To conclude out local club's ongoing
40K campaign, a friend and I decided to set up a larger-scale game to bring the whole thing to a proper close. So we got 2500 points each, chaos vs. order, some nice terrain, all painted troops and went for broke.
CSM
-
HQ
Abaddon the Despoiler
Daemon Prince (Mark of Tzeentch, Wings, Gift of Chaos, Winds of Chaos)
-Elites
4 Chaos Terminators (1 heavy flamer, 3 combi-meltas)
5 Chaos Chosen (2 flamers, 3 meltaguns), rhino w/ combi-flamer
-Troops
8 Khorne Berserkers (Skull champion w/power weapon), plasma pistol
10 Chaos Space Marines (Aspiring Champion w/ Power Fist, combi-flamer) 2 meltaguns, rhino w/ combi-melta
8 Plague Marines (Plague Champion w/Power Fist, combi-melta), 2 meltaguns
9 Thousand Sons (Aspiring Sorcerer w/ doombolt, meltabombs), rhino w/dozer blades
-Heavy Support
3 Obliterators
2 Obliterators
Chaos Land Raider (Daemonic possession, dozer blade)
Salamanders
-
HQ
Vulkan He’stan
-Elite
2xDreadnaught (
MM/
HF), each in a drop pod.
6 Assault terminators (
TH/
SS) in a Land Raider Redeemer w/ Multi-melta, extra armor.
-Troops
10-man Tactical Squad (Sergeant with Power Fist, combi-melta), flamer, multi-melta, rhino
10-man Tactical Squad (Sergeant with plasma pistol), flamer, rocket launcher, drop pod
10-man Tactical Squad (Sergeant with combi-melta), meltagun, multi-melta, rhino
5 scouts in a Land speeder Storm w/ Heavy Flamer
-Heavy Support
Vindicator
2xPredator with
tl-lascannon and lascannon sponsons.
Chaos won the roll-off and chose the side with the most nice perches for my oblits, and an objective within easy reach of cover for my foot-slogging plagues. I deployed the Raider and the
CSM rhino on the roads crossing the map, and the Thousand Sons rhino sideways to grant cover to the plagues in case the Sallies get bold and try for a Vindicator shelling. The Daemon Prince goes alone on the right to harass the objective there and maybe kill some troops and vehicles .
Chaos deploy
Sallies deploy a wide line, with the Predators utterly exposed facing the
CSM rhino, Raider facing mine, and his Land speeder Storm scouting behind a ruin.
Salamander Starting line. Note the Land Speeder to the left of the red building in the back.
TURN 1
Full board view!
Salamanders try to steal initiative but fail. My
CSM take advantage of the road to charge 18 inches forward and disembark, with two meltaguns on the left side and most of the others on the back and right so they get cover if the enemy Vindicator gets ideas. The Thousand Sons rhino also moves forward but not as much, guarding the ruins and the center objectives. Chaos Land Raider comes up behind, starting the classic game of
LR chicken that often happens when two face off. Daemon Prince Flies forward and to the right, landing on the right objective. All vehicles pop smoke. Plagues march up along the center and run into the ruins (not that it would have helped against the enemy
LRR’s uber-flamers)
Who dares, wins!
Shooting, the
CSM blow up apredator with melta fire. Oblits fail to scratch the Land Raider, but the other cult nukes an attack bike with a lascannon shot, making the unit fail morale and almost leave the board. Daemon Prince casts Winds of Chaos and hits the
LS Storm, but fails to cause damage.
"Why yes, I can hold this flank by myself, no problem! What makes you think otherwise?"
Salamanders
The whole left flank f the army converges on the Daemon Prince, with the scouts in the
LSS, a rhino disembarking 10 tacticals and a dread all walking up. Surviving predator stays put, and the Vindicator makes a right and aims for my
CSM. A drop pod lands on my left side, with a
MM/
DCCW dread inside. He almost charges his own
LR forward and disembarks, but thinks twice and hangs back to shoot.
The arriving dread vapes one of my obliterators with a multi-melta.
Vindicator engages the black legionaires. Drop pod gearing a Dread on the right side arrives at my home objective.
