Their tarnished yellow armour glared out from beneath a layer of grease and grime. The Neon Shadow lounged around the ruins of the settlement, giggling and listlessly indulging in their psychotic whims with the remains of the imperial populace. Slowly, carefully, the Priestess of Decadence swung her daemon smoothed face towards the horizon, where a cloud of dust rose from the ground. An unnaturally long prehensile tongue licked her lips and ducked back between her needle teeth. She stood, wobbling on unsteady feet.
‘Brothers!’ Her call was not particularly loud, but the senses of the Traitorous Marines around her had been superhuman before the daemons began to bless them. Heads turned.
‘Some fool has come to save these people!’ She gestured at the bodies strewn around her. ‘It’s time to have some fun!’
A roar of approval rose from the twisted throat of the Neon Shadow, rising with the deceptive beginning of a tsunami. Bolters were lifted, massive weapons of war lugged onto shoulders. Adrenaline, Ichor and all manner of chemical cocktails began to pump through their systems faster and faster. The Neon Shadow were ready for war once more.
++++
Having recently acquired a lot more basic Chaos Marines, I decided to see how big an army based around them I could make. I ended up with a 2500 point mob and I challenged my local friends to a game to try them out. My opponent Gavin has only just started playing recently, I think this may have been his third game of
40k ever. I was pretty keen to see what his Blood Angels would be like, having never faced them myself.
Chaos Marines 2500 pts
Chaos Lord with Terminator Armour, Poweraxe and Mark of Slaanesh.
I got Infiltrate D3 Units as my Warlord Trait.
Dark Apostle with Mark of Slaanesh.
15 Chaos Marines with Lascannon, Plasmagun, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess.
15 Chaos Marines with Lascannon, Plasmagun Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess.
16 Chaos Marines with
CCWs, two Meltas, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess, Champion with Powersword.
16 Chaos Marines with
CCWs, two Flamers, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess, Champion with Powersword.
9 Chosen with Meltagun, two Poweraxes, Powerfist, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess, Champion with Lightning Claw.
2 Mutilators with Mark of Slaanesh.
9 Bikers with two Meltaguns, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess, Champion with Powerlance.
10 Havocs with three Missile Launchers, one Autocannon, Mark of Slaanesh and Icon of Excess.
2 Obliterators with Mark of Slaanesh.
Blood Angels 2500 pts
Dante.
He rolled -1 to enemy reserves as his Warlord Trait.
5 man Tactical.
10 Deathcompany with two Powerswords and two Thunderhammers.
5 Scouts with Sniper rifles in a Rhino.
5 Sanguinary Guard.
8 Terminators with Assaultcannon.
Librarian Dreadnought.
Fury of Heroes (?) and Blood Lance.
Dreadnought in Droppod.
Sanguinary Priest.
Baal Predator with Flamestorm and Heavy Flamers.
Baal Predator with Flamestorm and Heavy Flamers.
5 man Devastators with 4 Lascannons.
Landraider Redeemer.
Deployment and Objectives:
I lost the roll and Gavin got me to deploy first.
He put his scouts in his Rhino and deployed the Death Company towards the back of his army. Both Baal Predators were deep striking, as was his Dreadnought in the Droppod. He had a 3 pt objective in front of his centre, and a 2 pt objective being held by the bare tactical squad. I had 4pts in my centre and was sitting on a 3 and a 1
I moved the
CCW squad on my left and my las/
plas on my right forward with my warlord trait.
He rolled to Seize, but didn’t manage it.
Turn One:
Chaos – I began by moving closer to him and opening fire on the things that looked like big bad threats. I managed to stun the Rhino and the Furioso which made me feel solid. I kept a lot of my units hiding behind terrain, waiting for him to get closer as I he would have to in order to claim enough Objectives.
Angels – He began with a Droppod landing behind my left flank and opening fire on my Bikers, where the Icon was the nearest model. I was terrified that I would instantly lose the expensive Feel No Pain I had invested in! Thankfully, I survived. A bit of firepower washed over the rest of my force, but I didn’t lose many models. I was surprised how much firepower the Sanguinary Guard had, and relieved when they failed their charge on my Flamer wielding squad.
Turn Two:
Chaos – I backed off from the Sanguinary Guard, swung my two Melta bikes around, and unloaded on the Redeemer. I succeeded in taking out the Dread, which gave me First Blood, but didn’t quite finish off anything else. I did Immobilise the Redeemer though, which I thought could be useful.
