Wispy tendrils of smoke rose towards the skies, showing Force Commander Iros Ardias where the incident had occurred. The small world of Raxxus Prime had just been plunged into anarchy as the forces of Chaos had struck, and the atmosphere of the planet was obscured by small clouds of smoke, showing where the brunt of the fighting was taking place. Tales of depraved cultists and summoned daemons had brought the Force Commander here. His Battle Barge, the Indomitable, had been part of a joint strike force bound for Armageddon when they’d received news of this insurrection. What had really caught the Force Commander’s attention were the reports of Chaos Space Marines, the foul heretics who had turned on the Imperium during the dark days of the Horus Heresy. Force Commander Ardias saw his duty clearly; find and destroy the Chaos Space Marine warband that was currently pillaging the planet.
Warriors of his chapter’s First Company were among his personal retinue, veteran warriors of hundreds of battles. Inspired by the Dark Angels and their infamous Deathwing, the Marines Mendicant had decreed that all members of the First Company wear Tactical Dreadnought Armor, or Terminator armor, as a potent symbol of the Imperium’s might. It was these stalwart veterans who would be joining Force Commander Ardias on the ground. Members of the 3rd Company had already been inserted to aid the ailing PDF, but Force Commander Ardias had already set his sights on a more important target.
A picture resolved on the Indomitable’s viewscreen, showing a figure clad in red armor, heretical symbols etched into the powered breastplate and large pauldrons. The mark of the Red Corsairs was most prominent, and Force Commander Ardias knew he was staring at the figure of Huron Blackheart, master of the Red Corsairs and former Chapter Master of the Astral Claws. A silent prayer on his lips, Force Commander Ardias pulled his helmet onto his head as he stepped to join his warriors in their teleporter.
A vanguard force of Assault Marines had been the ones who had reported Blackheart’s presence, but they had not reported back in some time. Force Commander Ardias would be teleporting to their last known position, in hopes of finding the lost warriors and catching Blackheart unaware. - -
Hello fellow Dakka-members! I've got a battle report for you all today; my counts as Deathwing versus a Red Corsairs
CSM list. My list was as follows:
HQ:
Force Commander Ardias (Belial,
LC/
LC)
Elites:
Brother Maynard (Dreadnought,
TLAC,
ML): 135
Troops:
Terminator Squad Grayson:
Sergeant (
LC/
LC/Banner)
Heavy Flamer/Chainfist
x2
TH/
SS LC/
LC Terminator Squad Logan:
Sergeant (
SB/
PS)
CML x3 Terminators
Terminator Squad Roth:
Sergeant (
SB/
PS)
Assault Cannon
x3 Terminators
Heavy Support:
Land Raider
Land Raider Crusader (Storm Bolter)
My opponent's list:
HQ:
Daemon Prince (Unknown powers, Warptime, I think, Lash, Wings)
Huron Blackheart
Elites:
Chosen (with meltaguns, I don't remember the exact composition, but it was a squad of 10 or so)
Terminators (3 of them)
Chaos Dread (
TL Bolter, Flamer, x2
DCCW)
Troops:
Berserker Squad in a Rhino
Chaos Space Marines w/ Mark of Nurgle
Heavy Support:
Vindicator
We decided to play the "Scorched Earth" scenario from the new Battle Missions book. Of course, the Red Corsairs went first. We marked down the flaming/smoking terrain and proceeded to play the game. We ended up using 5 objective (my Assault Marines).
Red Corsairs deployment:
Marines Mendicant deployment:
Turn 1: Red Corsairs:
My opponent begins by rolling for his Dreadnought's status. The guy goes insane and shoots at the
CSM squad, doing absolutely nothing to them. At least he won't be coming my way.
