Battle Report: Space Wolves vs. Thousand Sons

Hakr Varghoss and his crushing wave approached the castle ruins with a single battle tank across the valley covering the left flank. Scores of horribly stoic rubric marines were moving amidst the rubble now, driven onward by various mutated mystics and accompanied by a large contingent of tactical dreadnought marines, many of them bristling with heavy weapons. Hakr and his Sea Wolves had no real tactical mission on Kriegsmie save the outright extermination of the corrupted witches and their nightmarish charges. Death to the traitors! Death to the Thousand Sons, in the name of Russ!

As the Space Wolves rhinos approached the enemy line, the traitor terminators fired a volley of plasma beams, blowing apart their mounted storm bolters. In response, each rhino launched a series of smoke charges, obscuring their position as they shifted to the right in formation. The Land Speeders hovered over the wolves' battle group and opened fire with their multimeltas, one of them hitting their mark. To their left, the wolves battle tanks and attack bike squadron found targets amongst a far tower and began to fire on them.

As the wolves rhinos passed a section of ruined wall, they slowed to a halt, pulling up tight behind one another to give cover to their disembarking passengers. Grey Hunters and Blood Claws stepped onto the low grass behind their pack leaders. The rune priest's hunter pack emerged on the enemy side of their transport, opening fire on a nearby squad of rubric marines. A mixture of haste and animosity sent their deadliest shots astray, as only a single enemy marine fell from concentrated bolter fire. The rune priest himself emerged on the other side and began to chant, bringing an obscuring cloud of smoke from the ground to slowly enravel the his grey hunter squad. It was too late, however, as enchanted bolts from the rubric marines found every last grey hunter, each screaming impact a horrible reminder to the other wolves of the arcane power of their enemy. Corrupted terminators charged into the sides of their transports, pounding and cutting with assault weapons to no avail; the armor held, praise Russ! The rune priest sensed a disturbance nearby and quickly turned to his left to see a pair of mutated warp witches approach, one of them slithering unnaturally fast into a rubble heap next to Hakr Varghoss and his hunter pack. When the witch with wings raised his arms and prepared to curse Varghoss' squad, the rune priest fell to his knees into deep concentration, chanting even louder, the power of his wolf totem barely able to keep whatever magicks the traitor sorceror was using at bay. Before the battle leader could react, the multiple-breasted serpentine monstrosity pounced and felled Varghoss with one sweep of his demon weapon. Displaying little surprise at the sudden attack, the pack responded in trained unison, their power fists finding purchase and crushing the terrible thing into violet chunks.

On the other side of the battlefield, a space wolves drop pod descended to the planet's surface just behind the enemy line. Clouds of smoke obscured the enormous venerable dreadnought as he stepped from the rocket pod and prepared to fire. Heavy bolter fire from the battle tanks and bike pack dropped several rubric marines nearby as their attendant sorcerors turned their horrible magics on the shrouded dreadnought.

Despite the loss of their leader, the Sea Wolves prepared to counter-attack. They would need to close the distance between them and the enemy in order to avoid the deadly magical bolter fire now so thick in the air. As a land speeder flew overhead bathing the enemy in flame, the blood claws squad and the rune priest waded into the traitor terminators, destroying several of them and sending the enemy into disarray. In mere moments the confused survivors had been cut down and the victorious wolves stepped back behind their rhino to regroup. Meltagun fire from the surviving grey hunters and a second landspeeder cut down the last slaaneshi witch. In the distance, the venerable dreadnought smashed into a squad of rubric marines, killing several. An enormous warp construct slowly approached the melee, its arms already forming cutting torches and saws in anticipation, the dreadnought whirled and sent the beast flying with a single hit from its oversized claw. The tanks and bikes continued to fire into a squad of rubric marines that were now crossing the battlefield to assist in the fight against the grey hunters and blood claws. Suddenly a pack of wolf scouts emerged from cover behind a third unit of thousand sons and charged into them. Though their sorceror leader downed two of the scouts with his warp weapon, the scouts continued their ferocious assault and destroyed several rubric marines.

Most of the enemy witches had been destroyed, but the wolves continued their attack, desperate to destroy any trace of their ancient nemeses. The blood claws, grey hunters, and wolf scouts brought down the last rubric marine squad and sorceror, as the dreadnought continued to send enemies flying, including a unit of obliterators that teleported in nearby. The incursion on Kriegsmie had been stopped for now, and the Sea Wolves returned to their transports.

Thanks to Robert for bringing his beautiful army up to BFG for a fun 2k annihilation game Thursday night. He had some bad luck at several crucial moments, and the space wolves were able to grab and hold on as only they can, wiping out the thousand sons to the very last dusty zombie. I think they would have had a much harder time against his usual 'ard list, what with all the obliterators and lascannon havocs. Anyways, good game, it's always fun to send two fully painted armies against one another no matter the outcome.

Battle Report: Space Wolves vs. Necrons 1-10-08

Before my buddy Mack moves out west, we decided to get one more game in and so revived an old rivalry between his Necrons and my Space Pups. His army consisted of two lords, one with a destroyer body, warscythe, phylactery, and res orb, and the other with a res orb, staff of light, and veil of darkness, four squads of ten warriors, two tomb spyders, three wraiths, six scarab swarms with disruption fields, five destroyers, a heavy destroyer, and a monolith. The Wolves had a wolf priest and a rune priest riding with eight blood claws in a land raider, a drop pod of four wolf guard and a battle leader in terminator armor, four wolf scouts with a meltagun and two power weapons, an AC/HF venerable dreadnought in a drop pod, nine grey hunters and a wolf guard leader with plasma and power fists in a drop pod, two attack bikes with multimeltas, and five long fangs including two lascannons, two missile launchers, and a pack leader. For our random mission we rolled "recon." Mack rolled to win choice of table edge, but there was a pretty even mix of cover on both sides.

Turn 1

With the help of the venerable dreadnought's centuries of wisdom, I re-rolled to win first turn. Unfortunately there wasn't that much to do. The bikes and land raider wheeled around to my right flank, and the long fangs picked off a single wraith with their heavy weapons. Mack responded by moving everyone up and opening up on the aged wolves with a few of the destroyers, but his small opening volley bounced off of the space marines' armor.

