Smite's black legion army. First game of 9th with BAT REP

[SmiteThemAll]

Well, I finally managed to get two games of 9th edition versus a mate.

We had a lot of fun and I decided to make a battle report for the first game.

Black Legion Chaos space marines vs Hive fleet Kraken Tyranids- 1500 points

Black legion army list.

Spearhead detachment

HQ- Chaos lord w/Jump pack/Combi-bolter and Ghorvisex's teeth relic. Flames of spite warlord trait.

TR- 13 CSM w/2xPlasma guns and a combi-bolter (Slaneesh)

EL- 9 Zerkers w/Powerfist/Icon and Chain axes

FA- 5 Bikes w/Flamer/Combi-flamer (Slaneesh)

FA- 5 Bikes w/Flamer/Combi-bolter (Slaneesh)

HS- Defiler w/Scourge/Reaper autocannon

HS- 5 Havocs w/4Autocannons (Slaneesh)

HS- 5 Havocs w/4Lascannons (Slaneesh)

HS- 2 Obliterators (Slaneesh)

DT- Rhino w/Combi-bolter and Havoc launcher

Hive fleet kraken Army list

Batallion detachment

HQ- Flyrant w/Scything talons/The miasma cannon relic. WL trait was synaptic lynchpin (Paroxysm and The horror)

HQ- Swarmlord (Onslaught and catalyst)

TR-10 Genestealers

TR-10 Genestealers

TR-10 Hormagaunts

TR-10 Hormagaunts

TR-10 Hormagaunts

HS- 6 Hive guard

Patrol Deatchment

HQ- Flyrant w/twin devourers (Psychic scream synaptic lure)

TR- 3 Ripper swarms

TR- 3 Ripper swarms

TR- 3 Ripper swarms

Mission : Resupply from chapter approved 2021.

For those of you unfamiliar with this mission: There are 5 objectives. One in the centre and the four more in a cross shape from the centre. So one in each of our deployment zones and two in the centre either side of the middle objective.

There are a gamma and beta objective determined randomly from the 3 in the middle of the board. The gamma disappears at the start of turn 4 and the beta turn 5.

Secondaries

Black legion- No Prisoners- Assassinate and Abhor the witch

Hive fleet kraken- No prisoners - Engage on all fronts and secure landing sites( mission specific)

THE GAME!

Deployment:

I deployed pretty defensively. I knew Kraken could move a long way fast, especially with the swarmlord's ability to allow a unit to move again. Genestealers can assault after advancing AND there is a strat to allow them to DOUBLE their advance. Swarmlord also has onslaught to allow himself to assault after advancing.

I put the bikes up front as a screen incase he wanted to use his stealers to assault my havocs and I tried to keep my defiler out of range of the hive guard.

Oblits go into deepstrike and I pay 2cp to have my CSM go into strategic reserve.

He deployed his hive guard unit in the centre ruin, they have 36" range and indirect fire. Nasty!

Swarmlord and stealers go on my left, twin devourer flyrant and stealers on my right. Then gaunts go either side of the ruin and the warlord flyrant behind the big ruin.

After 3 ties for rolling off for first turn, I roll a 5 vs his 2 and win first turn!!

First turn Black legion.

Movement phase

I move the both squads of biker up to kill some gaunts and make it harder for stealers to get into my backline and onto objectives.

Lascannon havocs move left to get LOS to the swarmlord.

Rhino with zerkers in moves up to the ruin and pops smoke.

Lord and auto cannon havocs move up a bit to support the bikes.

Defiler moves up next to the bikes.

I forget to put anything on my home objective First game in 18 months and its showing.

Only photo I took of my turn, was too invested in playing.

Shooting phase.

First thing I do is use veterans of the long war on my lascannon havocs. I decide not to play let the galaxy burn as I'm running low on CP already.

I pay for not doing it as I roll 2,1,1,1.

Between the bikes, defiler and autocannon havocs I kill 8 gaunts from the left squad, all of the more central squad and all but 4 of the squad to the right of them.

