Jump to content

Autumn Tides of War Tournament Batreps


Chaplain Otho

Recommended Posts

This was it the final round in the Tides of War series. I knew that I was currently in third place so to finish third overall I knew that realistically I had to win 2 out of 3 games. To keep things interesting there were 50 bonus points for fielding a fully painted and based army with other random points objective during the day. Games were 1650 points with maelstrom and tactical escalation mission in for each game. There were 14 players in total with some familiar faces and some rookie’s. This was also the first time I had tried the Champions of Fenris and the Voidclaws so was interested to see how they did.

My list

Champions of Fenris Detachment.

HQ

Thorkild Thunderarm;  Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Thunderwolf mount, Runic Armour, Storm shield, Thunderhammer, Fenrisian wolf                                           

Elites

Hakon’s Raiders; 5 space wolf scouts; boltguns                                

5 Void Claws, 5 Terminators with twin wolf claws                           

Brother Mikkael aka the Murderfang in drop pod with storm bolter

Fast attack

Thengrir’s Vikings; 5 Thunderwolf cavalry, including 2 powerfists, 2 stormshields, Thunderwolf cavalry pack leader with storm shield and close combat weapon                          

Combined Arms Detachment

HQ

Little Ragnar; Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Thunderwolf Mount, Runic armour, Storm shield, Axe of Black Death,                                                                                                

Troops

Sven’s Hunters; 10 grey hunters, including 2 melta guns, drop pod,            

Gunnar’s Claws; 5 bloodclaws, bolt pistol and close combat weapons, 1 flamer                

Fast Attack

Stormwolf, twin linked lascannon, twin linked helfrost, 2 twin linked multi melta’s

 

 

Game 1.

Opponent Gary

Army Blood Angels

Mission Cloak and Shadows and Kill Points. Impossible Maelstrom cards were to be discarded.

Deployment Short table edge

Deploy first Gary

Go First Gary

Night fighting No

Special bonus pts, 50 poitns fo killing your psyker with perils of the warp.

Gary’s list

Sanguinary Priest on bike Warlord

Librarian with bolt pistol, accompanies termies.

5 Terminators 1 lightning claws 4 Thunderhammer and storm shields, Landraider Redeemer dedicated transport

2 5 man tactical squads in drop pods heavy flamer and combi flamer

10 Sternguard 2 meltas 3 combi meltas drop pod

3 bikes 1 melta

3 bikes 1 melta

7 bikes 2 grav 1 combi grav, multi melta attack bike, accompanied the Warlord

Warlord trait Gary had a relic so got two warlord traits can’t remember what one of them was but the other was drop pods scattering 1D6.

 

My Warlord trait was strategic pinning 3 units. As the only 3 units out of transport were the three bike units they were what I attempted to pin.

 

5 reasons why Gary will win.

1.      His bike squad had serious firepower a 12 inch move and had 3+ save, 4+ jink, 5+ feel no pain and were T5.

2.      His other bike squads were very fast so could easily reach the objectives

3.      Deep striking meltas and Murderfang was potentially a very bad combination.

4.      With only 2 melta guns early doors I’d struggle to tackle his Landraider until my storm wolf arrived

5.      Heavy flamers would murder my scouts

 

5 reasons why Wolves will win.

1.      Thunderwolves will take out anything in close combat

2.      With 3 drop pods and the 2 small tactical squads and 2 small bike squads Gary had several very squishy units.

3.      Apart from his Grav guns on his bikes he had nothing to deal with my flyer

4.      This was Gary’s first ever tournament so I had an experience advantage

5.      I could reroll reserves (whilst Voidclaws lived) so could bring in my army together whilst Gary’s reserves were at the mercy of the dice Gods.

Deployment

Gary deployed a small bike squad on each flank. His Landraider with termies and librarian in the centre and then the big bike squad on his left behind a big piece of ruins. From where he was deployed Gary could easily reach the 3 objectives in his half of the table.

I really had to think over my deployment. There was 1 objective in my deployment zone and 2 just outside. There was a big piece of ruins on my left which would give a 4+ cover save. In the end I deployed my Thunderwolf star in the cover with the 2 characters up front to tank with their 2+, 3++, with the scouts on the next level up to give some supporting fire and move up to the objective if necessary.  I also wanted to stay well away from the Grav gun bikers. Everything else went into reserve. I considered deploying Murderfang to charge turn 1 but was worried about him getting melta’d.   

I didn’t bother trying to seize and off we went.  

 

Blood angels turn 1.

Rolling for pinning, the small bike squad on Gary’s far left was pinned so could do nothing. Other small bike squad moved back to grab objective 2. Landraider moved 12 inches forward round the cover to avoid risking being immobilised in the ruins. Big bike squad moved forwards then turboboosted as there was nothing to shoot at. 1st tactical squad came in right in front of the Thunderwolves so they could grab the objective due to being objective secured. Heavy flamer then hit 2 Thunderwolves and 4 scouts, thunderwolves survived undamaged then 3 scouts died. Bolters rapid fired on the Thunderwolves but bounced off a 2+ save. Sternguard dropped in just the other side of the ruins and combat squadded to a melta squad and special issue ammo squad. Meltas and combi melta fired at the Thunderwolves with the Warlord being the closest model. 4 hits 4 wounds, 2 failed invun’s then I looked out sir failing 1 but passing invul then passing 1 and took a wound on the Powerfist guy who was next in line. Ouch. Rapid firing hellfire shots then did another 5 wounds I looked out sir again as the Warlord was still closest. Powerfist guy died then my other Battle leader with Thunderhammer took a wound despite his 2+ save. Scouts then ran away. Gary then grabbed a maelstrom card for objective marker 2 and then D3 for holding 3 objectives and me none. 4 maelstrom cards but luckily no KP’s or First Blood.

Wolves turn 1.

