It's been a while since I've done one of these!
Today my buddy Sully came up and we played a game of
40k. He didn't bring any of his own models, so he looked at the Marines I had and threw together a list of stuff he wanted to use. I brought up my Iron Warriors and we had a throwdown! Here are the lists:
Crimson Fists:
- Pedro Kantor
- Tactical squad, fist, melta, multimelta, rhino with dozer blade
- Tactical squad, fist, plasma, rocket launcher, rhino with dozer blade
- Sternguard x10, combi plasma x2, fist, rhino with dozer blade
- Sternguard x9, combi melta x2, fist, rhino with dozer blade
- Rifleman dreadnought, extra armor
- Assault squad, fist, plasma pistol x2
Iron Warriors:
- Chaos Lord Kane (Lord with daemon weapon, terminator armor, combi-melta)
- Chaos Marines, fist, melta x2, icon of Chaos glory, rhino with dozer blade, extra armor
- Chaos Marines, fist, melta x2, icon of Chaos glory, rhino with dozer blade, extra armor
- Chaos Marines, power sword, plasma x2, icon of Chaos glory, rhino with dozer blade, extra armor
- Vindicator, daemonic possession
- Vindicator, daemonic possession
- Terminators x5, combi melta x3, fist x2, icon of Chaos glory
Neither of us had played in a while, so rules were expectedly fudged and tactics were probably going to be pretty poor. Regardless, we soldiered on! We rolled up the mission with one objective in each deployment zone and spearhead deployment. I won the roll off, and forgetting how short ranged my army was and how little long range he had, I opted to go first. Deployment looked like this:
Pedro was in a rhino with some Sternguard, while his RL/Plasma squad combat squadded with 4 bolters and the rocket holding the objective and the plasma gun/power fist running in the blue rhino. My deployment saw my vindicators in the center with rhinos flanking them, and my lord and Terminators in reserve. This is a pretty standard deployment that my army's built around, while his is a bit of a clusterfeth frankly.
++ This is Lord Kane of the Iron Warriors 8th grand company. Seizing this area will afford us a port where we can stage the landings for our great slave-barges and Thunderhawks, but the Emperor's lapdogs protect it. We shall crush their bones beneath our iron treads. Iron within, iron without. ++
TURN 1:
I move up my armor a steady 6" for my "wall of iron" formation. Unfortunately I'm dumb and forget that I only have 24" of range so I should have moved 12" up. Oh well. One of my melta squads peels off to hopefully serve as either a mobile reserve or distraction. End of my turn looked like this:
He moved out just about everything, except Pedro Kantor's rhino. The assault Marines went off towards my flanking rhino, while his full tactical squad rolled off down across the table edge. He moved his dreadnought very gingerly to take shots at my rhino. He stunned or shook it, but I have extra armor so no big deal. End of the turn looked like this:
TURN 2:
My Terminators don't come in. My flanking rhino unloads its cargo in front of the assault squad to get some rapid fire action, while my tanks on the right flank move up 12" a turn too late. My vindicator on the left lobs a shell at the packed up rhinos and blows the stormbolter off the green one (Sternguard) and stuns the blue one (combat squad). My Marines on the left side kill a whopping single Marine. End of the turn looked like this:
The assault Marines jumped in on my Chaos Marines on the left, while Pedro and the tactical squad in the rhino on the right continue moving up the flank. The Sternguard in the center moved to support the assault Marines, but stay in their rhino. The shooting phase sees the dreadnought harmlessly plinking off my vindicator on the right while Pedro calls in his orbital bombardment on the vindicator and immobilizes it. It says you can't use an orbital bombardment if the model moves, but since his vehicle moved 6" and not him I figured it was okay. End of the turn looked like this:
TURN 3:
Terminators don't show up. My two loaded rhinos and my mobile vindicator move up. The rhino on my right moves up 12" and pops smoke. Two plasma guns shoot out of my left side rhino, immobilizing the Sternguard rhino. The vindicator in the center wrecks the blue rhino with a combat squad in there. My vindicator on the right kills one of the Marines on the objective. Finally we come down to assault where I lose two Marines and do no wounds back, but morale holds. End of the turn looked like this:
The Sternguard pile out of their rhino and move towards my little armor wall, while the combat squad does the same. Pedro and his Sternguard pile out of their rhino on the right flank, and go after my right flank rhino. They shoot their combimeltas and blow up the rhino, charging the Marines inside and wiping them out. The explosion kills one veteran, and my Marines take one down before being brought low by the flurry of attacks. The only consolidate 1 inch, and are still in the sights of my vindicator! Elsewhere, the dreadnought blows up my left flank rhino, exploding and killing one of my Marines, 3 Sternguard, and one from the combat squad. The combat squad rips the gun off my vindicator in the center. The assault Marines finish off my Marines on the left flank, and move towards my edge. This turn hurts a lot. End of it looked like this:
