Shaezus' 3rd Company 9th Ed reports - game vs new DG

[Shaezus]

Wish you the best. Hot dice and cool mind! For Sanguinius and the emperor!

Thanks Bro!

 

Happy to report a 1st place RTT win for Blood Angels!!

 

Game 4 vs a silent king necron list was the crunch matchup I'd wanted. Won 95 - 56. Game 5 was against a 2 - Telemon custodes list. Nightmare opponent for the toughest mission. BA loss 35-89

 

Thankfully I'd scored enough battle points to win, by 11 battle points. Too close but still a win.

[keeblerartillery]

That’s great! Congrats man. As always - insights and analysis greatly appreciated

[Majkhel]

Congratulations!
A fantastic battle-honours roll for the 3rd!

I join Keebs in kind request for your thoughts and analysis of the games :)

[Morticon]

Said it on messenger earlier - but will say it here too - well, well done!! Really chuffed you got it. 

Bleak us Beijingers were not allowee there <_< but such is life in these weird times!!! 

 

Looking forward to the full breakdown 

[Rhavien]

Congratulations! Also looking forward to more info :)

[BrotherAetherick]

Congratulations and well done! I take it the tourney didn't use the most recent FAQ, but was chalice ruled as granting savage echoes?

[Shaezus]

Thanks folks I really do appreciate the support and encouragement!

 

There were about forty players signed up for the event in total, but with dropouts and nurglings in the supply lines we ended up with 15 players. A nice enough number with a really good variety of factions being represented by some very good players.

 

We used the WTC terrain setup, with every table having the "table 1" setup for each mission. I'll say it now, that this setup was partly the reason for my list doing well. Three of the missions had plenty of obscuring ruins without windows in the centre, providing ideal hunting ground for assault armies. The two missions with central objectives were a different matter, having little or no cover. More on that later though.

 

Congratulations and well done! I take it the tourney didn't use the most recent FAQ, but was chalice ruled as granting savage echoes?

We discussed it but there were some big changes which would have significantly affected some players, so in the end it was decided to ignore the FAQ. It had already been decided that the chalice activated savage echoes, so that was a big thing indeed. Forlorn Fury was already ruled as being limited to one use.

 

Reports coming up over the course of this week!

[Xenith]

Congrats on the win, I'm glad to see 9th has something for assault armies, finally, and that htere was enough terrain. Confused on this point though:

 

Three of the missions had plenty of obscuring ruins without windows in the centre, providing ideal hunting ground for assault armies. 

 

Windows dont matter if the ruins are obscuring, right? If terrain has the 'Obscuring' trait, no LOS can be drawn through it, regardless of True LOS.

 

9th is better in this regard for making ruins/area terrain block line of sight, but it still has a ways to go. It could do with taking a leaf from a game like Infinity's book, which has suggestions/guidelines on terrain set-up, like trying to keep things roughly symmetrical, tallest terrain should go into the middle, etc. 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Xenith

[Shaezus]

@Xenith it matters if the unit is standing on the terrain, not behind it. The solid wall means you can be on the terrain right up against the wall and an enemy on the other side of the wall can't draw LoS. If it had the usual GW terrain windows or gaps, they would have LoS

[Xenith]

Gotcha!

 

As an addendum, if I ever assemble GW terrain, I'll be blocking off all ground floor windows. GW's sector imperialis terrain was amazing, when TLOS didnt matter. A lot of clubs assembled collections of this terrain, with large, open gaps at the bottom, and it continues to populate tables to this day.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Xenith

[Shaezus]

First, a look at the list itself

 

The first thing I wanted was a solid core capable of advancing and holding one or two midfield objectives. Durability took priority over speed here, because I’d found during practice games that being quick to get to the objectives meant nothing if I couldn’t hold it against determined heavy attacks. So transports were out. Something with an invul save, access to transhuman and generally tankier than intercessors; the bladeguard veterans (BGV) were first choice. I only had five models otherwise I was keen to have two units, but the space hulk terminators were in the cupboard and unpainted and these seemed a great complement to BGV for the role, with their dakka and higher S in melee meaning between them, these two units could repel most things that would come their way.

