things along the way. How did you find only having a single Transport? I, myself, would like to try a foot army, but I don't know how well it would work.

- Malatox

[Prot]

Thanks for reading it!

 

Aye, it was a fun game alright. How can you not get into a siege battle against the pompass Ultra's and not get into it?

 

The perfect proving ground for Hormata and his incessant behaviour towards Chaos Artifacts. I guess we can put that one to bed now. :)

 

As far as setup and army composition. Troop wise it is easily still the most difficult area of any list for me to make for Chaos. I strongly believe Drop Pods would have cured most of my anxiety about using them. We all know the Rhino turned into a coffin in 6th, and its uses were stripped considerably with the assault mechanics.

 

So I assume the following: 2 massive troops, or 2 medium marine squads, and 1 cultist squad for 1500 pts. The Rhino is a MUST for one squad. The trick is realizing it is going to blow and cause you lots of pain. So use it as a mobile bunker for other units. Hopefully the vehicle doesn't detonate, and 1-2 squads can use it to advance with. Then kiss it goodbye. Most of mine seem primed with Promethium and detonate sky high!

 

The use of several mid AV units helps alleviate the pressure a single rhino might be subjected to. If you see two Maulerfiends with tendrils whipping about and a lunatic Helbrute lumbering forward, how important does that rhino look to you?

 

The other thing of note is my army composition. Most of my army is static. The Heldrake has games it does very little, but it flushes people out. If I didn't have that unit then I believe I'd be losing a lot more because it's easy to outshoot Chaos in this edition, so you gotta flush them out.

 

Conversely if I had a very assault based theme, I'd definitely have more Rhinos or moblity, bikes, jump packs, land raider, etc, etc. My mobility is basically limited but key elements of the list (including Terminators) help keep the list fluid enough to threaten lists like turtled IG and the like of.

 

Thanks again for the comment.

[Prot]

Here is an experiment of mine... which took a long time but produced small results.

As I consider repainting these guys to be 1) Crimson Slaughter, 2) Red Corsairs ,or 3) Deathguard, I wanted to put them up here as part of this thread before moving on.

[Tenebris]

Very nice looking, keep the good work up.

[Eulfein]

I'm hoping you'd post more bat reps Prot. I really enjoy reading 'em.

 

Very nice work on the Chosen BTW

[Prot]

Thanks a lot guys. For some reason the formatting on these pages changes the appearance of the figs slightly... anyway, thanks.

 

I actually have played quite a few games without batreps, I need to get back into that habit. However, half of them have NOT been Iron Warriors! (oh no!!!) About 25% have been World Eaters, 25% have been Deathguard (strong but bland) and the rest have been a mix of Iron Warriors and other things 'undivided'. ;)

[Prot]

It looks like today is Batrep day.

I played against an Ultra-friend! He fielded the Mighty (or Lethargic if you ask me) Marneus Calgar and a heavy Terminator list to take on my Iron Warriors.

I had:

Sorc w/ 3 Warp Chages (Biomancy)

9 marines, meltagun, in Rhino with Dozer Blade, Dirge Casters : Champion w/Powermaul

10 marines, meltagun, plasma gun, in Rhino same as above: Champion w/ Poweraxe

Aegis line w/Quad babysat by 14 Cultists who apparently follow the god of mediocrity and no desire for advancement in life.

4 Termies, MoN, 2 combi plas, 1combi melta, Champ w/Powermaul

1 Helbrute w/MM and Combibolter

1 Forgefiend w/Hades all around

1 Maulerfiend w/Tendrils

2 Oblits w/MoN

1 Baledrake

1 squad of 5 Warptalons with Mark of Notgoingtolivelong

He had:

Marneus the Mediocre

Librarian (Divination) Termie armour

5 Termies, including Missile launcher

5 Termies, including Missile launcher

a few (2?) 10 man marine squads with heavy weapons (missile launcher/Lascannon)

1 Drop Pod w/Uber dread AV13, Melta, seismic arm thingy.

1 Drop Pod with Elite dudes with special weaponry (Sorry can't remember their name. The dudes Pedro makes into troops) They also had a Melta gun and Melta combi.

Aegis wall w/Quad Cannon.

The Game:

We end up with corner deployments, playing at an angle to each other. Pure Killpoints which is good, I like points, I like killing.

The table is mostly rocky, with the odd industrial structure. He gets first turn, so we basically set up our Aegis lines facing off on each other from within our respective corners.

I didn't want to give him too much to drop pod on so what I did was hold back the Warptalons, Maulerfiend, and Terminators (and of course Heldrake). He deployed his whole army minus his drop pods, in his zone behind his Aegis. I actually thought this was a mistake because if we played a hide and shoot game, I thought I had more to throw at him in the long run..... But we shall see if Mr.IwrotetheCodexAstartes is correct in his tactical thinking.

Opening turns:

We get Nightfight. He has no searchlights, I don't try to seize the initiative and we're off.... He decides to drop UberUltraDread behind my Aegis. He wants an arse shot on my Forgefiend... (doesn't everyone?) Forgefiend is used to this and I didn't put him in the best spot but I did use him to block the Drop Pods from the rest of my chewy centre.

Sure enough he used his deployment wisely but the Melta missed, and so did a Hunterkiller missile. The Forgefiend was fired up and dying for retribution.