Ouch that hurt, Warlord seriously wounded and a Powerfist Wolf dead. I got 3 good maelstrom cards of destroy a vehicle and then objective 4 and 5. Voidclaws came in on objective 4 which was in some big ruins and by his big bike squad. My plan was to distract the big bike squad and leave the Thunderwolves to mop up the Sternguard and tactical squad. Voidclaws scattered slightly and all passed their dangerous terrain checks. Murderfang and drop pod came in on objective 5 and near enough to flamer the Melta Sternguard. Melta hunters dropped right in front of the Landraider and their drop pod blocked a gap between two pieces of terrain. I wasn’t confident I could kill the Landraider but did mean he would either have to stop and kill the grey hunters or spend another two turns driving round them. Scouts rallied and moved to shoot whoever. Warlord split off to charge the Sternguard whilst the remaining Thunderwolves and Thunderhammer battle leader advanced on the tactical squad and drop pod. Thunderwolves failed 2 dangerous terrain checks for moving through cover taking 2 woudns on different guys. Scouts fired on the Tactical squad did 3 wounds then Gary made 3 saves. Murderfang did 3 wounds on the melta Sternguard and Gary again made 3 saves. I then did 3 wounds from various storm bolters and, guess what, Gary made 3 saves.  Melta gunners both hit the Landraider. 1 failed to penetrate but 1 penetrated. I then shook the thing not ideal but at least it couldn’t fire its flamestorm cannons. Voidclaws ran to claim the objective. Thunderwolves multicharged the drop pod and tactical squad, my battleleader took another wound from heavy flamer overwatch. Return attacks were effective and killed off both units for First blood, 2 KPs and a maelstrom card. Drop pod exploded and killed off a wounded Thunderwolf. Warlord charged the poison Sternguard squad and actually made some saves against overwatch. Hammer of wrath killed a Sternguard. Did you hear that? I killed something! Due to his big axe I was striking at int 1, 8 attacks at int 4 then hit me, wounded and I failed a 2+ armour save and died. 1 KP and slay the warlord to Gary.

Bloodangels turn 2.

Gary’s other drop pod came in and landed right where the first tactical squad had landed ready to continue the barbecuing of Thunderwolves. Melta combat squad advanced on Murderfang. 2 bike squads surrounded the Voidclaws. Terminators disembarked to assault the grey hunters.  Tactical squad killed another Thunderwolf leaving me with 3 from the original start of 7. Landraider and poison Sternguard killed 3 grey hunters. Grav guns killed 2 void claws as I made a lot of 4+ cover saves. Melta Sternguard then hit Murderfang twice, penetrated and blew him up. Another kill point. Terminators killed 4 grey hunters in return for 2 casualties back and then I fell back and he couldn’t sweeping advance. Gary got 3 more maelstrom cards.

Wolves turn 2.

Stormwolf turned up but the bloodclaws failed to turn up even with the Voidclaw reroll.  Stormwolf flew up to shoot the nearest drop pod and fired the helfrost template at the Melta Sternguard. Voidclaws moved up to charge the small bike squad. The big bike squad was half an inch nearer but I didn’t fancy my chances of surviving overwatch. Thunderwolves moved through the ruins to charge the poison Sternguard and possibly the drop pod too if I could kill off enough of them to make a charge on it viable, well that was the plan but the Thunderwolf battle leader failed his dangerous terrain check then his 2+ armour save and died. ****** Sigh. Grey hunters rallied and advanced on the same target. Stormwolf started the shooting phase by killing 3 melta hunters from helfrost. He then fired a multi melta at the nearest drop pod within melta range. I hit then failed to penetrate, str 8 plus 2 D6 still can’t beat armour 12. Grey hunters killed off 1 Sternguard then the scouts failed to kill any. Thunderwolves could only charge the poison Sternguard, survived overwatch and then killed the last 3. Another KP. Voidclaws survived the overwatch from the bikes and then ripped them apart in close combat. My consolidation move left me stranded in the open though, near the big bike squad with grav guns. That wasn’t good. I didn’t achieve any maelstrom card either this turn.

Bloodangels turn 3.

Gary’s big bike squad roared round to focus on the Voidclaws, the Redeemer and the other small bike squad also swung round to fire on them too if necessary. Tactical squad and melta sternguard moved to shoot the Thunderwolves. Terminators moved to assault the Drop pod. Bit unequal combat I hear you say but Gary didn’t care. Shooting at the Voidclaws was fairly predictable with Grav guns doing enough wounds on their own. On the plus side it did mean that 3 of his units were well out of position from the rest of my forces. Melta Sternguard and tactical squad with heavy flamer and 2 storm bolters from drop pods took the remaining couple of wounds from the Thunderwolves. By this stage I’d resigned myself to them dying to overwatch or failing to even hit in close combat, I deliberately avoided working out how many points that unit had been worth. Gary then grabbed two maelstrom cards one of which was shooting a unit to death.

Wolves turn 3.

At this point I’d given up the game as lost. Bloodclaws then failed to come in from reserve. At this point I misheard the clock and thought we only had five minutes left. In a desperate attempt to grab some points the Stormwolf went into hover mode to shoot at his warlord who was now the closest model in this bike squad and to attempt to destroy that drop pod with his multimeltas through the machine spirit. Scouts fired on the Melta Sternguard to try and kill them off but failed to even hit, seriously guys? You’re meant to be elite with BS4 and WS5; their defensive argument was that at least they weren’t dead yet, which I couldn’t argue with, that said they were performing about average for my army this game.  Stormwolf fired on the bikes who jinked then his Priest looked out sir onto a bike who ate a lascannon to the face and died. Hurrah.  I fired the machine spirit multi melta at the same drop pod and hit, after the reroll, then managed to roll double 1 for armour penetration. No kill points and no maelstrom points either. We then realised that we had 45 minutes left not 5 so Gary sportingly allowed me to count the Stormwolf as still flying as hovering was just plain suicide.

Bloodangels turn 4.

By this point Gary was 6 to 4 up in KP’s and 9 to 3 in maelstrom. Even worse most of my hitting power was sitting in the deadpile. Big bike squad turned about to deal with the drop pod sitting on objective 5. Small bike squad moved through cover to grab objective 4. Terminators climbed over the wrecked drop pod but were too far away to achieve anything. Tactical squad kept firing at the scout squad with the heavy flamer killing 1 and the other 1 decided enough was enough and ran away but stayed on the table. Bike squad shooting was ineffective due to snap firing but the drop pod put up what can only be described as feeble resistance in close combat and was wrecked. 1 more KP and 2 Maelstrom points for Gary.

