1500pt - Slave Raid Guard v Chaos Marines

Tank carnage as the Obilts Arrive (sadly not of their making though).

The last two weeks have passed in an almighty blur, the workloads been horrific and a 750miles round trip to Falkirk didn't help the old equilibrium. Still, best to get back on the blogging horse.

Introduction

Anton and I have played plenty of games against eachother. He's a cracking commander, a Demon at Hordes and Warmachine (current giftsforgeeks Champio!) and a very funny fella to top it all. Our games rarely have the strategic edge of my battles against Mark ... but that's usually because we're giggling too much...

Ant got a text earlier in the day and we quickly agreed a 1500pt, HOBO battlemission smackdown. For the uninformed (or real English language speakers), a HOBO game is where you write out the list for your opponent. Its a simple way of getting to grips with another army and also automatically kills off the 'min-max' listhammer approach. As the only person getting hammered will be YOU!

I've been itching to have a play at Chaos Marines for the longest time. My fledging Chaosmarine army was blossoming in my mind and I was keen to get to grips with their options. Ant pulled me together a neat list of Chaos Marine and in return I gave him a strong set of guard.

Imperial Guard - dakka over high AP. This army had a strongish antitank option, but was aminly about the amount of firepower. Lots of power armour killing things.

Primaris Psyker

Ratling Snipers [10]

Platoon Command in Chimera with 3 Grenade Launchers

Squad #1 with flamer and Chimera

Squad #2 with flamer and Chimera

Mortar Teams x 3

Lascannon Team

Veterans Squad with Harker, Autocannon, Demolition Charge, sniper rifles and meltabombs

Banewolf with extra armour and heavy bolter/stubber

Rough Riders [5]

LR BattleTank (Lascannon)

LR BattleTank (3 Heavy Bolters)

Chaos Marines - how few??? Ant's models looked great (as usual) ... but they were seriously few and far between.

Terminator Lord with Lightning Claws

4 Terminators [3 lightning claws, 1 heavy flamer and PF]

10 Khrone Beserkers led by a Blood Champion with PF and icon.

8 Plague Marines with two melta led by a Champio with PF and icon in Rhino

5 Emperors Children with 4 blasters and a blastmastery thingie in Rhino

3 Obilterators

Land Raider

Mission

We rolled at random on the battlemission table and got 'Slave Raid' ... which has got to be one of the funniest missions ever. We broke to actual roll and Anton opt'd to defend. Meaning the Chaosmarines would go first! The idea with slave raid is to kill as many units, but either in close combat or wiped out within 18" of one of your units... The guard were gonna struggle with this one!

Deployment

Anton took a lot of advice during the deployment. He placed the Lascannon in cover on the left flank and spread out a considerable line through the middle of the board. The ratlings infiltrated a ruin in the centre right of the middle board section... hoping to lure me over. Meanwhile, a squad, the veterans and the banewolf opted to reserve, with harker flanking!

I decided on a cunning plan and swapped the Termies for the Khrone Berserkers into the Landraider. I then placed my THREE units (two rhinos with the plague marines and the sonic screwdrivers and the Berzerkie Landie in positions opposite the Lascannon (but in cover)...

TURN 1 "Drive damn you!"

I succeeded in not losing the first turn go and steamed forwards. My landraider took the lead, offering a 4+ cover to the plague rhino. Didn't matter much as I decided to 'pop the smoke' all round. Nothing else ... felt a bit well nervous.

Ant let rip with everything... and succeeded in blowing off a single twin linked bolter from the plague rhino. The lascannons fluffed up the Landraider penetration tests and while his rolling was good ... mine was better. Ant bemoaned the Guards lack of aim... while hitting above average. It was the penetration and my saving throws which undid him.

TURN 2 "In your face!"

