The Despoilers of the Galaxy take on the Emperor's Executioners - Black Legion vs Space Wolves!
A straight-up Maelstrom of War game, fought over Skype between I, Stylus, and the eternally-bold Kraken - it's been a while since we've done one of these.
Don't Let the Frost Bite!
It's All-Skype Fight Night!
Black Hawks Down: Black Legion
Battalion Detachment - Black Legion
- Haarken Worldclaimer (HQ - Warlord)
Helspear, Lightning Claw
Warlord Trait: Lord of Terror - Exalted Champion (HQ)
Combi-plasma, Power sword - Chaos Lord (HQ)
Plasma pistol, Power sword - Chaos Sorcerer with Jump PackBolt Pistol
Relic: Chiropteran Wings
Field Commander Trait: Tip of the SpearPowers: Diabolic Strength, Prescience - 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)
Autoguns, Heavy Stubber - 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)
Autoguns, Heavy Stubber - 13 x Chaos Space Marines (Troops)
Power axe, Plasma Gun, 11 x Boltguns - Helbrute (Elite)
Helbrute fists, Multi-melta - 10 x Raptors (Fast)
Icon of Vengeance, Plasma pistol, Power fist; 1 x Plasma pistol, 1 x Plasma gun, Bolt Pistol & Chainswords - 5 x Warp Talons (Fast)
2 x Lightning Claws - 3 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)
Hideous mutations - Defiler (Heavy)
Battle cannon, Reaper Autocannon, Defiler scourge, Defiler claws - Heldrake (Flyer)
Baleflamer, Heldrake Claws
The Host Raptoral seems like it might have teeth to it, I reckon. The accompanying Warlord Trait that gives all the jumpy dudes a bonus to charge distances, the potentially nasty relic and some nifty stratagems all combine to turn Raptors and Warp Talons into something that can hit fast and sure. Haarken might be a bit of an iffy prospect, what with his uncertain rules synergy, but after a bit of tweaking I reckon I've got something that can go the distance.
A big pack of Raptors, first up. They need to be big, they'll need numbers to be effective in melee especially against armoured marines, and their high Black Legion Ld ought to keep them safe enough from the inevitable casualties. I know they work best as smaller mobile fire platforms, but this is an experiment. Warp Talons to soak overwatch, again ideally in a bigger pack than five, but I've stressed Stylus's brushwork enough this week!
A trio of spawn, to round out a fast attack detachment, and then on to the battalion. Here, nothing too surprising - a large squad of CSM, two small (and probably useless) cultist squads to camp on objectives, a pair of rather bland characters and then as many daemon engines as I can bring. Which proves to be a Heldrake, Defiler and Helbrute, some nice armoured fiends to rumble forward and cause murder in hand to hand. The full list is at the bottom of the page if you're interested.
The Space Wolves are a solid gunline with some pretty decent melee, and I'm going melee heavy against them. Not an easy prospect, by any means, but I'm banking on sweeping in to short and fighty range and staying there. But can I?
Hawk the Slayers: Space Wolves
- Primaris Wolf Lord (HQ)
Master-crafted auto bolt rifle and bolt pistol
Warlord trait: Saga of the Wolfkin - Primaris Battle Leader (HQ)
Power axe and bolt carbine
Relic: The Armour of Russ - Primaris Rune Priest (HQ)
Psychic hood, Runic sword, Bolt Pistol
Powers: Tempest's Wrath, Storm Caller - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troops)
Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Bolt rifle. Intercessor Pack Leader, Power fist - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troops)
Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Bolt rifle. Intercessor Pack Leader, Power fist - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troops)
Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Bolt rifle. Intercessor Pack Leader, Chainsword - 4 x Aggressors (Elite)
Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets/Fragstorm Grenade Launcher - 4 x Aggressors (Elite)
Flamestorm Gauntlets - 10 x Reivers (Elite)
Combat knife, Grapnel Launcher, Grav Chutes, Heavy Bolt Pistol - 3 x Inceptor Squad (Fast)
Assault Bolters - 10 x Hellblaster Squad (Heavy)
Plasma Incinerator
My Space Wolves army isn't very much more than 1500pts, so the list does tend to write itself. Same command structure of Wolf Lord, Battle Leader and Rune Priest; three Intercessor squads to make up the battalion, two squads of Aggressors (both kinds), and some Bolter Inceptors.
Where this list varied is in its plasma: I felt a bit shorthanded on firepower during their last showing, so I've doubled-up on ten Hellblasters with standard Plasma Incinerators.