I use endless cacophony on the lascannon havocs and give them another go at the swarmlord. My secondaries are tied to killing characters and pyskers and he is both.

They shoot and only hit twice, I CP re-roll a failed hit and miss again. Both hits wound but the Swarmlord makes both invulns. GULP.

First turn Kraken.

Movement phase

The warlord Flyrant jumps out into the middle but not onto the objective. I think he wanted an insurance policy if the Defiler survived shooting.

The other Flyrant jumps out and takes aim at the right side bikers. The remaining gaunts on the same side move up to the objective and the stealers join them.

The Swarmlord moves and advances towards the lascannon havocs.

The stealers next to swarmlord use a stratagem to double their advance and move 20" towards my bikes

The remaining gaunts on that side move onto the other objective.

Nids now hold 4 of the 5 objectives!!

Psychic phase

The Swarmlord casts onslaught on himself (advance and charge) and catalyst on the stealers next to him (5+FNP)

Warlord Flyrant casts Smite and wounds a bike and then casts paroxysm on the defiler.

The other Flyrant casts smite on the other bikers and kills one.

Shooting phase.

The Flyrant with devourers uses a stratagem that makes his guns damage 2 and he kills 2 of the bikers in front of him

The Hive guard light up the defiler and take off a handful of wounds. The warlord Flyrant also fires at the defiler and removes another 3.

The Swarmlord uses his special ability and allows himself to move and advance towards my lascannon havocs

The hive guard then use single minded annihilation (fire again) and pummel the defiler exploding it and putting a mortal wound on a biker.

Assault phase

The left side genestealers assualt my bikes and I decide to overwatch. If I can remove a model it will reduce their incoming attacks greatly as with 10+ models they gain an additional attack each! Overwatch does manage to kill 2 and the stealers make it in.

The stealers kill the wounded biker and one more and my bikers kill 1 or 2 stealers.

The Swarmlord whiffs and only manages to kill 3 Havocs! The Havocs actually get a wound through swarmlord's 3+ invuln.

Turn 2 Black legion.

I score no points in my command phase for the primary.

Sadly no pictures of my movement this turn! Was so happy to be playing that I just got caught up in it.

Movement.

I fall back with Lascannon havocs who move left, away from the objectives. The bikes fall back from the stealers and move onto my central objective.

My Chainlord moves up to try and assault his warlord.

Beserkers disembark and move up to assault the genestealers and take the objective, the rhino goes with them for support.

My other biker squad moves up to the gaunts on the objective.

Autocannon havocs move to get a shot on the Swarmlord

I debate dropping my obliterators into his backfield and killing some hiveguard but ultimately I decide Swarmlord is more dangerous and worth more secondary points so they drop centrally in my deployment zone.

CSM come in from my table edge to help clean up the small bugs.

Shooting Phase

I start by using veterans of the long war on the obliterators and firing at the swarmlord. I manage to get him down to 6 wounds with decent rolls.

The autocannon havocs attempt to finish him off but can only remove another 2 wounds.

My CSM squad split fire 3 ways and use let the galaxy burn giving them full re-rolls to hit. 6 boltgun shots go unto the gaunts on the objective killing them. The 4 overcharged plasma shots go into the Swarmlord but he manages to save all wounds with his 4+ invuln. The rest of the boltgun shots go into the genestealers and after FNP's he is left with 2.

Shooting on the right flank kills the gaunts of the objective and thins the genestealers.

At the end of the shooting phase I use endless cacophony on the oblits and manage to kill the Swarmlord.

Assault phase.

My chainlord rolls snake eyes to charge his warlord. I use a CP to re-roll but only get a 5 and he fails.

The two bikes on the right charge the Devourer Flyrant and he chooses to overwatch to no effect. They make it in and inflict one wound and take none in return.

My Berserkers charge and slaughter the remaining genestealers and consolidate onto the objective.

Turn 2 Kraken.

