Quick Battle Report: CSM V SM

Disclaimer: This batrep is short sharp and reasonably rude. Enough said ... you are warned!

So I took the newly minted Swords of Alpharius out for their first 2000pt outing last night... interesting times. Jack (furthermore known as JakJak) brought 2000pts of a 2500pt anti world eaters army. It ran something like this:

• Captain in Artificer Armour and Lightning Claws
• Chaplain in Terminator Armour with Storm Bolter and Crozius
• 10 Termite Thunder Chumps
• 1 Ironclad Judge Dread with unfriendly hairpins and 2 hunter killer missiles
• 1 Normal(ish) Dreader with a plasma bazooka and a giant hand
• 10 Smurfs with melta
• 10 Smurfs with plasma
• 8 Assault Marines
• Vindicaaaaaator
• 5 Laaaazer Cannon Deviators in a Razorback with heavy thumper

Which was an awful lot of tough, non squashy shit for a mere 2000pts. I would be fielding my normalish (and frankly ridiculously uncompetitive) list of...

• HQ: Huron Blackheart [170]
• HQ: Chaos Sorcerer - Terminator Armour, Mark of Slannesh, Lash of Submission, Combi weapon (plasma) [145]
• Elites: 5 Chosen - Chump w. PF, 4 meltaguns, icon [175]
• Elites: 5 Terminators - 2 Chumps with Lighting Claws, Chainfist and Combi-melta, PF and Heavy Flamer, PF and combi-flamer, Mark of Slaanesh [265]
• Elites: Dreadnought - Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer [110]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines: Icon, Chump with PF, 2 Plasmaguns, Rhino [271]
• Troops: 9 Lesser Deamons [130]
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors with Icon and 2 meltaguns [130]
• Heavy Support: Greater Deamon [100]
• Heavy Support: 2 Obilterators [150]

Total 2003

I'd dropped a lesser Deamon in favour of the Slanneshi Terminators...

We get Dawn of War (again ... yawn) and annihilation (again!), missions always seem to come in threes. I win the roll and go first (again!).

TURN 1: "Where is everyone?"

Deploying Huron and the Plaguemarines in a Rhino in the back field, I then decide to keep everything bar my Dreadnought and Obilterators in reserve to pick and choose my moments... The dreadnought arrives, goes bonkers and runs about a bit (this will be the apex of his contribution), the Obilterator on the left shoots plasma, the one on the right shoots plasma... despite mundo shooting only two marines die? I realise I have caught "ShiteDicealitis" from Mark ... poor rolling continues.

JakJak brings everything to the party. The uber-dread on the left with the big fist manages to unarm and immobilise the jogging Chaos Dreadnought ... effectively nullifying him. JakJak's Razorback drops off the Devastators, who start walking to the top of a high tower, Jump pack troops and the other dreader arrive on the left and start pinging anything they can see (although they miss the oblit), on the right flank 11 Thundertermiedeathstarstompers walk on the board from the edge and start a very long walk towards my lines... hidden behind a squad of Tacticals with the Captain attached...

...guess where I won't be next turn?

TURN 2: "Run rabbit run rabbit run run run..."

So I roll for my reserves, relishing the idea of dropping 4 meltagun shots into the side armour of that Ironclad Dreader ... and get nothing. Out of 7 units I get one unit arriving from reserve, the bloody raptors - ruddy marvelous!

The dreadnought stay sane and has a sulk, meanwhile the Plaguey-Rhino and Raptors move right towards the centre back of the board and away from the Terminator death. The Two obilts take potshots on the Demolisher and the plasma Dreadnought, but both are rubbish. My reserves have failed me and I'm facing a veritable horde - gulp!

JakJak gets the Devastators into a good position and starts potshotting my Deamons, Raptors and Armour from range... luckily for me nothing sticks! Oh good.

TURN 3: "And where were you?"

Ok, so not perfect, but a vast improvement... I get one Mariney-filled Rhinocake, a Greater Deamon (who can only kill the PlagueMarine Chump - grrr), the lesser Deamons and the Terminators (and Chaos Sorceror) and ... nothing else. Other Chaosmarines and Chosen are yet to arrive... grr.

The Greater Deamon burst from a rhino and runs at the tactical squad in front of it followed by 9 lesser Deamons, the ensuing combat results in a devastating win for the Deamons, but the Marines employ the "we're cheats and we mock your leadership system" rule and stick in there. Meanwhile the Obilt on the left does a cracking job immobilising the Demolisher meaning its only target in range is the deamonic close combat (Guffaw-guffaw). The Plaguemarines, Huron and the newly arrived rhinocake of mariney goodness line up in front of the Assault marines and pour bolter fire, flamer and Hurons heavy flamer into them...