 

Then I wanted an offensive element. Something entirely dedicated to getting inside the opponent’s plans, free from duties on objectives and able to hurt the toughest opponents. I’ve already been running the Sanguinary Guard (SG) for a long time now and I think they’re stronger than ever, so they got the main assault role ahead of all other options.

 

Next was backfield cover. I wanted to minimise the issues of that relatively weak spot of the Blood Angels, the defence of the home DZ. At least one unit of infiltrators seems to be a necessity. Bloodletter bombs and units charging from deep strike with a +2 charge bonus showed me that. Now with the helix adept, not only can they shut out deep strike but they also have the tools to hold ground against serious firepower. So they were the foundation stone of this role.

 

I was seriously keen to have a full unit of executor heavy intercessors, but in their absence I tried stalker intercessors in the same role and they fit very well. Weaker shooting but more capable of rushing forward to hold midfield and allow the elites to push on further. After toying with a squad of tacticals I finally decided the incursors brought more to the table. Having that one big unit of intercessors to hold the rear objective would be enough in most missions, so the incursors would be better suited to buffering the elites and disrupting the enemy ahead of their advance. Otherwise they could hold a second home objective if needed and use guerilla tactics to switch to the attack.

 

Then I wanted a whirlwind. Just a whirlwind, for the suppression fire. With this I could forget the loss of Angel’s Wing. I could control the melee threat to my army and if that wasn’t necessary well there was the nice bonus of being able to target out of LoS

 

With these things pretty much fixed in place it was just a matter of finding the right character mix to “oil the wheels” and optimise things towards ideal secondaries. Smash captain was first. With death visions he’s actually more – in theory ofc – reliable than before but the thing that always keeps him in the list is the forlorn fury and the simple and often disproportionate psychological effect this can have on opponents. I toyed with null zone librarian and may have kept him in if it weren’t for the fact that NZ also nulls friendly invuls. The Sanguinor fits this list best I think. His 6” heroic intervention (HI) is a great boon especially with Angel’s sacrifice. Miraculous saviour is a lovely option to have if I’m sure I won’t be charged on turn 1 and his fall back and charge can have a game changing impact.

 

Then there was the Sanguinary priest. With the activation of savage echoes from the chalice ability being all but confirmed, i tried him out and haven’t looked back since. Same with the Sanguinary ancient, who turned out to be a big surprise. With the new points values and absence of the standard of sacrifice I instantly wrote him off as a never – again. Then after a good few games of 9th I noticed how I wasn’t deep striking the SG anymore. And with the 2” move bonus from Wrath of Baal added to the +1 to charge bonus, he reduces the distance to the enemy by 1” more than the chaplains bonus on its own. I was already running no less than 5 fists in the SG and the ancient would mean they’re hitting on 2s. So all in all the ancient meant a significant boost to the SG chances of getting the charge off and a solid boost to their damage output. Added to the priest’s chalice ability, their chances of doing big early game damage just rocketed.

 

The final tweak was about secondaries. I already had something to cover oaths of moment and was happy with holding the centre even when there are no objectives there. With the addition of relentless assault, this seemed to be the best choice for what I already had in my list. After toying with inceptors and jump vets and Death Company, I settled on a couple of ATVs and a squad of scouts. The ATVs had the bonus of bringing a touch of melta to a list quite notably absent of strong shooting. I was counting on terrain, smaller boards and the infantry – bike focused lists that are most common here. Only death guard and iron warriors use vehicles in number here, and I reckoned this list could deal with them without too much shooting.