Angels – One Baal Predator made it in this time, but he tried Deep Striking in very close to my line and ended up mishap-ing. Of course, I placed it in the very far right corner so it was as far as possible from the action. However, here was where we got some rules wrong, not having dealt with Deep Striking Vehicles before. I allowed him to both move and Flat Out his Fast vehicle in the subsequent phases, not realising that he counted as having moved Cruising speed already…
The Sanguinary Guard made their charge this turn, and I discovered they wear Artificer Armour, which I hadn’t really thought about before… I managed to take out one with my higher intiative and weight of attacks before they slaughtered seven of my men and then I broke and got Swept.
Turn Three:
Chaos – The Melta bikes moved over the hill to look down on the remaining Guard, consisting of two Guard, Dante and the Sanguinary Priest. Between the Las/
Plas squad and the Meltas, I shot down all those men. My Chosen moved up to try and get some damage on the Redeemer, hoping to finish it off. We did, in a beautiful full on explosion! The Havocs fired high over the carnage, trying to stop the rapidly advancing Baal, stunning it for a turn.
Angels – The second Baal appeared, right between his Death Company as they clambered over the ruins and my righthand las/
plas squad. His Terminators dropped down in the same area. The scoring squad was being winnowed down, but some cover and my Feel No Pain meant he had to really pour on the punishment to achieve results. The Death Company charged my Dark Apostle’s unit. Luckily she makes them Fearless, meaning that I couldn’t break despite large losses from the Thunder Hammers. We forgot to include my Rerolls for Hatred though, which frustrated me when I remembered it later.
Turn Four:
Chaos – My Mutilators and Obliterators came in. I dropped the Mutilators far from my lines, hoping to survive long enough to charge the Devastators or Scouts and cause some damage. I kind of forgot that the Furioso was just around the corner, and that my plan had been to support my own line with them… The Obliterators however dropped next to the Terminators, still base to base as they had chosen to fire at my troops. I Plasma Cannoned the heck out of them. We then forgot to roll a Morale check as they had lost more than a quarter of their squad. I ddidn’t really expect them to break, but they would have fled to within 6” of my Obliterators if they did, which I believe stops them auto-rallying from And They Shall Know No Fear, which would have made me very very happy… My Chosen charged the first Baal, expecting Krak grenades on rear armour to be very useful (The Powerfist had been shot out already unfortunately). They whiffed them all…
Angels – He tank shocked my Chosen, and so the Melta stepped forward and… rolled Snake Eyes with his automatic hit. Sigh… The remaining few were blasted away by the Lascannon Devastators. He shifted his Rhino to block line of sight to his Terminators and then they charged forward into my scoring troops. Luckily, they managed to pass their break test at the end of the assault. The Furioso hit my Mutilators with his Blood Lance, killing both the Mutilators and then charged my Lord, instakilling him handily…
Turn Five:
Chaos – The Las/
Plas on my left shifted up to claim the hill objective. They shot their heavy weapons and blew up the Furioso. A bit late though… The Obliterators turned on the Tacticals, hoping to drive them off the objective they were sitting on. The Havocs kept trying to stop the Predators as they roamed over my line. The Bikers moved around the bike to claim the 4 pt objective in the middle. His Terminators broke the remaining members of my squad and they ran off the board.
Angels – Both Baals moved up and scorched the Bikes, managing to wipe them out. The Tacticals moved out of Line of Sight. The Terminators moved up but decided to shoot at my Havocs rather than join the Death Company in their assault.
Turn Six:
Chaos – I tried to focus on the last few objectives, thankful for the extra turn opportunity. The Obliterators moved around the wall and flamed the last few Tacticals then charged them. The Havocs managed to blow up one of the Baals, with a massive explosion that took out one of the Death Company in their assault! Then they finished off the Dark Apostle in the assault phase.
Angels – He moved up a Baal to claim the 4 pt objective and flame my Havocs. My Obliterators squashed the last Tactical marine.
Unfortunately for me, there was no Turn 7.
Final Score:
Chaos – First Blood, Warlord, Linebreaker (Obliterators), 1
FA destroyed, 3 pt Objective = 7
VP
Blood Angels – Warlord, Linebreaker (Baal), 1
FA destroyed, 4 pt Objective, 3 pt Objective = 10
VP
Victory to the Blood Angels!
Post-Game:
I was really hoping for just that one more turn! I was pretty sure I could have blown up the last Baal, as it was down to one Hull Point anyway. That would have changed the scoreline, bumping me up to 8 and losing the 4 pt for him; dropping him to 6. But, in the end, I just forgot some important morale checks and rules for my army; I dropped my combat support somewhere isolated without thinking; and I didn’t focus on killing off those darn Baal tanks. Scoring vehicles that are worth
VPs for me? They should have been my first choice every time!
Otherwise I really enjoyed playing with my list. Vast amounts of bodies with Feel No Pain was kinda fun, and giving them the chance to knock off enemies before being struck in assaults was morale boosting if not actually that effective.
