++Morning has broken over the frozen world of Korza IV. The sun shines brightly, yet there is no warmth to be found. Commissar Ditriov has been attached to our platoon for this mission. The other men fear him, but as a proud servant of the Emperor I feel there is nothing to be afraid of. He tells us the orders from on high are to hold our ground until the enemy, whomever they may be, show themselves to us. At that point, they will start a summoning ritual, revealing whatever artifact is buried beneath the snow. It's up to us to take that object and bring it back to base, where it will be destroyed. Although the enemy is unknown to myself and my brothers, there is nothing that can stand up to the guns and treads of the Valhallan 32nd!++
It's been a while since I've done a battle report, and I thought I'd come back in grand form and pull out all the stops for this one! The battle today is my Valhallan Imperial Guard vs. The Harrowed Chaos Daemons.
1500 points
Dawn of War
The Relic
Valhallan 32nd Rifles:
- Company Command squad with standard, master of ordnance, lascannon
- Infantry Platoon 1:
- Platoon command with 4x flamers
- Blob of 30 with power axe, meltagun x3, commissar with power axe
- Heavy Weapons Squad with mortars
- Heavy Weapons Squad with lascannons
Infantry Platoon 2:
- Platoon command with 4x grenade launchers
- Blob of 30 with power axe, meltagun x3, commissar with power sword
- Leman Russ Battle Tank
- Leman Russ Battle Tank
- Basilisk squadron (2)
- Aegis Defense Line with quadgun
The Harrowed:
- Herald of Tzeentch x2
- Herald of Khorne with Juggernaut
- Herald of Tzeentch on disc
- 10 Horrors
- 10 Horrors
- 10 Bloodletters
- 4 Flamers
- 9 Flesh Hounds of Khorne
- 9 Screamers of Tzeentch
- Soulgrinder
I don't know any of the upgrades or if I even got the numbers quite right, I really don't know Daemons! I do know that there are some absolutely sick conversions in this army though:
He chose to deploy first, so after putting The Relic down in the middle of the field, he hid a squad of Horrors with their Herald behind the landing pad on my left flank, while the right saw the Flesh Hounds of Khorne and the Khorne Herald hiding in the trees. I put down a big castle formation, with the Aegis Defense Line forming the basis of my defensive area. I put the Company Command Squad dead center behind the ridgeline, with the heavy weapons around them. The front of my lines were anchored by my infantry blobs, with their command squads following closely behind them, one of which was manning the quadgun. The Basilisks went near the Mortars and quadgun, and my two Leman Russes anchored down the sides. Later I found out I'd been cheating, and that the Aegis Defense Line needs to be one continuous thing instead of being scattered around, but the more you know, right?
I rolled to seize the initiative and failed. We also rolled for nightfight, and it was a no show. With that, we started the game!
TURN 1
The Horrors and Herald moved up onto the landing pad, casting Prescience and Precognition on themselves. The Hounds moved up as fast as they could go. My opponent rolled on the Warpstorm table, and something happened which caused one of the Hounds to be wounded, as well as stripping a Hull Point off my right side Leman Russ. The Horrors threw some fireballs at my left side blob, killing 3 of them and granting the squad a magic 6+ Feel No Pain save for some reason! I'm not one to look a gift Horror in the mouth, so I don't question it. End of his turn looked like this:
++“Steel yourselves! The enemy has shown itself!” I heard the Commissar bellow. I readied my lasgun and manned the wall, until a hellish dog bounded into my sights.++
I barely move this turn, just backing up my right flank Leman Russ so it doesn't get charged. My Basilisks plunk a hull point off the Soulgrinder, and my left blob and mortars kill 5 Horrors. Between my tanks, the blob on the right with
FRFSRF, and the quadgun, I'm able to drop four Khornedogs.
++The beasts came rushing at us, soldiering through lasfire, until the thunder of our big guns brought them down, that is!++
End of my turn looked like this:
TURN 2
Flamers and Horrors with a Herald drop next to my left flank blob, while the Screamers with the disc Herald drop near the Khornedogs.