(When I say pour, I actually mean lightly piss on their shoes - it was a shocking example of poor rolling), to add insult to injury, the Dreadnought goes mental shooty style and pour heavy flamer death on my Deathguard - doh! One dies.

The other oblit kills a couple of marines, as I manage to single handily give away killpoints. Firstly, I "lash of submission" the tactical squad plus enemy captain (let's call him Edward) and instead of pushing them away (and giving me a turn to arrange the charge from the Assault marines and Terminators), I randomly pull them closer, shoot a few ineffectual shots into them and then charge in my Raptors.

Second game, same lesson - raptors are shite in combat! Killpoint given away, I then consider if my brain is alright?

JakJak returns the favour with some cunning killpoint grabs. He starts massacring the Chaosmarine squad in prep for a charge by the assault marines, he goes too far in fact and thwarts his own charge as the surviving 3 marines stagger away from their blown up Rhino-cake. On the left the 'captains retinue' charges into the Terminators and discover that they are facing I5 lightning claw nasties. All die except the captain (who take a wound) and the sergeant. They kill one in return, but again deploy their 'we cheat' rule. Hmmm.

TURN 3: "Why won't you just fecking die, you fecking fecking fecker!"

So I'm locked in combat, I need to kill more dudes - what do I do? The reserves rolls are shiter than shiteness with bells on, in fact, in full knowledge of how shite they'll be, I completely forget to take the 2+ rolls and therefore pretty much forfeit the game. Ahhh hindsight!

The plague marines break from Huron (again, will I ever learn), and Huron and the Greater Demon (who was busy killing stuff) lay the smackdown on the Assault marines. They do fantastically well, but the sergeant survives and pwns Huron (AGAIN...?!?). Meanwhile the lesser deamons do nothing more than 'hump' the tactical sergeant armour (5 wounds, 5 saves, grrr) and the Captain, despite losing combat again and being surrounded by lightning clawed terminators and instant-pwn powerfists lives...

I do manage to kill 3 lascannons devastators, but poor positioning and good LOS blocking cover (I did the cover, yeah me! Oh, hang on?) denies me any shots on vehicles.

We then have to wrap up the game due to the late hour....

CONCLUSIONS

Null deployment ... well that backfired, didn't it. Parts of my army worked brilliantly - the Oblits continued to perform well, and the Terminators were lethal (ok against tactical marines, but look how good my raptors and lesser Deamons were?) ... the Greater Deamon added a nice touch and him and Huron are an awesome double team, BUT...

I'm lacking speed ... seriously, once I'm deployed, I cannot redeploy and respond easily. The Raptors help, but I'm currently using them like a complete pleb. I need to be more selective with my fights and engineer the combats better. I'm used to large armies which (mainly) defend, and the requirement to deliver surgical combat/shooting in new.

That said, I need to shot putting Huron with the Plaguey's, that's just dumb. I'm also hiving him off on his own (which is stupid). The chosen and the Raptors are both high threat and un-ignorable) as they offer lesser and Greater Deamon and Terminator delivery - I failed to use this.

Overall, I quite like the format of this army. Maybe more Obilterators or a Tank/Walker would add ranged threat ... but I've invested in a bike. I intend to have just 3, for objective contesting and haranging ... it might even work.

More work to do on this army type ... but it's great fun to play!

Army Showcase: Swords of Alpharius

Embarrassing Family Photo's, who needs 'em eh?

I'm at 2000 points already? When did that happen? Crikey, but space marine armies are too easy? You do a bit of painting every night, build a few mini's and bobs-your uncle, 2000pts...

The Plague Marines

Did I say it was a good army, well not really?

Here's the damage:

• HQ: Huron Blackheart [170]
• HQ: Chaos Sorcerer - Terminator Armour, Mark of Slannesh, Lash of Submission, Combi weapon (plasma) [145]
• Elites: 5 Chosen - Chump w. PF, 4 meltaguns, icon [175]
• Elites: 5 Terminators - 2 Chumps with Lighting Claws, Chainfist and Combi-melta, PF and Heavy Flamer, PF and combi-flamer, Mark of Slaanesh [265]
• Elites: Dreadnought - Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer [110]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines: Icon, Chump with PF, 2 Plasmaguns, Rhino [271]
• Troops: 10 Lesser Deamons [130]
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors with Icon and 2 meltaguns [130]
• Heavy Support: Greater Deamon [100]
• Heavy Support: 2 Obilterators [150]

Total 2016

Chapter Background

The Alpha [Huron] leads his Alpha Marine legion into combat

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.

