WarriorFish's Sunder CSM

[WarriorFish]

It's one of those things you always think of too late (i.e. closing the gloss varnish pot :P ). To avoid repainting them I might try some hair strands along with some brighter colours on the straps, could balance the look better.

[hushrong]

The battle report was great. Good pictures and well written make it a fun read! Even better is another tally of victory for the Sundered. I also like that you are using CSM so well too.

 

The cultists is also looking puurty!

[WarriorFish]

This long weekend is to be one of hobby, a couple of games yesterday and hopefully some finished models tomorrow!

750pts vs 'nids

King of the Hill/capture the statue

The Sunder

Hidden Content

++ Battalion Detachment +3CP (Chaos - Chaos Space Marines) [750pts] ++

Legion: Emperor's Children

+ HQ +

Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour [117pts]: 3. Unholy Fortitude, Intoxicating Elixir, 2x Lightning Claw, Mark of Slaanesh, Warlord

Exalted Champion [82pts]: 2x Lightning Claw, Mark of Slaanesh

Sorcerer [98pts]: Bolt pistol, Delightful Agonies, Force sword, Infernal Gaze, Mark of Slaanesh

+ Troops +

Chaos Space Marines [158pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Power sword
7x Marine w/ Chainsword
Marine w/ Plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
Marine w/ special weapon: Meltagun

Chaos Space Marines [154pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Aspiring Champion: Bolt pistol, Power sword
7x Marine w/ Chainsword
Marine w/ Plasma pistol: Chainsword, Plasma pistol
Marine w/ special weapon: Plasma gun

Chaos Space Marines [141pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
Aspiring Champion: Boltgun, Chainaxe
8x Marine w/ Boltgun
Marine w/ heavy weapon: Heavy bolter

Tyranids

Hidden Content

Hive Tyrant w/wings

Broodlord

Genestealers

Termagaunts

Hormagaunts

Carnifex with guns

The idea was for a couple of quicker games, so we went for a smaller table of 4x4' and a simple objective of holding the statue on the hill in the centre. Naturally everyone decided that trying to kill everything was much better Deployment was kept simple too and somehow the 'nids had less to put down again...

As usual I keep my forces together for mutual support, but I have little long ranged fire power to speak of. On the positive side that means the cover from the centre hill is less of a concern for me! To keep things consistent I fail to get first turn.

Turn 1

The xenos zip up the table with good movement stats and advance rolls. The stealers use an infestation node to appear in front of my left flank. Some fex shooting and psychic powers kill a few Marines, and the left squad kills a stealer on their charge. The squad takes a couple of casualties but with the re-rolls from my HQs they hit back hard and wipe the xenos out! Pretty good result overall, I consolidate the squad a little closer and prepare for my turn 1.

I figured I can't do much about the Hive Tyrant and his 12 Wounds until he gets closer to I elect to take the Broodlord out as he'll be in combat next turn easily. Fortunately for me the high movement means he's in range for some smiting and Infernal Gaze. Some overcharging from the plasma helps but it is the heavy bolter that finishes the job. The bolters take down a few Termagaunts so all in all not a bad turn 1. I'm hoping that holding back works out but I reasoned that it's better than over extending.

Turn 2

Things go much as expected. Xenos shooting downs a couple of Marines and my Sorcerer fluffs his deny rolls (same old!), they right squad plinks a wound off the Tyrant but fortunately his rolling isn't amazing and I only lose two. VotLW helps them put a few back in return.

It's crunch time, I need to kill the Tyrant quickly otherwise I'm going to be bogged down when the rest of the 'nids arrive next turn and probably have an big fight on my hands. Fortunately I have some HQs to hand! The Sorcerer redeems himself with some excellent rolling to put some serious Mortal Wound hurt on the Tyrant reducing him down to five wounds. Pistol fire clips another off so with my forces moved up and ready to pile in I need to decide how much I should commit and how much I can send up.

I decide that I should go for it as it's an opportunity to put some real spanners in the works and prevent getting charged. The left squad charges the fex and my Lord surges into the Termagaunts leaving the Exalted Champion and Sorcerer to help finish the job. Turns out that was more than enough; the Champ delivers a punishing routine and my opponent can't roll invulnerable saves for love nor money so the Tyrant goes down. Not before flailing about in death (again) and inflicting some hurt - ironically more than he did with his blades!

After getting hit for four wounds by the melta the fex is looking manageable enough, the squad takes a wound off but even if it goes bad there's plenty of support. The Lord eviscerates the Termagaunts and consolidates into the other squad. Short of some dire luck this should be a comfortable win now.

Turn 3

My opponent is in quite a pickle; no shooting and thanks to the blessings of Slaanesh I'm hitting first. The CSM squad doesn't want to lose out so gets some good hits in to reduce the fex to one wound in return for two. The Lord makes mincemeat out of the gaunts naturally, but takes a wound.