The Khornedogs get all up in my business, and the Horrors on the landing pad shuffle around a little. My quadgun intercepts one of the flamers and kills it. The Warpstorm goes off again, this time taking a Hull Point off my left side Leman Russ. Shooting sees the two squads of Horrors and the Soulgrinder kill 8 guardsmen from the blob, while the Flamers kill another 4 and three men from the Platoon Command Squad next to them. Assault sees the Khornedogs get stuck in with the Basilisks and mortar teams:
The fight goes slightly better than I was expecting, with one of the guardsmen actually getting a wound in before getting eaten alive. One Bassie gets stunned and loses an extra Hull Point, but it's still in the fight. End of his turn looked like this:
I move my right flank Leman Russ back a bit, and bring my right flank blob in close for some serious
FRFSRF action. My left flank Leman Russ takes aim at the freshly dropped attackers:
While the brave men of Valhalla get close to the dogs:
++“First rank! Fire! Second rank! Fire!” Bellowed the officer behind the defense line. I dropped to one knee and unloaded my lasgun into the hellish monsters in front of me. Grenades and high-explosive shells soared overhead and smashed into the sick parodies of dogs in front of us. The Commissar said he'd whip the first of us to stop firing.++
The right side blob dropped 3 dogs with their las fire,while the grenade launchers from the right flank Platoon Command Squad put a wound on the Juggernaut Herald. The functioning Basilisk and right flank Leman Russ blow away 7 of the 9 Screamers, while the left flank Leman Russ blows away 7 of the newly arrived Horrors. The Command squad blows the phlegm cannon off the Soulgrinder while the lascannon teams bounce off its invuln save. The depleted left flank blob takes down 2 flamers, while their platoon command squad charges the remaining one, only to get burned in Overwatch. End of my turn looked like this:
TURN 3
The Bloodletters drop in near the objective, but scatter into dangerous terrain and 3 of them die. The Soulgrinder advances as it no longer has the big gun holding it back, and the Screamers move in on my right flank Leman Russ. The lone flamer goes after my lascannon teams, and the dogs reform to fight the blob on my right flank. Shooting is brutal, and between the two units of Horrors, 11 of my left flank Guardsmen die, even with going to ground and that magical 6+ Feel No Pain save. There's some solace as one unit of Horrors gets perils'd and one model dies. The Soulgrinder stuns one of my two Basilisks with its remaining gun as it advances. The lone flamer torches one of my lascannon teams, and forces a morale test, which they fail and run offboard.
++“You will stand your ground! Fix bayonets!” The Commissar bellowed into my ear while I fumbled with the bayonet from my hip. Those of us without bayonets unloaded on the encroaching hellhounds regardless, and I saw one of the monsters go down. Before I could even mount the bayonet on my lasgun, the monsters were amongst us, ripping and tearing left and right. I stabbed one in the eye before being swatted back. When I blinked away the haze in my eyes, Someone's arm was on my chest. Where the rest of him went, the Emperor only knows.++
Assault was bloody as hell! I dropped one Khornedog with Overwatch fire, and killed a dog and a half since they were charging through terrain and I got to strike first. Unfortunately I didn't remember to sacrifice a sergeant in a challenge, so I took the full brunt of the attack as 10 Guardsmen got eviscerated. The Screamers and disc Herald charged the Leman Russ on the right side and all missed or failed to penetrate the armor.
End of the turn looked like this:
My Leman Russ backs up out of assault with the Screamers, and contemptuously pastes them with its battle cannon. The quadgun kills the Herald on disc, wiping out the unit. After two attempts at Get Back Into the Fight! My Company Command Squad succesffuly gets the left blob off the ground. The handful of troopers kills the remaining Flamer. My functioning Basilisk and left flank Leman Russ shoot the Bloodletters near the objective, killing 3.
++I got back on my feet and rushed the monsters wreaking havoc amongst our ranks. I heard the familiar voice of the Commissar cussing out the beasts in front of him as he parried blow after blow with his sword.++
I remember to challenge with a sergeant to soak up some wounds, and he dies to the Herald. My guardsmen bayonet the hell out of the remaining dogs, killing one and causing an instability test which kills the other. End of the turn looked like this:
TURN 4
The Bloodletters and Soulgrinder take up the middle, getting close to The Relic.