Wolves turn 4.

Bloodclaws came in from reserve and landed with pinpoint accuracy half an inch beyond objective 6 so the bloodclaws had to sit in the open on the objective rather than being able to hide in the nearby ruins. Scout rallied but carried on running and hid behind a wall meaning that whilst he would still probably die Gary might actually have to work for this kill. Stormwolf zoomed to the far end of the table and fired on the Terminators with a helfrost shot but did nothing. Bloodclaws did claim a maelstrom card though.

Bloodangels turn 5.

Tactical marines kept following the lone scout but weren’t close enough to get line of sight. Most of Gary’s army couldn’t achieve much as they were out of position and there wasn’t many wolves left on the table by this point; 1 scout, 5 Bloodclaws, 1 drop pod and the Stormwolf. Redeemer fired its assault cannon on the Bloodclaws and killed 2 but they passed morale. Gary grabbed another maelstrom card.

Wolves turn 5.

The main thing I wanted to achieve this turn was for the game to end whilst I still had models.  Bloodclaws stayed on the objective as they had objective 6 again. Stormwolf angled over to shoot the redeemer whilst still flying and actually managed to take off a hull point. Scout was running out of cover so popped round the corner to shoot the metal Sternguard and actually hit twice and wounded once only for Gary to make his armour save. Gary let me roll the dice to see fi the game ended, as I couldn’t roll higher than a 2 maybe he wanted the game to finish too? Of course I then rolled a 5 so we would play turn 6.

Bloodangels turn 6.

Redeemer rumbled up ready to unleash death from its flamestorm cannon on the bloodclaws. Tactical squad were already achieving linebreaker and he didn’t have any secure objective x cards so a short turn. The remaining bloodclaws were toasted but they had done their job and the drop pod was secure for linebreaker, unless we had turn 7. Tactical squad hit the scout several times but he somehow survived. He was getting a promotion next game.

Wolves turn 6.

Stormwolf hovered and attempted to shoot that drop pod with its lascannons and Terminators with helfrost. Scout then celebrated his continued existence by failing to his anything with his boltgun. Stormwolf finally managed to destroy that (expletive deleted) drop pod but did nothing to the Terminators. 

Out of time game over

Result

I’ll be honest we didn’t even count up as it was so obvious but if you are really that interested.

Bloodangels, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, 8 kill points, 12 maelstrom points = 22

Wolves, First blood, Linebreaker, 5 kill points, 5 maelstrom = 12

 

Post game thoughts.

Not a great start to the day with a really bad defeat. I could moan all day about my bad luck and the dice hating me but that doesn’t explain the total story. I made a couple of crucial errors in this game. 1st was my deployment, the Thunderwolves didn’t need to be in cover as my invul saves were better than the cover saves and my armour saves were likewise better than the cover saves. I should have deployed away from the objectives so that Gary either hit the Thunderwolves or went for the objectives. Due to my deployment I gave him the opportunity to do both. Deploying the scouts on the level above the Thunderwolves allowed both units to be hit with the same heavy flamer template which was also very stupid.  My 2nd error was my turn 1 counter charge. The sternguard with melta guns and poison were a much bigger threat than the tactical squad I should have gone after them and wiped them out but I think I was worried about getting too close to his big bike squad. Splitting my warlord off too was also a stupid error. I could then have mopped up the tactical squad next turn. However I did do some things quite well. The Voidclaws did a good job of distorting his units and the melta hunter squad did block off his Landraider and kept the terminators out of the fight for a few turns. My mood was improved by the girl at McDonalds getting my lunchtime order wrong. I cheered up a bit over coke and chips with Gary and his nephew and Curtis (a Tau player) and we joked that most of my army had killed themselves so I actually won the game by getting most kill points. Feeling suitably reinvigorated from food I was ready for round 2. (Actually I was feeling bloated and poorer from overly processed junk food and hoped that my threats of extreme violence against my dice had some effect). 

To be honest I like the combi weapon wolf guard squad with Ulrik and Arjac and multiple grey hunter units for objective securing but was mainly trying out the new void claws and champions of fenris units in this event. 

 

Anyway 

 

Batrep game 2.

After the disaster in game 1 I knew I’d be facing someone who had equally bad luck in round 2. Unfortunately there were a couple of really nasty lists that lost round 1 including a Tau player with 2 riptides and a stormsurge and an Eldar player with D scythes and 30 warp spiders. In the end I got paired with Ben who had Khorne daemonkin with the slaughter cult formation.

Opponent Ben

Mission Crusade (6 objectives) Tactical Escalation

Deployment short board edge

Deploy first Ben

Go first Ben

Night fighting No

Special bonus points Getting Tabled 100 tournament pts.

 

Ben’s army list

Bloodthirster Warlord (can’t remember the details but totalled over 300 pts)

Another Bloodthirster

6 possessed

8 bikes mark of Khorne

8 Khorne Berserkers

8 Khorne Berserkers

8 Khorne Berserkers

10 chaos marines with mark of Khorne

Warlord trait, nothing important aka I can’t remember,

 

My warlord trait reroll D3 when rolling to see how many points I got for maelstrom cards, could be handy.

 

5 reasons why Ben would win

1.       Bloodthirsters would smash me in close combat, both of them had decapitating strike which was instant death on a 6 to wound.

2.       Ben was going first so if his Bloodthirster were flying all game I’d struggle to even hit them

3.       The blood tithe rule meant he could toughen up his units or even summon more units even if it was his units that were dying.

4.       Ben had 34 objective secured models vs 17 so if he camped objectives I was in trouble.

5.       Did I mention he had a 2nd Bloodthirster?

 

5 reasons why Wolves will win

1.       Apart from his bikes Ben didn’t have a lot of manoeuvrability and with his Bloodthirsters flying they couldn’t claim objectives.

