Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring apart from the twisted mutant spawn of Chaos intent on corrupting and entire planet if not stopped by the noble Astartes of the Astral Claws who would never have any truck with that Chaos nonsense, no sir!
So, Matt and I arranged to play a game of 5th edition 40k, giving him a chance to use the small Chaos force he has assembled from his Combat Patrol magazine subscription.
For my part I chose to give my Astral Claws a run out as it would allow me to field some units that I hadn't used yet.
The scenario we rolled up would be 'Capture & Control' which meant we'd be fighting over two objectives, one in each deployment zone.
The objectives in question were the building in the lower left and the ruins in the top right. Only troop choices would be able to hold objectives which presented me with an advantage as Matt's army was limited by the models he had available.
Having said that, we picked out armies before rolling up the scenario and Matt had to bend the rules a touch to include 3 HQ units due to a lack of alternatives.
Matt's Chaos Space Marines
Matt hasn't yet named his Chaos Legion, although he has specifically chosen to avoid being obviously linked to one of the well known Chapters or have colours particularly associated with a specific Chaos power.
HQ
Daemon Prince with Wings
Chaos Lord (Daemon Weapon & Jump Pack)
Chaos Sorcerer
Elite
Chaos Dreadnought (Multi-melta, Power Fist)
Troops
5 Chaos Legionnaires (Bolters)
5 Chaos Legionnaires (Bolters, Meltagun, Plasma Pistol)
Heavy
5 Havocs (Plasma Pistol, 2 Autocannon, 1 Lascannon, 1 Missile Launcher)
Matt positioned one squad of Legionnaires to hold his objective, whilst the Chaos Sorcerer led the others on the attack. The Havocs, Chaos Lord and Daemon Prince were positioned in the centre. The Dreadnought was out on the flank just in case it started attacking its allies.
My Astral Claws
I opted to go for my Astral Claws as even though I had more to choose from that Matt, the disparity was not so great as with my Blood Angels.
HQ
Captain in Terminator Armour (Lightning Claw, Combi-Flamer)
Elites
5 Terminators (Storm Bolter, Power Fist)
Troops
10 Tactical Marines (Bolters, Flamer, Heavy Bolter)
10 Tactical Marines (Bolters, Meltagun, Missile Launcher)
Rhino (Storm Bolter)
Fast Attack
3 Space Marine Bikers (Power Sword, Meltagun)
Heavy
Predator (Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons)
I split one of my Tactical squads into combat squads to give me more flexibility in defending the objective. The Predator and Bikes were placed centrally as a firebase and mobile reserve.
On the other flank, the second Tactical squad was deployed in it's Rhino to launch an attack on the enemy objective, with the Captain and Terminators lumbering up in support.
Turn 1
After I inevitably failed to steal the initiative, Matt took the first turn and with a lack of viable targets to shoot at, much of the Chaos army surged forwards.
On my right flank, the Rhino and Terminators followed suit, whilst on the left one of the combat squads moved to be able to shoot when the Chaos troops got into range.
There was sporadic shooting from Havocs and the Predator, but in an ominous portent of what was to unfold, no damage was caused, implying that this battle would be fought up close.
Turn 2
In a move that actually surprised me, the Daemon Prince and Chaos Lord slammed into the Terminators, who, in a display of impressive saving throws, withstood the impact and won the combat.
Meanwhile, the Havocs repositioned to be able to pour fire on the Tactical Squad which was bearing down in the temple in their Rhino, dismounting into cover.
On the other flank, the Chaos Dreadnought was slowed by stopping to fire in its own troops, but the Chaos Sorcerer push his squad forward into the teeth of the Astral Claws line, but somehow only took a single casualty from the hail of fire that rained down on them.
Turn 3
After weathering the storm, the Sorcerer's squad charged into the combat squad in front of them, cutting down all but one, who fell back.
However,the second combat squad and Bikers were lying in waiting and after pouring in Bolter an Melta fire, charged in to finish off the threat of Matt's army capturing my objectives.
Meanwhile, after the Havocs somehow failed to do anything other than destroy the Storm Bolter on the Rhino, the Tactical Squad continued to use it as cover for their advance on the temple, where the second squad of Chaos Marines lurked in hiding.
The fight between the Terminators and the Chaos heavy hitters had lasted for four rounds and seen the destruction of the Daemon Prince, Space Marine Captain and most of the Terminators.
Somehow, a single Terminator remained standing, his inevitable sacrifice enough to keep the Chaos Lord out of the main fight for another turn
Turn 4
Late to the party, the Chaos Dreadnought lumbered into view of the objective. If it could get just a little closer, it could deny me the objective, even though it couldn't capture it.
Determined to do what they could to slow it down, the Biker drove forwards to firm a screen that would hopefully serve as a speed bump.
However, a speculative Meltagun blast managed to bring the beast down and freeing up the Bikers to join the fight elsewhere.
The Havocs finally destroyed the Rhino, but the Tactical Squad had reached it's objective and it would be down to the outnumbered Chaos Marines to drive them off.
Turn 5
In the centre, the Predator and Havocs had been playing cat and mouse so much that they'd had very little impact on the whole game.
Throwing caution to the wind, the Havocs finally advanced to the top of the hill, risking the Predator in the hope of getting another turn to rain fire on my objective.
However, fate smiled on them when a lucky plasma shot stunned the crew, and then their leader swooped in to inflict more damage in the hope of using the additional move of a charge to get it withing strike range of the enemy.
In the shadow of the temple, the Chaos Marines did the only thing they could and charged, hoping that their greater number of attacks might break the Astral Claws and drive them off.
It disn't, and their fate was sealed when no further turns were rolled, leaving the Chaos Lord and Havocs stranded in the centre, unable to do any more.
Final Score: Astral Claws 1 - Chaos Marines 0
This was a fun game. Despite Matt's lack of troops, the game was very balanced and had the fight between the Terminators and Chaos characters been resolved quicker, one of my flanks might have had more on their plate than they could handle.
My Bikes proved to be really useful, especially as a mobile reserve, and swing the fight around my objective. Meanwhile, the Predator was totally inconsequential, cursed by an inability to hit or wound.
Similarly, the Chaos Dreadnought was a bit of a liability and its erratic behaviour meant Matt couldn't coordinate his attack and so his units were destroyed piecemeal.
Matt's Combat Patrol journey isn't over, and so the next time these armies face off against each other, I'll probably end up getting chopped to pieces by a screaming horde of Khorne Berserkers.
Which will be nice.
Happy Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment