AH! Sweet Vindication! (batrep)

[march10k]

So I had a game against tzeentch marines tonight, which was pretty scary, actually, army wide 4++ is daunting when I'm running a low model count AP2 melee army! 

 

So the game was hammer and anvil on a really crowded (14 pieces, including about 6  serious LOS-blockers) table, purge the alien.

 

He had three squads of nine marines, a land raider load of possessed, led by a lord, a pimped mage, and two tri-las predators.  That's eight lascannons, four of them TL, enough to give me pause.

 

Sure enough, he immobilized a crusader on the top of turn one, but thankfully not the one with Belial (and the critical telehomer) in it.  So we abandon that tank and roll 18" with the other one, while the thundernators from the stricken tank cinch up their knickers and start hoofing it.  

 

He shoots at Belial's tank and does nothing thanks to the PFG.  On the other hand, he kills 3/5 running termies.  Ouch!

 

Bottom of two, the two DWA squads drop, and Belial's tank immobilizes itself on some terrain.  Ugh.  This happens at least 50% of the time!  The crusader and one CML combine to destroy one predator, while the other CML strips a hull point from the other one.  Belial's squad charges the land raider and, amazingly gets four sixes out of the twelve automatic thunderhammer hits.  Down to three lascannons.   Looking better now.

 

I don't recall why he didn't end up charging with the possessed...in retrospect, that seems really odd.  There must have been a reason, though.  Anyway, he finishes off the wounded crusader (it's a kill point!) 

 

So on the bottom of three, I charge the possessed, putting a wound on the chaos lord with a precision shot from Belial, then Bels faces off against the possessed aspiring champion and the chaos lord faces off against my sergeant.  The sergeant puts a second wound on the chaos lord and then eats a fist...ouch, but so worthwhile.  Over the course of the next few fight phases, Belial and the champion fail miserably while the possessed (they kept getting +1A and +1I) kill off my squad, the one thundernator in base with the lord being the last to go down, never lands that last wound.  Boo!  Hiss!

 

Simultaneously, the depleted squad charges a unit of rubric marines, and the sergeant dies immediately.  Amazingly, the lone surviving model makes it out of the game unscathed in spite of being stuck in for about eight fight phases, and always being targeted with every possible attack, as my opponent chased the VP for killing him.  I think he must have made ten 2+ saves over four turns...  That squad terminator got bailed out by the tactical termies nearest them, while the other tactical termie squad and my bike libby rushed in to help out Belial, who finally killed the champion just as they got there.  The chaos lord on his last wound went from having no challenge targets to three, and the newly arrived sergeant answered the call because Belial is afraid of powerfists.  It worked, he slew the chaos lord. He's since been elevated to knighthood and thanks the emperor daily for giving him a much-needed storm shield!  Meanwhile, four other fresh termies, Belial, and my libby made short work of the remaining possessed, who went from not failing 4+ saves to not making them.

 

Meanwhile, the squad that rushed in to help the lone surviving thundernator ripped through the rubric marines, and the six termies then charged the chaos witch's squad, where the sergeant was promptly slain by the enemy's force staff.  After that, though, five S8 AP2 weapons shredded that squad pretty quickly.  Actually, throughout this game, the enemy's 4++ saves had the effect of keeping me safely locked in melee on his turn, only to pop out and execute a fresh charge on my turn.  The three termies who were shot down as they ran across the board on turn two were the only ones that took fire until the top of turn seven!  Those 4+1 termies then charged the last remaining squad of rubric marines, and it was night fight now, so the predator could no longer see my crusader.

 

Now I have a CML trading fire with the last predator while my 4+1 termies grind up the last squad of rubric marines (who at this point have achieved linebreaker).  Insanely, the aspiring champion (the last to go down), makes FIVE 4++ saves on the bottom of turn 6, so if the game had ended then...

 

He failed on the top of turn seven, and at the same time, the predator (his last model) killed two termies in the CML squad.  On the bottom of seven, the CML gets a pen six for the coup.

 

Nine units, first blood, slay the warlord, and linebreaker to me, two units (one crusader and one squad of termies) to him.  The most fun part was him calling my preferred enemy rerolls "apathy checks," and every time he did so, I'd fail the reroll!  Oh, and his warlord trait was the preferred enemy one, so all of his rubric marines (but not his possessed, they were outside the bubble when it mattered) were rerolling those ones, too!  There was a lot of preference being shown tonight...

