Hello and welcome to the tale of my first real Renegades & Heretics battle! As I wasn’t sure if I liked the army enough to jump into purchasing models all of my units are either borrowed Imperial Guard or proxies, but I hope you still enjoy this batrep!
Here’s what I brought this fateful night:
HQ
Heretek Magus (Khorne)
1 Lascannon Team
Elite
1 Decimator (Nurgle), Siege Claw & Storm Laser (Space Wolf Dreadnaught proxy)
1 Blood Slaughterer (Dark Eldar Talos proxy)
Troop
Renegade Infantry Platoon (10 man Command Squad (1 Lascannon Team), 2 10 man Infantry Squads)
5 Veterans
Assault
1 Bane Wolf
Heavy Support
1 Leman Russ (Battlecannon), 1 Medusa, 1 Bombard
Fortification
Void Shield Generator (Bastion proxy)
Knowing that I’d be up against Space Marines I a) took one of each unit that I REALLY wanted to try out (Blood Slaughterer, Decimator, Medusa, Bombard) and b) took as many AP3 weapons as I could find. Going in my plan was to sit back behind my cozy VSG and lob pie plates at the Loyalists until they were no more. Sounds easy enough, right?
When I got to my mates house he cheerfully informed me that he’d be fielding a Skyhammer Annihilation Force. Wasn’t that this new formation with all the turn 1 auto deep striking? So much for my plan…
His list was:
Captain Sicarius
2 5man tactical, one in a Rhino
Skyhammer Annihilation Force
2 units of Assault Marines
2 units of Devastators (all with rocket launchers) in Drop Pods
Deployment
So I set up with my VSG fairly central, along with the Bane Wolf and the Decimator, my Bombard hidden in a ruin, my Leman Russ on my far left flank, my Blood Slaughterer in reserve, and everything else as a bubble wrap for my tanks. I tried to spread out to minimize the space where he could land with his Pods, but I overestimated the space required for a Drop Pod.
He set up Sicarius and one of his
Tac Squads in a ruined building, and his other squad in the Rhino fairly central.
He got first turn - marvelous.
The Mission
Ever since we came across the ITC missions we’ve played those and never looked back. The combination of Modified Maelstrom and Eternal War or what’s it called makes for some really exciting games that almost always come down to the wire.
This time we played The Relic, with a twist. On SN Batreps they introduced a moving relic - a rouge psyker that both sides want to take into custody. We changed it slightly so that he still moves every player turn with the scatter dice, but
2D6 instead of just 1D6. Also, once he’s taken into custody, you still roll the dice - if you roll a double 6 they psyker manages to escape and drags the model carrying him into the warp, only to emerge 12” away without his captor. The results have been pretty hilarious so far
Turn 1 - The Hammer falls
Bracing for the impact of ultramarine boots and fists I awaited the Space Marines’ deep strike reserves. 2 Devastator Squads arrived on my left flank, 1 Assault Squad in front of the building my Bombard was hiding behind and my Warlord was sitting on top of. The last Assault Squad came down in front of my lines on the right side. Captain Sicarius was content observing the assault from afar, the squad in the Rhino moved up and disembarked toward the Rogue Psyker in the middle of the battlefield.
Shooting by the
Dev Squads saw me lose 2 shields from my VSG and glance my Leman Russ. The Assault Squad in front of the tall building didn’t make it into assault with my warlord (3rd floor hrhr…), the other Assault Squad blew up my Medusa before firing a single shot. And I wanted to compare it to the Bombard before buying either!
Still, not as bad as I feared to be honest - now how to get the invaders out of my backyard?
I move Bane Wolf to line up a nice AP3 template on the assault squad that just blew up my Medusa. The Decimator moves in the direction of the other assault squad. The Renegade squad between the Leman Russ and the Bombard moves assault one of the 2 devastator squads. The Russ drives back a bit to minimize the chance that it’ll hit itself with the battle cannon when it shoots the
Dev squad right in front of it - because that’s what it’s damn well going to do! The Bombard fire at the Ultramarines in the ruins, but the shot scatters and only hit Captain Sicarius who makes his invul save.
My shooting phase sees 7 of the 9 assault marines dissolved into green-blue sludge by the chem cannon of the bane wolf. The Russ get a Hit with its battle cannon and pulverizes 2 devastators. The Decimator downs 3 Assault Marines. 1 more Space Marine dies to lasgun fire.
In assault I have the genius idea to tie up BOTH Devastator units with my single renegade squad. Shortly after making my assault move I realize that I might just overestimate my troops a wee bit. Turns out I only lose 2-1, which unfortunately is still enough to fail my morale and get swept. Not quite what I had in mind.
The Decimator make his long assault and wipes the rest of the Assault Squad. Heh. I’m starting to like this stupidly overpriced nasty little daemon engine!
Turn 2
The Rhino squad moves forward, claims the Rogue Psyker and runs in the direction of a nearby ruined building. The Rhino moves onto Maelstrom Objective 1.
The 2 Assault Marines left from the 9-man unit try to avenge their comrades but only glance the Bane Wolf once.