In the command phase Nids score 5 Points for primary with the hiveguard holding the home objective.

Movement phase.

The Warlord Flyrant moves into my lines and is close to the CSM and Obliterators,

The two remaining genestealers move to assault my two man biker squad holding my centre objective.

The other Flyrant falls back from combat and moves away from the Zerkers.

The 3 ripper swarms come on and land on the left and centre objectives and then one lands in my bottom right table quarter

He scores 2 points for engage on all fronts giving him a 7-0 lead

Psychic phase.

The warlord Flyrant smites the CSM killing 2 and fails to horror the obliterators.

Shooting phase.

The warlord Flyrant kills an obliterator and I remove the closest making it a risky charge.

The hivegaurd fire twice at the bererkers and kill 6 leaving 3. I fail morale and lose 1 more. Then I don't lose anymore to the next roll(I actually think I messed up here and forgot that 1's and 2's cause models to be removed but have no idea if I rolled 2's)

Assault phase.

The stealers assault the 2 man bike squad on my objective and whiff. The bikers kill a genestealer in return.

The warlord Tyrant assaults the CSM and manages to kill 3 or 4.

Turn 3 Black legion

Sorry, very few pictures again.

In the command phase I score 10 points for holding my DZ objective with my Lord and bikes (the genestealers didn't get close enough to deny and the objective) and for holding the centre right with the two Zerkers.

Movement phase.

I fall back with the CSM and they head towards the rippers holding the centre left objective.

My two man bike squad engaged with the lone genestealer also falls back to the other side of my centre objective to continue holding it.

The obliterator heads into the ruin in the centre to assault the genestealer if needs be.

My rhino moves onto the centre right objective and the 2 Zerkers jump in.

The two man bike squad in his deployment zone move to assault the hiveguard and hopefully tie them up for a turn.

Both Havoc squads move- Can't remember why

My Chainlord goes ripper hunting on the centre objective.

Edited August 10, 2021 by SmiteThemAll

[SmiteThemAll]

Shooting phase.

Pretty much everything shoots the Warlord tyrant. Both havoc squads, the obliterator and the Rhino. Think I used veterans on the Autocannon havocs.

I manage to reduce him to 1 wound!!

My lord shoots the rippers and plinks off a couple of wounds.

Sadly I'm out of CP and cant endless cacophony.

Assault phase.

Chainlord makes it into the Rippers.

Obliterator makes it into the lone genestealer.

The two man bike squad charge the Hive guard but my opponent decides to overwatch and manages to kill both bikes!

The Chainlord mostly whiffs and kills a base and wounds another

The obliterator kills the genestealer.

Turn 3 Kraken.

In the command phase Nids score 15 points (max) for the primary. He holds his home objective and the centre and centre left with his ob sec rippers.

He also scores 4 points for holding 2 of the centre objectives for his mission specific secondary.

Currently the score is NIDS-26 BL-10

Movement phase.

The Warlord Flyrant uses a stratagem to regenerate wounds and gets 3 back. It then moves towards the autocannon havocs.

The other flyrant moves towards the Rhino.

My opponent also scores 3 points for engage

Psychic phase.

The warlord smites the obliterator and removes 2 wounds. I think he failed the other power.

The other Flyrant smites the rhino and does a couple of wounds.

Shooting phase

The hiveguard shoot the rhino and take it down to 5 or 6 wounds.

The warlord Flyrant kills the remaining obliterator.

The other Flyrant shoots the Rhino but does no damage.

Not enough CP to shoot the Hive guard again so the Rhino lives!

Assault phase

The warlord charges the autocannon Havocs and kills 3, they fail morale and lose 1 more.

My lord kills the remaning rippers and now holds the centre objective.

Turn 4 Black legion

The centre left objective now disappears.

In the command phase I score 15 points for holding 2 and for holding more making it NIDS -29 BL -25

Movement phase

The lord goes to assault the Hiveguard making sure to be out of LOS.

The Berserkers get out the rhino to assault the Flyrant.

