Bringing a Tank to a Gunfight

This weekend, our little gaming group decided to play some small games of 5th edition 40k at 500 points a piece.

We've been playing some three-way 500 points games using a scenario that was found fir just such an occasion, but now Wes has jumped into the retro 40k pit with us, it was a chance for something a bit different.

Naturally, as I've just finished them off, I opted to run my Astral Claws as vanilla Space Marines, and as I've been busy printing, I also decided to be 'that guy' and bring a tank.

My army list was as follows:

• Librarian
• 10 Tactical Marines (Flamer & Missile Launcher)
• 3 Bikes (Power Sword & Meltagun)
• Vindicator

I appreciate that the Vindicator might seem to be a somewhat over-powered selection, but in my defence, it does have a really massive gun.

Game 1 vs Pete's Space Wolves

I've been on the receiving end of Pete's Fenrisians in other editions, so I knew what to expect. He would cross the table quickly and try to rip my face off.

Fortunately, he'd only brought one unit with jump packs and no vehicles, meaning that I should have time to thin them down, in a direct role reversal from when my Blood Angels play his Alpha Legion in 30k.

To the best of my memory, his army was:

• Wolf Priest
• 8 Grey Hunters
• 7 Blood Claws (Power Fist)
• 5 Skyclaws (Jump Packs, Power Fist)

He was as delighted as you'd imagine to discover that he'd be charging down the barrel of my Vindicator and so set about hugging cover as much as he could, sending the Blood Claws and Wolf Priest down my left, the Grey Hunters down the centre and the Skyclaws screaming down my right.

Unfortunately for Pete, Vindicators can fire indirectly and I scored a lucky hit on the Blood Claws, killing all but two of them.

The Skyclaws ploughed into the Tactical Combat Squad I'd left Manning the ruin, winning the fight but failing to break my unit.

In return, I charged in the second Combat Squad that I'd pulled back from the advancing Blood Claws. Accompanied by the Force Sword wielding Librarian, they made short work of the Space Wolf assault troops and steadied the line.

With the Wolf Priest and remaining Blood Claws isolated by my Bikes refusing the flank, the Grey Hunters were left to assault my line alone.

The Grey Hunters bravely charged in and killed several Astral Claws, and drove the Librarian back. 

However this was somewhat of a phyrric victory as they were much reduced and then counter-charged from both sides and cut down where they stood.

Although Pete still had troops on the table, we decided to end the game as he would not be able to kill enough of my units in the time remaining, handing victory to the Astral Claws.

Game 2 vs Matt's Biel-Tan Eldar

Matt made the decision last year to invest in a subscription to Combat Patrol magazine, and this is eventually going to start quite a few new armies, including the Eldar.

His army used pretty much everything he's painted so far:

• Farseer
• 10 Guardians
• 5 Jetbikes
• Wraithlord

Matt had given Wes's Imperial Guard a torrid time using hit and run tactics and this game began in much the same vein until I once again managed to score an indirect hit on the Jetbikes, killing three of them.

I'd also managed to race my Bikes forward to savage the Guardians in close combat and they were now free to harry the Eldar rear.

It should be pointed out that I had benefitted from some atrocious Eldar shooting, with the Wraithlord's Brightlance, guided by the Farseer, repeatedly missing the Vindicator and the Jetbikes' Shuriken weapons failing to significantly dent power armoured Marines.

With the Guardians killed, the Bikes were conveniently placed to charge in and kill the Farseer, robbing Matt of his leader.

Although the Bikes were now fair game for the Wraithlord, it could not stop the Jetbikes being forced into the open where they were destroyed by Bolter fire, winning the game for the Astral Claws.

All in all, a successful night and a chance to field some units that I hadn't used yet.

However, I suspect that the next time we do this there might be a few more tanks in attendance.

Plus Ca Change

I've tried to use my Tzeentch Daemons in several iterations of Warhammer 40k, to varying degrees of success.

In 9th and 10th editions, they were terrible, and were repeatedly dismantled by Pete's Space Wolves and outmatched in pretty much every department.