The Vindicator was just out of range to shoot at my Terminators, even after they were Lash'd by the Prince, who moved closer to Squad Logan and the Godhammer Raider. A Lascannon from the Nurgle
CSM immobilized my Crusader. :(
Marines Mendicant:
I moved the Godhammer Raider up, and scooted Squad Logan back. I shot the Godhammer Raider at the Daemon Prince, who made his invul, and then fired the Crusader at the Vindicator, managing to Stun it for a turn (no pie plate next turn, yay!). I also fired the Dread at the Prince, but nothing happened. Squad Logan popped a missile off at the Rhino, managing to stun it.
End of turn for me:
Turn 2: Red Corsairs:
My opponent rolls for the Dreadnought again, and, just like last turn, he goes fire crazy, this time shooting at the Vindicator's back armor. He fails to do anything but piss off the driver, who we imagined sticking his head out of the cupola and berating the dreadnought for scorching his paint.
Mr Faildread himself:
The Chosen arrived on my left flank, getting slightly closer to my Raider, thankfully just outside of melta doom range.
The Prince, of course, moved steadily closer, attempting to lash Squad Logan closer to the Vindicator. Still out of range. Meanwhile, Huron and the Berserkers crept up in their Rhino, getting closer to my Crusader.
The Chaos Termies deep strike in close to my Dread and Crusader.
Marines Mendicant:
Squad Grayson and Belial disembarked from the Crusader, ready to put some hurt on the Termies. The Godhammer Raider advanced again, and let Squad Roth out near the Chosen.
The Dread fired at the Termies, dropping one. The Crusader fired at the Vindicator, Stunning it again.
Squad Roth fired at the Chosen, doing absolutely nothing.
Squad Roth then proceeded to charge the Chosen, who owned Squad Roth before the majority of the squad could strike!
I did manage to kill one Chosen with a powerfist, but that was a horrible way to whiff.
On my other flank, Squad Grayson and Belial minced the Chaos Termies, and then consolidated back towards the immobile Crusader.
Turn 3: Red Corsairs:
You guessed it, folks. The Dread went insane again:
The Lascannon from the Nurgle Marines fired again at my Crusader, doing nothing. Huron's Rhino got closer again to my Crusader.
And the Daemon Prince got into combat with Squad Logan, who'd been camping happily on an objective.
Sergeant Logan refused to back down, and put a wound on the Daemon Prince with his power sword. Brother Garth, the Terminator with the
CML, swung his powerfist and Falcon Punched the Daemon Prince in the kneecap, for a total of two wounds on the Prince. I lost combat, but made my "No Retreat" save.
Turn 4: Red Corsairs:
The Dreadnought FINALLY managed to not roll a 1 or a 6, and began slogging up towards the immobile Crusader. The Rhino swung around in front of my Crusader in an attempt to block my exit point. The Lascannon took a shot at my Crusader, failing again.
Meanwhile, the Daemon Prince overwhelmed Squad Logan, and the Chosen beat down Squad Roth. :(
Marines Mendicant:
Without much else to do, I fired Brother Maynard at the Prince, doing nothing, and fired the Crusader at the Vindicator, managing to not do anything this time. The Godhammer Raider rushed towards the squad of Nurgle Marines, hoping to contest their objective.
I honestly was pretty worried at this point when the game continued to turn 5...
Turn 5 Red Corsairs:
The Dreadnought continued to lumber up towards the Crusader, while the Vindicator fired at my Crusader, thankfully doing nothing. The Lascannon fired at the Crusader as well, again, doing nothing.
The Prince got into combat with Brother Maynard, ripping him open like a tin can before consolidating closer to the Crusader. Things weren't looking good for Squad Grayson and Belial...
Marines Mendicant:
The Crusader fired at the Vindicator, doing nothing. On it's way towards the objective, the Godhammer Raider rammed the Vindicator, managing to stun it. We made a few jokes about the thing being piloted by Phillip Arsehole from Spaceballs, and then continued on to turn 6.