In my turn The Oblits turned around and blew a hullpoint off but nothing to write home about. The Arm was then blown off by my Helbrute, and finally the Forgefiend glanced off the final hullpoint. It turns out my Daemonic armoury likes destroying things very slowly... like pulling the wings off of a fly.

I basically move out my Rhino's and as you probably don't know from not reading my previous fiction, my Sorc is dying to prove himself worthy of the Warsmith's attention? Will it work? Will he have any effect? Or is he just another over-ambitious :cuss on a short trip to the Eye of Terror's sin bin? The Sorcerer casts a plethora of inconsequential abilities across the battlefield. But he is happy with himself and that's all that counts.

The Ultra's bring in the Elite guys right in front of my Aegis line! That surprised me. The Sorcerer considers turning back to aid the cultists, and volatile machinery left back at the aegis. But all is well as the combined firepower of the Cultists, Forgefiend, Obliterators kill all but 2. The Maulerfiend appears in my backfield and does a huge rush on the remaining two spanking them across the battlefield.

Midgame:

It appears to me that this game is actually won if I'm careful. I have first blood, and with his two pods in my zone those will provide additonal killpoints. He is still 'hiding' behind he Aegis defense wall which surprises me, but then again I've seen Marneus in action... it appears the words you must know to join his squad are simply, "Look out Sir!"

Regardless, my Sorcerer and his rhino advance, and take a lot of hits before the ride finally blows. The secondary Rhino follows the age old pattern of running astride the exposed Iron Warriors to cover them from incoming firepower.

Finally the Ultra's break the wall, but the Heldrake smells the fresh meat a mile away and swoops in to burn 5 of them down into blue birthday candles. The remaining are consumed by the Sorcerer squad and the Maulerfiend who is now out of control, rushing full tilt into the fray.

Now I am obviously on the offensive and taking massive risk. But I wanted this to be a game of offense and not just sitting back with game in hand.

I drop the Warptalons with incredible risk and they deviate out from rock croppings right into the open field. Quickly a rhino moves in to shelter them from incoming fire. The Warptalons leap to the Aegis wall and become the frontline for the Sorcerer, and his squad.

With the pathetic Ultra Fortifications falling to pieces, the Ultramarines find themselves facing a Maulerfiend, a rhino, two remnant Iron Warrior squads, the Sorcerer, and now the Warptalons. Marneus finally finds it his courage to take charge of the situation and he promptly puts 3 of his terminators in front of him to take the blunt of the fire power.

Late Game:

The assaults are brutal. The sorcerer uses the Warptalons to effect but they would get no assault this turn, as Marneus cowardly watches his Terminator retinue fall down in front of him creating a large gap in front of him. With Warptalons now in the open they took a lot of firepower and were decimated down to 2 men. Marneus sensing the odds in his favour finally gets his hands wet. The Warptalon champion is destroyed by Marneus and the remaining Warptalon had broken.

The disgusted Sorcerer breaks free of Rhino cover and rushes Marneus's remnant squad. Marneus orders his remaining retinue to fire on the incoming Iron Warriors but finds his weapons are mysteriously malfunctioning as a wretched, distorted noise emits from the Rhino Dirge Casters. The Sorcerer laughs in mockery as he launches himself at the retinue.

Finally Marneus' retinue is cut down after several turns, and several deaths. Champion after champion is destroyed but Marneus is slower than expected and not killing as fast as you'd expect. Perhaps he needed more bodies to 'Look out Sir!' for him? The Challenges are horridly ineffective on my part, but Marneus is having trouble killing.

Finally the Sorcerer calls him out, but Marneus is easily superior in skill and armourment for the job. The sorcerer does wound Marneus but it is not fatal, and Marneus pounds the Sorcerer into the ground. Champion after champion call out to Marneus as the rest of the Iron Warriors roast marshmallows in a corner with nothing better to do. These challenges provide no entertainment as turn after turn of warriors wiffing each other leads to nowhere.

The game ends with most of my army advancing. My termies finally arrived (I forgot to roll for them in reserve! Or did they try to set the Sorc up for failure?) and they took on the Librarian's terminator squad. The Baledrake was shot down but by then his gluttony was well served with a gut full of an all-you-can-eat Ultra-Buffet.

The Iron Warriors had a clear cut victory. Aside from the unmanned Quad cannon, all that the Ultra's had remaining was the Librarian with one wound, and Marneus with one wound as well.

Here are a few pics:

Cultists panic, but the Iron Warriors stronghold proves too tough for the Ultra's to take over:

On the other side of the battlefield the Ultra's show ridiculous confidence in their paltry Aegis fortification. The Seigmasters would break her by dawn...

Green (nurgle marine proxy) act as bait to call out the cowardly Marneus as the Sorcerer's squad advances on the Aegis wall.

The most lethargic duel of the fates ever recorded in the grim darkness of the future. It is rumoured Marneus himself deleted the betamax tape harnessed in his Terminator armour so the footage could never again be seen. The Iron Warriors used sky footage as a future training aid and for low brow entertainment purposes on 'drinking night'.

I hope you enjoyed this batrep. Thanks for reading.

[Redtoof]

That was a good read. I like the humour and the justifications for playing in character - and it seems to be working. I also like the lack of repeated units - your list has a more 'chaosy' feel to it than most.

[Eulfein]

Many thanks for the Bat Rep Prot! Very entertaining especially the sarcastic humor inserted throughout. kudos! Cant wait for more!