And then, as if to make up for this beastly unit, I've taken a squad of ten Reivers. I'm a glutton for punishment, but I'd love to see them work properly, and the Stalker Pack detachment from the Vigilus campaign book might give me the wherewithal to do this.
For the cost of a Command Point, some nifty stratagems and relics are opened up for my Reivers and Battle Leader (he's using the relic - the wonderfully-named Ironfang of Ammagrumgul axe - although I'm not daft enough to make him my warlord this time).
So I have a lot of guns and few counterpunch units to deal with all this Raptor business that's going to land on my head. Let's see how it goes!
Sybaristic jades that we are, we've tried pretty much all the different Maelstroms around over time. So a random selection is made, and it gives us Visions of Victory - the meanest maelstrom in town.
Four objectives in hand, but you draw twice for each, and it's your opponent that picks which one you have to do. So it's likely to be a low-scoring game even if you have the speed to rush that impossible objective at the back you've just been told to get. Mind you, with the general hostility of my high command, having the enemy call the shots is no worse than usual!
This fine, snowy plaza is courtesy of Stylus's collection - a power station, set well away from the nearby settlement. Must be a radiation thing. Not a lot of places to hide, perhaps, but no easy line of sight from the ground either, as the power station is pretty hefty.
Once the objectives are out, Stylus picks Hammer and Anvil, and very wisely picks the edge with the big tower.
Hammer and Anvil is very much what I was hoping wouldn't happen, but such is grimdark life. At least I'll probably get to go first. I do dither over it, but once it becomes clear that setting up on the front line means I'm already in melting range of the Hellblasters, I opt for the first turn. No stealing, so off we go!
Forward Helturkey! It swoops majestically over the Space Wolf lines as everything else trundles as quickly as possible towards the waiting knives of the loyalists.
It's a pretty quick turn after that. The Heldrake's baleflamer torches a solitary Hellblaster, and then it pounces on the Space Wolf Battle Leader, who's left himself a bit exposed. This is mostly because the damn tower is so full of delicious Hellblasters that there's no room up there to charge into them - the Hover Chicken's base is too big to get up there.
Alas, I don't quite eat him whole, and he even cleaves a pair of wounds back off me with his funky axe, but he's left looking shaken and bloodied. So that's a start, I suppose! I discard Witch Hunter (not that I couldn't get it, I'd just rather gamble for something different than more character killing), and pass the baton.
Objectives Scored: none
So in lieu of scoring points, I'll just have to kill stuff. After the Battle Leader scurries out of combat, I warm up with a Smite on the Heldrake. Then really warms it up by washing with the Flamestorm Aggressors. With rapid-firing Bolt Rifles from the Intercessor Squads, this is enough to bring the big bird down.
That leaves the Hellblasters free to shoot at the Defiler, which takes half its wounds, and the Boltstorm Aggressors finish it off with their first volley - and then it explodes, taking wounds off the Spawn, Exalted Champion and Chaos Space Marine squad.
The Aggressors then get a second volley (I'm not used to this luxury) and wipe out two of the three Chaos Spawn.
Shame I was forced to discard Overwhelming Firepower, because that was a good round of shooting! Still I've taken out the two big daemon engines and left the rest of the army with a massive no-man's land of bolter fire still to cross.
I only hope that no-one notices that, by deploying so deep, I've left my characters hopelessly exposed to deepstrike.
Objectives Scored: First Strike (1)
At this rate, I'll have nothing left in a turn or so, so it's time for Haarken and his boys to make their debut. In they pop, crowding the back line behind the tower, where there are some rather vulnerable-looking characters for me to hunt.
There is a really nifty Space Wolves stratagem that allows the Rune Priest to direct fire at arriving deepstrikers - unfortunately the height of the tower means that he can't actually see the Host Raptoral coming. That piece of terrain can be as much a liability as a benefit.
Everything else, such as it is, stays on target. The Marine squad takes over the top of the power station, the last Spawn slithers onwards and the cultists stay in cover at the back.
The psychic phase sees the sorcerer throw Prescience over the Raptors, but I fail to put Daemonic Strength on Haarken. He'll just have to rely on his own, although when the shooting phase starts with him throwing his spear directly into the ground in front of him, I don't have high hopes. At least it's characterful.
Shooting all the plasma and bolt pistols I have into the Rune Priest achieves precisely nothing at all. Shooting generally, in fact, isn't pulling up any trees - a lone Aggressor gets melted by the Helbrute, and I plink a wound off another with bolter fire.