On the reserve rolls I got nothing ... but that was good (i thought that you couldn't deepstrike within 6" of an ICON in a vehicle ... I am now corrected). The Landraider pushed foward and dumped 10 Berserkers into a guard squad in the middle. The Guardsmen died 'heroically' and were pulverised. The Khronies consolidated in cover and prepared for the inevitable 'incoming'.

BOO!

The Sonic boys rhino moved up, while the Plague Marine Rhino cut across to shield it from those pesky ratlings.

Ant's shooting found its mark with abandon! The Roughriders moved up and prepared to charge the beserkers. Ant threw everything at the Khronies and they died well ... their pile of bodies forming a 'impact absorber' for the Champio with the ICON! Just when they thought they were ok, the Sonic boys lost their ride to lascannon fire and lost a member to poor rolling. They held and prepared to lay down the fire! The roughriders were forced to charge the Berserker champio ... who died horribly ... but took their S5, I5 power weapons with him. Useful.

One Rhino crew and One Berserker Squad captured, compared to a single troops squad.

TURN 3 "Smackdown"

The chaos boys were withered, but not defeated. The Landraider targetted the Command Squad Chug with the platoon command and primaris in it and killed the tank and 1 command dude. They held, but the ensuing fire from the Sonic Boys wiped out the command team. The primaris dusted off his hands (after shoving the hapless squad before him) and held. The Terminators arrived and deepstruck to support the Sonic Boys. Frying a Lascannon team with heavy flamer, the lascannons broke (yes) but only ran about 4 inches (boo). The Plague marines disembarked and move up into the central cover. The oblits failed their roll!

Banewolf does a kamakaze

The Guard responded strongly. Mortar and Battlecannon fire raked the now exposed plague marines and Sonic marines. The reserves arrived, with the banewolf leaping the carcass of the primaris' tank and dousing the Plaguemarines. The Plague Marines also experienced intense battlecannon fire and struggled. All but the Champio and the meltaboys survived. Harker arrived and his team flanked the TErminators, backed up by a revving Chimera with a squad in. Blistering lasrifle and shotgun fire peppered the terminators and downed TWO to the infamous roll of 1.

The Plague Marines rhino had managed to immobilise itself on the way in and the roughriders quickly followed up. 5 krak grenades later with autohit ... it was wrecked!

Anton had brought his total of kills to three. Meanwhile I still fumbled at a paltry 1.

TURN 4 "Anyone left?"

The Terminators (and Lord) launched into close combat with the lascannon team. Resulting in mushy lascannon team. Meanwhile the Plaguemarines moved up and topped the Banewolf. The oblits arrived and singularly failed to penetrate the leman russ with a tri of multimeltas ... doh! The sonic marines fumbled their 'move through cover' run and were therefore unable to 'move-shoot-charge' Harkers crew.

The Roughriders charge the Oblits after 'caring' for the stranded rhino!

Anton moved his left hand mortar team away from the Terminators (now consolidated into the ruins) ... he then moved his primaris up and succeeded in a total of 5 shots only [laugh] resulting in no kills. The following firefight killed off the sonic boys through chimera team and Harker, the Plague Marines prove unkillable and the obliterators got charged by the Rough Riders. The Oblits killed three, but the sergeant held. Then the Leman Russ shot at the Terminators and deviated onto the Primaris, instantkilling him!

An own goal and another point to me! At this point we were both giggling so hard we had to stop the game (and because it was late...)

Final tally:

I'd trophied one Guard Squad, a Chimera, A Primaris, A platoon command, a Banewolf and a Lascannon team, six in total. Anton had garnered two rhinos, the sonic and berserker boys.

6-4 to the forces of chaos.

I can thoroughly recommend both HOBO and the slave raid battlemission as great fun. Splitting his units into two groups may have helped, but the copious killpoints knocking about gave me ample opportunity to garner the points needed. The Plaguemarines proved their worth ... but I have subsequently found out that they would only get a 4+ cover save (at best) from Battle Cannon shots... which I didn't know.

Big thanks to Anton. Hopefully we can bring you a Malifaux batrep to follow!

