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I've recently started collecting a Flesh Tearers army and on Sunday I managed to get in my first battle. The army performed very well against a tournament Chaos army my opposition brought along. Here's a written record of that cataclysmic first outing...

For more on this Flesh Tearers army, check out my dakka blog linked in the sig. Enjoy!

Edit: Part two is further down the thread.

The armies were 750pts each and as follows:

Flesh Tearers
High Chaplain Carnarvon (Astorath)
Terminator Librarian w/ combi-plasma + Force Maul, Mastery Level 2 (Sanguinary Discipline: Fear of Darkness, Shield of Sanguinius, Quickening)
5 Death Company w/ Power Fist
5 Terminators w/ Heavy Flamer (with Librarian in Deep Strike)
Frurioso Dreadnought w/ Frag cannon and heavy flamer

Chaos
Dark Apostle (with Possessed in Rhino)
5 Thousand Sons marines
3 Obliterators with Mark of Nurgle (one in Deep Strike, all separate units)
5 Chaos Possessed w/ Rhino
10 Cultists w/ close combat weapons

"Remember the Primarch, for we exist only through his grace and love. Honour the Emperor, for it is His wisdom that must guide us and vengeance that we deliver."
— Chaplain Rostalf of the Flesh Tearers 3rd Company

The cloud cover cleared from the shattered Imperial City, revealing the foul forces of the Heretics arrayed upon the shattered hill against their thin lines. Carnarvon struggled to rein in his pack of Death Company as they felt the deep urge to reek excessive bloodshed upon these abominations. In truth, the High Chaplain himself felt the same. Glancing to his right, Carnarvon saw the imposing silhouette of Ancient Salaeus, a Furioso Dreadnought who had harvested more lives in his extensive lifetime than many other Flesh Tearers could claim. A dull feeling flitted across the surface of the human part that still remained of his mind. It was not fear. But it was not far off. He just hoped this small force could hold out long enough for Epistolary Teranor and his squad of veterans to teleport down from orbit in their Tactical Dreadnought armour. Then the fun could really begin.

A curt signal through his Vox link signalled it was time for the fun and games, but the Chaplain and his hunting pack were already off the mark. The Chaos forces visibly reeled from this pure aggression as they desperately tried to react to the situation at hand. Fools, no-one takes the initiative from the Flesh Tearers.

Turn 1

With the bloodlust up, the strike did what every true Flesh Tearer force ever does: charged headlong at the enemy. As Carnarvon and the Death Company fired their Jump-packs, he looked down to see the Dreadnought trundling forward to get into the relative confines of a shattered building, saw-blade starting to whir viciously in his mighty fist. Foregoing the tactic that lesser armies used of shooting, the Astartes kept up their relentless advance.

The enemy forces responded in typical heretical style, choosing to shoot desperately at the encroaching fiends. The Thousand Sons unleashed a deadly hail of their bewitched bolt rounds, indiscriminately piercing the power armour. But the Death Company do not die easily. The minor insignificance of being shot seemed not to bother them as they all shrugged of the rounds. But then one of the Chaos Obliterators levelled one of their stolen weapons at the Dreadnought sheltering in the ruins and, whether through extreme precision or pure luck, the super-energised beam passed straight through the ancient armour, hitting power supplies and engine points and resulting in a cataclysmic explosion. Ancient Salaeus was no more.

For what must have been the first time in the past century, the Flesh Tearers were themselves charged. The cowardly cultists and treacherous Thousand Sons charged Carnavon and his Death Company! What folly! Carnarvon smiled as he heard a feeble voice calling out a dull challenge accompanied by a small, weak frame of human flesh shambling toward him. Leaving his squad to do what they did best, he readily accepted. The Death Company lived up to their name, slaughtering every Cultist to a man, and only losing one brother in the process. The challenge could only end one way.

Turn 2

There was an absent whoosh as the gates of reality opened, spilling forth a deadly payload of black and red clad terminators behind the enemy lines. Epistolary Teranor quickly set about utilising his links to the warp, flooding Carnarvon with new felt power as his blood pulse was slowly quickened. The powers also inhabited the minds of one of the Obliterators in an attempt to shatter his mind and send him fleeing. However, he stuck firm. The Veterans then kindly demonstrated why the Flesh Tearers usually abstained from shooting, managing to only minorly wound one of the Obliterators despite their vast collective firepower.

This time the Death Company turned their Chain blades to the Thousand Sons. Truly they lived up to their name, slaughtering them all and killing their sorcerer leader before the issued challenge could be completed. No-one charges Death Company.

The forces of Chaos were quick to react, although the Possessed were forced to disembark their transport as their foul bodies mutated too much to fit inside. Using what can only be described as heretical trickery, the Chaos Rhino moved to intercept the Death Company. Elsewhere, the two Obliterators opened fire on the newly arrived Terminators, killing three with their extensive weaponry. Carnarvon could hear the cry of rage bellow across the battlefield. He knew what was in store for those Obliterators...

The rest later! Trust me, it gets exciting...

Love the style, I'm getting a real narrative from this! Also a brave list with so few models, and tough luck losing the dread so early! Can't wait for the rest.

Nice batrep so far! However, I would like to see the tournament scene where that chaos list is a competitive list...