Turn 2

Half of my reserves came in on the second turn, with the grey hunters dropping in on the necron right flank, and the terminators supporting the units moving up on the opposite side of the table. The grey hunters were able to drop several warriors with their extensive collection of plasma weaponry, but most of them got back up in the next turn. The land raider moved up and disgorged two priests and the squad of blood claws, and together with the terminators and bikes they destroyed both tomb spyders with shooting. Eager for revenge, Mack's destroyers moved forward and obliterated the long fangs with heavy gauss fire. Warriors and the heavy destroyer took the grey hunters below 50% and sent them fleeing for their table edge.

Turn 3

Unfortunately for me, the close proximity of a necron warrior squad meant the retreating grey hunters were unable to regroup as normal, and they continued to fall back a small distance. However, the wolf scouts arrived and pounced on the heavy destroyer, killed it in close combat, and ran to take cover behind a nearby building. The dreadnought also arrived and knocked down a couple of warriors with his assault cannon. The terminators moved forward into the woods and killed several warriors themselves with the same weaponry. The bikes and blood claws swept around the woods to be in position to help the dreadnought if he needed it. The land raider hung back for one last shot at any necrons trying to move into my deployment zone. The unit of scarab swarms and the monolith both arrived. The destroyers lit up the dreadnought but could only shake it for a turn. Most of the warriors downed by assault cannons got back up and managed to destroy a drop pod and kill off a wolf guard terminator with return fire.

Turn 4

With all the foot traffic in the area, I wasn't sure I would have enough turns to get the land raider into his deployment area, so I wrote off any more shooting and moved the tank forward. The grey hunters regrouped and managed to inflict a few wounds on the scarabs, the only target they could all see. The terminators shot ineffectually into one squad of warriors, and the dreadnought charged into another, killing one in the initial round of assault. The necrons continued to move en masse towards my deployment zone, shot up the grey hunters and another drop pod, and second warrior fell in combat with the dreadnought.

Turn 5

The bikes swerved around the melee for a couple of shots at the necron warriors moving away, completely missing their target for the third or fourth time in the game. The blood claws squad, terminators, and land raider pulled up further into his deployment zone, while the dreadnought grappled with the warriors for another phase with little result. The monolith teleported one warrior squad directly into my deployment zone, with the other squads not far behind. The dreadnought wrapped up the turn by ripping apart two more necrons in his assault phase and sending them fleeing off of their table edge.

Turn 6

Everyone basically cozied up in their opponent's deployment zone, except for a single confrontation on his side (my side now, bitch!) that threatened to put the kibosh on the draw I was trying to hold. The bikes and dreadnought poured fire into the destroyer lord and managed to inflict a single wound. The lord responded by charging into the bikes, his warscythe swinging wide on every attack. The bikes weren't able to inflict any wounds back, so the combat and the entire game ended in a close draw, with Mack scoring around 150 points more than me. Recon might have made the game a little non-confrontational, but we still both had a good time getting the kills that we did. I think the flank is a good tactic for the wolves but I would have liked to have seen the priests and blood claws get into it a bit more. They should have held back and launched out of the land raider straight into his big group in the middle; with high initiative power weapons, sweeping advances, and a little luck, I might have even been able to force a phase out after a couple of turns. I love the re-rolls for first turn and damage results, but the venerable dread rarely ever gets his points back, so I might swap a vindicator in for him next time.

Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Imperial Guard 12-13-07

Last night I threw down with Clay at Ninja Pirates in a 2000 point take and hold match. I used my latest bug list: 36 scuttling carapace genestealers, 6 flying CC warriors, dakkarant, dakka fex, lictor, 2 sniperfexes, and blast/scream zoanthropes. He was playing a big guard gunline army, with a high Ld CHQ with vox, a few heavy weapon squads (autocannons and missile launchers), a squad of ogryns in a chimera, two platoons with three infantry squads each (with autocannon teams), two hellhounds, two HB/LC leman russes, and a basilisk. He rolled to pick his deployment as well as to go first.

Turn 1

After the genestealer squads scuttled forward towards their lines, Clay's guardsmen loosed their heavy guns and tried to squash as many bugs as possible. Several different stealer squads, one sniperfex, and the dakkafex all took wounds from mass ordnance, rockets and autocannon fire. His hellhounds moved forward into the center piece of terrain, one of them burning up an entire stealer squad in great one gout of flame. The ogryn taxi moved up as well. In my turn, all the remaining stealers moved up, hiding in terrain whenever possible, and thanks to a six inch fleet move, a squad of six made it into combat with one of the fire support squads. A predictable amount of bloodshed ensued, and they consolidated into a nearby missile launcher squad. The hive tyrant and winged warriors jumped to face the right guard flank, the tyrant's devourers bringing down the senior officer and three of his attendants, leaving the commissar in charge. The sniperfexes and zoanthropes stunned one of the hellhounds and destroyed the other, leaving it stranded in the center terrain. A damn fine first turn for me! I had managed to turn down the heat some (literally), hurt the command HQ a little bit, and tied up most of his left flank.

Turn 2

In his second turn, Clay pulled the ogryns back to support the center of his line, and finished off the last two stragglers from one of the genestealer squads. He also reduced the stealer squad on my far right to a single man. Then he charged into the melee in progress on his left with one of the nearby infantry squads. With their high initiative, the genestealers broke the missile launcher squad and hacked apart most of the infantry that had just charged them. In my turn, the sniperfexes destroyed the chimera with a glancing 6 from a venom cannon and entangled the passengers. After some unlucky armor save rolls, one of the ogrys died in the explosion, another took two wounds, and the commissar also took a wound. The lictor emerged from a shed in the middle of his gunline and assaulted a nearby infantry squad, only killing one or two before taking a wound himself. The hive tyrant dealt heavy casualties to a missile launcher squad, sending the survivors fleeing for the hills. The flying warriors jumped into assault with a squad of guardsmen but was only able to kill a few of them. The zoanthropes tried to finish off the hellhound in the middle to no avail, only managing to stun it once more. Another stealer squad charged his center left, tying up two infantry squads and killing four men from each unit. The last surviving black-headed stealer on my right was finally made it into assault with an infantry squad as well, but was knocked in the head with a rifle butt and killed after his own swings went wide. Things just kept getting better for the bugs, and we decided to tentatively play out a third turn to see if the guard could turn things around...