The Alpha - An Alternative Huron

Further to the previous post ... I just don't have the energy to post a full batrep today. Hopefully, I'll recover some mojo this weekend! Above is my first 'proper' (ie - beyond the test model) Swords of Alpharius model.

Fittingly, it's the 'Alpha', otherwise known as Huron Blackheart. I've tried hard to get the complex 'triad' paint scheme to work hard. The brightest blue against the (slightly) duller greens, with the highlight reds. Not easy...

Furthermore I've had delivered 5 Chaos Marine backpacks, 5 standard issue Jump packs, 10 meltaguns and Iron Hand Straken through the post... schemes afoot!

Have a great weekend all! I plan on it!

Chaos Marine Fluff - "The Swords of Alpharius"

The first test model

Chapter Background

The Swords of Alpharius are a chapter seeded within the Eastern fringe. As an autonomous splinter of the greater Alpha Legion, this new chapter was born of the nefarious deeds of the Alpha Legion on Ghorstangrad. Over near to three centuries the Alpha Legion seeded subconsciously en scribed rites and indoctrination on the sects and gangs of Ghorstangrad. Such was the pervasive success of their infiltration that many of these gang members were wholly unknowing of their hidden corruption as they aspired to inception in the Emperor's Swords loyalist Chapter on Ghorstangard.

When the Alpha Legion struck, it was with complete skill and utter destruction. Utilising all their subconscious and indoctrinated triggers, they turned loyalist marines on each other. Ghorstangrad fell as the Swords of the Emperor were divided and conquered. The Emperor's Swords were destroyed, Ghorstangrad razed and the geneseed stolen.

...but with all aspects of the most secretive of Legions, the end of the Swords was not obvious.

The Swords Reborn

One hundred years later, reports came of a new Renegade Chapter sporting the colours of the Alpha Legion but separate heraldry. The Swords of Alpharius had been embedded deep within an enveloping nebula and had been biding their time. Infiltration specialists from the Alpha Legion had twisted and reworked the rigid regime of the Swords. They were now a guerilla force in every aspect as potent as their master chapter.

Infiltration into the Imperiums upper echelons had resulted in the wholesale capture of materials, slaves and even intergalactic starships to further their unknowable goals.

The Design of the Swords

Alpha Legion present a particular problem (albeit a nice one) as they are not obviously 'chaos'. Unlike the majority of the Chaos Marine armies the Legion are spread out in real space, not hidden in the warp. While they continue to pursue the goal of 'freeing' the Emperor, their real goal (if still held true) is the ultimate destruction of the Imperium and the subsequent destruction of the Chaos Gods.

As such the Legion are thought to be the least affected by Chaos. This leads to interesting ideas on design, conversion, paintjob and so on.

I particularly want the Swords of Alpharius to have a 'modern' meets 'Ancient' mix of styles. They are an embedded and infiltrating force, bleeding supplies and equipment from the Imperium to pursue their goals (which are bound to be BAD for the imperium, but not really 'chaos-y').

As such I'm dropping a bunch of RT Era Space Marines and modern space marines into the mix. I'll be using the Chaos Marine Codex, but the majority of the units will be made up of Chaos Marine, Terminators and other 'standard' troops.

I intend to have some Khrone Beserkers, some Plague Marines and a Sorceror ... but not as you might expect. The Alpha Legion are happy to utilise the skills of those warriors available, even if they are kept out of the way and under lock and key the rest of the time. Chaos Deamons are 'regrettably' out ... unless I can fudge a good reason! In the same way, I must echew the mighty Defiler (as much fun as it is) and use Dreadnoughts and Predators to achieve my goals!

Force Makeup

The Alpha - the leader (Huron Blackheart) - love the model and love his rules... the Alpha utilises his vast experience, deadly perception and grace to second guess every opponent (hence the reroll to hit and reroll to wound to warptime).