2.       His berserker units were bolt pistol and close combat weapon meaning he could only damage my drop pods or Murderfang in close combat

3.       If Murderfang made close combat his units would crumple

4.       If I could isolate his Bloodthirsters and get the charge with my Thunderwolf star I should be able to take one down.

5.       Ben’s army seemed more thematic than out and out cheesy. 

 

Deployment.

Ben deployed as far forward as possible with his bikes on his far left, Berserkers evenly across the front of his deployment zone, Possessed behind a rocky outcrop to keep them out of line of sight and the chaos marines on his far right in a rocky piece of terrain. Both Bloodthirsters went into reserve. From his deployment Ben could easily jump on 3 objectives turn 1.

I deployed my Thunderwolf cavalry on my right opposite the bikes to chase them down and to avoid charging headlong into his massed infantry, Thunderwolves were also sitting on one objective. Scouts deployed in a rocky outcrop out of sight and between two objectives in such a way that they could move or run to grab whichever as the situation arose. Everything else went in reserve. After seeing both Bloodthirsters going into reserve I felt more confident as they couldn’t charge now until turn 3 at earliest. I decided not to try and seize initiative.  

 

Khorne turn 1.

Ben’s turn was very quick. Bikes moved up about six inches as did all the Berserkers, Possessed hung back slightly and the chaos marines stayed in their cover. He didn’t achieve his maelstrom card so my turn.

 

Wolves turn 1.

My maelstrom card was seize objective 6. This was just behind his bikers and close enough that I would have to drop in an objective secured unit to claim it. It was also about 7 inches from the table edge so a risky deep strike. In the end I decided to ignore it and discard the card. Grey hunters dropped onto an objective in the centre of his lines in front of two Berserker units. Drop pod was objective secured and I was between two pieces of scenery so was blocking Ben off. Murderfang dropped in by the Possessed. Void claws dropped in near Murderfang and by the bikes. Thunderwolves moved 12 inches straight forwards to try and pen in the bikes and possibly charge the nearest Berserker squad. Shooting from grey hunters and storm bolters killed off five Berserkers. Murderfang hit 4 possessed with his heavy flamer but Ben made his armour saves. Voidclaws ran to spread out and prevent his bikers moving out of their corner without going through dangerous terrain. Scouts couldn’t see anything to shoot so stayed in cover. Thunderwolves attempted the charge but fell well short, if I had remembered fleet it might have been different. My units were in a good position for turn 2 but not achieving first blood was irritating.

 

Khorne turn 2.

Both Bloodthirsters came in from reserve and flew over the Voidclaws vector striking them and killing 2. 5++ saves are rubbish. Possessed and Berserkers advanced on the grey hunters and the bikes advanced on the Voidclaws. Shooting from gifts on the Bloodthirsters saw 2 more Voidclaws die, ouch, I passed morale though. Other shooting was totally ineffective. One squad of Berserkers charged my hunters’ drop pod with the melta bomb blowing up the drop pod and killing a berserker in the process. First Blood. The damaged Berserker squad and Possessed charged the Grey hunters. Possessed killed 2 and Berserkers 1 for the loss of 2 Berserkers. I passed morale and we stayed in combat. I actually hoped to fail morale so I could run away then shoot them and charge with Thunderwolves. Bikes fired on the remaining Voidclaw and did no damage. They then charged with one failing a dangerous terrain check and dying. I survived 3 Hammer of wrath attacks and then survived something like 24 attacks on the charge. I then did no damage in return. This was exactly what Ben hoped to avoid as the bikes were locked in close combat with Murderfang 8 inches away. One maelstrom point achieved for holding an objective.

 

Wolves turn 2.

Both the Bloodclaw drop pod and the Stormwolf came in from reserve. Stormwolf flew up the left flank to avoid his Bloodthirsters vector striking it. Bloodclaws came down next to where the hunter pod had been ready to flame the clustered Berserkers. Murderfang moved to charge the bikes and Thunderwolves moved to join the multiple combat round the grey hunters. Thunderhammer battle leader split off to charge the Berserker unit that just blown up the drop pod. Scouts moved to claim objective 4 which I had just drawn. Shooting started well with the Bloodclaws and Stormwolf wiping out 5 Berserkers who then failed morale and fell back 6 inches.  No other shooting so straight to close combat. Murderfang charged the bikes. Being quite shocked at still being alive this late on in the game (after 4 games in a row of being immobilised or destroyed before even thinking about making a charge) he let out all his pent up frustration and murdered all seven bikes for no damage in reply! He then consolidated towards the other combat. Voidclaw consolidated over to hide for line breaker and objective 6. Thunderwolves made close combat and a quick challenge between the battle leader and Possessed champion resulted in 3 dead Possessed. After a bit more dice rolling another grey hunter died in return for 2 dead Berserkers and the Possessed being wiped out. Berserkers ran from close combat and were chased down. Thunderhammer battle leader charged the fleeing Berserkers who failed to rally and were destroyed. 4 units down in a single turn was a great turn for me but it did mean Ben racked up a load of Blood Tithe points and his Bloodthirsters were still flying around undamaged. I did grab a maelstrom card.

 

Khorne turn 3.

Feeling somewhat outnumbered Ben used his Bloodtithe points to grant fnP to his army and to summon his Chaos space marine champion in to a Daemon Prince. Both Bloodthirsters landed behind my Thunderwolves, uh oh, think I knew what was coming next turn. Berserkers advanced on the bloodclaws and the objective in no mans land. Shooting killed a Bloodclaw but failed to damage the Thunderwolves. No maelstrom points scored.

 

Wolves turn 3.