[Shaezus]

Blood Angels battalion

2000 points

Starting CP 7

 

Captain. Death company. Jump pack. Master Crafted thunder hammer. Inferno pistol. Imperium’s sword. 155 2CP

The Sanguinor 150

Sanguinary priest. Rites of war. Mask of death. 90 2CP

 

10 x intercessors. Stalker bolt rifles. Sgt. Astartes chainsword 200

5 x infiltrators. Helix 130

5 x incursors. Haywire mine 115

 

Sanguinary Ancient. Angelus bolt gun. Power fist. Wrath of Baal. Selfless valour. 125 (warlord)

9 x sanguinary guard. Angelus boltguns. 4 x encarmine blade 5 x power fist. 295

5 x bladeguard veterans. Sgt. quake bolts 1CP 175

5 x Terminators. Storm bolters. Power fists. Sgt. Power sword. 1 assault cannon. 1 chainfist. 200

5 x scouts. Bolt pistols. Combat knives. Sgt. 2 x Astartes chainsword. 70

 

2 x ATV. Multimelta. Twin linked bolt rifle. 170

 

Whirlwind 125

[Xenith]

Seems a nice, fun and mobile list, with enough classic marine units to make me happy.

 

I found that the terminator assault cannon underperformed for me. It's generally moving, so gets 3 hits, compared to the SB which also gets 3. You're paying for +1 t wound marines, and a point of AP in turn 1 as opposed to turn 2. Could be useful if remaining stationary T1 and facing death guard though. 

 

Did you find that you ever got to use your captain's Inferno pistol? Not too many hard targets in my local meta, so he's usually out of range, or doesnt want to risk a shot to make the charge harder, and combat lasts a turn. 

[Shaezus]

Seems a nice, fun and mobile list, with enough classic marine units to make me happy.

 

I found that the terminator assault cannon underperformed for me. It's generally moving, so gets 3 hits, compared to the SB which also gets 3. You're paying for +1 t wound marines, and a point of AP in turn 1 as opposed to turn 2. Could be useful if remaining stationary T1 and facing death guard though.

 

Did you find that you ever got to use your captain's Inferno pistol? Not too many hard targets in my local meta, so he's usually out of range, or doesnt want to risk a shot to make the charge harder, and combat lasts a turn.

 

The assault cannon defs wasn't worth the extra points. As for the captain's inferno pistol I'm happy to fill the last spare points with it. He's always able to put it to use here. Edited January 12, 2021 by Shaezus

[Shaezus]

Game 1 vs Blood Angels

 

 

Steve’s list

Phobos Captain. Chapter master. Master of war. Quake bolts

Chief Iibrarian. Null zone. Might of heroes. Psychic fortress. Wings of Sanguinius. Tome of malcador

Sanguinary priest. Jump pack. Inferno pistol

 

5 x infiltrators. Helix

5 x infiltrators. Helix

5 x intercessors. Bolt rifles

 

Sanguinary ancient. Wrath of baal

10 x sanguinary guard. Fists

10 x death company. Fists

Redemptor dreadnought. Macro plasma. Icarus launcher.

5 x scouts

Land speeder storm

 

Callidus assassin

 

Mission: vital intelligence

Final score 100 – 16

My primary score 45

Oaths of moment 15

Relentless assault 15

Assassinate 15

 

His primary score 0

Raise the banners 1

Relentless assault 0

While we stand we fight 5

 

The final score is probably a poor reflection of the opponent, because he had planned around combat – squadding the sanguard and DC. Unfortunately neither of them have that rule on their datasheet.

 

The Flow of Battle

 

He deployed the redemptor at the rear right and in cover, so I deployed the terminators and bladeguard on the forward line, left of centre, and safe from his shooting even if he moved the redemptor. The ATVs went on the centre and within range of moving wholly into the centre for Oaths. The sanguard and characters were behind the front line, able to use 6” Heroic Intervention (HI), all within buffing range of the priest and ancient and lining up a T1 jump into the central obscuring cover or into assault.

