Mecanized Assault - Battle Report

[Berzul]

Hi everyone.

 

As part of an ongoing narrative campaign with my local gaming group, I went through a battle against the Death Guard. It was a relatively small scale fight, at 1313 points. My Company Master, Brother Zerephiel led a mecanized assault through the ravaged ruins of an industrial city, against the forces of the Death Guard, led by a Demon Prince.

 

The battle, then, was between my Angels of Deliverance, a successor chapter of the Dark Angels; and the Death Guard. The mission was Tactical Escalation from the Maelstorm of War missions.

 

The board in which we played consisted of an extensive number or ruinous walls and buildings, right off the edge of the last few buildings still standing after the attack from the forces of Chaos. This made for quite a complex terrain to traverse in order to reach the enemy.

 

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Objectives where placed as follows:

 

(1) In between two ruinous buildings

(2) Inside the industrial ruins

(3) Inside a far place of the industrial ruins

(4) In between the last standing buildings

(5) By a container of tactical resources

(6) By the statue of the Honored Imperium

 

My army consisted of a Batallion and a Vanguard detchments. The army itself was led by Company Master Zerephiel, as well as one Lieutenant and a Librarian. The detachments included 3 squads of Tactical Marines (2 with Missile Launchers and 1 with Plasma Gun and a Combi Plasma), as well as forward team of squad of 4 Veterans with Combat Shields, Bolt Pistols and Chainswords, a Company Champion, all in two Razorbacks with Assault Cannons and Storm Bolters. Finally, a Dreadnought with Autocannons and Lascannons, a Whirlwind with Castellan Missiles, and a Predator with Autocannon and Lascannons.

 

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My opponents army consisted of a Batallion led by a Demon Prince and a Chaos Lord. The Batallion included Plague Drones, a Foetid Bloatdrone, a Plagueburst Crawler, and a Soul Grinder, as well as some Nurglings, some Cultists, and some Plague Marines in a Rhino.

 

Deployment was Search and Destroyed.

 

I went first, and deployed the Razorbacks front and center, with the Missile Squads on top of the Buildings, led by the Lieutenant. The Whirlwind was deployed beyond line of sight, the Dread behind the transports, and the Predator in a covered position to provide some supporting fire.

 

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My opponent deployed his entire army in a line at the edge of his deployment zone, with the Crawler behind cover, the Rhino behind the army to outflank me. The Nurglings infiltrated at objective number 1.

 

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I got first turn.

 

TURN ONE

 

I quickly moved the Razorbacks forward, and let the rest of the army where it stood. I shot my Assault Cannons at the Cultists, the Castellan Missiles at the Nurglings, and then focused fire of my heavy support on the Plague Drones, until I managed to take them out.

 

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The Death Guard, on its turn, proceeded to move the Soul Grinder by the side of the ruins, and close to my left Razorback, to engage it in close combat. His shooting turn was spent trying to take out my Predator, and although it did manage to get some hard hits on it, at the end of all the shooting, it was still standing at full operating capacity.

 

The Soul Grinder, on the other hand, made quick work of the Razorback, cracking it open in a few hits. My tactical squad and Librarian where forced to emergency disembark, and it took a tactical reroll to save the Librarian from being slain from the destruction of the transport.

 

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TURN TWO

 

On the following turn, I disembarked my Company Master, my Veterans, and my Company Champion. Then I moved my Dreadnought forward into better line of sight. I failed all of my psychic powers, but did a much better round of shooting, getting almost all of the cultists out of the way, and some good wounds on both the Soul Grinder and the Foetid Bloat Drone.

 

Then came the charges. My Veterans went in first, loosing one man to overwatch fire. Then the Company Champion went in, and lastly, my Company Master. Fury of the Lion as a trait gave me the edge in the fight, and after many hits, I managed to slay the Soul Grinder in close combat, and the reposition around the nearby objective.

 

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Then my opponent had his turn.

He moved the Demon Prince up, and followed him with the Rhino, packed with Plague Marines and his Chaos Lord. He kept on firing at my Predator, but had some very bad rounds of shooting, and it managed to survive with one wound after being shot at by pretty much everything that could reach it.