I debated running away from the Bloodthirsters, problem was they had a 12 inch movement and 12 inch charge range and they would reap bloody havoc in my army. My Warlord had other ideas however, “This is it men.” he shouted, “This is what we were born to do, for Russ and the Allfather, charge!”. They were going in. First things first though Murderfang moved across towards the Chaos marines. Bloodclaws moved towards the Berserkers ready to flamer them. Thunderhammer battle leader rejoined the Thunderwolf unit. Stormwolf flew over to shoot his Bloodthirster warlord too as did the Grey hunters with their melta guns. Scouts moved then ran to grab the nearby objective. Voidclaw hid out of line of sight and resolved to cling on to linebreaker. Shooting from Grey hunters and Stormwolf did 1 unsaved wound on his warlord. Not a great start. Bloodclaws then flamed 4 Berserkers with their drop pod storm bolter killing another and they ran away, straight towards Murderfang, Thunderwolves charged the Warlord Bloodthirster, I survived overwatch, HoW did nothing then the Thunderhammer battle leader declared a challenge as he had to due to the Champions of Fenris rules. Bloodthirster accepted, big shock I know but I like to be thorough on the details. Bloodthirster did 3 wounds which bounced off his stormshield. In return from 15 Stormshield rending attacks, 10 powerfist attacks, 5 Thunderhammer attacks and 5 axe attacks I did 1 unsaved wound. Not good, just to reiterate how bad this was for me his other Bloodthirster model got ahead of himself and toppled over into the combat. Murderfang then showed how it was done and murdered 3 Berserkers, not particularly hard with his statline and the fact they were only armed with krak grenades. Still 2 more maelstrom points and another objective secured unit dead.    

 

Khorne turn 4.

Khorne was very angry now. The summoned Daemon prince jumped over terrain ready to charge Murderfang. The Chaos marines moved up to grab an objective. Other Bloodthirster moved to join close combat with the Thunderwolves. Both monsters charged with the Bloodthirster doing a wound due to HoW. Daemon prince was only str 6 so Ben debated whether to attack normally or to smash, he attacked normally hit 3 times then failed to glance. Murderfang then ripped him trendy go faster red stripes aka did 2 wounds. This was just the prelude to the big fight though. Bloodthirsters attacked first and somehow due to some poor dice rolling and lucky invul saves I survived entirely unscathed. My return attacks were fairly abysmal and did 1 wound again on his Warlord. Could be a long combat.  

 

Wolves turn 4.

Stormwolf flew off the board as it couldn’t turn enough to shoot anything and was better flying off and round. Scouts moved to grab an objective. Grey hunters and Bloodclaws debated joining the big combat and instead decided that charging 2 living embodiments of the God of War was not intelligent decided to play cunning and secure objectives instead. Not a lot of shooting and what there was almost totally ineffective. In close combat I directed as many attacks as possible against his Warlord and did another 3 wounds to bring the big beastie down. Bloodthirsters again did nothing due to great invul saves. I won combat. Ben then failed morale with his other Bloodthirster rolled a 1 to get away and was swept in close combat. Ouch. About 600 points of Greater Daemon just gone. I consolidated towards the remaining chaos space marines. Murderfang, obviously feeling a bit tired at having to play into game turn 4 failed to do anything to the Daemon Prince. I grabbed Warlord and 4 maelstrom cards. More importantly though Ben was down to 9 chaos space marines and a wounded Daemon prince.

 

 

Khorne turn 5.

Ben started his turn by failing to do anything with his Bloodtithe points. Ben advanced his space marine squad to the nearest objective and then fired at the Bloodclaws but did no damage at all. Daemon Prince decided to smash this time and then failed to hit. Murderfang then gleefully cut him down and consolidated forwards. He attempted to charge the Bloodclaws but fell short. Ben didn’t achieve any maelstrom cards either ending what was a very unlucky turn.  

Space Wolves turn 5.

Stormwolf flew back in. Voidclaw moved up to grab linebreaker whilst staying within 3 inches of objective 6. I had a couple of other secure objective x cards and also a card for destroying an enemy unit. Hmmn should be doable. Warlord moved back to grab an objective and scouts stayed on their objective at the back quite happy to be enjoying a game without tactical marines or heavy flamers dropping out of the sky onto them. Thunderwolves advanced ready to charge as did Murderfang although he’d need a 10 inch charge through cover. Grey hunters, bloodclaws and Stormwolf sauntered round to shoot the chaos marines. Bloodclaws went first and downed 2 with their flamer. Stormwolf then obliterated 3 chaoticians, grey hunters then barely managed to kill 1. Murderfang didn’t shoot as I was worried about increasing his charge range. Thunderwolves fired a solitary pistol and did no damage at all. The remainder passed their morale check. Murderfang attempted to charge but fell well short; enraged by their shooting inability the Thunderwolves charged and offered a final sacrifice to khorne by reducing all three chaos marines to jam. Splat, splat splat. Tabled. I also achieved 5 maelstrom cards this turn.

 

End results.

Khorne, First Blood, 3 maelstrom cards = 4. 1 kill point

Mightily heroic Space Wolves, Slay the Warlord, Linebreaker, 12 maelstrom cards = 14. 9 kill points.

 

Post game thoughts.

I don’t think I’ve ever played a game with so little shooting. Also I don’t think Murderfang has ever had such a great game, he was a complete beast, taking out the bikes and Daemon prince singlehandedly and also finishing off a berserker squad. I think three things really cost Ben here, 1 was being very unlucky several times, i.e. not killing off the last Voidclaw, failing the morale check with his 2nd Bloodthirster and his Daemon Prince sucking in close combat.  2, was his units not having the ability to deal with vehicles, the addition of a melta gun or powerfist would have really helped. 3. His deployment. Had the Bloodthirsters started on the board screened by the Berserkers they could have been in close combat turn 1 or 2 which would have been really bad for me. My Thunderwolves were really the only unit that could take them down. Interestingly I think this was the first time I had ever played a Bloodthirster, let alone 2 of them. Ben was a great opponent throughout though and with his luck could have easily got disheartened. Wolflord Little Ragnar was happy to blood his men and left the battlefield a happy bunny ready to go scribe his sage into the annals of Fenrisian history.  By the time he made it back to Fenris it was 34 Bloodthirsters killed and 29,873 Berserkers killed, all in close combat obviously.

Interestingly, there were 4 tablings in this 2nd round of games and none in the first round. 1 player with a MSU Ultramarine army actually gave up 23 kill points! As kill points were used to split players on equal points I knew that I would have to win my next game and win big to get anywhere near the top of the event. I now stood on 10 kill points which was less than half some of the top players. 