 

He had infiltrators forward of his zone on both flanks. My phobos units hugged either side of the central ruins, keeping more than 1” away from the wall to make any charges less effective. Intercessors in cover on my left flank lined up to take the leftmost objective from his infiltrators

 

I won the roll off and gave Steve first turn, hoping to tempt him into a charge where I could use all the HI. With angels sacrifice and counter offensive, things could be decided in a bloody turn 1 melee. Steve pushed his sanguard into cover behind the central ruins. He lined up the DC to charge the ATVs and bladeguard but they didn’t get the charge.

 

So at the start of my turn 1 everything was in place. My sanguard got the buffs from the priest and ancient and got the jump on his sanguard, making short work of them. The bladeguard and ATVs went into the centre, shot up his DC and charged the few survivors. Smash captain jumped over to the right to deal with his infiltrators on that objective, killing 3 of them.

 

After that it was effectively a mopping up operation, finishing off the characters and his scouts who made a very stubborn stand. By the end of turn 3 his redemptor was the lone Survivor, on a handful of wounds

 

What worked:

 

The terrain. Ideal for this list

Wrath of Baal – every time, it makes the difference. The sanguard can get safely into cover and by turn two charge phase they have already knocked 4” off the charge distance. Smash captain can reach places

Ancient and priest buffs – a perfect combination. Few things will survive turn 1 or turn 2 sanguard with 45 attacks on 2s to hit and wound at AP4. Same for bladeguard

 

What whiffed

 

Power fists vs dreadnought – that built in duty eternal was like hitting a brick wall after fighting through the infantry. Sanguard came off seriously worse

 

Post – game thoughts

 

Things were perhaps stacked in my favour in this game, but it felt great to see some of the ideas and synergies at work. Really showed what BA can do differently to others

[Xenith]

Looks like combat might be the preferred location for dreads this edition, much fewer D6 damage weapons on infantry there. 

[Shaezus]

Game 2 vs Necrons

 

Mission: retrieval

Final score: 86 – 49

BA primaries 45

Oaths of moment 12

Relentless assault 12

Raise the banners 7

 

Necron Primaries 25

While we stand we fight 0

Engage on all fronts 10

Assassinate 4

 

Damien’s list

 

Custom Patrol & Outrider

Tradition: Eternal Conquerors

Circumstance: Arise Against the Interlopers

 

Overlord (Warlord)

. Resurrection Orb

. Warscythe

. Trait: Enduring Will

. Relic: Orb of Eternity

 

Chronomancer

. Entropic Lance

. Relic: Veil of Darkness

. 2 Cryptothralls

 

20 Warriors

. Gauss Reaper

 

. 6 Skorpekh Destroyers

. 2 Reap-blade

. Plasmacyte

 

10 Lychguard

. Hyperphase Sword & Dispersion Shield

 

Triarch Stalker

. Twin Heavy Gauss Cannon

5 Praetorians

. Rod of Covenant

 

5 Praetorians

. Rod of Covenant

 

5 Tomb Blades

. 5 Shieldvanes

. 5 Twin Gauss Blasters

 

6 Canoptek Wraiths

. Vicious Claws

 

. 4 Scarab Swarms

 

. 5 Scarab Swarms

 

. 5 Scarab Swarms

 

Total 2000pts, 8 CP

 

Damien’s list was the same as in our game the week before. One one hand I knew I could win but on the other I knew what a hard – hitting and durable list it is. Everything had obsec, he could do the old UWoF style teleport thing once per battle and had a strat to revive the big warrior or lychguard unit back to its full strength. Furthermore, he knew what I could do and would be out to win this one. Damien was last year’s East China Open champ, so I knew I had to be totally on the ball to have any chance of winning this game.

 

The terrain was symmetrical and included two fully obscuring ruins either side of the centre about 8” apart. Ideal for SG and all to use to move up unmolested in turn 1. The near objective on my left could be controlled from dense cover, the one on the right had a container with just enough LoS block to protect the scouts on turn 1

 

The flow of battle

 

Damien won the first roll off and chose to be defender. He put the lychguard in the centre, skorpekhs close behind and to their right, characters bubbled and the warriors nearby also obscured. Scarabs went on both flanks, one on my right and two on the left. The triarch stalker sat back slightly right of centre to the right of the skorpekhs, the wraiths and a unit of praetorians in front. The other praetorians and the tomb blades went poised to advance down my right flank.