Turn 3

They couldn't. It was too late, and his subsequent guardsmen charges into my genestealer units were mostly ineffective. He managed to bring down one of the flying warriors with his commissar, and a command squad helped infantry squad remnants kill off the lictor, but I had dug pretty deep into his lines and we decided to call it as an inevitable victory for the bugs.

This game was probably more fun for me, but there were some great misadventures on both sides. I liked fielding a strong flank with the genestealers - it worked much better than spreading them out across the entire table. The warriors were about as strong as I expected, in other words not that strong, but I thought the one squad definitely served its purpose by supporting the zopes and sniperfexes in the middle, providing synapse and counterassault if necessary. The hive tyrant did well against guard, even with a lower BS than usual; we'll see if the good results can be repeated against marines. I think the most important thing was keeping the stealers away from the leman russes. Even if he destroyed four of the six squads, it only took the two stealer units that made it across the board to wipe out all the infantry on his left flank.

Warhammer 30,000: Week 3

Dire Portents this week, as the Warmaster gathers to him his most trusted brother Primarchs and their legions. During an attack on forces loyal to a traitorous planetary governor, the Death Guard and World Eaters discover a strange ziggurat near a former listening post in the (apparently) frozen wastelands of Istvaan Extremis. As they begin to search the area they come under attack by a human army led by a potent mutant psyker, a.k.a. the Warsinger, a.k.a me! We decided to represent the Warsinger with a model from Aventine's collection - his zealot leader - using the mutant psyker rules in the Witchhunters codex. In exchange for her cost plus the three available psychic powers, the Death Guard took an additional land speeder. It was a rather poor trade in the end for the soon-to-be traitor legions... muahahahaha!

Deployment

For our random special mission we drew "Rescue." The legion players, Bigred (Death Guard) and Adam (World Eaters) decided to use the corner deployment, choosing the one with the most mystery tokens nearby. Apparently there's some dispute over whether your opponent has to also use corner deployment if you do, but it wasn't worth bothering about so I just used a corner too. The Death Guard and World Eaters color schemes looked really great together as they deployed their tac squads along the inside borders of their corner. I basically mirrored them with my infantry squads. It would be a dead sprint to find the right token!

Turn 1 & Turn 2

I rolled to go first. Given the corner deployment zones there had to be a lot of movement before anything really heated up. However, at the end of the second turn, I turned over the very first token and it was the objective! The Warsinger's quarry (a mysterious box) was very nearly in her possession. Of my reserves I only had my hellhound and one sentinel come in. The rest of the Istvaan guard infantry moved forward and hunkered down to wait for the approaching legions.

Turn 3

Turn 3 saw the arrival of the command HQ elements, including heavy weapons and mortar teams, as well as the last two sentinels and one of the veteran squads. My heavy tanks were still waiting in reserve! The squad with the objective passed it off to the command squad behind them. The HQ chimera drove out to supplement the forward lines, and most of the infantry squads got shots off at nearby enemies, dropping a few marines here and there (no thanks to a succesful prayer from Garro as Bigred used his special faith point to give the big Death Guard infantry squad invulnerable 3+ saves). The hellhound helped to inflict heavy casualties on the large World Eaters tac squad, but shortly thereafter a Death Guard landspeeder arrived and killed the flame tank with a precision multimelta shot. The legions' precious Land Raider arrived chock full of Berzerkers, including Khârn, and moved up towards the main event about to go down in the center of the table.

Turn 4

The command squad holding the objective ran back towards my table edge, and the Command HQ's chimera drove forward in front of them, moving into position to cover their retreat from the main body of the marine forces. The heavy armor arrived and reduced the Death Guard squad to less than a "decade." A World Eaters combat squad botched an easy target priority test to kill the objective-carrier and had to shoot at the closer infantry squad, wiping them out. They are indeed the Shaq legion! One of the Death Guard landspeeders pulled up right in front of the guard frontlines and wiped out 6 or 7 traitors with their heavy flamer. Then their dreadnought penetrated the chimera's hull but could not wreck it. The command HQ, including the Warsinger, jumped out but passed their pinning test like champs. The Death Guard and World Eaters infantry charged into combat with the traitorous guardsmen - the World Eaters wiped out their opponents completely and followed up into a sentinel, but the Death Guard were bogged down in the last three members of an infantry squad. They were in perfect position for my Warsinger to bring the pain.

Turn 5

Time left for the legions to stop and retake the objective from the Warsinger's forces were running out. Heavy bolters on one side of my lines shook one landspeeder, and lascannon teams destroyed both weapons on the other. Two of my sentinels came around from cover, one shooting the nearby crippled landspeeder and missing, and the second took a chance shot at the heavily obscured back corner of the World Eaters land raider. Three sixes later: KABOOM! The legions were stunned in the face of such a tragedy, and could only watch as a mighty machine spirit went up in smoke. As the Death Guard began to realize the hopelessness of their situation, the Warsinger pounced and used her mutant powers to turn them against one another. Four Death Guard fell by their own hands, and the legions decided to withdraw. Garro himself was grievously wounded, and the Warsinger and her minions were victorious... for now.

Rescue was a double edged sword for me - the other two special missions could have been total disasters (especially night fight with those Berzerkers and Land Raider). But I also got really lucky when the objective token happened to be the closest one to my deployment. After that it was just a matter of running away from marine shooting, and I got lucky again with some of those World Eater misses (thanks guys). This was probably the most fun week yet of the campaign, but next week promises to be even crazier, with the bombing of Istvaan III. I even feel as if I had some hand in provoking that legendary tragedy!

Battle Report: Witch Hunters vs. Chaos 8-11-07

Bully vs. c2 - 2000 points - Cleanse

I changed my 2000 point list from last weekend's Thor's tournament to switch out the armored fist squads' autocannons with lascannons, and removing the infantry command squad's lascannon to include two meltaguns and a plasma gun. I planned on driving them around in the back of the immolator to hop out and deliver some low AP fire. c2 ran her usual chaos army.

Turn 1

Witch Hunters: For the first time, my inquisitor's liber heresius failed to work and c2 was able to pick sides. I rolled to get first turn, however, and tried to get my money's worth working on the only squad I could see: the havocs. I used "word in your ear" to move the chaos heavy weapons out of cover and opened fire on them with the leman russ, sentinel, and infantry squads. Five of them went down. The seraphim, immolator, infantry command squad, and one of the chimeras moved up on the chaos flank.

Chaos: The berzerkers roll blood frenzy and go screaming through the ruined church toward the immolator. The demon prince moves into the ruins along with the obliterators. They try to shoot the seraphim with heavy bolters but fail to kill any. The havocs blow up the immolator's heavy flamer turret.

Turn 2

Witch Hunters: The berzerkers were exposed so I tried to pour fire into them while I could. The leman russ, the nearest chimera and several infantry squad lascannons shoot up the squad, killing five of eight. The exorcist pulls out around the other chimera and puts four blessed missiles into the obliterators, inflicting two instant deaths, wiping them out. The immolator moves further up the flank, staying in between the havocs and the seraphim. The callidus assassin arrives, kills two khorne bikers with the neural shredder, whiffs in close combat, but survives another turn.

Chaos: The demon prince jumps from the church ruins to a nearby wall. The terminators deep strike in and open fire on the seraphim, killing four. The havocs wreck the nearby chimera. The possessed jump in with the bikers and kill the callidus.

Turn 3

Witch Hunters: The seraphim jump into the terminators, flaming them up good, but they fail their divine guidance faith test and only one is killed in the shooting phase. The busted immolator moves up and the infantry command squad tries in vain to wound the demon prince. The sister and infantry squads move back to avoid being charged. The exorcist manages to pick off the berzerker aspiring champion with six rockets. In close combat, the seraphim use three different faith points to kill three terminators, only losing one of their own. The chaos terminators fail their leadership and are wiped out by a sweeping advance.

Chaos: The bloodletters arrive only to scatter off the table! The demon prince bounds over the immolator to take revenge on the seraphim. The surviving havocs and berzerkers pull back into the church ruins. Four of them are killed quite handily and the last breaks and retreats towards my table edge.

Turn 4

Witch Hunters: The command squad and sentinel try to shoot up the demon prince again but can't inflict any damage. The exorcist and leman russ burst forward to get close to the chaos-held quarters. The last seraphim continues her retreat towards my table edge.

Chaos: The demon prince lays waste to the command squad and regroups behind the wrecked chimera.

Turn 5

Witch Hunters: The last seraphim flies off the table. The exorcist and leman russ drive full bore into the chaos home quarter, and the immolator races away to avoid the demon prince. The rear-most infantry squad moves over into the adjacent quarter.

Chaos: The rhino drives out from behind the church to cover the possessed and bikes from the exorcist, shooting its smoke launchers. The demon prince moves closer to the retreating immolator.

Turn 6

Witch Hunters: The leman russ drives far into the chaos quarter to avoid the demon prince's charge. The immolator tries to turtle up, backing into a nearby wall and leaving its best armor to the outside. The exorcist destroys the rhino regardless of the smokescreen. The sentinel moves into the adjacent quarter.

Chaos: All the hiding chaos elements burn out into the open to secure quarters at the last minute. The demon prince brings down the immolator with several swings of his mighty axe of khorne. The havocs in the corner of the ruins destroys the sentinel.

Some good rolling on my part and bad rolling on c2's part left Witch Hunters with a solid victory - but just barely! She maneuvered well to overcome some early setbacks and severely reduce my margin of victory. I've found that boldness rarely pays off with the fragile witch hunters and tried to keep myself from getting too greedy.

Battle Report: Chaos vs. Imperial Guard 6-16-07

Bully vs c2 - 2000 points - Secure and Control

For this game I switched out sharpshooters for a mortar squad. My other doctrines were light infantry, iron discipline, close order drill, and special weapons squads. C2 fielded her now classic khorne/black legion force: flying khorne demon prince, flying khorne possessed, big terminator squad, berzerkers, bloodletters, khorne bikes, obliterators, and havocs. We played a random standard mission, which turned out to be secure and control with 4 objectives.

Turn 1

Chaos: The bikes roar forward and gain an invulnerable save. The Terminators shoot up one of the infantry squads across the field and kill five of them. They hold their ground, encouraged by the nearby command squad. The Havocs destroy the chimera facing them down on the other side of the battle and the command squad inside tumbles out, entangled in the wreckage.

Imperial Guard: The basilisk fires indirectly across the battle and blows up the berzerkers' rhino, pinning the passengers. The hellhound and special weapons squad moves up to put their all into killing the approaching bikes. Somehow they survive numerous blasts of gunfire and different templates; at least the demo pack didn't fall back on the squad! The last chimera and the right side guard wing opens up on the terminators, killing 4. The tanks on the other side try to shoot up the havocs but only one or two are downed. Already by this point I'd already rolled plenty of ones that could have used a reroll.

Turn 2

Chaos: The demon prince decides to join the fight, heading towards the main infantry formation. The bikes charge the special weapons squad, wipe them out, and consolidate further into cover. The bloodletters arrive next to the berzerkers and they erupt from the forest, charging into the nearest infantry squad. Losing but one of their own number, they kill all of their opponents and consolidate into another 10-man squad. The terminators open fire on the members of a further infantry squad, killing everyone but the plasma gunner, who stands his ground!

Imperial Guard: The Leman Russ demolisher moves up to reach the havocs with his main gun; unfortunately his shot goes stray and misses the chaos heavy weapons completely. The command squad from the broken chimera climbs onto the wreckage to get cover and shoot at the havocs next turn. The sentinels, hellhound, and Leman Russ open up on the bikes, killing only two of them. Mass infantry shooting kills another terminator. The basilisk drops an ordnance round on the berzerkers and kills 6 of them. Lascannon teams and chimera shoot up the approaching demon prince but can't do any damage. However, the lone plasma gunner passes his last-man-standing test and fires his weapon, inflicting a single wound on the prince! The bloodletters wipe out another infantry squad in assault (my guys killed another one though - thanks, COD!). The demons position themselves to move into another squad in their own turn.

