Savage Khorne Berserker Biker
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After months of building and painting my first army, I finally got to play a real, serious game beyond small skirmishes just for practice. With some trepidation, I went to a gathering of local gamers who had been at it for a long time and had their own forum. The host had just finished crushing a Space wolves list, and happily offered to do the same to mine.
Consanguinity of Slaughter Chaos Marines:
-Slaanesh Daemon Prince w/ wings and Lash
-Kharn the Betrayer
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-10 CSM with 1 meltagun and icon of chaos glory in a rhino
-7 Plague marines with 2 meltagun and a plague champion with Powerfist, rhino
-8 Khorne Berserkers, Skull chanpion with power weapon
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-Chaos Land Raider w/ Daemonic possession
-2 Obliterator Cults with 2 oblits each.
Salamanders:
-Vulkan He'stan (OF COURSE *groan*)
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-Dreadnought w/multimelta and storm bolter in a drop pod.
-5 TH/SS terminators
-10 tactical marines w/ multimelta, combi-melta, Power Fist (divided into 2 5-man squads), rhino
-10 tactical marines w/ multimelta, combi-melta, Power Fist (divided into 2 5-man squads), rhino
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-Land speeder Storm w/ Heavy Flamer (possibly a storm bolter)
-Vindicator
-Land Raider Redeemer (maybe. The one with multi-melta and flame cannons) w/ extra armor.
I don't remember all the details of his list, but that's the gist of it. Now, to the batrep proper! Mission was objetive capture.
Chaos wins the deployment roll. I make him deploy and go first. He spreads his motor line from the center to the right of the heavily urban ruins map, with craters thrown in. Not much room to maneuver! His objective is a ruined building in the center/right of the terrain. Mine is put in a tall building on the far left.
Seeing him place his vindicator and a rhino loaded with multi-melta danger on the far right, I deny him that flank in my deployment. My rhinos go along the left, to reinforce my objective. A pair of oblits holes in a crater back and to the center, with a good line of fire to the central objective. My Land Raider starts forward, just a bit to the side so it doesn't block oblit artillery, with the Daemon Prince behind it. The other oblit pair stays in reserve to drop behind their armor.
TURN 1
The Salamanders advance slowly. The squads on foot stay behind long lines od debris to take position and defend their objective. Their Land Raider risks a multimelta shot at mine, but at maximum range it doesn't even glance.
The Chaos and plague marines send their rhinos in a crescent to the left and forward, skirting a devastated city block to try and trap the enemy Land Raider and rhino in the next turn. The Chais Land raider, glowing crimson and festtoned in the bloody regalia of the World Eaters, drive forward six inches. it's lascannon, along with those of the Oblits, spark on the front armor of the Redeemer to no effect. The Daemon prince follows and moves to the right a bit to get closer.
TURN 2
A fiery tear marks the sky as a green drop pod lands with terribly accuracy behind both chaos rhinos, opening to discharge a massive green Dreadnought. The right flank of the SM army closes in, and the vindicator sghts the Daemon Prince, blowing a dome of destruction around him and causing one wound, but thankfully failing to hit the chaos LR. The Salamander LRR Multimelta misses my own LR, but the rerolls nails a hit and a penetrating result! Not to fear; the demons bound to its ancient armored hulk keep it running without fail where a mortal crew would be picking itself off the ceiling. The damnable dreanought explodes the Plague Marine Rhino, but its passengers rise from the crater unharmed, already raising weapon in their putrescent hands, the bolter fire from the Drop pod itself barely even felt by the death guard veterans.
The Traitor legions snap into action as the battle picks up. The Land raider surges forward, lascannon hit again failing to pierce its loyalist similar. The Obliterator Cult, on the other hand, stomps powerfully and with surprising speed from their ruins into optimal multi-melta range, producing a hit and a Stunned result, downgraded to Shaken by the extra armor. The Salamander dreadnought leaks gore and maniotic fluid as plague marine meltas boil the sarcophgus inside it, wrecking the walker. The Daemon Prince leaps forward, spotting some tactical marines through a cracked window defending their objective. Reaching into the warp, it guides the whispers of Slaanesh to lure them all the way mack into their deploymet area and then some.
((Here I made a critical mistake. Actually, two. In using a psychic power, I kept my Prince from assaulting the Land Raider in the next phase. And I also forgot to disembark my zerkers, thinking that was done in the assault phase! Live and learn...if you live to learn))
TURN 3 (where things get awesome)
The salamander line remains firm. Another Devastator shell pierces the air that is thick with the ozone scent of lascassnons and meltas, glancing the chaos raider but again failing to affect its infernal machinery. The assault ramp of the lowers, and a split second later five assault termies, led by Vulkan himself, march out and surround the Daemon Prince. As they get into position, the daemons massive sword rises and falls, splitting two of the assailants asunder before they can ready their shields. The survivors, along with Vulkan, pound it relentlessly with hammer and nalberd until it loses it grip on the materium and fades, to go clean out the gore pit at the Basilica od torments until it can get a pass out of the Warp. They then consolidate back into their land raider. A rhino passenger manages to explode the black legion rhino from barely five meters away, but the passenger regroup quickly.