 

I put the bladeguard and sanguard in the centre. Bladeguard to go for oaths in the centre. All characters went amongst them with the priest more to the left. The intercessors went to the left of the sanguard but still obscured. Ready to move onto that left objective. The infiltrators went ahead in the central ruin and more than 1” back from the wall. The incursors went behind the crate in the centre, holding my DZ objective and out of LoS. The scouts went forward onto the right objective, LoS blocked by the crate. The terminators went in the obscured ruin on my line just behind the scouts. The whirlwind went in the rear of the same corner, out of LoS by the same ruin and making sure he couldn’t teleport within shooting range of it.

 

I won the roll off and gave Damien first turn, hoping for him to come into assault range for my first turn.

It’s probably easiest to break the game down into board areas; on my left he teleported with the warriors. The sanguard killed 5 with auspex, after reanimations. They lost two to the return fire. The intercessors and sanguinor charged in and by turn 3 the chronomancer and all warriors were slain without loss. The priest held the near left objective, whilst the infiltrators went up around that flank to deny his objective.

 

On the right, the necrons swept aside the scouts. The praetorians and tomb blades chewed up the terminators and moved on to the whirlwind. Only the intervention of the sanguinor, sweeping over from the fight on the left and supported by the incursors, stopped them. The ATVs held the centre at first then moved around behind the necron advance down my right, taking advantage of a slight mistake by Damien and toasting the overlord with melta. They held the scarabs on his right objective for a few turns before clearing it.

 

The centre was a messy slaughter fest. He positioned the lychguard more than 1” from the ruin and covered their right with the praetorians, so the sanguard could only engage the praetorians and wraiths whilst suppression fire was used on the lychguard. Things hinged on the smash captain being able to kill the skorpekhs. Unfortunately he whiffed and Damien rolled strong for reanimations, so only one skorpekh was lost. The captain died and things began to look very hairy.

 

The sanguard then died in one round to the skorpekhs and the lychguard forced the ATVs to fall back but then came the bladeguard. Buffed by the priest and the ancient they slaughtered the skorpekhs and a bunch of lychguard in a brutal turn 2 multicharge. By turn 4 only the BGV sergeant remained. He went forward to finish off the triarch, who was locked with the sole survivor infiltrator sergeant on the left side necron objective. The four lychguard remaining tried to take my left objective but were thwarted by the priest’s visage of death, then finished by the intercessors fresh from their crushing assault on the warriors.

 

In turn 5 the ancient swooped onto the central necron DZ objective and killed the two cryptothralls whilst the BGV sergeant hacked the triarch to pieces with the help of his quake bolts. The only surviving necron model was a praetorian from the unit originally on my right, with one wound.

 

Post game thoughts

 

When the end of turn 5 came I had no idea what the score was. I genuinely felt after turn 2 that the necrons had it in the bag. I forgot to raise banners on turn 1. The terminators and sanguard died with saddening ease but it seemed the saturation of strong BA units in the centre, combined with critical suppression fire, carried the day. It was nice to see the priest’s WT – relic combo doing its trick.

 

Edit: Damien said afterwards how well - protected my characters were. I've heard other BA players say this, how they want the oppo to choose assasinate. It's an intuitive choice at first glance, but if you can't kill the bladeguard and sanguard together then you can't get to those characters. Easy to deny assassinate

Edited January 12, 2021 by Shaezus

[Shaezus]

Looks like combat might be the preferred location for dreads this edition, much fewer D6 damage weapons on infantry there.

 

The twin - Telemon custodes list would agree with that! Dreads with both ranged and melee weapons are tough to kill and suicidal for tarpits

[Karhedron]

Looks like combat might be the preferred location for dreads this edition, much fewer D6 damage weapons on infantry there.