However, in Horus Heresy, the tables were turned and the Ruinstorm Deamons opened a six-pack of whupass on the Alpha Legion. Whilst in 2nd edition they turned out to be too much for Matt's Squats to handle.

Let's try 5th edition...

I think I mentioned before Christmas that our group has settled on 5th edition as our default setting as it fits our slightly older collections and doesn't have too much complexity to make people who don't play every week have to check the rules every 5 minutes.

For a bit of a change from the Blood Angels, I arranged a 1500 point game with Pete against his homebrew Marines, the Emperor's Mailed Fists, which he's had for as long as I've known him, but I've never played against.

Emperor's Mailed Fists

• HQ - Terminator Captain (Thunder Hammer)
• HQ - Terminator Epistolary Librarian (Force Axe)
• Elite - 10 Assault Terminators (5 Thunder Hammers & 5 Lightning Claws)
• Troop - Tactical Squad (Plasma Cannon & Plasma Gun)
• Troop - Tactical Squad (Heavy Bolter & Melta Gun)
• Troop - Tactical Squad (Heavy Bolter & Flamer) with Rhino
• Fast Attack - Land Speeder (Assault Cannon & Heavy Bolter)
• Heavy Support - Predator (Autocannon & Heavy Bolters)

Tzeentch Daemons

• HQ - Lord of Change
• HQ - Herald on Disc (We Are Legion, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Chaos Icon)
• Elite - 6 Flamers (Bolt of Tzeentch)
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors (Bolt of Tzeentch, Chaos Icon, Instrument of Chaos)
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors (Bolt of Tzeentch, Chaos Icon, Instrument of Chaos)
• Troops - 10 Pink Horrors
• Fast Attack - 6 Screamers
• Fast Attack - 6 Screamers
• Heavy Support - Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Soul Devourer, Bolt of Tzeentch)

For those who have seen my army previously, it should be noted that due to model sizes being a bit different in 5th edition, I used my Daemon Prince as a Lord of Change, and my Changeling as a Daemon Prince. I also totally forgot to deploy one of my units of Horrors, because I'm an idiot.

Mission & Deployment

We rolled up the Annihilation mission (which just meant killing each other's units, and Spearhead deployment, which meant opposite table quarters.

I got the first turn, but as the Daemons all arrive via deep strike in 5th edition, only Pete set anything up. Given that he didn't know where I'd be arriving, he castles up around a ruin, with his Terminators in the middle and his vehicles ready to push out round the table.

Turn One

As was totally predictable, when rolling to see which units were in my first wave, I rolled up the wrong half of my force. 

I also forgot that I didn't have to arrive in my deployment zone, however this turned out to be a beneficial error as deep strike usually leaves units vulnerable and the building in the middle of the table offered me protection.

With no targets to fire at, most of the Marines pushed forwards, unsure which way round the building the Daemons would come.

Daemons 0 - Marines 0

Turn Two

The Horrors and Flamers pushed around my left flank, whilst the Lord of Change and Screamers headed right. My aim was to use my greater mobility to split the Marines forces.

When the second wave arrived, I added the Herald and more Horrors to the attack on the left, and the combined firepower left several Tactical Marines dead and the Land Speeder unable to shoot.

The return fire was desultory (thanks in part to Daemon saves) and only saw a few Horrors killed. The star of the show was the Marine with the Plasma Cannon in the building who, during the course of the game managed to fire five times, rolling 'gets hot' three times, scattering away from the target once and failing to wound the only time he hit.

Meanwhile, the larger unit of Screamers dropped I'm behind the Imperial lines, aiming to both draw fire away from the main assault, and try to get the drop on a vehicle or two.

They did take fire, but only two of them fell, meaning they were ready to strike in the following turn.

The Deamon Prince came in alone and unleashed a Bolt of Tzeentch which destroyed the Rhino. The squad inside disembarked and unleashed a hail of fire which reduced him to half wounds.

Without someone to charge, the Terminators began to trek to where the Lord of Change was lurking, seeming to take my bait to pull them out of position.

However, the Librarian headed back towards the main line to lend his psychic might to weakening the saving throws of the Daemons.

Daemons 1 - Marines 0

Turn Three

The Daemons advanced, and having pulled the Terminators out of position, the Lord of Change switch back to the other flank. 