Then it's charge time. The already crowded tower top is quickly awash with angry madmen - the Warp Talons charge in and mug the Rune Priest, Haarken hops over them to tackle the Wolf Lord and the Raptors make it into combat, although there's only room for three of them at the top. The others form an orderly queue at the bottom, kick back and light some cigarettes.
On the other flank, the Spawn tries a hopeless charge into the Boltstorm Aggressors, and explodes spectacularly on the way in. No surprises there, but there really wasn't much else he'd be achieving.
Although I had high hopes for various stratagems, it turns out that most of them aren't worth popping just now. Vicious Descent, the Host Raptoral special, should have been played at the start of the turn to help them shoot as well, and nothing else is going to stack well on top of the buffs Haarken and Prescience already grant them. In the end, I put Veterans of the Long War on the Warp Talons, and then get on with it.
The Warp Talons go first, and tear into the Rune Priest with everything they have. And he doesn't die! Somehow, Stylus saves him on a single wound, despite receiving ten.
I saved half of the wounds naturally, so just had to use a CP reroll to leave the Rune Priest on one left.
Then he interrupts with the Hellblasters, who surge forward and cheerfully kill off two Warp Talons and a pair of Raptors, as well as drubbing Haarken for all but one of his wounds. Ouch! Who knew heavies would be so combat capable? It's the volume of papercuts that nearly does for the Worldclaimer, and I have to use a reroll to keep him alive.
I think the Wolf Lord actually did the damage against the Jump troops, but it was the Hellblasters to nearly tipped Haarken over the edge. They are no slouch in combat - you're not charging Imperial Guard mortar teams here.
Haarken goes next, and does at least finish off the Rune Priest, although only just. Alas, I've not heard the last of him, for Stylus blows 3 CPs on giving him a last round of combat. Haarken claims a worldly blow to the head, and that's it from him. As expected, somewhat uninspiring.
It was something of an emotional reaction - and not a wise use of CPs - but I needed Haarken dead this turn and, if the Rune Priest could do it, that would leave the Wolf Lord free to attack the troops.
The Raptors knock the Wolf Lord about a bit, leaving him on a pair of wounds, which he repays by chopping up another pair of Warp Talons.
It's an interesting fight, though - neither of us has delivered anything like a knockout punch, and we're left with some choice units tied up in the tower. We both score, too - Stylus for the Warlord, Assassinate and Heroes of Fenris, me for my character killing. Not great - I remain behind.
Objectives Scored (Black Legion): Assassinate (1), Rise to Glory (2),
Objectives Scored (Space Wolves): Slay the Warlord (1), Assassinate (1) Heroes of Fenris (1)
Time to counter the counterstrike! I leave my Wolf Lord and Hellblasters in the tower, since I fancy their chances now that Haarken is gone. I also keep my Boltstorm Aggressors and two Intercessor squads still, since they've still got plenty of targets to choose from.
My remaining Flamestorm Aggressors push upfield to face down the Hellbrute (they've got power fists, so a kill is not out of the question - and he's going to charge me anyway). My Battle Leader approaches the Raptors who are on the base of the tower (there's not enough room up top, so most are spilling over).
The Inceptors drop down behind the Jump Pack Sorcerer, who go left out of all the action in the tower and is no probably regretting it. My Cunning of the Wolf Intercessors arrive in the Chaos backline, a mirror image of the Host Raptoral. With nothing but Cultists to stop me, I'm sure to get one of the objectives, and also Linebreaker.
And the big drop comes with the Reivers - nine inches away from the Raptors. This is what my Stalker Pack detachment has been waiting for. If I charge the Battle Leader in first (he can't fail) then I can spend my last CP on Pack Killers and roll 3D6 for my charge (discarding the lowest). With all their attacks, they should tear the Raptors apart and free up my Wolf Lord to kill the last Warp Talons, giving my lines a reprieve and securing Hold the Line at the same time!
But before that can happen, some shooting. The Flamstorm Aggressors burn a wound off the Hellbrute. The Boltstorm Aggressors open up their huge volley of shots on the Chaos Space Marines, but with their cover save, their armour proves hard to crack and I only take out five of them, and that's with the support of the Intercessors (who frankly, did better with their -1AP guns).
My infiltrating Intercessors do worse, only felling three Cultists with their shots (and inconveniently putting them out of charge range), but the Inceptors make up for it, shredding the Sorcerer in a hail of bolt rounds.