Vindicator aims a shell on the center of the
CSM rhino (which would hit 7 marines as well!), but it scatters back and kills ‘only’ 4 marines, who pass morale. Scouts, tactical and Dread unleash bolters, flamers and lots of meltas and wipe out my Daemon Prince with barely a whimper of protest!
"Daemon Prince Execution Squad, Assemble!!"
On the bright side, all of his Land Raider and Predator shots whiff on smoke cover saves. He does shake the 1KSons rhino, though. I’m close to 3 objectives while he threatens two.
TURN 2
The
CSM rhino moves 6” forward, into the lip of the crater left by the exploded predator. His former passengers walk right toward the vindicator that shot at them to make it pay for the insolence. The Chaos
LR moves up six inches and drops Abaddon and his cohort or zerkers in front of the enemy Raider, ready to assault. Meanwhile, the shaken 1Ksons rhino zooms 12 inches and ram the Land Speeder in the back, exploding it…until my friend remembers it is allowed to dodge, being a skimmer, and jinks easily out of the way. Footslogging plagues roll nicely on terrain and march up, getting their meltagunners close to the green Raider. My Chosen arrive from reserve on the right side and disembark close to the tactical ad Dread there.
Chosen and their rhino arrive to try and avenge the Daemon Prince.
Shooting, the
CSM rhino hits the predator on the side and stuns it, but extra armor makes it merely shaken. The
CSM immobilize the Sallie vindicator with meltas. Left side oblits pelt the nearby Dreadnaught with melta as well, removing its melee arm. The plague marines perform much better, as the only plague within optimal melta range wrecks the enemy Land Raider. However, the enemy terminators and
HQ all disembark mostly safe on the right side, where the wreck and my own 1Ksons rhino make it hard to reach. Abbie and friends instead run to the left to try and assault the troops there. My chosen whiff horribly, with all meltaguns missing and flamers causing a single casualty. The other obliterator cult send plasma cannon love toward the disembarked terminators, but the first shot scatter right on top of the 1Kson’s rhino and explode it, killing one rubric marine. The other shot scatters less and kills two assault termis.
The center become a glorious mess. A wrecked Sallie raider, 1Ksons exploded by their own oblit friends, disembarkers zerkers and Abaddon trying to find a route to charge!
1kSons open fire with their inferno bolts and Doombolts and claim 1 more assault termi.
CSM assault the Vindicator and wrecks it with powerfist blows, removing that threat.
"After being underdogs for 4 games, we're finally having a day in the spotlight, guys! Keep it up!"
Salamanders
Another drop pod arrives, spewing 10 green tactical in front of my other oblit cult. The shaken predator drives forward all the way down to get closer to the leftmost objective and pops smoke. Vulkan detaches from his terminator guard and climbs on top of his wrecked Land Raider to get closer to the zerkers and Abaddon.
Full board view. Notice the new drop pod at my that CSM's backfield and a lone Vulkan behind the berserkers, exactly in front of the Green LR.
A better view of the action around the center objectives.
The newly-arrived tactical pour tons of bolter, flamer and melta fire on my oblits, but only cause a single bolter wound.. Meanwhile, his crowd on the right objective murders 4 out of 5 Chosen with tactical and Dread fire, and the last one gets assaulted and killed by the walker. Meanwhile, in his home objective, the
LSS unleashes
tl-heavy flamer on the 1ksons, as well as shooting from scouts, tacticals, a rhino and attack bikes. This results in 5 more dead rubrics that are then assaulted by the two surviving terminators, but everyone whiffs and combat stays locked. The armless Dread rolls assault on hard terrain like a champ and engages my left home oblits, but everyone whiffs.
Get used to this melee. It's not going anywhere for a looong time.
Vulkan assaults Abbadon’s unit after roasting 4 (!) zerkers with his flamer. Abbie rolls a 1 and stabs his foot with his own sword, leaving Vulkan free to stab three more World Eaters.
Vulkan demolishing the berserkers like they owe him money.