In retrospect, this was a mistake as the Terminators weren't that far away from the rest and the Lord of Change could have kept his distance and potentially tied them up for the rest of the game.

As it was, he'd got too close to the Librarian, who charged into combat determined to bring his Force Axe to bear.

Meanwhile, the Daemon horde unleashed Warpfire into the Tactical Marines on the crates, ultimately wiping them out.

Although the Landspeeder avoided destruction, it did have it's Assault Cannon destroyed rendering it less of a threat.

When the Marine did get to return fire, the Herald and one of the units of Horrors were obliterated, due in large part to the disruption the Librarian was causing with Daemonic saves.

Having avoided damage from Daemonic shooting, the Predator was set upon by the pack Screamers charging into its rear.

In 5th edition the only thing Screamers are good at is killing vehicles, so they made short work of it and the consolidated towards the Librarian.

This was another mistake as it allowed the Terminators to charge them and get back into the fight.

The Terminator Captain broke off to chase down the Daemon Prince, who was busy hacking his way through a Tactical Squad.

Daemons 3 - Marines 3

Turn Four

With the Terminators ready to run amok, the Daemons set about targeting weakened units and trying to limit the impact of the Imperial veterans.

The Flamers brought down the Land Speeder whilst the remaining unit of Screamers tried to prevent the Terminators getting to the Lord of Change.

Again, I wasn't thinking straight as all this did was given them an easy victory point.

In the main event, the Lord of Change and Librarian traded blows. The Librarian was struck and passed a leadership test to avoid having its soul devoured.

In return, the Force Axe struck and it's eldritch energy blasted the greater Daemon back into the warp.

Meanwhile, the Terminator Captain finally caught up with the Daemon Prince and destroyed it, but not before it finished off the Tactical Marines.

Daemons 5 - Marines 6

Turn Five

With the momentum very much in the Marines favour, the remaining Daemons began to back off, trying to avoid the rampaging Terminators.

Out of spite, the Pink Horrors unleashed a gout of Warpfire which consumed the heroic Librarian, but left them dangerously close to the Terminators, who caught the Daemons and obliterated them.

With a single Flamer left on the table, clearly intent on hiding, we decided to not bother with another turn and call the game there.

Daemons 6 - Marines 7

That was much closer than I expected, but I think the terrain really helped as when we did get close, I found the Daemons largely outgunned and outfought.

However, it was in movement that I lost this game, as I allowed the slower moving Terminators to catch my units, when I didn't have to.

Had I realised how much of a threat the Librarian was, I would have targeted him sooner, but really I presented the Terminators with two lots of Screamers which won Pete the game.

I think using Daemons in 5th edition will be a challenge, certainly more than in Horus Heresy, but it's not to lost cause that 10th edition is.

In other news I've been buying bits and pieces on eBay, which I'll talk about in another post.

Acquired: -61

Painted: 42

Lead Mountain: 554

Badaboom!

And so I took myself back down to Warhammer World for a second day of playing Combat Patrol as part of the Badab War narrative event run by Arbitor Ian's YouTube channel.

The war was heating up and things were about to explode...well the game sizes and turn lengths were, at any rate.

The second day saw me being involved in two four player games, essentially using the doubles format, with scenarios reflecting specific actions in the Badab War.

Despite liking the game so far, I'm not sure how well Combat Patrol doubles up in this way as we came across a few rules interactions which became a bit too powerful when applied to two armies at the same time.

However, fun was had nonetheless.

Game 4 - The Vyaniah Raids

The secessionist world of Vyaniah was a hub of shipping for the war efford, defended by the Astral Claws, and as such became the target of  raids by the loyalist forces. But the Astral Claws were not the only defenders, and the raids were hampered by the emergence of a new threat - the Tyrant’s Legion!

This game saw my Astral Claws defending the Vyaniah orbital defence batteries against a raiding force of my old nemeses the Minotaurs and the Howling Griffons.

To bolster the lines I was joined by the somewhat numerous Tyrant's Legion who had the benefit of a scenario rule that allowed their destroyed units come back on from reserve.