The Warpstorm does something silly and bounces off my left flank
LRBT. Heaps of fire pour down on the Company Command Squad, forcing them to go to ground. The only survivor is the Colonel himself, who promptly runs off the table!
++I heard sergeant Ruminov start issuing an order. “Retreat! Men, fall-” only to be silenced by the crack of Commissar Ditriov's bolt pistol.”++
The last dog dies, taking two Guardsmen down with it. I roll morale and fail, only to pass after the Commissar executes one cowardly sergeant. Here's a picture from right before I remembered to roll the commander's morale test:
Most of my fire turned on the Horrors, as I realized my only real bet this turn is to table my opponent. 5 of the Horrors plus their Herald go down on the landing pad, while the Basilisks attempt to kill the Bloodletters and Soulgrinder, only getting the little gribblies. The leftmost blob finishes off the two Horrors near them also. Assault has 5 of my Guardsmen go down, but they put a wound in on the Herald. I roll morale and fail again, executing the remaining sergeant. They pass the second test. End of the turn looked like this:
TURN 5
The remaining Horrors hide behind the landing pad while the Soulgrinder advances onto the objective. It bounces some shots off the Basilisks. Assault has two of my Guardsmen die, but they finish off the Herald! The surviving Guardsmen consolidate towards the Relic.
++The pile of flesh and fangs was swiping away anyone fool enough to get close to it. Alexander stood back and readied his lasgun at it, only for it to leap on top of him and turn him to hamburger. It lunged at another trooper, coring him like an apple. Ditriov wove past the dying man and lopped off the beast's arm with his power sword before driving it to the hilt in what must have been an eye. The creature wretched and collapsed on himself as the Commissar pulled his sword free, pointing it towards the unearthed relic. “For the Emperor!” he cried, as we ran towards the monstrous construct guarding it.++
I poured everything I had into the Soulgrinder, but unfortunately couldn't kill it. My Guardsmen move for it:
++“Take the relic before I execute the lot of you! Run like you'll live another day!”++
Unfortunately, even running, they would not be able to make it. They take a meltagun shot, hoping to clear the objective for the next turn, but miss the Soulgrinder with a roll of a 1.
We roll to see if the game goes on, and it does not. The game ends looking an awful lot like this:
Tallying it all up, we both got Slay the Warlord, neither of us had Linebreaker, but he had First Blood from my mortar team, so the game goes to the Harrowed!
That was a brutal, bloody game that came down to the last few dierolls! If it had gone for just one more turn, I could've cinched it! It didn't help that my leadership was lacking, with tons of orders failing to go off, units just barely managing to not fall back and occasionally requiring or outright failing their rerolls (thanks, Regimental Standard and Commissariat!) and I even failed a
FRFSRF test once. I failed to Deny the Witch even once, and I was getting 2-3 psychic attacks leveled at my dudes per turn for a while. I think all of one meltagun ever managed to hit, let alone wound something. My artillery was pretty solid though, and the volleys of lasgun fire did their business. It was an at times frustrating, but ultimately really fun game, and I just wish I had one more turn!
++Shortly after the retreat was sounded, we found ourselves back at the forward operating base. The colonel had beaten us there, and was being lashed for his cowardice by a stern-faced commissar. The Commissariat don't take kindly to withdrawing before command says so. I'll be signing off now; there was already a new platoon worth of Guardsmen waiting at the base, ready to throw themselves at the next objective.
-Yefreytor Kubilov, Valhallan 32nd Rifles++
Kabal of the Sundering Strike 2500pts
Eldar Corsairs 750pts 
400pts Corregidor/Nomads 
300pts Yu Jing 
19th Krieg Siege Army 7500pts.
40k/HH Night Lords 5000pts.
Orks Waaaghmacht Spearhead 2500pts.
Heavy Rain Cadre (Tau 4,000pts): 9-3-0
Hive Fleet Lunulata (Tyranids 2,000pts): 6-4-0
/
A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor. - Cardinal Khrysdam, Instructum Absolutio 