The Omega - the subvertor (TechMarine model) - I've had this model since I purchased the set to get some Servitors for my techpriest enginseer. The Techmarine model will play as a terminator armoured Chaos Sorceror with the lash power. He isn't a sorceror, but is instead the Master technologist of the Swords of Alpharius and perfectly capable of subverting command transmissions and the motor controls of bionics and power armour to achieve his goals.

The Chosen - All chaos marine models will be 'toned down' to reflect the mix of weaponry (old and new and bastardised) that they carry. Four meltaguns, an Icon and a powerfist makes these infiltrators or flankers good to go.

The Hammer - Terminators, terminators... I intend to purchase one box of Chaos and one box of marine and then mix and match 10 Terminator suits... advice is sought over their inter-opertation... the terminators will be armed with combi-weapons, a heavy flamer and autocannon and deepstrike into close range guided by Icons. It's a basic tactic, but effective. They will escort the Omega.

The Relic - Old School Dreadnought with plasma cannon and crab claw. Give him extra armour and a heavy flamer and let him play. The small size is great fun ... he'll get a cover save behind standard marines...!

Troops

3x Chaos Marines, icons and rhinos.

1x Plague Marines, melta's, icons and powerfist.

1 x Khrone Berserkers, icon, powerfist and escorting the Alpha.

Fast Attack

Raptors - converted chaosmarines with modern jumppacks intercepted through daring raids. I hate the raptor models anyway. Undecided whether to bother upgrading them with melta etc ... maybe JUST an ICON.

Heavy Support

Obliterators - Well they're for hire, aren't they?

Predator - Lascannons and Autocannons, oh my.

Havocs - 4 autocannons, cause I just like the idea.

Colour Scheme

Some light relief ... emperors pointy stick styleee!

The first test model is of the paint board and I'm pretty pleased with the results. The main body is painted in Dark Angel Green with Goblin green blended highlights, the shoulders are bright blue with Shadow Grey blended/ageing. The red highlight gives it a Triad colour scheme (thanks Sandwyrm!) - see HERE to see what I'm babbling about.

Pathfinder ... progress so far.

Back in January 2008 I reintroduced my brother to 40k after a 15 year hiatus. Like most birthday presents, it was actually for him (but really for me). Subsequently ... 2.5 years later and the flame is burning brighter than ever.

This is just a quick post (work is VERY HEAVY at the moment!), and I promise to write up the HOBO battle between Anton and myself later this week (after VERY HEAVY deadline, and a massage!)

So what have I achieved in 2.5 years?

• Nearly 200 posts: yeah, that's right - the big 200 is looming large ... if only I can gabble on a bit longer! Some posts were even in English and original (a few were not).
• Nearly 200 followers: so if you haven't joined yet - join up and make it 200 before 200 ... if that makes any sense.
• 4500pts of Kochi Imperial Guard. The list goes on and on ... but I just bought Straken - doh! The guard are 'effectively' finished, painted and complete!
• 3000pts of Tau. The J'Etsu Cadre are effectively finished ... ignoring 2 ink-washes and highlights and a bunch of re-paints.
• 3000pts of Tyranids. The least complete of the bunch, but I'm in need of a powerarmour fix after all that chitin! 3 Mycetic spore conversions and 24 paint jobs stand between the great devourer and completion.
• Your warm appreciation ... well sometimes. I'm particularly proud of the battle report responses I've had ... I'll be writing up some 'how to' posts shortly on how to create rotating animations and how to create batrep maps that work for the reader.

Next up:

• 114 Orks. Drax has generously thrown another Ork on the pile ... giving me 115 models ... which just seems too too daunting at the moment.
• Chaos Marines.... yeah!