Therefore the defending forces under the command of myself and Clarkie were:

Astral Claws

Corpsetaker Apothecary and 2 Servitors
10 Tactical Marines
5 Devastator Marines
Dreadnought

Tyrant's Legion

Command Squad

10 Shock Troops

10 Shock Troops 

Field Ordnance Battery

Armoured Sentinel

However, intent on overrunning our positions were the somewhat familiar forces controlled by Andrew and Will, who I had played yesterday.

Minotaurs

Captain in Gravis Armour 

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Helblasters

10 Intercessors

Howling Griffons

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

The Loyalists had the first turn and advanced upon our lines and the Minotaurs' Helblasters somewhat predictably started to bully my Devastators as they had yesterday.

Return fire on our following turn did reduce their effectiveness, but I remain somewhat traumatised that across two games Andrew didn't fail a single hazardous check for his plasma guns.

On our right my Dreadnought and melee troops advanced towards a rematch with the Minotaurs' Bladeguard.

The second turn saw Clarkie use a strategem which slowed the enemy advanced and stopped them charging. This is the one that felt a bit too powerful in a larger game as it affected both enemy forces and benefitted me significantly in a way no other strategem could.

However, Will brought his Terminators in anyway, but these were in the mid-table area as we had used our numerical advantage to screen out our deployment zone.

Withe the enemy unable to charge, the Astral Claws took full advantage and the Dreadnought ploughed into a squad of Intercessors, obliterating them, whilst the Corpsetaker and his compatriots brought down the Minotaurs' Captain and braced for the counter charge from the Bladeguard.

However, when it came, the Dreadnought was able to use a heroic intervention to get into combat, but could not stop the Corpsetaker from being killed.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, a thin silver line of Tactical Marines took heavy casualties from the Infernus Marines, but served to hold up the advance towards our deployment zone.

Eventually, the Terminators were able to charge and drive back the Shock Troops, but could not capture the objective due to clever use of a flag.

Ultimately, the Loyalists couldn't close the gap that had been caused by the Tyrant's Legion (Astra Militarum) secondary objective which allowed us to score points for keeping the enemy out of our deployment zone.

Again, this felt a bit much as usually they would be holding the line with squishy humans rather than power armoured Space Marines, and so it felt like Will and Andrew had walked into a perfect storm.

Secessionists 51 - Loyalists 35

Game 5 - The Fall of Surngraad

The Raptors’ taking of the fortress of Surngraad was a stroke of tactical genius. Raptors forces were landed hundreds of km away from the 

fortress, and marchd through frozen blizzards to take the defenders unawares. The Astral Claws garrison was misdirected and confused, and 

once the Raptors took the citadel, their allies in the Salamanders could teleport heavy assault elements in to finish the job.

Once again on the defensive, I was joined by some Astral Claws veterans (in every sense of the word, there were some extremely old models in play) commanded by Nathan.

The scenario saw Ben's Raptors trying to capture an objective to allow Simon's Salamanders to teleport in and catch in a vice.

The Secessionist forces defending the citadel, and spread out as much as possible to prevent shenanigans, were as follows:

Astral Claws Garrison

Corpsetaker Apothecary and 2 Servitors
10 Tactical Marines
5 Devastator Marines
Dreadnought

Astral Claws Veterans

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

Meanwhile the infiltrating enemy force that began the game consisted of:

Raptors Infiltrators

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

However, the attack got of to a somewhat limp start as after lighting up the Dreadnought and dropping it to just two wounds, both the Terminators (with the Librarian) and the Terminator Captain failed to charge into contact, despite both units being able to reroll. The Terminators rolled snakeyes twice!

Needless to say l, this reprieve for the Dreadnought was about to be exploited as it and the Veteran Terminators charged the Raptors elites and cut them down to a man.

Meanwhile, the Corpsetaker's unit cane under metaphorical and literal fire as the Infernus Marines bathed them in flames causing significant casualties.

In return, half of the Raptors unit was cut down in close combat.

