320 Power Level Battle Report - Fate of Konor Week 2

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Originally, the plan was having four players - Salamanders, Relictors, Black Legion, and my Wolves. The Relictors player dropped out when they realized they had four dollars in their account and couldn't make the three hour drive to the match. This left a joint expedition between the Salamanders and my Vlka against the Black Legion. Since this was only my second match of 8th edition, and the Salamanders' first, we went with power level instead of points. 320 for Chaos, and 160 for each of the Imperials. The reason for the odd number is that the Salamander player has exactly that amount collected. So I matched it and Chaos doubled it.

 

At first, we were going to do a Stronghold Assault mission, but then the Fate of Konor drew me in and we set our course through the Warp for that beleaguered system. 

 

I will do my best to relate what each army list was, but I had not written down the Chaos list, so it is purely from memory. It was all WYSIWYG at any rate.

 

Space Wolves - 160 Power Level

 

HQ

 

Bjorn the Fell-Handed

 - Warlord (Tenacious Survivor), Twin-Linked Lascannon

 

Arjac Rockfist 

 

Wolf Priest Rejvik Flametongue

 

Troops

 

x3 5 Blood Claws

 - Meltagun (one pack had a plasma gun instead), +WGPL w/ PF+Combi-Melta, all in a razorback w/ twin-linked lascannons

 

15 Blood Claws

 - BCPL: PF+Plasma pistol, WGPL: TH+SS

 

Elites

 

x2 5 TDAWG

  - Pack 1: Heavy Flamer, Combi-Flamer, Power Fist, Lightning Claw, 3 TH+SS

  - Pack 2: AssCan, 2 Combi-Melta, 2 Combi-Plasma, 2 Wolf Claws, 2 Frost Swords, 1 Frost Axes

 

5 Wolf Scouts

 - 4 Sniper Rifles, 1 Rocket Launcher, 5 Camo Cloaks

 

Heavy Support 

 

x2 6 Long Fangs

 - 4 Rocket Launchers, 1 Lascannon

 

Fast Attack

 

Stormwolf

 

Lord of War

 

Knight Errant "Old Falagar"

 

Salamanders  - 160 Power Level

 

HQ

 

Captain

 - TH+SS

 

Vulkan He'stan (Warlord)

 

Primaris Librarian

 

Troops

 

x3 10 Tacticals

 - Squad 1: Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher

 - Squad 2: Multi-Melta, Flamer, Sarge: Combi-Grav, Power Sword, rhino

 - Squad 3: Lascannon, Flamer, Sarge: Power Sword

 

5 Scouts

 - Heavy Bolter, Sarge: Power Sword

 

Elites

 

5 Terminators

 - 2 Chainfists, 1 AssCan, Sarge:Power Sword

 

5 Assault Terminators

 - 2 Lightning Claws, 2 TH+SS, Sarge: TH+SS

 

Apothecary

 

Company Champion

 - Power Sword, Storm Shield (?)

 

6 Sternguard

 - 2 Combi-Meltas

 

Dreadnought

 - Twin Lascannon, Heavy Flamer

 

Fast Attack

 

5 Assault Marines

 - Jump Packs, 1 Flamer, Sarge: Power Sword, Combat Shield

 

Land Speeder

 - Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta

 

Storm Talon

 - Typhoon Missile Launcher

 

Heavy Support

 

Land Raider Redeemer

 - Multi-Melta

 

5 Devastators

 - 2 Plasma Cannons, 1 Lascannon, 1 Multi-melta

 

Redemptor Dreadnought

 - Onslaught Cannon, Macro Plasma Incinerator

 

And our opponent, 320 power level of Chaos:

 

HQ

 

Abaddon the Despoiler (Warlord

 

Ahriman on a Disc 

 

Khârn the Betrayer

 

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

 

Bloodthirster

 

x2 Exalted Flamers (Elites? HQs?