To be honest i thought they would too but Ben said they didn't. Whist a few Berserkers died to sweeping advance I don't think this would have had too much effect on the outcome. The other Bloodthirster though would have been a different matter. 

 

Would be good to know for certain if anyone has the codex? Would be really useful for Ben to know. 

Batrep game 3.

Opponent Jon

Army Chaos space marines and Daemons

Mission Spoils of War and Relic

Deployment Dawn of War

Deploy first Me

Go first Me

Night fighting No

Special mission get 200 extra tournament points if you fail to achieve any Maelstrom cards.  

 

Jon’s list

Great Unclean One (Warlord)

Herald of Nurgle

3 Nurgling bases

3 Nurgling bases

Nurgle Soulgrinder

Nurgle Soulgrinder

Herald of Khorne

10 chaos cultists

8 chaos cultists

Khorne Soulgrinder

Khorne Soulgrinder

Heldrake

Heldrake

Warlord trait reroll Warpstorm table

 

My Warlord trait was force my opponent to discard a maelstrom card which I totally forgot about.

 

5 reasons why Jon would win.

1.      Great Unclean one’s with rewards are almost unkillable particularly when he rolled iron arm as a psychic power, don’t think I’ll be grabbing Slay the Warlord

2.      Jon also got summoning so he could easily summon units onto the objectives.

3.      Helldrakes would barbecue (technical term) my troops choices

4.      Soulgrinders are tough with av 13 and 4 Hp and 5++ as well as 4 str 10 ap2 attacks

5.      Jon had 4 of them!

 

5 reasons why wolves will in.

1.      My army had a lot more movement, than Jon’s

2.      His objective secured units were very squishy

3.      With several good psychic powers and lots of dice chances of a perils was high

4.      I was going first so could seize the relic before Jon could get there.

5.      There was a great big ruin terrain piece stretching from my deployment zone to the relic which I could use for a 4+ cover save.  

 

Deployment

I deployed the Thunderwolf star front and centre with the characters at the front ready to catch the AP3 shooting from the Soulgrinders or Helldrakes. Bloodclaws went behind the ruins on my left flank ready to move up and grab the objective. Murderfang deployed behind the ruins in the centre ready to move up towards objective 6 or the relic. I decided that if I drop podded him in the Soulgrinders would either eat him for breakfast or run away and he’d be chasing them round like in some cheesy cartoon. Scouts were set to infiltrate. Due to the Spoils of War rules you can steal your opponents secure objective x maelstrom card if you are holding that objective so I wanted to be on as many objectives as possible early on.  

Jon deployed two Nurgle Soulgrinders, the GUO and the Nurgle herald in the ruins in his back right corner with the Khorne herald and cultists behind to prevent me deepstriking into that corner. One squad of Nurglings went in ruins in his back left corner on an objective. Nurgle herald had cursed earth psychic power so that blob would be getting a really strong cover and invul save.

Due to how far back Jon had deployed my scouts could infiltrate to within 3 inches of the relic.

 

Wolves turn 1.

No because Jon seized initiative

Chaos turn 1.

John shuffled his units round the big piece of ruins in his right corner. GUO advanced forward a bit and both Nurgle Soulgrinders advanced to shoot at the scouts. Psychic phase saw the GUO iron arm’d to T10, I think, I was happy to let this go as with its invul save and cover save and high toughness already I wasn’t going to waste shots on it. His Nurgle herald then cast Cursed Earth which covered his entire army except the far Nurglings. GUO then summoned a unit of five khorne hounds who headed directly towards the Bloodclaws.I attempted to dispel this but failed. Shooting saw 3 scouts killed and a couple of autocannon shots that bounced off Murderfang. He was ‘ard so didn’t care. Warpstrom table gave all Daemons -1 invul save, nice. Scouts passed morale and the Wolves were ready to rock. Jon grabbed two maelstrom cards 1 for having the objective his Warlord was on and another for keeping me out of his deployment zone.

 

Wolves turn 1.

Voidclaws deep struck by the Nurglings, they scattered back 8 inches so I rerolled and they scattered 6 inches sideways. A run move would then put them within a couple of inches of the Nurglings. With their ridiculous cover save I wasn’t going to waste shots at them. The empty Murderfang drop pod came in and I aimed for just in front of the front Soulgrinder to block line of sight and hopefully John would waste a turn dealing with it rather than anything more valuable. It then scattered 12 inches towards the centre of the board ending up just in front of the GUO. Not great. The melta hunters decided that the Khorne hounds were a ripe target for extermination and aimed to support the bloodclaws and stay well away from the nasty stuff. Of course they then scattered 12 inches straight towards Jon’s army ending up well within charge range of both the GUO and nearest Soulgrinder. Great I may have just given away my melta guns. Whilst the melta guns would have been useful against the Soulgrinders there was too much to counter attack from that corner and I didn’t think 2 melta guns would achieve much against av 13 and an invul save. Scouts advanced through cover and grabbed the relic but were now sitting pretty in the open. Murderfang moved though cover to support them and grab objective 6. Bloodclaws claimed their objective and were within bolt pistol range of the hounds too. Thunderwolves went 12 inches straight ahead with the intention of picking the relic off the scouts next turn. Main thing was that even if the scouts died there was no way Jon could claim the relic in the next couple of turns as he was too far away and I was swarming towards it. Shooting was fairly poor with 2 hounds killed and 1 wounded, why oh why do they have 2 wounds? Never made sense to me. Thunderwolves ran a little bit to put the characters at the front as most of Jon’s shooting was ap 3 aka the helldrakes and soulgrinders. Bloodclaws grabbed me a maelstrom card.

 

Chaos turn 2. 