Turn 3

Chaos: The terminators move behind the hill and shoot up the infantry squad they can see, killing three more with reaper fire. The havocs and obliterators shoot up the front of the demolisher, destroying the main weapon and shaking the crew. The demon prince flies over a forest and lands behind the hellhound, exploding it with a swing of his enormous axe of khorne. The bikes and possessed again hold tight in forested cover near objectives. The bloodletters charge into the command HQ and lascannon squad, killing them all and consolidating into the second command squad just behind them. The last 2 berzerkers roll blood rage and charge out into the open.

Imperial Guard: The command squad rethinks their position and dismounts from the wrecked chimera. The demolisher rethinks its foolhardy charge and pulls its shaken ass back behind the forest. The last surviving infantry squads shoot the berzerkers, killing only one, with the plasma gunner barely surviving an overheat. Everyone else brings their weapons to bear on the demon prince and he is brought down in a hail of mass lascannon and heavy bolter fire from the sentinels, chimera, leman russ, and fire support squad.

Turn 4:

Chaos: The bikes retreat back behind their forest, passing their dangerous terrain tests (damn!), and the possessed further consolidate onto the nearby loot counter. The terminators kill off the infantry squad they've been firing at to a man, but the man in question fails leadership (the command squads were all dead too!) and falls back screaming with terror. The havocs and obliterators fire on the sentinel in the open, shaking it. The bloodletters finish off their last infantry squad but their consolidation roll isn't enough to take them into the heavy bolter teams nearby!

Imperial Guard: The stubborn plasma gunner passes another last-man-standing and shoots down the berzerker aspiring champion. The Leman Russ kills two havocs with ordnance. The mortars, chimera, fire support team and one sentinel wipe out the bloodletters. Couldn't have done it without those two close combat kills I got earlier thanks to COD!

Turn 5:

Chaos: The terminators climb aboard the rhino wreckage and into the forest. The havocs explode one sentinel on their side of the field, leaving only a crater behind. The obliterators destroy the main weapon on the leman russ.

Imperial Guard: The Chimera kills one more khorne biker, leaving only the aspiring champion. Shooting from the heavy bolter teams (just barely too far away!) and nearby sentinel can't bring down the terminator champion visible in the woods. The second sentinel on the far side climbs into the crater made by his dead colleague.

Turn 6:

Chaos: The biker champion zooms away back into his deployment zone to deny the kill. The havocs somehow pick out the basilisk's obscured side in the distance and wreck it. The other two terminators climb into the forest and open up on the close sentinel, destroying it as well.

Imperial Guard: The tanks move to grab the nearby loot counter, demolisher and sentinel manage to drop one of the obliterators.

The game ends with c2 controlling one more objective than me, and together with the victory points she earns a solid victory!

Battle Report: Witch Hunters vs. Space Wolves 5-19-07

Bully vs. C. - 1500 points - Cleanse (Wolves choice)

C.'s looking to start playing the Witch Hunters now, so we had a little 1500 point match-up this weekend for her to try them out. She had 1 cannoness, 1 callidus assassin, 1 inquisitor, 7 repentia with mistress and priest, 2 x 10 battle sisters, 10 seraphim, an exorcist, an immolator, and two penitent engines. Wolves had 1 wolf guard battle leader, 1 rune priest with terminator bodyguard in a drop pod, 4 wolf scouts, 2 x 7 grey hunters led by a wolf guard in a drop pod, 8 blood claws led by a wolf guard in a rhino, and a vindicator.

Turn 1

Witch Hunters: The penitent engines are irritated at starting the game off in the rear and they roll for holy rage and sprint forward a bit. One of the battle sister squads settles into the area around the statue in their adjacent quarter and the tanks also swing wide into the same quarter.

Space Wolves: The Vindicator pulls up even with the rhino as it turns a bit itself, trying to get in position for the blood claws to hop out next turn.

Turn 2

Witch Hunters: The repentia, urged on by their mistress's neural whips, roll for holy rage and charge forward another full 6" to make contact with the wolves' rhino. As they lay into it with their savage eviscerators, the rhino explodes and four are killed. The battle leader, wolf guard, and blood claws are entangled in the smoking crater left by their destroyed transport. The witch hunters tanks swing further out.

Space Wolves: The terminators decide to come in a bit early and their drop pod deep strikes next to the seraphim. Luck turns a cold shoulder and only one of the flying nuns is destroyed by their sizeable wave of plasma and assault fire. Even worse, one of the plasma guns overheats and kills its bearer. Lesson: don't mess with the daughters of the emperor. The rune priest does his best to call up a blizzard and give his squad a little cover. The vindicator flips a huey and hauls back to its former position.

Turn 3

Witch Hunters: The seraphim use divine guidance to wipe out the terminators in righteous flame and bolter fire, blizzard be damned. The callidus assassin slinks out of her hiding place in the ruined chapel and charges toward the pinned blood claws, killing four immediately with her neural shredder and laying down four more in close combat. The repentia and mistress also charge into the blood claws and battle leader, but without frags they are destroyed before they can do any damage. A blood claw armed with a powerfist manages to destroy the assassin in the end.

Space Wolves: Both squads of grey hunters and the wolf scouts arrive on the table, killing five battle sisters with their opening salvoes of bolter and plasma fire. The machine spirits of the grey hunter drop pods target the aged inquisitor and manage to kill him with their storm bolters. Another plasma gunner is overcome by a weapon misfire. The battle leader and blood claws stagger away from their rhino crater and take cover in the chapel ruins.

Turn 4

Witch Hunters: The battle sisters shoot up the grey hunters, killing three of them and forcing them to fall back. The pentitent engines get holy rage again and charge into the closest drop pod. They try in vain to make it explode, leaving it a hulking wreck that the grey hunters can still hide behind.

Space Wolves: The grey hunters and wolf scouts move around the side of the destroyed drop pod and bring down one of the penitent engines with plasma shots. The other grey hunters regroup, and the vindicator pulls wide to threaten the immolator.