 

Troops

 

x2 10 CSM

 - Squad 1: 2 Missile Launchers

 - Squad 2: 2 Plasma Guns

 

x2 10 1k Sons

 

10 Berserkers 

 

Elites

 

10 Chaos Terminators

 - Wide variety of combi-weapons and heavy weapons

 

5 Chosen

 - 4 Plasma Guns

 

Fast Attack

 

x3 5 Warp Talons

 

x2 Helldrakes

 

Heavy Support

 

Chaos Land Raider

 

3 Obliterators

 

5 Havocs 

 - 4 Lascannons

 

Soul Grinder 

 

Lord of War

 

Lord of Skulls

 

Again, the Chaos list is purely from memory and I can't remember exactly where certain units fit in the force organization chart. 

 

All in all, the Salamanders had 6 command points, I had 7, and Chaos had 13. We decided ahead of time that we would end at Turn 5, since we knew it would drag on. We held all our terminators in reserved (including Arjac), as well as the Salamanders Assault Marines and Land Speeder. 

 

The Imperial coalition got the first turn due to the mission, but this did not dissuade Chaos from trying to seize, then using a command point reroll when they did not succeed. With Bjorn at the helm, we started our first turn...

 

 

TURN 1

 

Imperium - We realized many units were in poor positions, so we rapidly redeployed. Vulkan, the Captain and the Multi-Melta Tacticals jumped into the Redeemer and sped up behind Old Falagar. A pack of Long fangs was at the opposite end of a 8' board, and so evicted some young pups and took their razorback to a ruin closer to the front lines. The honor of the first shot came from Falagar, who dealt 17 wounds to the Chaos Land Raider with one blast from its Thermal Cannon. The remaining firepower merely plinked away at the massive Chaos force in the middle. 

 

Chaos - Placed on the backfoot, the entire force advanced. The combined volley of Chaos saw the Knight Errant brought down, but with no major losses besides. Most were out of range of the Imperial alliance. The Helldrakes attempted to maul the Stormwolf out of the sky, but a lucky lascannon shot and a couple heavy bolter shots robbed one of half its wounds. The Stormwolf escaped with only four wounds lost. 

 

 

TURN 2

 

Imperium - The first wave of reinforcements arrived. By sheer coincidence, we rolled our two assault terminator squads in, plus the land speeder and Arjac. The Salamander player used a command point to bring the Land Speeder in behind enemy lines, and I zoomed my Stormwolf in to provide additional support. Our goal was to bring down the Lord of Skulls and open a second front, hopefully taking the pressure off the front lines. We did reduce the Lord of Skulls down 17 wounds, but that still left 11 remaining. As for the rest of the force, the Redeemer took the place of Falagar and we cautiously advanced. Shots from melta-totting blood claws, twin-lascannons, and Long Fangs took down one helldrake, while rounds from Sternguard brought low the other. 

 

 

Chaos - Nearly everything in the middle of the board worth mentioning turned back to squash the second front. Ultimately, the Stormwolf was shot down, and the Blood Claws were assaulted and killed by the Daemon Prince and Bloodthirster - though not before bloodying the latter. Arjac, unable to make his charge against the Lord of Skulls, died to shooting. My assault terminators were killed between the Soul Grinder and the Lord of Skulls. Two Warp Talons arrived, one near the Lord of Skulls and one near our squads of scouts. Neither made their charges. The Salamanders emerged untouched.

 

Side note: We interpreted the Lord of Skulls ability to shoot normally if locked in combat to mean it can fire overwatch even if locked in combat. If anyone can make a good argument otherwise, let me know. I'm sure this is not the last I'll be seeing of that daemon god-machine.

 

TURN 3: 

 

Imperium - The redeemer disgorged Tacticals and Captains, then rounded on the other side of the bunker. Here, the character rules were strange - the Exalted flamers were in front of the Redeemer, but were a half inch further away than the bunker, forcing us to fire at the chosen behind the flamers. Vulkan, buffed by Might of Heroes, assaulted the now 9-man terminator squad and killed three. The Tacticals fired at one set of 1k sons, and assaulted the other. In the end, a sorcerer and 2 rubrics lived. The Blood Claws who had their razorback stolen by elderly wolves shot and assaulted the Warp Talons, wiping them out. The shooty terminators arrived to support the failing 2nd front and keep the hard-hitters distracted, gunning down the bloodthirster in the process.