A helldrake flew in from reserve and went to flame the THunderwolves or scouts or both as I had positioned them too close together again, whoops.  A third Soulgrinder appeared, this time a Khorne one which deepstruck on my right flank ready to assist the Nurglings. This was a problem for me as the Voidclaws had no way to take it down. Hmmm. GUO advanced on the nearest drop pod which also conveniently blocked off a possible charge from the Thunderwolves and Murderfang. Hounds advanced on the Bloodclaws. One Nurgle Soulgrinder moved to shoot the Grey hunters, with an ap3 template this was going to hurt. Other Soulgrinders shuffled to shoot either the Thunderwolves or the scouts. Psychic phase saw the GUO again iron arm’d and Cursed Earth went off again. I kept my dice to try and dispel summoning but Jon failed to cast. Warpstorm table saw the wrath of Khorne come down on Wolf units and Slaanesh units, no Slaanesh on the table so some wolves took hits but nobody died. 3 grey hunters then died to a Nurgle Soulgrinder. Scouts died to the other Nurgle Soulgrinder but the Khorne one and Helldrake bounced off 2+ armour saves on the Thunderwolves. Hounds charged in and survived overwatch unscathed. They then killed 2 bloodclaws in return for 3 wounds but they passed their instability check. GUO charged and smashed apart a drop pod for First Blood. This also gave Jon a maelstrom card for destroying an enemy vehicle.

 

Wolves turn 2.

Other drop pod came in and landed by objective 5 on the edge of my deployment zone on my right flank. Good timing as I had just drawn that card. Stormwolf came in and lined up the Helldrake. Murderfang moved forward to face off against the GUO but due to the ruins and the other drop pod couldn’t get line of sight to make a charge viable. Grey hunters moved back slightly as they didn’t want to fight the GUO or the Nurgle Soulgrinder in close combat. Warlord moved over to pick up the Relic trusting in his toughness and armour save to keep him from harm. Thunderwolves advanced on the recently arrived Khorne Soulgrinder and the Voidclaws moved to an inch away from the Nurglings to reduce the risk of failing the charge. Greyhunters had nothing to shoot at so moved back. Stormwolf inflicted 2 penetrating hits on the Helldrake which then made both 5++ saves and then a glancing hit went through. The machine didn’t even both to jink which showed complete disrespect to my Stormwolf. Voidclaws charged in and caused 7 wounds on the Nurglings who then lost more wounds to daemonic instability which was really good for me as I would kill them off in Jon’s turn (hopefully) and he couldn’t shoot me. Khornegrinders’ overwatch fire was ineffective and we went to close combat. Striking first the Khornegrinder hit twice then wounded once and I made my invul save. Return attacks were tragic for Mr KG and he was mercilessly battered into the ground with six penetrating hits.  I then consolidated back towards the main battle. Bloodclaws killed another hound for no loss but then Jon passed his morale check. Grabbing three maelstrom cards and the relic this was quite a good turn for me with the exception of that lucky helldrake.

 

Chaos turn 3.

Nurglings arrived from reserve and outflanked arriving by the Bloodclaws. A move and run meant they were in charge range next turn. Khorne Soulgrinder failed to arrive from deepstrike. Heldrake arrived and moved to barbecue some grey hunters. Other heldrake moved up to flame my Warlord. GUO moved toward the Grey hunters as did the Nurgle Soulgrinder. Other one advanced slightly towards the Voidclaws. Cultists and Nurgle Herald hung around in the ruins at the back. Cursed Earth and Iron Arm again went off and Summoning was dispelled. Shooting was poor with most of it directed at Murderfang as Jon wanted to assault the grey hunters. Murderfang took a glancing hit and a drop pod took a couple of hull points. But overall I got away rather lightly. Heldrake failed to achieve anything against my Warlord. Combat saw the khorne hounds killed off leaving the Bloodclaws ready to shoot the Nurglings next turn. GUO charged the unit of Grey hunters and did enough damage to kill all but 3 who then broke and ran away. 1 of them grabbed a melta gun from a dead comrade thinking it might come in handy. Voidclaws killed off the other unit of Nurglings and consolidated back towards the centre but staying behind the ruins as much as possible.  Jon grabbed 2 maelstrom points.  

 

Wolves turn 3.

Grey hunters auto rallied and moved into cover to join Murderfang on objective 6. With 2 Helldrakes and lots of Ap3 shooting I decided they were dead anyway so they may as well hold an objective for the time being. Bloodclaws stayed on their objective and moved to shoot the Nurglings. Voidclaws moved out into the open to advance towards objective marker 4. As long as they stayed out of charge range of the nearest Soulgrinder they were looking good for linebreaker. Warlord moved into cover with the Relic. Thunderwolves moved and ran towards the centre of the battlefield. Stormwolf swung round, still flying, to shoot the closest Soulgrinder. Shooting saw three wounds on the Nurglings then the Stormwolf did a hull point on a Soulgrinder which was a bit pathetic. Bit of a quiet turn but I grabbed 2 more maelstrom cards for objective 5 stealing one of Jon’s cards. 

 

Chaos turn 4.

Final Soulgrinder finally arrived and deepstruck on my table edge between the ruins and table edge ready to shoot the Grey hunters or Murderfang or my Warlord. Both Nurgle Grinders moved to draw line of sight to the Stormwolf with their skyfiring autocannons.  One Heldrake moved to vector strike and then flamer the drop pod on objective 5. Cultists and Heralds kept bravely defending their piece of ruins in the back corner. Nurglings moved up to charge. Other Heldrake moved to flame the Grey hunters. GUO moved to finish that drop pod that lost hull points earlier in the game. Reaper autocannons did a single hull point to the Stormwolf after I jinked. Grey hunters vacated the board as three piles of soot after  Heldrake turned its baleflamer on them. Khorne grinder fired on my Warlord but his ap3 flamer was unable to penetrate my armour, bit odd that it did nothing to the furry Thunderwolf without armour but hey, that’s the rules.  Drop pod lost a single hull point to a vector strike so still held the objective. Usual psychic powers went off but summoning again failed. Jon wasn’t having much luck with his psychic powers. GUO punched the drop pod until there was nothing left and the Nurglings charged and did no damage to the Bloodclaws but I inflicted a wound to kill off a base and win combat for this turn at least. Morale was passed. Problem was I now tied up with a unit that would probably grab linebreaker too. Jon didn’t achieve any maelstrom cards.

 

Wolves turn 4.