TURN 4:
My Terminators finally show up! In a gutsy move, I drop them right near the enemy objective in clear sight of the dreadnought. In a characteristically Chaos move, my Marines in the center fall back into a retreating rhino, uttering out obscene curses as they try to take their ball and go home. My damaged vindicator tank shocks the Sternguard and combat squad in an effort to ram their immobilized rhino. The combat squad sergeant pulls a Death or Glory! and ends up splattered across the dozer blade. The Sternguard sergeant knows better and just gets out of the way. The vindicator rams the rhino, but fails to do anything. My other, immobilized vindicator pastes two of the Sternguard as they haplessly hobble over the craters. Finally, the terminators shoot their combi-meltas and my lord aces the dreadnought with a wrecked result. End of the turn looked like this:
++ Pathetic corpse-thing, hiding behind your guns and steel. Let me show you the meaning of pain.++
The combat squad and Sternguard squad in the middle of the field clamber over difficult terrain. Pedro's squad gets a mediocre two inches of movement as they stumble through the craters. The melta-heavy tactical squad in a rhino rides up to flank my vindicator and try to stop it. The assault Marines jump next to my rhino on the left, and together with the Sternguard there wreck the tank. The combat squad on the Crimson Fists objective jumps down to try and assault my Terminators, and that goes entirely as well as you'd expect. Meltas from the flanking rhino and plasma from the Marines in the temple of skulls harmlessly plinks off the thick armor of my vindicator. The assault Marines charge my Marines on the left and a bloody melee sees 5 dead on either side. End of the turn looks like this:
++ Iron within, iron without! Iron within, iron without! IRON WITHIN! IRON WITHOUT!++
TURN 5:
I'm running really low on forces right about now. The disarmed vindicator backs up 12" towards my objective in hopes to contest it. My Terminators take up position on top of the Crimson Fists objective, using their vantage point to drop one of Pedro's Sternguard. The immobile vindicator blasts another one. The turn ends with my Chaos Marines killing the last two assault Marines, and consolidating in the shadow of the landing pad. End of the turn looked like this:
++ Run! Run, foul servants of the corpse-god! Death to the false Emperor!++
Pedro directs the surviving Crimson Fists around the immobile vindicator, directing fire into the rear to disable the gun. He deliberately doesn't wreck it, as he doesn't want a vehicle exploding in the midst of all those friendlies. The Sternguard on the left shoot pistols and charge my Chaos Marines, finishing them once and for all. End of the turn looked like this:
We roll to continue, and he rolls a 3. Game continues!
TURN 6:
I back my vindicator all the way back, so it's now contesting my home objective. My Terminators get away from the building and gun down two of Pedro's Sternguard.
++ Cowards, one and all, you shall meet your father's fate!++
The left side Sternguard manage to get in close to my vindicator, while the Crimson Fist melta and plasma gunners take shots at the front armor. The most any of them can manage is a "crew shaken" result which doesn't mean much to a daemonically possessed tank! We roll to continue, and he rolls a 3 again, ending the game with neither of us holding an objective. End of the game looked like this:
I made a lot of mistakes there. First of all, I shouldn't have gone first. I gained nothing from it. Secondly, I should have gone 12" up in turn 1 instead of 6", since there's not going to be anything in range on turn 1 with my army with this deployment! Secondly, I probably shouldn't have split my forces so neatly. I didn't overcommit anywhere, but I rarely had enough to do much in any given theater. My Terminator drop was ballsy and effective though; I was this close to dropping them on one of my Marine squads so I could utilize their icons as teleport homers, but I decided clearing the objective was a better use of them than a little scuffle in the middle of nowhere. Finally, I'm amazed at how much close combat there was in this game. The Sternguard never once fired their bolters, only pistols and combi weapons. Whether I use them or someone else does, they always seem to end up in close combat. I'm actually yet to see those specific models shoot their bolters! Pedro made the other Sternguard outright beastly in combat on the right flank. 4 attacks on the charge from a Marine is brutal. Regardless, I had a lot of fun and so did Sully - it was a great game!