 

Chaos - Besides the destruction of the Redeemer, attacks in the middle of the board were thwarted. On the second front, however, the shooty salamanders were killed by firepower, and the assault terminators were attacked by the Lord of Skulls. 4 died in the initial attacks, but the sergeant lived on. The last of the 1k Sons locked up with the Multi-Melta Tacticals died. The Daemon Prince and an exalted flamer flee their respective combats (Terminators and Redeemer, respectively) and flee to the upper levels of a ruin.

 

TURN 4:

 

Imperium - the Redemptor Dreadnought and Bjorn the Fell-Handed arrived at the middle of the board and proceeded to wipe out any non-special models on it. The newly-freed tacticals entered into the bunker in the middle, where they would stay for the remainder of the match. Blood Claws kill the exalted flamers with precise melta fire, and the surviving Wolf Guard assault and wound the daemon prince. Vulkan is finally swamped by the last three terminators. Assault Marines arrived and bothered the plasma-totting Chaos Marines

 

Chaos - Abaddon kills the redemptor personally, which leaves Bjorn surrounded by the villains of the mission - Kharne, Ahriman, Abbadon, and the Daemon Prince. At the end of the turn, he stands with 2 wounds remaining. 

 

 

TURN 5: 

 

Imperium - Between Long Fangs and razorbacks, the Chaos Terminators died, and the Soul Grinder exploded. Wolf Scouts sniped the Chaos rhino. The two remaining heroic Wolf Guard fired their meltas for the last time, toppling the Lord of Skulls. The last Assault Marine went after the Chosen, killing one. Long Fangs assaulted newly arrived Warp Talons, killing three.

 

Hoping to save Bjorn, we assaulted with as much as we could at the titanic struggle in the middle. We had Bjorn in the middle, with Abbadon, Kharne, Ahriman, a Daemon prince and a few rubrics surrounding him. Then, surrounding all that, we had 10 tacticals, the Company Champion, the Captain, the Primaris Librarian and 6 Blood Claws - with Null Zone activated. At the end of our turn, all but the Captain, Champion, and Bjorn had died, but so too had the rubrics, Ahriman and the Daemon Prince. 

 

Chaos - Bjorn fell, taking none with him. The Company Champion slew Khârn. One chosen and one Assault Marine dueled in the middle. The last of the Warp Talons died to angry old Wolves. 

 

Ending totals:

 

36 Points to the Imperium, 34 Points to Chaos.

 

Imperial victory!

 

Afterthoughts: 

 

Everyone had poor placement with several units. There just wasn't many good fire lanes to be had by heavy support. As a result, the first couple turns weren't nearly as devastating as we expected them to be, and the war was more of attrition than slaughter. I over estimated the power of the Thunder Hammer, but they might have actually pulled off their turn 2 assassination of the Lord of Skulls if Arjac had gotten into the combat. As it stands, it tied up 20 terminators and stymied our attempts at another front. Still, they did force Chaos to keep their strongest monsters in the backlines, which I consider a victory. 

 

Bjorn wasn't very helpful to me. To be fair, Chaos made a ridiculous number of 5+ and 6+ saves against Bjorn's lascannon, and Trueclaw only went up against the Despoiler, who halves all wounds taken. Plus, that reroll ones wasn't helpful when long fangs have it inherently, wolf guard were across the board, and blood claws stayed in razorbacks most of the game. I'll try Bjorn again in the future, just to give him a second chance. 

 

But razorbacks... those twin lascannons were quick and hit HARD. The small transport capacity was a bonus, and they were rightly feared by Chaos forces. 10 wounds each wasn't something the heretics could easily cut through, however.

 

It was a good, long (6~ hours!) punching match, which ended with a victory that felt earned. 

 

Thoughts, fellow Vlka? Did I mess anything up, rules wise? Was this a battle worthy of saga?