On the second turn, success on a different table saw reinforcements dropping in all over the board:

Salamanders

Captain in Terminator Armour

Librarian in Terminator Armour

5 Terminators 

5 Infernus Marines

Whilst the Terminator squad arrived on one flank, looking to avenge the Raptors, the Salamanders Captain sought out his opposite number in a duel that would ultimately see the Astral Claws commander come out on top.

The Infernus Market nes demonstrated the Salamanders' vaunted skill with flame when they beat the Devastators to the punch and used overwatch to kill half the unit.

Unfortunately, the return fire inflicted similar damage in them.

The second Terminator on Terminator clash was initiated and getting the charge was proven once again to be crucial as the Salamanders had the better of the exchange.

That was until the Dreadnought piled in, killing almost the entire squad across two rounds of combat and although the reverted hero ultimately succumbed, when the dust settled, only the two Librariand were left standing.

Targetted fire brought down the last of the Loyalist Infernus Marines, leaving just the Raptors Captain and the Salamanders Librarian in play.

Whilst battered, the remaining Astral Claws were more than enough to prevent the enemy from catching two of the three objectives, meaning that victory was assured and rendered the secondary objectives both sides had scored somewhat meaningless.

This game was defined by Ben's hideously bad luck with his charge rolls on his first turn, causing the Loyalists to lose a third of their forces without reply. Ben and Simon fought well to keep the game in doubt despite that.

Secessionists 58 - Loyalists 19

With a second victory complete, my tally for the event was 3 wins, 1 draw and a loss. I definitely feel the beneficiary of circumstances that were nothing to do with me for two of those results, but it's still a better ratio than I've had in most versions of 40k that I've played.

As my results were part of a larger campaign, I'm not going to reveal the overall result of the weekend. You'll need to watch Arbitor Ian's next Tale of Four Badab Gamers video to find out the fate of the sector.

As for me, well I set a resolution to get out more this year and this weekend proved why. I met some really nice people and played some really fun games. The next Badab War event will be sometime in the spring, so I'm going to see if I can make it.

Is Combat Patrol an enjoyable format? Yes, very much so. Does it work as a doubles game? I'm not sure, both games overran significantly. Am I now hooked on 40k 10th edition? The jury's out as I probably have to play a couple of larger games before I can commit to an answer.

Nevertheless, I've had a cracking good time, and that's what matters.

Badabing!

Today I took myself and my Astral Claws down to Warhammer World to participate in the Tale of 4 Gamers Badab War campaign run by Arbitor Ian's YouTube channel.

This is actually the second event of the campaign (confusingly it's Phase III of the war); as there was a Kill Team event held in November that I was unable to attend.

As this is a Combat Patrol event, my force is using the rules for the OOP Dark Zealots (a Chaos Space Marine Combat Patrol). Given what fate waits for the Astral Claws after the war, this seems more than appropriate.

One of the nice things about Combat Patrol is that you don't need to worry about choosing your army, as it's selected for you. Therefore, my force consists of:

• 1 Corpsetaker Apothecary (Dark Apostle) with 2 Servitors (Disciples)
• 10 Tactical Marines (Chaos Legionaries)
• 5 Devastator Marines (Havocs)
• 1 Dreadnought (Hellbrute)

In preparing for the event, I did have a little painting that I needed to do.

Firstly I needed to paint up my final monopose Marine as I needed a Meltagun in my Tactical Squad. The gun itself was cobbled together from various bits, but looks the part.

As we were playing in Warhammer World, my Servitors weren't appropriate as they aren't Games Workshop miniatures. Therefore I painted up a second Goliath Juve so they could be used as stand-ins.

Finally, I wanted to distinguish my two Heavy Bolters, as one of them would be proxied as a Reaper Chaincannon. Without any alternate barrels knocking around I opted to go for putting a chain bayonet on one simply to make the difference clear.

With that all done, I made my way to Nottingham this morning to take part in the twenty-ish person event.

Game 1 - Bull by the Horns

My first opponent was Andrew with his Minotaurs force. He had opted to use the current Dark Angels Combat Patrol which consists of:

1 Captain in Gravis Armour

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Hellblasters

10 Intercessors

The game would see the newly reinforced Loyalists conducting Sweeping Raids into Secessionist space following the stalemate in the Phase II Kill Team event.