Turn 6:
Red Corsairs:
The Dreadnought got very close to the Crusader, but couldn't block an exit point. Huron and the Berserkers popped out of the Rhino, and alongside the Prince, charged the Crusader, blowing it up. Everyone inside made it out okay, but were now exposed to the angry Daemon Prince and the Berserkers...
And meanwhile, the Chosen tried to run after the retreating Godhammer Raider, but were way too far away to do anything.
Eep.
Marines Mendicant:
Deciding to be bold, I charged both the Berserkers and the Prince with Squad Grayson and Belial, who managed to kill all of the Berserkers and Huron before they could strike (ahh, Lightning Claws
ftw). I even managed to put a wound on the Prince with a Thunder Hammer. The Prince's retaliation was swift, knocking my unit down to just Brother Raine, a
TH/
SS Termie.
Before Belial's death...
The Dreadnought stared, pondering if he should get into combat or not...
Turn 7:
Red Corsairs:
The Dreadnought rolls a six on his insanity roll, and it turns out that Huron's Rhino is closer than the swirling melee right in front of him. So he charges it and blows it sky high, much to all of our amusement (except my opponent, who was berating his Dread for going insane all game long).
The Chosen continued to charge towards the retreating Raider, but were nowhere close to catching up.
In assault, the Prince butchers Belial and Sergeant Grayson, but Brother Raine soldiered on.
I imagine that he did something similar to this as he felled the Daemon Prince, consolidating towards one of the objectives.
Marines Mendicant:
The Godhammer Raider slammed into the building containing the
CSM, firing a Lascannon. The Marine made his cover save, but their objective was now contested.
Meanwhile, Brother Raine, the last surviving member of my strike force, cuddled up with the objective, gaining me the win!
In the end, it was one objective contested, and one objective held by the Marines Mendicant. I had a great game and played a great opponent who was willing to indulge my bouts of perpetual laughter at his Dreadnought's perpetual insanity, and at the notion that my last standing foot soldier cost him victory.
---
Rising slowly, Force Commander Ardias willed himself to see through the pain and exhaustion that had permeated his body. The Daemon Prince had been unable to kill him, it seemed, and as he rose, Ardias saw the slain bodies of Sergeant Grayson’s squad all around him, save one. The wrecked remains of the Land Raider and Rhino still smouldered, and Ardias guessed that Blackheart had been lying in wait, with an ambush ready for the strike force that would inevitably come for him. The Tyrant had seemed so confident when he’d engaged Ardias in battle, the screams of Squad Logan and Squad Roth only bolstering the dark warrior’s confidence. He had, in his mind, already won the day.
As Ardias removed his damaged helmet, the sprawled form, it’s chest cut into ribbons, proved that the Tyrant of Badab had been terribly wrong. The wrent form lay broken, and Ardias heaved a sigh of relief. Though the price had been high, the former Master of the Astral Claws was dead. Retracting his lightning claws, Ardias saw that the Red Corsairs warband had retreated, no doubt having lost the will to fight after the death of their commander. But what of the last member of Sergeant Grayson’s squad?
As if to answer this question, a solitary form emerged from the smoke and mist, carrying the limp form of an Assault Marine in his armored limbs, a deactivated thunder hammer hanging from his side. Ardias recognized the survivor of Sergeant Grayson’s squad, Brother Raine, and nodded in appreciation. The Assault Marine looked like he would recover, in time, just as the crew of the Arneus reported that the other Assault Marines had been located, wounded but still alive. Ardias knew that Raine had dispatched the Daemon Prince by himself, and was eternally grateful to the lone warrior for continuing to fight, despite being horribly outmatched and outnumbered by his enemy. The slain bodies of the enemy close combat squad, clustered around behind Raine, were testimony to his combat prowess and the glory he had earned this day.
As the Arneus came back around, carrying the wounded and dead members of Ardias’ retinue, Ardias boarded his transport, not giving the battlefield a second look. If he had turned, he might have seen a dark energy encompass a prone form, and seen Blackheart’s hand twitch…