It's a case of wrapping up now. The Sorcerer Smites the fex down, and the piling in Marines aren't needed as the Lord takes care of all six gaunts himself. A solid victory for the Sunder

It was a good game, I was a bit concerned about my lack of fire power but the combat prowess of the Sunder more than made up for this. Against shooty armies I will likely have a much harder time! I feel I'm proving the concepts I've had about how 8th works best, as the good numbers with character support works. The re-rolls I'm getting with the number of attacks - not to mention support from Stratagems - means I can reliably put some hurt on stuff in combat.

The increasing prevalence of psykers has meant I've needed to respond, but so far that's not working terribly well as my Sorcerer fails to deny anything at all I swapped his powers out for more Mortal Wound generation so at least that worked. Against really tough things like Hive Tyrants that get into your lines so quickly it almost feels mandatory as a response. I have the bits to make a second PA Sorcerer so maybe that should be on the cards soon...

I'll get the second batrep up later today

[WarriorFish]

750pts vs Blood Angels

Capture the Hill Kill everything

Blood Angels

Hidden Content

Chaplain w/Jump pack

Chaplain

Death Company

Death Company

Death Company w/Jump packs

This was going to be an interesting battle, all about the fisticuffs. That means it's going to rest a lot on who gets to charge, so I'd need to be on my toes to try and make sure that's me. Fortunately with superior shooting (only relatively) means I can make my opponent come to me and try and get the jump - assuming the jump troops don't ruin it. Deployment is straight forward as everyone knows the plan and I manage to fail to go first. Again.

Turn 1 & 2

Very little happens. The Death Company advance quickly but by keeping behind the hill my shooting bounces off 2+ saves and I can only plink a couple away. My opponent is also keeping his reserves up his sleeve so I'm stuck waiting for their arrival as I can't afford to let them isolate a unit.

Turn 3

As it proves I move my right squad up to try and position them for the encroaching foot DC only to find I just presented them for assault. With a 3D6 charge on the DC and a re-roll on the Chaplain they comfortably get into combat. While they acquit themselves well the swinging thunder hammers and more do a lot of damage further compounded by morale losses leaves the Champion standing alone...

This is clearly the point to go all out as I can't afford to dither. I move my Lord to charge in while the rest of my army moves up to engage the foot DC. Smite and Infernal Gaze finishes off the jump DC and I succeed in my charges with good rolling, though I lose a couple of bolter Marines going in. Combat goes quite well, though the Chaplain can strike as charging also and finishes off the Champion. The re-rolls to hit and BA +1 to wound means they don't go down easily, and VotLW fails to help the bolter squad so probably not the best choice there. The CCW squad bounced off armour saves and there were a fair few 6+++ saves going on too, foiling my power weapon attacks.

Turn 4

Things hadn't quite gone to plan, but with my HQs intact and enough troops to support them I knew I was in a good position to try and keep the momentum. The three man DC squad is laid low by my combat squad, but the bolter squad again struggles only to be wiped out on the return. With their power fists and thunder hammers my nearby HQs have no invulnerable saves so aren't happy, fortunately the jump Chaplain has too many 4++ saves to make and falls letting my Lord advance to help.

This is what ensures my game, as he makes it into combat and the tide is pushed comfortably in my favour as he badly reduces the DC. Along with the number of following attacks not even my opponent's propensity for 6+++ saves can help and weight of dice prevail - a hard fought victory to the Sunder!

Another good game, but not an easy one. Against more durable elite infantry chainswords will naturally struggle a bit more, and those hidden power weapons hurt. Not to mention rolling a 6 and then command point re-rolling to a 5 on morale... The Sorcerer faired ok with no opposite number which isn't exactly an accomplishment, and he failed every single weapon skill roll he made (one with VotLW too, to try and push the combat in my favour). It'd be nice if he could do more than just cast powers but I suppose it's better than nothing and he's pretty reliable there

I think this is another victory from auras, as the re-rolls really make the difference. Not to mention the lightning claw Lord and Exalted Champion - they're routinely blending through anything and everything so it's great that they're more than aura caddies or thematic choices

[Pearson73]

Both games sound good. Thanks for writing up these reports; they're always interesting reads and it's good to see a chaos marine list with actual marines doing well!

[WarriorFish]

Thanks Pearson, it's always good to game and aside from sharing the army's progress batreps are a great way to review the game and help you improve for next time :tu:

[hushrong]

Awesome battle reports! These are some seriously solid games you are getting in!

[WarriorFish]

It's always good to game, and great to be getting more in of late I'm slowly working on my projects, one of the wings just needs the claws:

Rear shot:

Also got some good work done on some cultists, though nothing fancy yet (just as well as the picture quality isn't great):

Was hoping to get more done over the weekend but so it goes. Enjoying playing with colours with the Cultists, I'm keeping them matching the Sunder's colours so far to make sure I get a feel for how they can go. I can start adding more colours as I do more, as that should let my gauge how much I can get away with. As much as I want to do lots of things I still want to tie them in to the army (and the Sunder would never forgive them being too much of a draw ).

The other factor is how long it takes me to regret going to such effort on 4pt models... So far so good

[Panzer]

Love your fleshy Daemon Prince. Can't wait to see him finished!

[Quixus]

Indeed the prince looks great. Did you magnetize the wings? If so, what size of magnets did you use?