Turn 5

Witch Hunters: The last penitent engine charges the grey hunters in holy rage and kills three of them. The powerfists are unable to hit him back. The seraphim move closer to the middle of the table, and the immolator moves next to the exorcist and fires off its smoke launchers for a little extra protection. The exorcist shoots one of the blood claws in the chapel.

Space Wolves: The battle leader and last couple of blood claws move back away from the enemy armor. The vindicator fires its demolisher cannon at the immolator, shaking it. The scouts try to kill just one battle sister and bring their squad below 50% but cannot make it happen. The penitent engine puts down two more grey hunters.

Turn 6

Witch Hunters: The exorcist takes one last shot at the vindicator, but even with 6 shots is unable to do any damage. The seraphim fly over next to a drop pod in an attempt to straddle the two quarters. The penitent engine kills another two grey hunters, leaving only the powerfist troopers who are unable to return the favor, only shaking it. They break and flee from the crazed walker.

Space Wolves: The vindicator finishes the duel of the tanks by shaking and destroying the main weapon of the exorcist. One squad of grey hunters kill one of seraphim and the other one shoots at the cannoness but can't pierce her 2+ save.

Witch Hunters win, solid victory.

Battle Report: Tyranids vs. Chaos 5-19-07

Bully vs. C. - 2000 points - Seek and Destroy

Hive Fleet Vivax is now all ghosted up and I'm almost ready to start wading into their proper paint jobs. But I'm impatient and they're ready enough, so we pitted the two evils in my collection against one another. Nids had 1 hive tyrant, 1 broodlord with 8 genestealers, lictor, 2 x 3 warriors, 2 x 12 genestealers, 2 x 20 termagants, 1 zoanthrope, and 1 carnifex. Chaos had 1 demon prince, 6 possessed, 8 terminators, 2 obliterators, 8 berzerkers, 8 bloodletters, and 8 havocs.

Turn 1

Chaos: The havocs kill 2 genestealers and the terminators and obliterators squish 6 termagants in the shooting phase.

Tyranids: The horde moves up. One terminator is killed by the hive tyrant's venom cannon. The venom cannon in the warrior squad shakes the rhino.

Turn 2

Chaos: The havocs and bikes shoot up the broodlord's approaching squad, killing five. The terminators and obliterators kill two more in a second genestealer squad. The bloodletters arrive next to the berzerkers.

Tyranids: A tyranid warrior kills one berzerker with a barbed strangler, but the fearless squad cannot be pinned by the exploding seedpod. In assault, the broodlord smashes two of the khorne bikers, and his last genestealer brother is killed. Genestealers closest to the havocs charge into them, killing four immediately and the rest are wiped out with a sweeping advance. The genestealers hunker down in the crater.

Turn 3

Chaos: The terminators shoot four genestealers. The berzerkers charge up and shoot at the closest genestealer squad but miss or fail to wound them. Together with the bloodletters they charge into close combat and wipe out the genestealers, but every berzerker but the aspiring champion is killed in the process. The demon prince flies over cover and smashes into the termagants, killing six of them. The rhino plows into the nearby termagant squad.

Tyranids: Termagants finish off the berzerker aspiring champion with their fleshborers. The carnifex charges into the melee between the termagants and demon prince. The big demon tries to wound the carnifex but cannot. The lictor arrives and charge into the terminators along with the nearest squad genestealers. The terminators kill three genestealers but lose six of their own and flee off of the table. The victorious 'nids consolidate into the obliterators standing nearby.

Turn 4

Chaos: The chaos rhino drives into the tyranid warriors, spins around and kills one gaunt with its combibolter. The possessed grow tired of waiting in the rear and charge into the carnifex. The demon prince slaughters four more gaunts. The carnifex kills one possessed and only the possessed champion wounds the big monster back. The obliterators kill two of the offending genestealers. The bloodletters charge into the gaunts and kill fourteen of them, losing one of their own in the process.

Tyranids: The bloody hole where the possessed champion's powerfist punched into the carnifex stitches itself up as the wound regenerates. The hive tyrant and warrior squad charge into the big combat next to them. Both the carnifex and tyrant wound the demon prince, but the possessed champion punches another nasty wound into the carnifex. The tyranid warriors kill one possessed. The bloodletters finish off the gaunts. One obliterator is wounded and one genestealer is killed.

Turn 5

Chaos: The bloodletters charge into a warrior squad and five of them are killed by the faster tyranids. One warrior is wounded. The carnifex and other warrior squad finish off the possessed, and the hive tyrant brings down the demon prince. The lictor kills the wounded obliterator just before the last genestealer is killed.

Tyranids: The lictor wounds the last obliterator, the warriors finish the bloodletters, and the last possessed are killed by the carnifex and other warrior squad.

Turn 6

Chaos: The lictor finishes off the obliterator; chaos is totally destroyed.

Tyranids win, crushing victory.

Battle Report: Chaos vs. Chaos 5-12-07

C. vs. Eric - 1500 points - Annihilation



Turn 1

Chaos (Eric): The predators and havocs kill four of C.'s havocs with heavy weapons. One squad of berzerkers moves up.

Chaos (C.): The surviving havoc targets the nearest predator with his lascannon, stunning and immobilizing it. The rest of the army moves forward, including the demon prince (off-camera at the bottom).

Turn 2

Chaos (Eric): One predator tries to move away from the approaching demon prince, while the other swings wide and takes down one of the terminators. On the far side, a squad of berzerkers goes crazy and charges toward C.'s rhino. The obliterator moves up with the berzerkers.

Chaos (C.): Blood rage must be answered by blood rage! The bloodletters answer the call, and together with C.'s berzerkers they charge forward into Eric's obliterator and berzerkers. They bring down the obliterator and four berzerkers, killing the last by outnumbering him. They consolidate into Eric's second squad of berzerkers. One predator is shot up a bit, and the demon prince gets closer to the other predator.

Turn 3

Chaos (Eric): The chaos marines try to stop the enemy rhino but inflict no damage. The predator shoots up the terminators but can't make get them to fail an armor save. In assault, C.'s berzerkers and bloodletters finish off their rival khorne freaks and consolidate into the chaos lord's squad of marines.