And the ability to fire most of their weapons into melee. I think the MM Contemptor actually looks quite promising here with M8", 9W, a 5++ and a non-degrading profile. Make it Relic for +1CP and add the CML for extra firepower. Just stomp forward and shoot and/or charge at targets of opportunity. Could be useful to add some serious muscle to units like BGVs.

[Xenith]

Yes, I was really liking the look of Heavy plasma cannons on dreads, but they lose some utility as they're Blast. Possibles are a Twin la/MM and running at tanks, or a Hurricane-Ironclad. 

[Karhedron]

Yes, I was really liking the look of Heavy plasma cannons on dreads, but they lose some utility as they're Blast. Possibles are a Twin la/MM and running at tanks, or a Hurricane-Ironclad.

MMs are where it's at for me on Dreads in 9th. Between the smaller board size and "Big Guns Never Tire", the extra range on the Lascannon is not much of an incentive anymore.

 

I did look briefly at HPCs as the 2/3 Damage is quite nice but I think the Redemptor makes a better platform for Plasma with the Heavy D6 on the Macro Plasma Incinerator.

[Rhavien]

Thanks for the in depth reports shaezus. I have to say that it touches my heart deeply and I nearly shed a tear to finally see a squad of terminators in a tournament winning army.

[Hintzy]

Can you speak to the effectiveness of the Whirlwind and Suppression Fire? I've got an RTT at the end of the month in which I plan to use one, as long as the conversion bits arrive in time to get painted.

 

Did it prove worthwhile, or are those points something you'll be reevaluating?

[Shaezus]

Thanks for the in depth reports shaezus. I have to say that it touches my heart deeply and I nearly shed a tear to finally see a squad of terminators in a tournament winning army.

 

 

It really is a pleasure! Thanks again for your encouragement

 

 

Can you speak to the effectiveness of the Whirlwind and Suppression Fire? I've got an RTT at the end of the month in which I plan to use one, as long as the conversion bits arrive in time to get painted.

Did it prove worthwhile, or are those points something you'll be reevaluating?

It definitely proved worthwhile. 110% with that extra 10% because I think it was the key to winning two or three of the games.

 

For this tournament it was ruled as blocking the counter offensive stratagem, through the "select" and "cannot select" interaction

 

In game 2 as I said it kept the lychguard at the back of the fight queue, which kept the BGV alive. The ripple effect of this was at least a 20 VP swing. In game 3 it allowed the ancient to charge the flamers without being hurt. Otherwise the SG would have been roasted and wouldn't have gone on to take his home objective. In game 4 the necron doomstalkers were a worse overwatch threat than Tau. Neutralising half of this threat was huge.

[Shaezus]

Game 3 vs Chaos Daemons

Mission: Overrun

Final score 100 – 59

 

Nik’s list

 

Daemons Undecided Nikolas

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Daemons) [89 PL, 10CP, 1,799pts] ++

 

Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

Chaos Allegiance: Chaos Undivided

 

+ HQ +

 

Lord of Change [14 PL, -1CP, 270pts]: Bolt of Change, Flickering Flames, Incorporeal Form, Infernal Gateway, The Impossible Robe, Warlord

. Exalted Lord of Change: 5. Aura of Mutability

 

Mamon Transfigured [7 PL, 130pts]

 

Poxbringer [4 PL, 75pts]: Miasma of Pestilence

 

+ Troops +

 

Bloodletters [8 PL, -1CP, 185pts]: Banner of Blood, Bloodreaper, Daemonic Icon, Instrument of Chaos

. 19x Bloodletter: 19x Hellblade

 

Nurglings [6 PL, 126pts]

. 7x Nurgling Swarms: 7x Diseased claws and teeth

 

Nurglings [2 PL, 54pts]

. 3x Nurgling Swarms: 3x Diseased claws and teeth

 

Nurglings [2 PL, 54pts]

. 3x Nurgling Swarms: 3x Diseased claws and teeth

 