 

He then failed his charge with the Demon Prince, which was unfortunate, and had to finish up his turn without much damage done.

 

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TURN THREE

 

On the following turn, I focused fire on the Rhino, took it out, and it exploded. His Plague Marines had to emergency disembark, with two dying in the process. Then the explosion cought us all. His Demon Prince, his Crawler, his troops, and my Company Champion. Once the dust settled and the smoke cleared, I went in for the kill, charging the Demon Prince with my wounded Company Champion, as well as my Veterans. Company Master Zerephiel went to the side, and charged the Foetid Bloat Drone instead, to support the Tactical Squad, who had wounded the Drone more with some overcharged Plasma, and now wanted to finish the job.

 

Combats where quick and gory, with the Demon Prince falling against my Company Champion and his Blade of Caliban, and the Bloated Drone getting smashed to bits by the Heavenfall Blade of my Company Master.

 

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The Plague Marines that remained after all the explosions decided to run away, failing their morale check. So, for his third turn, my opponent was pretty much left with his Chaos Lord and the Crawler. Without much more to do, or much elsewhere to go, he just turned to face me and went for the glorious death of close combat.

 

My Veterans do deserve special mention, though, as the Crawler fired everything it had at them, and they managed to save almost every. Single. Wound. With their Combat Shield, surviving long enough to take a wound for the Company Champion, caused by the Chaos Lord himself.

 

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TURN FOUR

 

My Company Champion was the only warrior left standing against the Chaos Lord.

The rest of my army focused fire on the Crawler, and destroyed it. Then, Company Master Zerephiel showed up from behind the ruins, and led the last Tactical Marines into the fray, to aid the Company Champion. Zerephiel challenged the Chaos Lord to a duel, and with a flurry of blows, managed to kill him where he stood before he could ever strike back.

 

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With that, my opponent decided to call it. All he had let where the wounded Nurglings, over Objective 1. He had scored 2 points so far, and I had 9, including Warlord Kill, First Blood, and Line Breaker. Without much chance of turning the tables on me in two battlerounds, he decided that enough was enough, and we went for a drink to discuss the strategy and the events of the battle.

 

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At the end of the battle, the score was 9 to 2, in favour of the Angels of Deliverance. We had managed to successfully push back the forces of the Death Guard, making them retreat further back into the ruinous wastes of the planet, and recover control over the remnants of the city itself.

 

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[Thranquil]

Thanks for that Battle Report - really engaging style.

[Berzul]

Thanks!! I'm glad it was a fun read. I try and keep the reports streamlined, and fun :D

 

I have an 1850ish point battle against T'au tomorrow. I'll see if I can keep the report more narrative in style this time around.

[Normal Norman]

How did Fury of the Lion work out for you? I thought that it was always going to be inferior to Master of Manoeuvre.

[Berzul]

Worked out great, actually! I will agree that it is not the best warlord trait, but against an opponent that will not shy away from getting into close combat, it works amazingly.

[Aradiel]

Were is that dread configuration from? House rules? It is not a codex one.

[Berzul]

I only hve what info is public of the codex as mine is stuck in customs :(

 

So I played it as it shows in the Index.

[Aradiel]

Well, as codex go the dread and ven dread have the same options.

Default gear is assault cannon and dccw w/ storm bolter.

- Replace sb with heavy flamer or dccw/sb with missile launcher.

- Replace assault cannon with plasma cannon / multi melta / twin lascannon.

Sadly we have neither access to twin autocannons, heavy bolters or even the "rifleman" configuration. I wonder if FW has updated rules for the mortis pattern dreadnought.

[Berzul]

Oh... well, good to know!! Thanks!! I had made the list in Battle scribe and it gave me the option so I assumed the codex Dreadnought allowed for it.

[breng77]

Remember that you can still take index options with the codex.  So the twin autocannon is still a valid option for the dread.

[Berzul]

Remember that you can still take index options with the codex.  So the twin autocannon is still a valid option for the dread.

 

I thought the Codex would superseed the Index.

[breng77]

No the designers commentary says that you still can use index warhead options. But codex points and stat changes supersede.