Taking stock for a minute Jon had First Blood and 5 maelstrom points. Nurglings and Khornegrinder gave him a good shot at linebreaker and with his GUO being Iron Arm’d Slay the Warlord looked tricky. I had 6 maelstrom points and likewise looked good for linebreaker. I also had the relic for 3 VPs. However my Warlord was holding the relic so if he was killed that was a big bunch of points lost. Warlord re-joined the Thunderwolves and moved out of line of sight of his Khornegrinder.  Murderfang moved to face off against the GUO as the Soulgrinder would be a tough ask. Stormwolf flew toward objective 4 to give the Voidclaws some cover and block off a potential charge from the Nurglegrinder Voidclaws advanced to secure objective 4. Snapfiring Stormwolf did a HP on the Soulgrinder but otherwise nothing. Stormbolters and boltguns aren’t much use against Heldrakes or Soulgrinders or GUO’s. Close combat between the Bloodclaws and Nurglings turned into a tickle fest with nobody even wounded on either side. Still 2 more maelstrom cards to me.

 

Chaos turn 5.

GUO decided it was time for the mother of all close combats and advanced on Murderfang ready to bring the pain. 1 Heldrake moved to shoot Murderfang in the rear whilst the other turned to fire into the Thunderwolves but again did no damage as Stormshields are flame proof. Nurgle Soulgrinders again fired on the Stormwolf and made me jink and caused another HP. Khornegrinder attempted to move through cover but didn’t move very far heldrake did a glancing hit on Murderfang then Jon remembered the Demonforge rule and I let him use it with the result that Murderfang was now immobilised. Rubbish. Khornegrinder then failed to cause any more damage. At least Murderfang was still on the objective. As Murderfang was now immobilised Jon elected not to charge the GUO in. No maelstrom cards achieved.

 

Wolves turn 5.

Thunderwolves split off from the Warlord and advanced on the Khornegrinder. Stormwolf flew off as there would be time for another turn. Voidclaws retreated away from the nearby Soulgrinders to about 20 inches away so unless my armour saves were incredibly unlucky next turn I had linebreaker.  Warlord kept himself out of line of sight. Bloodclaws did a wound on the Nurglings and won combat but Jon passed morale. Thunderwolves charged in and survived the ap3 flamer overwatch on the Khornegrinder. Stormshields again proved their worth and absorbed all the damage. Khornegrinder was then pulped into the ground, take that you evil daemonic fiend. I consolidated back into cover. I secured 3 more maelstrom cards for holding objectives. My plan of camping objectives was working well.

We rolled for the end of game and got a 5 so game continued.

 

As we had about 20 mintues left we rolled onto turn 6.

Chaos turn 6.

Both Heldrakes went into jump mode. One of which went into linebreaker and the other down by the Thunderwolves.  GUO advanced on the Thunderwolves. Nurglegrinders both fired at my Warlord and achieved nothing. Cultists then fired their autoguns and I took a wound. Jon actually did a lot of wounds in this shooting phase so I was starting to sweat a bit. Psychic phase saw Iron Arm fail on his Warlord and nothing summoned. Heldrake attempted to finish Murderfang but did no damage whilst the other one was ineffective on the Thunderwolves. GUO then decided to charge in and challenged the Thunderwolves sergeant. Sergeant wasn’t much good offensively but his stormshield absorbed enough damage that only he died. This only served to incur the wrath of his squad and Battle leader though and they smashed apart the foul beastie in return. Warlord slain.

At this point the time buzzer went.

“Game over” said Jon “We’re out of time”.

“What?” said me. “I haven’t had my turn yet!”

“Doesn’t matter” said Jon, “Game ends at the buzzer that’s the way it works in tournaments.”

“Not at any tournaments I’ve been at” I said and got ready to call the organiser over. 

At this point I glanced at the scoresheet and realised I was well ahead and as it was at the end of a long day I agreed to call the game there. Whilst I was annoyed not to get my turn, A I had won the game anyway and another turn would only put me further ahead, B, it was the end of a long day and the organisers needed to start collecting score sheets and clearing up, C, at the end of the day its toy soldiers and there are more important things in life. I was annoyed though that Jon’s final turn took almost 20 minutes which is ridiculous for turn 6.  

 

Resuit

Chaos, First Blood, Linebreaker, 5 maelstrom cards = 7, 5 kill points as the Stormwolf was off the table at the end so was counted as destroyed.

Wolves, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, 11 maelstrom cards, Relic, = 16     5 kill points.

 

Post game thoughts.

Timing aside this game went very well for me. Camping objectives worked really well with Jon keeping half of his army in his back corner meant that I could effectively ignore them and they had little effect on the battle. The rest of Jon’s forces were isolated so I could pick them part turn by turn. Jon was a bit unlucky with his reserve rolls and his psychic phase could have been a lot worse if summoning had gone off. Had all 4 soulgrinder been on the board from the start and either camped objectives or gone for the relic the game could have been very different. Murderfang had a quiet game and the drop pods scattering 12 inches was very annoying but overall Stormshields and Thunderwolves were up to the job.  Had I had turn 6 I may have been able to kill both Heldrakes and the Nurglings

But nothing that would have made a difference to the game result of my overall standing.  

 

Final result.

I was 6th overall.. Just a few kill point behind Gary my opponent from Game 1. I got 6 points for 2 wins but scored a lot less kill points than some other players. I have to admit though this wasn’t the best time I ever had at an event, my luck was atrocious game 1, game 2 was very one sided and the timing incident in game 3 annoyed me. I also had to wait 20 minutes in the cold afterwards for a bus. However the event was well organised there was a good spread of armies and games were played in a good spirit. Event was again won by Ben with his Imperial fists. Ben had played 13 games in this tournament series and won 13, winning 3 events and coming 2nd in the other. Well done sir. Over the 4 events I finished 3rd overall Behind Ben and a Tau player, Andy who won a couple of best army awards across the tournament series too. Tides of War series starts again in January. Overall I enjoyed the series and my wolves acquitted themselves well, winning 6 out of 9 games including dishing out 3 tablings. I played Tyranids in the other 4 game event winning 2 and losing 2. I enjoyed the tactical challenge of playing both Maelstrom and Eternal War missions and I think that my play has developed as a result. Would be nice to see some more variety in missions and army composition for next year. 

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.