The
Devs shoot at the Bombard and the Russ and shake the Bombard. The drop pods shoot at my warlord and his squad, killing one.
My Blood Slaughterer comes in the
tac squad with the Psyker and the Rhino.
I then move the Bane Wolf forward to repeat last turns’ chemical experiment on the
tac squad that had just grabbed our moving relic. Once again the Chem Cannon does horrific damage but the squad holds.
The Bombard can’t fire due to shaken/stunned. The Leman Russ shoots at the
Devs in the backfield and scores a hit, killing another. The renegade squad on the right kills the last Assault Marines. The Decimator moves toward one of the Drop Pods, intent on killing either and not much caring which. The Storm Laser takes down the last 2 Devastators.
Turn 3
Seeing his forces under duress my mate tries to pull back and at least secure the relic and keep his (now not so commanding anymore) maelstrom lead. The tactical squad moves into the ruined building. The other tactical squad under Cptn Sicarius’ command finally manages to take down the Bane Wolf with its’ rocket launcher. The drop pods shoot at my warlord again, killing the lascannon team.
The last
dev unit frantically tries to blow up at least one of the tanks in my deployment zone, but again only glances the Bombard.
In my turn I the Blood Slaughterer has picked up the scent of the
tac squad and moves in their direction - this will be bloody. The Decimator moves toward the first drop pod.
In my shooting phase my warlords’ squad and another squad that managed to draw bead on the last Devastators downs them. My Leman Russ misses, and the Bombard once again cannot shoot.
The growling Decimator engine slams into the drop pod and explodes it!
Likewise, the Blood Slaughterer shreds the
tac squad into pieces, freeing the Rogue Psyker.
Turn 5
Time is running short (we play 5 turns with a 6th on 3+), as Captain Sicarius jumps into the Rhino to drive toward the Renegade forces and retake the Psyker! The last drop pod shoots again shoots at my warlord, killing off the last of his retinue. Now slightly unnerved, he starts moving away from the pod.
Unfortunately his ride is glanced by my lascannon. Everything else is out of range or misses. Oh, and my Blood Slaughterer embraces the Rogue Psyker tightly, dragging him away from the Space Marine Forces. The Decimator goes to work on the 2nd Drop Pod, doing no damage.
We roll and the game continues - right now I have the relic and we’re both about equal on Maelstrom points.
Turn 6
Captain Sicarius decides to run toward Maelstrom objective 1 in his deployment zone but he’s too slow. Shooting by his
tac squad removes one
HP from the Blood Slaughterer. And the stupid last drop pod kills my warlord! Aaaaaah!!!
I roll “Kill an enemy unit” to draw Maelstrom - and all shots miss the 2
HP Rhino! My Bombard shot scatters and takes out one more marine…
Already thinking I lost, I decide to see if I can at least blow up the last Drop Pod, suddenly realizing that the pod is giving my enemy Linebreaker! I roll and get some hits in, roll on the damage table and… a 6! Explosion! By that point both of us are ecstatic due to this super close game and either way thought it was an awesome battle!
I start tallying up the Victory Points… I win The Relic, barely lose Maelstrom and… we tie on bonus points (he’s got Kill the Warlord and First Strike (the Medusa), and I’ve got Linebreaker and also First Strike (the Assault Squad)! It’s a draw! Wow what an intense finish!
Conclusion
So in my first real game with the Renegades I’ve learned a lot. And just as importantly I had a ton of fun! The first thing was, that no matter how dire things look - don’t give yourself up. After his deployment turn one I thought that this was going to be a loooooong day for my forces. My poor gunline neck deep in blue power armor - great! But thanks to my Void Shield Generator and some lucky rolls I came away OK after his alpha strike, and with the fantastic Bane Wolf (that my opponent never fielded before with his Imperial Guard due to its’ short range) spearheading the counter attack I managed to hold my own!
The stars of the show were definitely the already mentioned Bane Wolf, but also the Decimator. I’ve actually found one on eBay yesterday and couldn’t resist, even though they’re SO expensive point wise. The Blood Slaughterer was brutal, though I already knew it would be from a small test game some weeks ago. I also really liked the Bombard, even though it didn’t do much. Just the threat of having cover ignoring S8 AP3 pie plates come down on your enemy pretty much anywhere on the gaming table is a scary tool in my opinion.
The game also brought me a sense of appreciation for the good old Leman Russ. I only included it because I’d have one if I’d buy the Cadian Defence Force, but it scored 2 critical direct hits in my back field to help reduce the damage the Devastators could do.
What I could have done better in my opinion was how I deployed, as in how I underestimated how little room drop pods need. The other thing was not moving my warlord to safety sooner - I just didn’t think the drop pods could actually kill his unit. Other than that I’m pretty happy with how the game went, and I can’t wait for the rematch! Although this time my friend will most likely bring his Necrons so that’ll be a whole new level of terror…
Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting!
I've never fielded the Bane Wolf myself, but with the increased presence of 3+ Marines (both through the new 