Nurglings [2 PL, 54pts]

. 3x Nurgling Swarms: 3x Diseased claws and teeth

 

Nurglings [2 PL, 54pts]

. 3x Nurgling Swarms: 3x Diseased claws and teeth

 

+ Elites +

 

Beasts of Nurgle [16 PL, 280pts]

. 8x Beast of Nurgle: 8x Putrid appendages

 

Beasts of Nurgle [8 PL, 140pts]

. 4x Beast of Nurgle: 4x Putrid appendages

 

Beasts of Nurgle [2 PL, 35pts]: Beast of Nurgle

 

Flamers [9 PL, 207pts]: Pyrocaster

. 8x Flamer: 8x Flickering flames

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

Furies [2 PL, 45pts]: Mark of Tzeentch

. 5x Fury: 5x Daemonic claws

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Skull Cannon [5 PL, 90pts]

 

++ Total: [89 PL, 10CP, 1,799pts] ++

 

201 pts for summoning

 

Just looking at the units and psychic powers, I felt good about playing this list. My only concern was any unique abilities and stratagem interactions, as I wasn’t clued up on these at all. The terrain was again ideal. Dawn of war style deployment with two large obscuring windowless ruins either side of the centre, creating an 8” wide protected avenue.

 

The flow of Battle

 

Nikolas put the bulk of his army around the centre of his line. Skull cannon over on my right covering that whole side of the board, in response to my whirlwind being in cover on the same flank. Nurglings were all deployed forward of his line with the exception of a small unit on his objective on my left.

 

I put the SG behind the centre crates in my DZ, ready to leap up the middle. The bladeguard went to their right to move through the ruins ahead and the terminators went next to them. Intercessors obscured in my bottom left and holding the objective there. Turn 1 shooting wasn’t enough threat to stop me from deploying on my DZ line.

 

I won the roll off and chose to go first, aiming to clear all of his forward obsec. This was done comfortably, leaving the sanguard holding that centre alley with the bladeguard alongside and obscured in the ruin to the right of centre. Smash captain again had a whiffer, barely managing to tickle the skull cannon. He went on to assault Niks right DZ objective and had little influence on the battle, being tied up with poxwalkers. Suppression fire went on the big nurgle beasts unit.

 

Nikolas came forward, assaulting the BGV with the lord of change. The flamers poured fire into the sanguard but my share of good fortune kicked in here. He failed a key psychic test for giving them +1 to wound, which would mean mortal wounds on 5+. The sanguard lost a couple, then mashed up most of the big beast unit in Niks turn, thanks to suppression fire.

 

The ancient charged the flamers under cover of suppression fire. With little return damage, it took a couple of rounds to wipe them. The terminators joined the BGV and together they killed the lord of change in round 3. The sanguard leapt over onto his centre objective with the terminators coming around to the left of it. Mamon and the summoned poxies were dealt with. The BGV were assaulted by the other beast unit on the forward right objective. Up came the priest, getting just into range for denying obsec on anything and using the revival strat to give the objective to the BGV. The ATVs swung around to take his DZ objective on my left.

 

He bombed in with the bloodletters against the intercessors. All but 4 intercessors were killed but they took a heavy toll in return, having first charged and dealt with the furies.

 

By end of turn 5 only a handful of bloodletters and Mamon on one wound were remaining from his force. Nikolas was out of time so could only roll for saving throws. With the sanguard and intercessors reduced to below half strength, the only whole unit to be lost was the scouts, through their tarpitting action on the skull cannon.

 

Post – game thoughts

 

Nikolas said that failing that psychic test decided the game, but I’m not sure. Let’s say he got lucky and wiped the sanguard; it wouldn’t have stopped the ancient going rampage on the flamers but the beasts would have slowed the terminators in getting around to the rear objective. BA were all over the board however, so the score would have been different but the outcome the same. This was a very, very enjoyable game. Nikolas admitted he underestimated the sanguard and the suppression fire