TURN 3
Termicide units drops on target behind the attack bikes close to the sally home objective. The heavy flamer hits the Land speeder but does nothing, yet it wound an attack bike along the way. The combi-meltas all whiff.The
CSM march back after the remaining predator, and their rhino also zooms past to park between the enely tank and the objective so it can’t be contested. The chosen rhino drives closer to their objective to harass it a bit (it’s early in the game for that, but what else could it do?) and kills a tactical with its
tl-bolter.
Plagues start to march back to get closer to their home objective, shooting at an empty rhino but missing. The left-side oblits stay locked with the Dread in
CC, with no side causing damage. The right-side ones, however, both immobilize and blow the heavy flamer from the enemy Land speeder. The Chaos Land Raider fires everything it has at the tactical squad in the back but they make their cover saves. The 1KSons stay in
CC with the terminators, losing one to their blows and another to losing-side saves, leaving the Aspiring sorcerer alone in the fray.
"Tell me why I have to be a Powerslave...."
CSM miss their shots on the zooming, smoked predator, but then assault it and the Champion gets a triple six on the roll to hit, wrecking it.
"We're on fire, guys! Three blows, three hits on a vehicle moving 12 inches! Call me Kharn from now on! Minus the betrayin."
In melee, Abaddon puts three wounds on Vulkan but he makes all saves, then kills the last remaining zerker and puts a wound on Abaddon since he won combat that round!
"I, Ezeklye Abaddon, being upstaged by my own legionaires! This really is rock bottom."
Salamanders
The drop-pod tactical again unleash hell onto the nearby blits, but cause no wounds. In the back, tactical, a rhino, scouts and attacks bikes fire everything at the termicide unit, but kill only two, who are then assaulted by the bikes, getting locked into a tied combat with no wounds.
The last two Assault terminators finally kill the Aspiring sorcerer and consolidate toward the center. The armless Dread gets immobilized by the Obliterators in
CC. This time, Vulkan eats six wounds from Abaddon’s sword, and failing a single save, gets cleaved in twain. Abaddon consolidates on top of the enemy Raider Wreck to get at the tasty tactical on the other side.
Abaddon:
"I can see my Land Raider from here! Of course, it's actually right across from me."
Back on the far right, The Dreadnaught immobilizes the Chosen rhino with a multi-melta.
"Don't melta me, bro! We green machinery should stick together!"
TURN 4
Start of turn 4.
The Chaos Land Raider pivots to bring all guns to bear on the approaching terminators. The Heavy Bolter kills one, but the lascannons stop on Storm Shields. Plague marines also keep walking back and fire along the way but fail to kill the last termi. Abaddon stalks over the smoking
LRC hull ad drops behind a full tactical squad, killing two with the bolter in his Talon. He then assaults them and completely wipes the unit, consolidating right on top their home objective! The
CSM prowl into the left-side ruins, surrounding the objective there.
Abaddon denying the SM home objective. Terminator locked with Attack Bikes to the right, and tacticals who killed the Daemon Prince in the early game finally arrive to reinforce the crumbling center.
The left-side Obliterators finally wreck the Dread they were locked in combat with, and consolidate a bit to the right since they are all out of targets in that flank. Their pals from the other Cult drop
tl-flamers on the tactical, causing a dozen ones but a single casualty due to amazing saves. The Chosen rhino fires it’s
tl-bolter on the tactical there and kill one. Attack bikes and chaos terminators stay locked in combat, with a bike taking a wound and dying, as well as a traitor termi.
Salamanders
Again, the drop-pod tacticals unleash rockets, bolters and flamers upon the nearby oblits, causing a wound and killing an already-wounded aberration. The surviving dread on the right starts marching down toward the tactical drop pod, while the tactical squad there boards their rhino and zooms back home where their friends were murdered by Abaddon to try and recover their home objective. The last terminator charges the traitor Land Raider, hitting all three attacks since it had not moved, but causes no damage at all.
Assault terminator using the enemy tank as cover from plagues before charging it.
The melee between the chaos termi and attack bike goes on with no victor. Scouts run to the right-most objective to claim it since the local
tac squad bailed home. A rhino and a few straglgers shoot at Abaddon, with no effect.
Scouts securing the right objective.
TURN 5
The Land Raider drives six inches up to fire at the tactical rhino coming from the right and immobilizes it. Now with a much better view of the last assault terminator, plagues open fire and murder it with bolters.