Thanks for the support, it's fun to right too! Although I've been inundated with work recently so have struggled with writing the rest...

@Sledgio - just a fun list of what I had really, but when I lost the dread I just thought 'oh great, so this is how it will be...' after my opponent rolled almost every six he could to kill the poor fether!

@herpguy - thanks! When we were deploying he just looked at me and said 'I'm really sorry about this list, it's my tournament one so not very friendly... Should've brought my Tau!'

I'll see if i can write the rest up this afternoon, before my next battle! To see pics of the army just click on the link in the signature, though I warn you, little is painted thus far...

Part two is here!

Turn 3

The blood was up, hackles raised. The Death Company were bloodied and looking for more. Prowling round the tainted Rhino that had attempted to block them from the Possessed, Carnarvon and his Hounds eyed up their next prey and prepared to charge. Meanwhile, the Librarian let murder flood his mind. Feeding off his hatred, he directly channelled the power of the Warp into his body, vastly augmenting his already considerable strength. Before all sense was lost to Rage, the psyker filled one of the Obliterator's mind with pure terror, again attempting to make him flee. Again, the Chaos filth stood firm. Fool.

Lining up their target, the Death Company fired up their jump-packs and slammed into the unsuspecting Possessed, sending them sprawling but failing to kill any. Before the creatures knew what was happening, they were being butchered by finely crafted chainswords, felling the Dark Apostle in the process. But Chaos doesn't go down without a fight, and soon Carnarvon found himself with only one brother at his side, a Power Fist already buzzing excitedly. With an agility only associated with an Astartes who shares a mind with rage, the lone figure swung his mighty fist through the last of the Possessed, crumpling the Champion on the backlash. Carnarvon stood impassive as his challenger collapsed before him.

Epistolary Teranor fared not as well. The rage-induced psykic power that was coursing through him clouded his perfect training, and he failed to hit the cumbersome Obliterator. The Warp-spawned filth did not have the same difficulty. Swinging a mash of fused flesh and weaponry, he killed the Terminator sergeant in one fell swoop. The situation was starting to look fragile.


The forces of Chaos knew they had to capitalise on this situation, and sent down a third Obliterator. Fortunately the Chaos technologies were clearly badly calibrated, for the Obliterator found that he had been teleported far from the action. The remaining two, however, opened fire on the encroaching Death Company with tainted autocannons. The hail of fire was immense, felling a Marine and causing Carnarvon to snarl in pain as his armour was rent. But the Chaplain lived on, quickly forgetting the pain as he let it fuel his anger. The two Obliterators turned their attention back to the Terminators and the Librarian. With a howl that pierced reality, they charged towards the Ceramite clad giants. One, however, had positioned himself on the second floor of a building previously in the battle, and failed to find a way down into the melee below. Epistolary Teranor still had the powers of the Warp flooding his senses, but this time he was able to control it. With a strength more akin to that of a Dreadnought, the crazed psyker smashed his Force maul into the Chaos before him, smiting down the Heretic with one mighty blow. Even the powers of Nurgle could do nothing to stop this absolute death.

Turn 4

With the blood of an Obliterator still fresh on his weapon, Librarian Teranor called his last remaining Terminator escort and ascended the building to where the Obliterator had been waiting. Carnarvon moved towards the other Obliterator, blood on his mind. For what would be the final time, the Epistolary focussed his powers and increased the High Chaplain's already formidable might with a mere thought. The dust and smoked kicked up by battle clouded his view, but Carnarvon knew there was a traitor within his reach. With frenzy fuelled thoughts, he charged on, into the abyss... and came upon his tainted foe. The Terminators had a much easier charge and easily reached their quarry. Against the might of a Space Marine Librarian and a veteran in Tactical Dreadnought Armour, the Obliterator stood little chance and subsequently fell. Carnarvon swiftly followed suit, chain-axe mulching through flesh and steel like a lascutter through parchment... Thus the field had been cleared with the exception of a Rhino, who's driver had clearly gone mad as it drove off in a random direction...

Carnarvon stood and surveyed the battle as Teranor approached.
"A decisive victory, Brother Chaplain" came the sonorous voice.
"Aye, it shall be remembered. But I fear the cost was too high."
"The sector has been secured, and we shan't see the taint of Chaos as strong in the area again with the death of that accursed Apostle. Let the dead be honoured, Brother, don't try to take away their glory. You above all else should understand the intricacies of death..."

All in all a great battle! A very assault based army that really gets in ya face and causes a lot of pressure. That's when your opponent starts making silly decisions, so I'll be adding more fast units to pile on even more pressure!

Weaknesses for the army? Small, divided, can be picked off piecemeal if left out in the open for too long. Things I've learnt are: utilise cover when advancing deadly close-combat units; manoeuvre to ensure the assault with the Death Company as rerolling everything on the charge is too good!

My unit of the match has to be the Death Company with Astorath. They managed to get through 10 Cultists, 5 Thousand Sons, 5 Possessed with Dark Apostle, an Obliterator. Pretty good eh? Seeing as the Terminators only killed 2 Obliterators... in total!

Had another battle yesterday so that one should be coming soon. What do people think of the format? I was thinking of trying a more succinct approach for the next one with turn analysis, instead of a narrative. Any suggestions?

Once again, thanks for reading!