Welcome to the next (and much delayed) 4th instalment of our latest
40K campaign. For those who would like a recap, the first three games are below:
Game 1 (Boarding Action)
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/362671.page
Game 2 (Planetstrike)
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/366778.page
Game 3 (Spearhead)
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/369073.page
In between Games 3 and 4 we also ran a series of Kill Team missions as the Chaos and Allied forces probed defences, conducted recon missions and (for the Chaos forces) searched for the librarium holding the Liber Diablos. Kill team games don't make good batreps in my opinion (and then model A shot at Model B while Model C moved forward 6 inches...), so in summary the allied forces out manoeuvred the Chaos raiders and caused heavy casualties, whilst the Chaos recon teams in turn managed to locate the resting place of their goal
Chaos and Allied Kill Teams fight it out across ruined cathedrals and toppled statues
Now in possession of the Liber Diablos' location, Baalor the Horned leads a diversionary assault against the Allied lines to allow the bulk of his forces to breakout and head for the target. The Chaos Warlord hoped to not only lead the Imperials and their Eldar allies off course, but to inflict significant causalities as well....
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Baalor the Horned, Favoured of Chaos watched from the bridge of his cruiser as the icons representing his forces began to advance from their laagers. The ruddy glow of the holo-display lit his armoured form with a diabolic glow as his cold gaze picked out details. He could see the loyalist line just ahead - strangely, their Eldar allies where nowhere to be seen - where had they got to? It mattered little. This diversion would pull them away from the main breakout and smash their line asunder.
"All units advance as planned. Destroy the weak sons of the Corpse God and their Xenos allies. I shall lead the assault personally"
Turning on his heel, Baalor marched across the bridge to a raised dais inscribed with sorcerous runes, upon which his terminator retinue awaited. He flicked an armoured talon at the attendant tech-mystics and warp acolytes.
"Transport us into battle as per my instructions. Be sure to be accurate, or I shall flense the flesh from your bones"
A chant arose from the hooded figures and tendrils of warp energy coalesced around the massive terminators. With a screech of tearing reality an orb of blackness formed on the dais. A blast of overpressure swept across the bridge along with the stink of brimstone.
The darkness dissipated, leaving the dais empty. The retinue was even now on the surface, bringing ruin to those who would oppose Chaos...
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The field of battle
Chaos vehicles roll forwards, supported by Fallen infantry
Cypher himself appears, right amongst the enemy’s deployment zone
The heavy support arrives and takes position (from where it would fire ineffectually all battle)
Deathguard dreds move up
Faced with enemy armour, the Chaos Rhino pops smoke
Cypher finds himself in a target rich environment
The Salamanders waste no time and assault the enigmatic Dark Angel. Even from cover, Cypher only manages to down two marines
The Ruinous Powers are in a fickle mood today. One of the newly arrived Deathguard Dreds goes berserk and blasts its companion to slag with two lascannon shots
The Defiler fires right across the field, narrowly missing the Razorback and blasting a couple of scouts
With a crackling blast of warp energies, Baalor and his retinue materialise. Now, how well did those tech-mystics do with their aim?
Not so good - surrounded by a Dread knight, Sternguard with melta and a Landraider Redeemer...
Cypher whittles down the marines, but is wounded in return
Unable to believe their luck, the marine command squad lines up the wayward Chaos
HQ
As do the Sternguard and Dread knight
A blizzard of fire mows down the heavily armoured Chaos terminators, leaving Baalor exposed
Seeing himself in an unwinnable position, the Chaos Warlord snarls an order into his vox and is teleported back to his ship....
Despite the disastrous start, the Chaos assault continues. Deathguard terminators warp in, followed by Bloodletters
Obliterators arrive wildly off course. The tech-mystics are having an off day
Relying on good old fashioned running, the Berserkers charge forwards
Librarian Sandius leads his Melta-equipped Sternguard back into the fray
Once more into the breach!
The berserkers smash into the Dread knight as the Deathguard crater the Razorback with their combi-meltas
Choppy chop chop! The Dread knight takes multiple wounds, and then flees off the field! (or was that a tactical withdrawal?)
The Bloodletters move forward only to discover the destroyed Rhino was packed with..
..Grey Knights...
The Salamander
HQ moves up to support the line as the Chaos assault strikes home
The battle is now fully involved
The Redeemer moves up to roast a few Berserkers
The Grey Knights prepare to do what they do best (kill daemons, in case that wasn't clear)
The terminators set up to help with the berserker problem, whilst the commander splits off to..
Hammer Cypher, who is whisked away just in time by some unseen agency...
The Sternguard melt a couple of nurgle termies
While the Redeemer flames the Berserkers
Who are promptly finished off by the terminators
Librarian Sandius and Null field means the Deathguard die horribly, despite their armour
]
And the Grey Knights kick all hell out of the Bloodletters
The oblits try to mow down the librarian, but his psychic defences defeat all fire.
In turn, Sandius leads his Sternguard to hunt down the daemon kin, slaying the last with Smite
In the final act, a land speeder deep strikes into the battle
And blasts the surviving Rhino to scrap
A second squad of Grey Knights mops up the Fallen, and the remains of the Chaos assault force quit the field
Victory Marines!
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Baalor the Horned stormed off the teleport dais toward the cowering tech-mystics. The bridge crew kept their eyes down, or fixed to view screens as the Chaos Warlord marched past, steam issuing from his breathing vents.
Looming above the grovelling teleport crews, Baalors voice boomed across the bridge.
"You insects have cost me my retinue and us the battle! Now it is time to make good on my promise..."
Eyes looking everywhere but at their commander, the bridge crew went about their duties as the screams of the tech-mystics demonstrated the price of failure in the service of Baalor the Horned...
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A bit of towelling for the Chaos team this time. Deep strike is an unforgiving mistress - when it goes wrong, it goes bad wrong. Full credit to the Marine team of Sandy and Julz - they gave Derek and me a thorough lesson in tactics and dice rolling.
Tune in next episode for the first of our Apocalypse games.
7K Points of Black Legion and Daemons 
5K Points of Grey Knights and Red Hunters 