Chesney Hawkes leads the Chosen in another burst of "I am the one and only", much to the chagrin of the terminators...

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 Terminators and Raptors lead the charge, backed up by Obliterators and the Dreadnought called 'Relic'...

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 lot so far, a few smurf-boxes and lesser deamons to go...

The Leftovers

As you'll notice from the photo's, I'm missing 2 Rhinos (to be built), 10 Deamons (under construction) and 9 Alpha Marines (basecoated and so near completion). So a few more posts to follow.

A different Lash Sorceror and Razzle-Dazzle Rhino

Techpriest Enginseer?

First up is my latest Character model. He's running as a Terminator Lash Sorceror in order to boost the impact of my Slanneshi Terminators by drawing enemies into the web.

I've had the old Techmarine model knocking around for ages (I bought him as a cheap way to getting 4 servitors for my Guard), I've always like the model as Vanilla Smurfs go. I undertook a quick conversion in turning his backpack upside down and dremmeling off the upside down skullcogs... This then allowed me to extend a banner pole out of the trailing tendrils from his backpack.

In painting him, I wanted to keep him ALL techmarine and all Alpha Legion. The Alpha's aren't known for their psykers, so I think a 'super-techmarine' fills the bill perfectly. To add to the effect, I've painted the crystals on the banner red and green and given him green and glowing armour... looks like this Techno-sorceror has been plundering some Necron stones.

Thus his inimical ability to 'pull' others to him, is it Dark Mechanicus Viruses, Communication interception and misdirection, or more insidious Necrotic technology... I'll have to think on that!

RAZZLE DAZZLE RHINO

Go buy it and read it ... it's like a who's who of brilliance and deviousness - and you discover what Ian (and his brother Peter) Fleming did during the war ... and where BOND came from.

I've been reading a brilliant and inspiration book over the last few weeks called "Churchill's Wizards" by Nicholas Rankin. Within this is an excellent work on the birth of Camoflage in WW1. A we are all aware, Space Marines generally have an understanding of camoflague equal to the early WW1 years.

Razzle Pattern Rhino...

Razzle was a technique employed in WW1 and WW2 which follows the principles of the Zebra. By introducing bright contrasting lines in contradictory patterns across a target, it can decieve the viewer (especially from a low trajectory, like a periscope) and make them think the ship is travelling in a different direction. To paraphrase, "it makes the enemy think you stern is where your bow is"...

Razzle Pattern - Image from Wikipedia, check out their great breakdown on Razzle Camoflague

This inspired me to adopt a 'razzle' pattern on the Rhino. I was aiming for something a little more unique than the standard "I'm bright blue, I'm an ultramarine!" approach ... and also harking back to the late 80's of space marine design ... when pagentry colour marines would hunker down inside highly camoflagued landraiders...

Camoflagued Landraiders ... well if there was ever a vehicle that didn't need it!

What do you think?

Painting Update: Plague Marines

Finished and based the Deathguard last night. The Swords of Alpharius are looking as follows:

• 1 Huron - complete
• 1 Chaos Sorceror Conversion - converted, nearly finished.
• 5 Terminators - 3/5 painted, 2 are being painted by my 3 year old daughter and 1.5 year old son ... interesting.
• 5 Chosen - complete
• 9 Chaosmarines #1 - complete
• 9 Chaosmarines #2 - 60% painted
• 7 Plague Marines - complete
• 5 Raptors - complete
• 1 Dreadnought - complete
• 2 Obilterators - complete
• 1 Greater Deamon - complete
• 10 lesser Deamons - bought and to be built
• Rhino #1 - built and basecoated
• Rhino #2 - to be built
• Rhino #3 - to be built

UPDATES

You will have noticed that two of the Terminators have laid their lives down for the Dark Gods (or Greater Good?) and become sacrificial test models for my daughter and son.

Another shot of the completed Plaguemarines ... note the blue fists as a nod to they allegiance to the Swords of Alpharius.

My boy is 18 months and my daughter 3 and they both love "paint'n monstas" first thing in the morning (circa 7am), so we have Monster 'E' and Monster 'Pt' for her and him respectively. See the results below, it's great fun painting them together, although I've been informed that I can NEVER OVERPAINT THEM by She who must be obeyed... oh dear!

Monster E and Monster Pt.

It's a lot of fun though.