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Hello and thanks for anyone willing to help. I am playing DA, predominantly DW. I sent a squad of 10 possessed against a squad of DW termies with Belial, and they didn't last a turn. I had MoK with the icon so it was 40 S6 attacks, after saves I think one went down. After that I didn't have a lot offense to counter with as my DP w/mace went down to termies, and I had a possessed lord who was in the backfield. My other units include a 20 squad of cultists, 10xcsm, 2 oblits, helbrute standard load, and a drake. He had 3 squads of termies, Belial, firestorm redoubt, 3xbikes, 2x TAC squads one with rhino. I DS my oblits to try and take out his redoubt with melts, helbrute in the back, cultists to meat shield my possessed going after terms, dp going after termies, and csm for objective holding. I couldn't take out much. I know no one likes possessed, but I want to stay fluffy, and tips to help? Matchups to go after, tactics, loadouts etc...?

DWK are great in cc usually, and absolutely terrifying vs CSM. I would have tried to keep away from them for as long as possible, and soften them up with the oblits (or any other shooting you have).
Without a landraider they are pretty slow. Sure they can deepstrike, but then you can move away and feed them some cultists. You could also have tried to get your dreadnought in there to tarpit, as they need 6's to glance if they are not powering up their weapons.

Your possessed squad would have been much better charging regular terminators, who you have a good chance to take down before they even swing.

I think it was a mistake trying to take down the redoubt, what would you have gained from doing so? Its firepower isn't that impressive, and your drake is not going to be doing much vs 2+ saves.

Some thoughts:

- The Heldrake and cultists won't be helping you very much here.

- Whether or not the Firestorm redoubt poses any threat and how to deal with it, if necessary, depends very much on its armaments:
1. Icarus Lascannons: ignore it, it won't be doing much against ground targets.
2. Battle Canons: stay in cover, spread out, ignore it.
3. Punisher Gatling Gun: invest the points you saved by omitting the dragon into some lascannons (Havocs or Predator Annihilator). If you really need to get rid of it, shoot it from afar.

- Possessed are probably better off engaging the tactical squads (and bikes, if necessary).

Now for some thoughts about the horde of terminators:

Two general principles on dealing with terminators:
1. Have a fair number of AP2 weapons. The Lascannons you got for dealing with the Bunker will help, as will Plasma guns on your marines. Keep them at a distance for as long as possible. Slow and steady wins the race.
2. Overwhelming firepower. Numbers mattering more than strength or AP values. A good number of Tzeentch Horrors can help with this. Havocs with Heavy Bolters can help. More Marines can help.

- You could also try some terminators of your own. Having power axes is good enough, yet a lot cheaper than the DW Terminators. Combi-Plasmas can do wonders.

- Using the daemon prince to good effect can be tricky here. For him to survive you really need to charge him and something else (maybe possessed aren't a bad idea here, though terminators will be better) into the same combat to make sure he isn't the sole target of counter-attacks (as he won't be killing a whole unit of terminators on his own in only one round). Also the Black Mace isn't terrible impressive against marines. Axe of blind fury will be no worse, but cheaper. Of course if you want to go in that direction, you might as well take a proper Bloodthirster...

- Sorcerers with Biomancy can be quite useful against Marines. If you don't know how to use the Dark Powers to your favour, you are not worthy to call yourself a son of Lorgar. ;-)

Thank you for all the tips. I have an unused sorcerer I can bring in(builds?), and an unbuilt land raider that i want to put my possessed in, i think the lascannons on that might be the help someone was talking about. I also neglected to mention that I'm using a crimson slaughter primary for the possessed lord, possessed troops and cultists, then allying in the dp and everyone else on the standard codex, and his redoubt has the Icarus load out. So, some ideal matchups would be possessed against normal marines, and shooting against DW terms and knights. Would it be a good idea to switch the drake to a Hades cannon? Or lose it altogether? Should I keep the helbrute? And how many termies would I need for an effective unit?

I would say possessed are a good match up vs normal terminators too, just keep them away from the knights.

The hades drake is dead. It used to be viable with its 360 arc fire, but now that's gone it has lost its anti air/rear armour shots capability. If you are list tailoring only to beat this list, then probably lose it.