[WarriorFish]

Thanks, he's going to be a crowning model in my Chaos collection I think The wings are magnetised yes, with a 1/8" x 1/16" (3.2 x 1.6mm) magnet which is a neat fit on the end of the wings (its the non-washed bit of a lighter colour on the above picture). You can see how it works better from this WIP picture:

You need to be careful lining them up, but it works well. An improvement would be to drill further into the wing and use a much longer magnet for a really strong/pin connection but I don't have any such magnets!

[Quixus]

Thanks.

 

It's probably to late for that, but just stacking two magnets on each side is pretty much the same as having one magnet of the double length.

[WarriorFish]

I did think of that but the connection is strong enough that the wings ignore gravity so I reasoned that it wasn't worth the extra hassle. If I were to do it again I'd go for the longer magnet as something more durable and immune to the risk of coming off

[Kierdale]

Good work on the Prince!

 

And those battle reports were, as always, excellent fun to read. Particularly as they were victories for the Dark Prince!

[hushrong]

Painting is coming along nicely! Excited to see those Escher/Cultists put to use.

[WarriorFish]

I'm ploughing on still, should be able to make some more progress on Sunday after little progress last week The Daemon Prince is definitely on the last stretch :)

 

I have been pondering further additions. I'd like some walker support but don't want Helbrutes as my Loyalists have 8 Dreads... how do Maulerfiends go? The magma cutters are quite nasty but expensive, so what about stomping around with some lasher tendrils to conserve points? 4+ to hit will be better with Lord support, and 3+/5++ with 12 Wounds, regenerating one a turn, seems to offer some solid durability.

 

Perhaps that's what my CSM need, some tanking support in melee? Plus I've been leaning more towards the model along with the Heldrake (but not the shooty one... looks odd). Thoughts and experiences?

[Tallarn Commander]

My Maulerfiend, Mary, is a solid unit. I love her! If she makes it into melee she usually kills something if buffed (spells, lords' aura, or, especially, the Daemonforge Stratagem). If she doesn't make it into combat then she usually tanks the bulk of the enemies' Turn 1 shooting before dying.

 

For mutual support, I deploy her in my front rank alongside 2 or more mobile, assaulty units (Rhinos with Zerkers, Chosen, assault CSM; large choppy bike squad, etc.).

 

I've only used lasher tendrils this edition as the cutters seem lackluster.

 

She's also apparently a psychological threat too. A Harlie player told me after a recent game that he kept his forces back on Turn 1 because my front ranks included a Maulerfiend.

[Kierdale]

I haven’t yet used my maulerfiend but...this is Slaanesh! How can you not choose the tentacle-version? :D

[WarriorFish]

That is a very good point, but aside from the reduced cost (always nice) I think the tentacles might be better anyway. The cutters are potent and short ranged which is probably going to slap a very big "shoot me" sign on top to prevent it getting close enough which will be expensive. If it's going to tank shooting may as well cost less Starts off with a 10" move which is pretty speedy and will be able to keep up with Rhinos too (when the time comes). Not to mention some heavy lifting in CC which I'm lacking currently, and the tendrilcles to aid against numbers

 

Think I'm sold then, might be a treat next time I'm shopping. Not sure if I'll need or want a second but can always see how it goes

[Arkaniss]

How is progress on the Daemon Prince? Any piks?

[WarriorFish]

I didn't get as much time as I wanted over the weekend, but progress is good. I'll have him ready for the table this Sunday :)

 

Just as well, as I'll have a Maulerfiend arriving soon...

[WarriorFish]

Looks like I'll be ready for the Maulerfiend soon, Daemon Prince is really getting there now. That is after I've painted the Cultists though (famous as I am for sticking to the right project...).

I'm pleased with the head, the mask is nice and shiny (aided by some gloss varnish) and I managed to get a nice horn colour too. I was aiming for something a bit more "natural" but I confess it was more by accident than design

First time I've used the Astrogranite Debris too, I wasn't very impressed when I put it on but once it had been given the full treatment it looks nice. Helps break up the larger bases so I'll be using it on other bigger areas too (such as the Maulerfiend) Mostly just the arms left now, though the claws need doing the same slightly off white as the Daemonettes.

I'm not sure what to do the spine though, white again wouldn't work. I'm leaning towards a black or dark grey (perhaps like the wings?), but I might need more of the model finished to have a better idea as I'm not sure yet.

[Arkaniss]

Wow! The Prince looks amazing! The base is brilliant I really like it. I might have to get some of this Astrogranite it looks really good. For the back spines they are currently black from the undercoat which looks about right - perhaps lighten/highlight it a bit? Make it more of a grey?

[WarriorFish]

The skull box is nice, if you want to add some skullage to your bases (or anywhere) then it's a good addition. The Astrogranite Debris can be seen at the back of the model, behind the little ruin piece, the other bits (and on all previous Chaos models) is the "lighter" version. Good for blasted urban rubble as well as a moon :)

 

I think black for the spines would be best now I've thought some more yes, similar to the off black on the wings. Don't want to mix it up with too many colours after all.

[hushrong]

The Prince is looking sharp!

 

And what is astrogranite?