My Chaos Marine list

After a fun tester game against Anton with his loverly Chaosmarines, I've been playing around with some ideas. After reading 'legion' I fell in love with the concept of this novel. As such I really wanted a Chaos Marines army that could play fast and loose ... here's the idea:

Huron Blackheart (renamed in a cunning way) ... I've loved the idea of Huron Blackheart. Any main character outside terminator armour but carting a heavy flamer into combat gets my vote. I purchased the model recently and its a beaut (although fiddly as hell to glue up!). Huron is strategically useful in providing a reroll to hit and wound on a multistrike power weapon or powerfist ... this effectively gives him a lightning claw OR powerfist attack ... nice!

Chosen (advanced guard) ... the chosen will infiltrate (or flank) and attempt to bring their four meltaguns to good use! Their real goal is ICON location for the following two squads.

Chaos Terminators [5] (DEEP STRIKING): I've wanted Terminators back in my lists since relinquishing space marines a while back. Yeah I know they are expensive, but their bark (and subsequent fear factor) is their biggest bite! These guys are aiming for the ICONS, coming down and spreading havoc. I intend to equip them with a chainfist on a champio (for anti-tank charging), plus power weapons/single claws for close combat. Fists seem pointless. They will also carry an ICON, a heavy flamer and 4 combi-meltas ... to hit armour at close range!

Chaos Dreadnought: Old School Plasma Cannon and Claw variant with a heavy flamer in the mix.

Troops: ChaosMarines [13]: Your basic 8 man squad (and maybe a 5 man too) with a special and a powerfist and an ICON - no faffing with heavy weapons, this is all about the bolter and the basic ICON! Rhino's, we need Rhinos.

Troops: Plague Marines [7]: In a Rhino or on foot ... these boys are a distraction your cannot ignore. Flamer/melta death bomb. BAckup ICON.

Troops: Khrone Beserkers [13]: Probably rolling in two squads of 8 and 5 (which'll make Khrone happy) ... rhino delivered choppiness led by some powerfisted mother with an ICON.

Fast Attack: Raptors [5]: Converted ChaosMarines with Space Marine jump packs ... these boys are just for giggles, deep striking nonsense and because they can potentially deliver an ICON anywhere!

Heavy Support: Havocs [5] Autocannons all round with provide these guys with some suitable DAKKA!

Heavy Support: Obliterators [2]

Heavy Support: Defiler (cos they are fun!)

And that's about it really... back to the grindstone. Let me know what you think out there. Is this the best way ... or I I drop the defiler for a predator with lascannons? Chaos Marines ... help!

Latest Army: Chaos Marines

Just when you thought Anton's models couldn't get any better ... he gets into conversions! Check out Anton's brilliant Oblit conversions HERE!

Thanks to the kindness of Friends and some very old purchases, I have a fledging Chaos Space Marine force nesting away... a good friend of mine (Dawn) furnished me with 10 Chaos Marines on my last birthday. I'd already bought 7 Plague Marines for Gladiator games. After this, a quick conversion of the 8 'beaky' rogue trader era marines, plus a very kind contribution from the very stalwart 'Admiral Drax' resulted in a total of 27 Chaosmarines ... woop!

I noticed at my local games club 'Giftsforgeeks' that there were some second hand, painted Oblits at 2/3rds the price of full oblits. I snapped up those two. These went into the pot alongside the Rogue trader era Chaos Dreadnought, tiny tiny bloodthirster and the 8 Beastmen (who would be playing lesser deamons) ...

Finally, after an evening watching games down in Devon ... I purchased Huron Blackheart. I've always had a soft spot for the old Power clawed heavy flamer deathster.

So by May, I find myself in the following conundrum:

• Huron Blackheart
• 7 Plague Marines
• 27 Chaos Marines (including 2 powerfists)
• 2 Obliterators
• Chaos Dreadnought
• 8 Lesser Deamons
• 1 Greater Deamon

But what do I buy next? I'm steering clear of Chaos Terminators (although I love the models) as it doesn't fit in with the pirate/Alpha legion sect I'm building. But what should I buy (beyond the obvious Rhino) ... I've always wanted a Landraider?