Chaos terminators don't work like imperial ones. Most people agree that their best use is as a 3-man suicide melta squad that deepstrikes in, costing slightly over 100 points I think.

So something like this?

HQ
Chaos Lord
Blade of the Relentless, Daemonheart, MoK, Prophet of the Voices, Sigil of corruption
Power Armour
Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon

Elites
Helbrute
Multi-melta, Power fist

Troops
Chaos Cultists
9x Autopistol, Champion's upgrade, 10x Squad models (champion included)

Possessed
Icon of Wrath
9x Possessed, MoK

Heavy Support
Chaos Land Raider

3x Obliterator

Chaos Space Marines: Allied Detachment

HQ
Daemon Prince
Nurgle, Power Armour, The Black Mace, Wings

Troops
Chaos Space Marines
9x Chaos Space Marine, Plasma Gun, Plasma Gun
Aspiring Champion
Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, Combi-flamer/-melta/-plasma

I don't have to buy anything if i do this, but if i had to make a purchase, what should I pick up?

Get a sorc with Prophet of the voices + spell familliar. Summon daemons - preferably daemonettes. Summon + run to bauble wrap the termies while shooting them to death from afar or just focusing on other stuff.

The games are not only won by killing enemies. You can prevent them from accomplishing their goals and that'd allready be enough.

You can always feed the Deathwing Terminators units of cheap cultists to tarpit them. Since you're already running a Helbrute, run the Helcult formation. Terminators hate Fearless cultists - they put out a lot of attacks, and you don't really want to waste Power Fist attacks on T3 guys wearing tissue paper who cost 4 pts ea.

The helcult sounds awesome, it also uses what I already have which is another boon. I might be playing them again this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes!

The ONLY success Iv had against DWK was with my Deamon Prince of Khorne

Deamon of Khorne
Axe of Blind Fury
Wings
Power Armor

A unit of 10 DWK dropped in my back field and attempted to kill my DP with there Twin-Linked crap. Luckily he survived, only taking a wound and being only some 9" away was as good as in. I assaulted him with MY termis first to waste his overwatch, then assaulted with the DP got in. He is I8 so I go first, I think I roled a 5 for my Deamon Weapon so Base 5 + 5 + 3 so 13 attacks that are S9 on the charge and Ap2. I missed two hits and then missed another 3 to wound roles and 8 DWK just dropped before my termis even swung.

BUT this was the only instance Iv played DWK soooooo

 jackflashultra wrote:
The ONLY success Iv had against DWK was with my Deamon Prince of Khorne

Deamon of Khorne
Axe of Blind Fury
Wings
Power Armor

A unit of 10 DWK dropped in my back field and attempted to kill my DP with there Twin-Linked crap. Luckily he survived, only taking a wound and being only some 9" away was as good as in. I assaulted him with MY termis first to waste his overwatch, then assaulted with the DP got in. He is I8 so I go first, I think I roled a 5 for my Deamon Weapon so Base 5 + 5 + 3 so 13 attacks that are S9 on the charge and Ap2. I missed two hits and then missed another 3 to wound roles and 8 DWK just dropped before my termis even swung.

BUT this was the only instance Iv played DWK soooooo

From the sounds of it they were not DWK. DWK do not have ranged weapons at all. More likely you were against a standard DW squad. Charging a DP into these guys is fine (less so if they have TH/SS).

If they were DWK with their weapons not yet used then your DP would in all likelihood not have survived. Str 10 hits and DPs do not mix well.

Str 10 AP2 Concussive, to be precise.
Getting any unit into an assault with a "loaded" squad of DWK's is almost always suicide, unless it is a tarpit unit.

Well yeah sure they murder almost anything. With regards to the DP though the str 10 is the most important thing. Concussive doesn't matter if the target has already been doubled out by instant death.

Have you considered a havoc squad all with plasmaguns deployed into cover? AP2 will get to the termies and you should last at least one turn as no sane player would try to deepstrike a termie squad into terrain.

Your Word Bearers, man -- gotta get in with some daemon allies! Also I assume you are using the Word Bea...I mean the Crimson Slaughter book? This should make your Possessed a bit more effective, at least.

Agreed. Daemon allies are a good way to slow down deathwing, not least because they don't get their Inner Circle bonus against them.