The rhino moves to the centre objective as the one he is on will disappear next turn. (Pretty sure I forget about the brackets here, sorry to my opponent!)

Autocannon havoc falls out of combat from the Warlord Flyrant.

Two remaining bikes continue to hold the centre.

CSM move to get a shot on both the Flyrant and the rippers

Shooting phase

Lascannon Havocs go into the Warlord to no effect.

Bikes into the Warlord manages to plink off 2 wounds.

The rhino gets another (Sorry forgot about the bracket again!!) The flyrant is down to 1 wound again!

The CSM get Veterans of the long war and split fire, killing the rippers in front of them with bolters. The plasmas over charge and go into the Warlord but sadly all it achieves is killing one plasma wielding CSM. I thought wounding on 2's would be better than re-rolling hits and wounding on 3's. I only had 1 cp left at this point.

The warlord lives!

Assault phase

The two Zerkers make it into the Flyrant and plink a wound or two off, he then kills one in return.

The lord makes it into the Hivegaurd and kills 2. He removes the closest 2 and now they are no longer in combat!

Turn 4 Kraken

Command phase and Nids score 5 points for holding 1 they score 3 in the movement phase for engage on all fronts. Making it 37-25 to nids

Assault phase

Not a lot to do.

The warlord flyrant moves to eat my CSM

This is the last picture I take and from here on out my memory is a bit hazy so apologies !

Psychic phase

The Warlord smites and kills some CSM. Forget what else he did

The other Flyrant smites the lone Zerker and kills him freeing himself up to shoot stuff.

Shooting phase

Hivegaurd shoot my rhino and I roll HOT on saves, After the Devourer Tyrant shoots the Rhino too, it is down to 1 wound!

Assault phase

The warlord assaults the CSM and kills a couple

The other flyrant fails an assault on the rhino? Think he stayed in the table quarter to score engage

Turn 5 Black legion

The centre right objective disappears leaving only 3 objectives.

In my command phase I score 15 for holding 2 and holding more, Score is now NIDS 37-BL-40.

Movement phase

I have to kill both Flyrants for my secondary points. So with that in mind, my Chainlord goes hunting and moves toward his devourer Flyrant. Killing him would also prevent his engage on all fronts scoring.

Everyone else makes sure to have a shot at the Warlord Flyrant.

Bikes stay on the objective as does the rhino. (

Shooting phase

Chainlord shoots the Flyrant in front of him and may have caused a wound.

Everyone else shoots the Warlord Flyrant. I believe it took everything I had, the last wound being removed by bolters from the CSM. What a beast that guy was, soaked up so much shooting and killed plenty in my backfield.

Assault phase

My chainlord makes it into the Flyrant and I use veterans of the long war. I'm now causing 2 mortal wounds for every 5 or 6 to wound.

I roll hot, hot , HOT. I deal 6 mortal wounds as well as the other damage and the Flyrant goes down.

Turn 5 Kraken

My opponent moves his hiveguard out of the ruin and assaults the Rhino in the centre while still holding his home objective. He manages to kill the Rhino to hold centre objective too!

At the end of his turn he scores 15 for the primary and also 6 for his mission specific secondary. However he is unable to score engage on all fronts.

This takes the score to NIDS 58- BL -40

Now we add up the other secondaries

I get 10 for assassinate

I get 9 for abhor the witch

I get 10 for no prisoners

for 69 Points

Nids get 6 for no prisoners and we already added the other secondaries to the total

for 65 points.

I think the most important thing to emphasise is that I had an incredible time. Amazing armies, close game and a wonderful opponent. We are both new to 9th but my mate had played a few games already and was constantly keeping me right. He was also kind enough to bring an army with relative power level to CSM, I think had he brought his Deathguard he would have smashed me.

Looking forward to more games before a new codex (if that ever happens) I'll need to get some support for those havocs tho, they had a rotten game and need some help to be reliable.

I have bought a very cool Abaddon counts as, I'll post a picture when I can.

Cheers for reading !