However, seeing their favorite monstrous creature, and supplier of prime slaaneshi porny fanfics (featuring Lelith Hesperax) banished, the chaos legions unleash a ruinous furiy upon the ebony-skinned puppets of the false emperor! On the right rear of the field, two Obliterators covered in the rotting colors of the Death Guard flow out of a disturbingly abcess-like warp gate, already drooling pus through rotting smiles. Their multi-meltas warp the main feed system of the SM vindicator, turning it into an expensive rhino with a shovel in front! Inspired, their brethren on the center on the field walk forward into the ruined city block, and explode the loyalist Land Raider with such force that one of its terminator passengers is turnted into V8 inside his armor.
Tearing clawing at the inside of the chaos land raider's assault ramp, which failed to open the serious turn, the berserkers cheer when Kharm himself kicks it down. A mass of red-gold armor and whirling chainaxes spills, firing bolt and plasma pistols that spatter over storm shields. Their advance, however, is a shower of gore that makes Khorne himself cross his legs on his brass throne to conceal a certain volume in his battletrunks. The Betrayer collides with Vulkan with the fury of a drop pod making landfall. By the time his axe stops swinging for a heartbeat, He'stan's corpse need a blueprint to be out together, never even getting to nick the ancient World eater, and three of his own berserkers use their dying strength to claw their disenboweling wonds wider for a a more pleasing slaughter. The remaining Salamander termies are cut to ribbons, their corpses tossed back into the chaos raider to be put on golden, upside-down thrones back in the slaughter-ship. The center objective is fallen!
Turn 4
Beheaded, the Salamander flails. Tactical bolter fire rain on the berserkers, bringing down one. A cloud of heavy flamer promethium from the Land Speeder engulf their crater, to no effect. A rhino meltagun claims another. The other tactical squad to the right tried to pick the black legion marines, but they are already safe inside ruins and crossing to secure the central objective. The other SM Rhino unleashes a hail of storm bolter and melta fire upon the chaos marines in the ruin, killing two, and then hurries to the left to try and raid the chaos objective guarded by the Plague marines. The castrated vindicator fires its bolter at the Nurgle Oblits in a feeble attempt at payback.
The Land speeder is sliced in four by lascannon beams, the remains peppered by heavy bolter shells out of beautiful spite. The Death Guard Oblits behind enemy lines rain impossibly accurate plasma cannon hemispheres of death upon the squad holding the SM home objective, killing two, but the survivors hold in their melting cover. A hapless 5-squad that was too near the center objective for its own good is peppered by rapid-fire plasmaguns from the center oblits, the two survivors beheaded by a careless sneeze by the Betrayer.
Round 5
The sole rhino near the center disembarks its 5-man squad. Their bolter fire kills the skull champion besides Kharn, and a multi-metal shot vaporizes the Betrayer until Khorne needs some Viagra and revives him later on. The tactical survivors in the SM home objective fire everything they have at the Death Guard oblits, but their melta weapons miss and bolter fire is all but ignored. The vindicator puts the pedal to the metal and tries to tank shock the Plague oblits, but they avoid it and mak their way into nearby ruins.
Tired of watching as their friends cover themselves in glory, the black legion squad annihilates the Salamander 5-squad in a rithless barrage of melta and bolter fire, after the center Oblitrs miss with their plasma cannons. The Chaos Raider's lascannons score a hit on the rhino behind the fresh(est) corpses but fail to penetrate. The Death Guard oblits kill two more of the tacticals holding the SM objective, but the lone survivor fights on. Maybe his escape path is blocked by the vitrified corpses of his friends. The Plague marines form a strong fortified position in their own home objective, pausing only to destroy the Drop pod that had been slightly inconveniencing them with strom bolter fire for a while now, ending the annoyance with a pair of Power Fist blows.
Turn 6
The gods decree that the failure of the loyalists shall be drawn out. Storm bolter fire from the center rhino claims another black legion marine before it drive forward to block them from fully reaching the center onjective, as they had been slowed by treacherous terrain in the debris. The other rhino disgorges yet more victims near the plague marines. The rapid fire of the tacticals and their vehicle finds at most unresponsive, putrified flesh and fails to cause any casualties. The lone vindicator tries to shock the Plague oblits again, and then merely blocks their sight to protect the last surviving sargeant in his home objective.
Lascannon and heavy bolter fire from the Khornate Land Raider shakes and crushes the Salamander rhino shielding the center objective, but it endures. Twin-linked Melta fire from the advancing Oblits, however, wrecks it good. Their brethren can't more enough around the vindicator to kill see the last remaining sargeant in the SM objective; they angrily take their frustration out on the tank, exploding it in a way pleasing to the 5th chaos god, Michal Bay. Finally, the seven Plague marines dispatch two more loyalists with bolter and melta fire, securing their turf.
Game ends. Chaos reigns, as that creepy fox says in Lars von Trier's Antichrist.
A very fun first game. Moments of amazing luck, good and bad, on both sides. I put a giant dent in my own plans early on by goofing around with Lash instead of just tossing the DP at the enemy Land Raider, but in the end he turned out to be a decent tank to soak assault termi attention.
Lessons learned: Daemonic possession is worth every point on a land raider. It would have been a different game is the shaken and stunned results it suffered had taken effect. Oblits are also as great as people say. They may lket you down in one turn, but never two in a row.
My opponent was exceedingly gracious and clarified several rules for me while we played. I see what he was trying to do breaking all his troops into combat squads (it felt like I could never pin them all down), but it also reduced their menace as they lacked the volume of fire to really threaten any defended position. They could pick out the odd one with melta of bolter fire, and even kill Kharn after all his friend were gone with melta power, but get rid of 7 plagueboys or two oblits? Takes a lot of luck.
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