I got the first turn but failed to make a telling impact as Andrew used the terrain to negate my ranger advantage.

On his turn he pushed his Hellblasters forward and obliterated my Devastators, leaving me no option but to try to get stuck in.

I pushed my close combat troops forwards to try to capture the mid-table objectives, but they were met by a Captain and some Bladeguard who were packing the most effective invulnerable saves I ever seen and despite the Bladeguard being cut down, they took the Dreadnought and most of my unit with them.

Meanwhile, my combat squad armed with bolters tried to take out the advancing Intercessors, but had to content themselves with simply holding my home objective.

Ultimately the battle came down to my Corpsetaker Apothecary against Andrew's Captain, a fight that was won by the Minotaur, but left him with a single wound.

With the game pretty much over, we called the result on turn 4 as nothing was going to change.

Minotaurs 70 - Astral Claws 43

Game 2: The Head of the Snake

Despite my loss, the Secessionists had won the first round and so now we were aiming to push back the Loyalists with a Display of Might.

I matched up against Jack's Sons of Medusa, which it turned out were also based on the Dark Angels Combat Patrol, and so also consisted of:

1 Captain in Gravis Armour

3 Bladeguard Veterans 

5 Hellblasters

10 Intercessors

The fates unkindly conspired against Jack in this game as not only had I already learned that the real threat was the Hellblasters, but he also proceeded to have absolutely horrendous luck when rolling saves throughout the game.

After I'd driven back his Hellblasters with my concentrated fire, my Dreadnought could advance with impunity and I had a significant advantage in firepower.

Unfortunately for Jack, the scenario required us to advance, and so he made a valiant push with his Bladeguard, but a failed charge saw them out up from all angles.

Ultimately, the Dreadnought strode unchallenged down my right flank; concentrated Bolter fire not enough to deter it, whilst the Gravis Captain was met and defeated by the Corpsetaker and his entourage, his gene-seed added to the Astral Claws' stockpiles.

Astral Claws 58 - Sons of Medusa 25

Game 3 - Howl You Doin'?

With the Secessionists winning the second round as well, we were now pushing out to capture the Loyalist Forward Outposts.

In this game I was matched against Will's Howling Griffons. Like many players at the event, he is using the standard Space Marine Combat Patrol which consists of:

1 Captain in Terminator Armour

1 Librarian in Terminator Armour 

5 Terminators

5 Infernus Marines

I really liked how this game fits so well into the narrative as my Astral Claws pushed into a built up area to find it apparently defended by only a small squad of Howling Griffons.

It looked and felt like a trap.

A trap which was sprung when a whole load of Terminators deep struck into my back line, capturing my home objective and almost obliterating the Corpsetaker's unit and leaving him alone.

Realising that I stood no chance against the Terminators with my units so spread out, I opted to push towards the enemy deployment zone, capturing objectives on the way, in an attempt to match the Howling Griffons build up of victory points.

The Corpsetaker charged into the remaining Infernus Marines whilst the Havoks and remaining Tactical Marines positioned themselves on the mid-table objectives knowing that the Terminators were coming.

The Dreadnought moved to help the Tactical Marines, who found themselves overmatched by the Terminator Captain, and helped them hold onto the objective for an extra turn, until the main squad of Terminators arrived and cut them all to pieces.

Meanwhile, the Corpsetaker ran hell for leather into to enemy deployment zone to grab their valuable objective, putting pressure on the Howling Griffons.

On their final turn, the scores were close, but the Astral Claws would win if they still held two objectives at the end of the game.

However, the Terminators made a long charge (after judicious use of a Command Point) to reach the hiding Devastators and destroy them in hand to hand combat.

Astral Claws 56 - Howling Griffons 52

I ended the day with a loss, a win and a draw. However I don't yet know how the round went for the Secessionists.

The day has been really fun. I've met some excellent people and enjoyed playing games against opponents who have the same limited exposure to 10th edition as me, and so we've been learning together.

So far, I like the Combat Patrol format as it's going ven us time to get our heads around the rules.

The best bit?

I get to go back again tomorrow.

Acquired: -26
Painted: 31
Lead Mountain: 600