Chaos (C.): The obliterators destroy the stunned predator. The demon prince swoops in on the chaos havocs and wipes them out with his massive axe. The possessed join in the massive assault at the top and kill a few chaos marines.

Turn 4

Chaos (Eric): The chaos rhino pulls around and unloads another big squad of marines. They shoot up the bloodletters but when the smoke clears, only one has been killed. The chaos lord and several marines are killed in the large melee.

Chaos (C.): The demon prince charges the predator, destroying it. The possessed and last berzerker finish off the squad of chaos marines in close combat, but the berzerker is killed. The bloodletters charge the marines that shot at them, killing three of them and losing one of their own.

Turn 5

Chaos (Eric): One more marine is killed in assault by the bloodletters.

Chaos (C.): The possessed charge the rhino and trigger an explosion that kills one nearby marine and one bloodletter. The bloodletters finish off the rest of the marines.

Chaos (C.) wins, victorious slaughter.

Battle Report: Imperial Guard vs. Tau 5-12-07

Bully vs. Marcos - 1500 points - Cleanse



Turn 1

Tau: The stealth suits, having infiltrated so close to the guard flank, open fire on the lascannon teams, killing four of them. The hammerheads tear up one of the infantry squads, sending it running off the table.

Imperial Guard: The demolisher moves left and fires on the stealthsuits, hitting four but killing only two of them. The sentinels and lascannon team shoot up one of the piranhas, shaking it. The ion cannon hammerhead is stunned by mass missile fire. The heavy bolter teams move into the tower.

Turn 2

Tau: The hammerheads zip into their adjacent quarter and fire their weapons, destroying the leman russ and killing two guardsmen in the far right squad. The devilfish kills one of the guardsmen in the tower. The intact piranha flies over the walls and tries to bring down the demolisher with its fusion blaster, but -alas- misses the crucial shot.

Imperial Guard: The basilisk goes fires indirectly at the battle suits but the shot scatters and hits the devilfish, shaking it. The heavy bolter teams destroy the piranha's weapon, and the lascannon team finishes it off. One sentinel moves to attack the approaching stealthsuits but misses, and the other fires across the battlefield, stunning one of the hammerheads. The first squad to target the ion cannon hammerhead brings it down with a missile. Additional rocket and plasma fire kills one battlesuit and inflicts a wound on a second.

Turn 3

Tau: The unshaken hammerhead shakes the basilisk. A devilfish darts around the chapel and its passengers disembark. The battlesuits and the fire warriors' pulse rifles bring down 4 guardsmen. The shas'el jumps out of cover and kills two of the guardsmen in the heavy bolter squad. The stealthsuits attack the threatening sentinel and it explodes, but they and the nearby lascannon team are unharmed. The remaining piranha circles further around the imperial guard flank.

Imperial Guard: The demolisher turns and fires on the squad of fire warriors, killing four of them and destroying the devilfish's smart missile system. The nearby guardsmen wipe out the rest with plasma and lasgun fire. The surviving lascannon team kills two stealthsuits with lasgun and lascannon fire and the hellhound finishes off the last two. The shaken basilisk zooms forward to move into cover.

Turn 4

Tau: One of the devilfish moves over and kills two guardsmen with its last weapon. The other devilfish immobilizes the sentinel. The hammerheads kill one guardsman and destroy the hellhound's flame turret. The last piranha's gun drones detach and move towards the guard position.

Imperial Guard: The stars align for the emperor's dogmen and they make some important shots: the basilisk fires indirectly at a hammerhead and destroys it on a glancing hit. The intact sentinel rolls to immobilize the other hammerhead, and when its decoy launchers attempt to change the damage result, the reroll is a 6 and it goes down for good. The demolisher hauls ass to stay away from the piranha's fusion death. One of the infantry squads runs into the cratered section of road to grab some cover. The hellhound stuns the devilfish.

Turn 5

Tau: The battlesuits jump from cover and kill one of the guardsmen in the far right squad, breaking them and sending them off the table.

Imperial Guard: Guard missile launchers blow up the stunned devilfish, and the lascannon team and hellhound finishes off the gun drones. The basilisk backs up to get in position for one last indirect shot on the battlesuits.

Turn 6

Tau: The last devilfish kills one guardsman.

Imperial Guard: The basilisk fires off the last guard shot of the game, hitting the battlesuits but failing to wound either of them. The hellhound and infantry squad move to contest both adjacent quarters (the infantry squad was straddling the line and rolled to occupy the crucial quarter).

Imperial Guard wins, solid victory.

Battle Report: Necrons vs. Orks 5-12-07

Mack vs. Pat - 1500 points - Take and Hold



Turn 1

Necrons: The necron forces advance and the destroyers take down 2 grots and 6 boyz with their heavy gauss weapons.

Orks: The orks charge forward into the fray, firing off big shootas and rokkits, and bring down 2 warriors. The looted leman russ looses its battle cannon, taking down three more warriors and wounding the VoD lord.

Turn 2

Necrons: Three warriors reassemble and continue their silent advance. Two more boyz and a couple of grots fall to the necrons' green beams. The monolith nears the center of the battlefield.

Orks: The leman russ again lets fly with the battle cannon and brings down one warrior. Three more warriors are killed by rokkits and big shootas.

Turn 3

Necrons: The necron technology is having a good day and 3 more warriors stand back up. A squad of warriors teleports through the monolith, and together with the flux arc, disable the orky dreadnought, blowing each of its arms off in turn. The monolith also hits a grot and a boy, and the destroyers kill four boyz themselves.

Orks: The leman russ scores a kill on the destroyer squad, and the disabled ork dreadnought is stilll able to bring down one of the warriors in assault.

Turn 4

Necrons: The ordnance blast was too much for the destroyer, and he stays down. The warrior climbs back to his feet and his squad again teleports through the monolith. The squad and the monolith open fire on the killa kans, immobilizing one and wrecking the other. The destroyers wipe out five grots.

Orks: The rokkit buggies sweep around and kill two necron warriors. The warboss slowly but surely approaches the meat grinder. The boyz charge the necron warriors, killing one and losing two in the process. They fail their morale check and fall back, also failing their mob check.

Turn 5

Necrons: Two warriors stand back up, two stay dead. They fire on nearby grots and boyz, killing several of them. The dreadnought is immobilized.