The lone oblit on the right dumps a plasma cannon glob on the nearby tactical and wipes 5 off the board with a neat hit. The two others on the left shoot at the rhino way back to keep it from contesting, but it gets a cover save and makes it. Abaddon stays put on top of the enemy objective.
What is left of a Tac squad after a plasma love letter from Obliterators.
Salamanders
Tacticals disembark from the rhino near Abaddon. They open fire and manage to score two wounds on him with bolters, leaving him with a single wound ! Storm bolters on rhinos also try to kill the Despoiler but fail. Scouts run and reach their objective.
Last Salamander incursion to try and contest/claim chaos home objectives.
The drop-pod tactical finally start moving left to try and contest my home objective, but it may be too late. They fire on my plagues along the way but kill nothing. The empty rhino in the back attemps a tank shock, but two move out of the way safely. It still leaves his rhino contesting the center objective for a 2X1 result in my favor.
He rolls the dice and we get a turn 6.
TURN 6
My plagues stretch on a line to claim two objectives (my home one and the center) and claim both. Then they use their meltas and slag the contesting rhino.
Nurgle boys multitasking to hold two objectives after melting a pesky rhino.
The left-side oblits send more plasma cannon love toward the running tacticals, killing only two. Thankfully, the
CSM rhino zooms around a corner and its
tl-bolter kills the remaining two, leaving all my objectives free from threat.
A wild rhino appears and murders the last two tacticals!
"We've done our share, man. Two predators and a Vindi. We're chilling here by this nice objective."
Abaddon plinks with his bolter-claw at the tactical squad and kills one. The last termicide finally kills the last attack bike and consolidates toward the scouts and their objective. I don’t expect him to actually contest it, but who knows.
Salamanders
The lone Dread coming down the right side uses his multi-melta to insta-kill the last oblit on that side. Tacticals encircle Abaddon in a firing squad, but use rapid-fire instead of pistols; apparently even those who know no fear think twice before tussin’ with the Despoiler. Abaddon makes all of his saves and keeps his last wound while denying the loyalist objective. The scouts shoot at the approaching lone terminator but also fail to cause any harm.
"Shoot me! Shoot me more! It'll only make me stronger and make my topknot taller! MUahahaha!"
Die is rolled and comes up a 2. Game over. Chaos holds three objectives, Salamanders one, with one being contested.
Chaos Victory!
Comments: Salamanders is a fun army to play with, and my friend’s version even more so because he’s always tweaking something. Both our armies are very geared towards
MeQ-killing, so the matches tend to turn very lethal.
I had great luck with saves, except for my Daemon Prince. Abaddon smacked himself once, which is to be expected, but things still turned alright. It would have been nice if he had shown his work earlier to keep the zerkers alive: one more troop would have allowed for a bolder endgame strategy. Now that Warptime has been nerfed beyond reason, I tried the new, expensive Tzeentch prince and wasn’t too impressed. The 1Ksons also caused very little damage, but both them and the Prince both required 3 units -each- to bring them down, soaking a good amount of fire that could have damaged other units.
The surprise of the match, however, were my humble, plain Chaos Marines. They usually get the crap jobs in my army, and end up diced by banshees or fried by flamestorm cannons, but this time they busted two expensive Predators and a vindicator and then still ran home to claim an objective.
Strategy-wise, things worked out well. I planned to hold the center with a good concentration of troops from the start and then reinforce whatever flank needed help from there. The left flank took care of itself and needed no help, and my troops on the right flank were so ineffective and folded so quickly there was no time to reinforce anything, so holding the center was all that I really needed to do.
The Salamanders had some back luck at dice, but also lacked a bit of focus. In his place, I would have switched the placement of his drop pods. If he had dropped his tactical drop pod on my left, he could have actually had a great shot at claiming my home objective, something his dread couldn’t do. And his drop-dread would have been just as effective harassing my oblits on the right. He was very bold and smart to detach Vulkan and wipe out my zerkers, but should have used his terminators to crush my plagues instead of my 1Ksons. Finally, he left his predators too exposed considering my
CSM rhino was on a road leading straight toward them and I had first turn!
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