 

Anyway, I wouldn't normally bother with a batrep, but since Belial put a wound on a chaos lord with his stormbolter, and then two different terminator sergeants also each put one on the same guy, it was a worthy tale to tell.  And I was actually a bit nervous about this fight, what with the army-wide 4++ and the eight lascannons.  Neither of those is good for a deathwing army!

[Gillyfish]

Sounds like a hard-fought game March. That almost sounds like the Chaos equivalent of the Deathwing! Had he tailored his force against you? It sounds like there were a fair few options to give you pause in his force.

[Master Avoghai]

Congrats for the win!

 

Concerning the 4++ save, sure it will negate 50% of your AP2 A, but consider also that TS pay for AP3 bolters that your 2+ save make as effective as normal bolters... ;)

 

I agree that the lascannons were the main menace. TS squad are waaaaaay overcosted for what they bring and the S&P rule is a great disadvantage now that any model with a bolter can move and shoot 24" anyway...

 

Btw you made the same mistake as I did in one of my last game :

then Bels faces off against the possessed aspiring champion and the chaos lord faces off against my sergeant

It's only ONE challenge per H2H.

[Darkangeldentist]

Nice battlereport and glory to the sergeants! Well done those boys felling the chaos lord and also fun to hear of your exploits. It has inspired me to write up one of my own recent games so hopefully there will be more tales of heroism to tell from the Unforgiven. (Spoiler: Ravenwing take on a chaos warhound titan.)

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

[march10k]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the drawbacks of Ksons, their fluff has always been interesting to me. I was interested in starting a ksons army back when they had a second wound instead of the 4++. CSM got the codex that changed that to 4++ and AP3 bolters right before I pulled the trigger. I really wanted rubric termies (with two wounds, mind you!)

 

The second challenge in the same scrum seemed odd, but my opponent is a nice guy and seemed sure of the rule. Actually, it sounded like a codex rule overriding a BGB rule, the way he said that all of his characters had to challenge if there were enough characters in my side.

[elphilo]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the drawbacks of Ksons, their fluff has always been interesting to me. I was interested in starting a ksons army back when they had a second wound instead of the 4++. CSM got the codex that changed that to 4++ and AP3 bolters right before I pulled the trigger. I really wanted rubric termies (with two wounds, mind you!)

 

The second challenge in the same scrum seemed odd, but my opponent is a nice guy and seemed sure of the rule. Actually, it sounded like a codex rule overriding a BGB rule, the way he said that all of his characters had to challenge if there were enough characters in my side.

Grats on the win man. But yeah its still one challenge per fight. His rule says if he can fight in/declare a challenge he must. If a challenge is already going on he can't do another challenge.

[Smurfalypse]

 

Yeah, I'm familiar with the drawbacks of Ksons, their fluff has always been interesting to me. I was interested in starting a ksons army back when they had a second wound instead of the 4++. CSM got the codex that changed that to 4++ and AP3 bolters right before I pulled the trigger. I really wanted rubric termies (with two wounds, mind you!)

 

The second challenge in the same scrum seemed odd, but my opponent is a nice guy and seemed sure of the rule. Actually, it sounded like a codex rule overriding a BGB rule, the way he said that all of his characters had to challenge if there were enough characters in my side.

Grats on the win man. But yeah its still one challenge per fight. His rule says if he can fight in/declare a challenge he must. If a challenge is already going on he can't do another challenge.

 

Yeah, the CSM rules says that at least one model with this rule must issue a challenge if there is not a challenge going on already.

So yeah, one challenge per combat.

 

Sounds like a good Batrep homie, grats on your win.

He spent a TON of extra points per model on those AP3 bolters that do nothing special vs you :P

[Master Avoghai]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the drawbacks of Ksons, their fluff has always been interesting to me. I was interested in starting a ksons army back when they had a second wound instead of the 4++. CSM got the codex that changed that to 4++ and AP3 bolters right before I pulled the trigger. I really wanted rubric termies (with two wounds, mind you!)

I DiD pull the trigger.. And I suffer every battle, it's luck helldrake is disbalanced the other way, or I'd would have no chance (instead of a few). This Army has a lot of personality and originality but there's a price to pay...

 

The second challenge in the same scrum seemed odd, but my opponent is a nice guy and seemed sure of the rule. Actually, it sounded like a codex rule overriding a BGB rule, the way he said that all of his characters had to challenge if there were enough characters in my side.

Nope the rule explicitly explains that if more than one model follow this rule you are allowed to choose who fights for the challenge... Meaning only one...

[march10k]

At least all 27 of his rubric marines were metal.  Very classy.  Kinda made me feel bad for dinging him for his failure to paint them (it was a league game).