Orks: Rokkits and big shootas drop a destroyer and a few more warriors, and the warboss wades into the squad in front of the monolith, killing two of them with his power klaw. The big mek sidles up to the dreadnought and fixes up the big machine, restoring its ability to move.

Turn 6

Necrons: The destroyer and two warriors get back up. Massed gauss shooting kills 7 of the rokkit boyz, bringing them below scoring capacity.

Orks: The orks make a last ditch effort to take down as many necrons as possible. Two warriors are killed by the battle cannon. Somehow the warriors near the monolith are able to bring down the warboss. The big mek fixes up the immobilized kan, making it a scoring unit and earning the orks a few more victory points.

Necrons win, solid victory.

Battle Report: Necrons vs. Chaos 5-11-07

Mack vs. Eric - 1500 points - Secure and Control



Turn 1

Necrons: The destroyers draw first blood and kill one of the havocs. Warriors and the monolith move forward.

Chaos: One of the squads of berzerkers rolls blood rage and charges through rocky terrain on their way to the warrior squad in yon forest. One of the predator tanks and the obliterator move out and fire on the monolith, inflicting no damage. The chaos bikes zoom forward and drop one of the warriors in the closest squad.

Turn 2

Necrons: The necrons ready their gauss rifles and flay up the bikers and one of the berzerkers approaching on the far side.

Chaos: Both of the berzerker squads go crazy and charge the warriors squads closest to them. On the necrons' left, the berzerkers go last, having charged into cover, and lose three of their number. Though their champion's powerfist drops two warriors in return, the fearless squad misses two armor saves from being outnumbered. The other berzerkers kill 2 warriors and one of their own is killed.

Turn 3

Necrons: One of the warriors felled by the berzerkers is reanimated, and their squad teleports through the monolith, out of combat. The monolith, destroyer, and other warriors take apart the stranded berzerker squad, killing everyone but the champion.

Chaos: The berzerker champion charges into the destroyers, killing three with his powerfist and sending them fleeing off the board. The rhino rolls around the monolith and its passengers disembark, shooting down two of the necron warriors in a hail of bolt fire.

Turn 4

Necrons: The foot lord uses his veil of darkness to teleport himself and a squad of warriors across the table to nearby the obliterator. For all their gauss fire, they are unable to inflict any damage on the hulking monstrosity. The monolith stuns the predator tank with is flux arc.

Chaos: The havocs pick off two of the necron warriors, and the rhino whips around to try and tank shock the necron warrior squad near the obliterator. One of the warriors tries to shoot it down and is run over for his trouble. The lord and his squad of marines approach the squad of necron warriors in the forest on the far side of the field.

Turn 5

Necrons: The monolith powers up its particle whip and annihilates 8 of the nearby chaos space marines. The surviving two fall back in horror at the green beamy death that had enveloped them as the warriors and lord immobilize the rhino with more of the same.

Chaos: The lord and his retinue of chaos marines charge into the necrons on the forest hill, killing one but losing two of their own in trade. The rhino stands down on its guns and manages a self-repair.

Turn 6

Necrons: The foot lord and warriors bring down the obliterator with another hail of gauss fire. The destroyer lord sweeps around and charges into the mass melee between the warriors and chaos lord and marines. Four marines and one necron warrior fall.

Chaos: The chaos havocs drop two necron warriors in front of the monolith.

Necrons win, solid victory.

Battle Report: Chaos vs. Tau 5-11-07

C. vs. Marcos - 1500 points - Chaos Choice (Seek and Destroy)

(missed the setup picture)

Turn 1

Chaos: Chaos starts off well, rolling to choose the mission type and get first turn. Pressing the advantage, their big guns take down several enemy skimmers: the terminators blow up one of the piranhas with their reaper autocannons, the obliterators stun the devilfish and destroy its missile system, and the havocs stun one of the hammerheads. The berzerkers press forward in their rhino, followed closely by the flying possessed.

Tau: Shrugging off their early setbacks, the Tau regroup and counterattack. The crisis suits jump from cover and take out the rhino with plasma and rocket fire, killing four of its passengers in the process. The last two berzerkers are entangled in the wreckage. One of the hammerheads lays fire into the havocs in the bunker, killing two and sending the rest falling back.

Turn 2

Chaos: The havocs regroup, readying their weapons. The obliterators move out from cover and finish off the stunned hammerhead. The possessed fly out from behind the rhino and try to take down the piranha in midair but fail to inflict any damage.

Tau: The piranha flies away from the possessed and try to shoot up the entangled berzerkers, missing them. Its gun drones detach to create additional targets. The battlesuits and ion cannon hammerhead shoot up the possessed, killing all but the aspiring champion. A very close call for chaos - both of the summoning units for the bloodletters were nearly wiped out this turn.

Turn 3

Chaos: The possessed champion flies over the rhino and smashes up the gun drones. The berzerkers extract themselves from the rhino wreck and leap to catch the piranha. The chaos heavy weapons stun up the center devilfish.

Tau: The hammerhead finishes off the berzerkers with its ion cannon. The other hammerhead and devilfish circle around the chaos position, and the stealth suits streak forward with their jump packs.

Turn 4

Chaos: The bloodletters arrive from the warp, just in time to save the possessed champion and finish off the circling piranha. The terminators fire their reapers at the stunned devilfish and bring it down, killing four of its fire warrior passengers in the process.

Tau: The Tau Shas'el and the ion cannon hammerhead move forward and kills two bloodletters, and the other hammerhead and devilfish circle further around the left chaos flank.

Turn 5

Chaos: The terminators kill one of the approaching stealthsuits, and the obliterators destroy the remaining railgun hammerhead.

Tau: The battlesuits and and stealthsuits move to the center and the devilfish moves closer to the chaos position. Suddenly, something large stirs behind the trees!

Turn 6

Chaos: The demon prince flies over the treeline and drops in on the devilfish, but is simply unable to destroy the swiftly moving transport.

Tau: The firewarriors in the devilfish deploy in front of the demon prince and open fire with their pulse rifles. After the smoke clears, the chaos HQ is still standing, unharmed.

The match ends in a draw.