PS: Any suggestions for lists or tactics or anything really are very welcome!

Edited August 10, 2021 by SmiteThemAll

[Tallarn Commander]

Looks like a fun, close game. Thanks for the engaging batrep! Would a powerfist have helped out the Biker Squad?

[SmiteThemAll]

Looks like a fun, close game. Thanks for the engaging batrep! Would a powerfist have helped out the Biker Squad?

 

Not sure about a power fist, I think the 4+ to hit, combined with so few attacks and only d3 damage is not that great.

I like the combi-bolter. Its a super cheap way of beefing up the ranged shooting. The combi-flamer is probably situational at best. It worked out ok vs nids. Genestealers and hormagaunts are its dream matchup I guess.

 

I won the second game too but it was razor thin, think I won it by 1 or 2 points. I barely took any photos tho and my memory was super hazy but when we got to the end I was sure I had lost. I also changed up the list and included my Demon prince who got aced first turn!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Isn't a power fist always D2 now - its the Chain Fist that's D3?

 

That said, I think the combi bolter is the probably the best option - its cheap, and as you are a bike, you always get the benefit of malicious volleys (or whatever the name of the Chaos Bolter Drill is) so you get to fire as if you were in rapid fire range whether you moved or not.

 

Given that the combi flamer is more expensive for half the range, I would only take it on a unit with flamers where plan to take advantage of it being an assault weapon to advance and then shoot.  As it, on my bike squad with x2 flamers, I still gave my champion a combi bolter rather than a combiflamer.  It is also probably worth it if you think the squad is likely to be charged.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Dr_Ruminahui

[SmiteThemAll]

Ahh so it is !

Yea I think the combi-bolter is the best all purpose choice. For 3 points its a steal really.

 

I totally forgot about the black legion's trait of advancing a shooting rapid fire weapons, gives those bikes a little extra utility being able to move 20" and still pump out some dakka.

 

Isn't a power fist always D2 now - its the Chain Fist that's D3?

 

That said, I think the combi bolter is the probably the best option - its cheap, and as you are a bike, you always get the benefit of malicious volleys (or whatever the name of the Chaos Bolter Drill is) so you get to fire as if you were in rapid fire range whether you moved or not.

 

Given that the combi bolter is more expensive for half the range, I would only take it on a unit with flamers where plan to take advantage of it being an assault weapon to advance and then shoot.  As it, on my bike squad with x2 flamers, I still gave my champion a combi bolter rather than a combiflamer.  It is also probably worth it if you think the squad is likely to be charged.

[MegaVolt87]

Rookie move on those havock load outs. You should have split up to take x2 AC and x2 LC in both units, then you still would have had lascannons to fire. Either that or double down by taking 15 havoks with x12 lascannons.

[battle captain corpus]

 

Ahh so it is !

Yea I think the combi-bolter is the best all purpose choice. For 3 points its a steal really.

 

I totally forgot about the black legion's trait of advancing a shooting rapid fire weapons, gives those bikes a little extra utility being able to move 20" and still pump out some dakka.

 

 

Isn't a power fist always D2 now - its the Chain Fist that's D3?

 

That said, I think the combi bolter is the probably the best option - its cheap, and as you are a bike, you always get the benefit of malicious volleys (or whatever the name of the Chaos Bolter Drill is) so you get to fire as if you were in rapid fire range whether you moved or not.

 

Given that the combi bolter is more expensive for half the range, I would only take it on a unit with flamers where plan to take advantage of it being an assault weapon to advance and then shoot. As it, on my bike squad with x2 flamers, I still gave my champion a combi bolter rather than a combiflamer. It is also probably worth it if you think the squad is likely to be charged.

Yup, Black Crusaders & Let the Galaxy Burn are good enough to have us BL punching well above our weight alone. Personally I’d definitely recommend a power fist on the Champion but it’s horses for courses as they say. Get in some rerolls to hit somewhere and you’re laughing for sure, but combi weapons have great value.

 

BCC