And then the charges. As planned, my Battle Leader makes it in against the Raptors. I then play Pack Killers and roll 3D6 for my Reiver ... who fall one short. Hmmm. Suddenly my past stratagems seem quite spendthirft, as I could really use a reroll about now. So my big pack of killers are left twiddling their thumbs, while my seriously-injured Battle Leader is wondering why no-one followed him into combat.
The Flamestorm Aggressors make it into the Helbrute, but their power fists don't make much impact on the monster and they get pulped in return.
The Raptors have something of a field day with my characters, tearing apart the Wolf Lord up top and the Battle Leader down below. So that's my command structure gone, I hope the Space Wolves are good at using their initiative.
I strike back with my Hellblasters (the real combat heroes here) and take out all but one of the Warp Talons, but the turn ends with me scoring nothing.
Objectives Scored (Black Legion): Slay the Warlord (1)
Although grabbing Objective 1 is easy enough, it's parked out in the open in front of all the bolters in the world. And in the heat of battle, I then forget I'm supposed to grab it, keep the Chaos Marines in cover on the roof and run everything else forward. The Cultists shuffle about to keep line of sight on the Primaris Marines, the Host stay in combat.
Shooting achieves little (and there's little of it). The Hellbrute shakes the Flame Aggressors off his fists and chugs forward, melting a Bolt Aggressor on his way in, and then charges and beats up a pair of Intercessors. They knife him in return, which triggers his frenzy, so another Intercessor suffers the beat down.
The Exalted Champion charges the Bolt Aggressors, confident that he can take the overwatch. This is false confidence (matches their false emperor), and they shoot all of his wounds off before he can close. Eep.
The Raptors and Warp Talon carry on struggling with the Hellblasters. It's a total whiff on both sides, more or less - we swap half a Hellblaster for a Raptor, and they carry on chainswording. But there's company on the way in...
Objectives Scored: None, so I discard Psychological Warfare.
Despite being ahead on material, I'm falling behind in the Victory Points (and we're playing Acceptable Casualties, so a tabling is not going to help).
I pull the survivors of my Intercessors away from the Hellbrute and bounce my Inceptors forward to join the firing lines. My backline Intercessors move towards Objective 6 and my Reivers get close enough for a charge that they cannot fail.
I still have plenty of shots left in my castle, and the Intercessors, Aggressors and Inceptors have more than enough to mow down the Helbrutes and Chaos Space Marines. The Hellblasters' pistols finish off the Warp Talon (is there nothing they cannot do?)
In the Assault Phase, the backline Intercessors are still too far to charge the cowardly Cultists, so it's just the Reivers. Despite having a charge on the Raptors that they really can't fail, they do their best to let me down by only rolling 3".
Luckily that's enough to complete the charge and, with pile-ins, the whole unit can strike the Raptors. With 31 S4 attacks, I'm expecting carnage, but their butterknives fail against the Raptors' power army and only a few heretics are slain. To add insult to injury, when the Hellblasters come to strike, they do almost as much damage.
So I still have yet to clear my lines, and the Reivers are going to get a sternly-worded reprimand at their next appraisal.
Objectives Scored: None
Still, there's a few points up I can still grab. The Chaos Lord does his best Han Solo, and parks himself in the bunker doors, facing an Imperial firing line on Objective 1. The Raptors tire of their sport (because they're losing) and run off to Objective 5.
And that's pretty much it. Yes, the cultists manage to hose down a Primaris and a half with their combined weight of fire, but who am I kidding? This is looking bad. At least I take a tiny lead for a moment or two.
Objectives Scored: Mission Critical Objective (1) and Secure Objective 5 (1)
What remains is basically mopping up, as I'm now free to start scoring objectives. Everything moves forward (though I do remember to keep enough units in my deployment zone to Hold the Line) and the Chaos Lord is gunned down as he beats against the locked doors of the bunker.
The Intercessors shoot and charge the Cultists, grabbing Objective 6, so they can begin to defend it. The pack of Reivers charge the last two Raptors. The champion wisely overcharges his pistol and kills himself, but luckily there is still one left alive for me to charge into.
Even the Reivers can't muck this up - the final Raptor is hacked to pieces and I start to defend Objective 5.
So I have finally got Hold the Line, and am guaranteed four more VPs (for defending two objectives) at the end of the Chaos turn.
Objectives Scored: Hold the Line (1)
Once I have (Supremacy, Defend Objective 4), I play the 'hide in plain sight' stratagem for 0 CPs, and the Cultists return to their day jobs of ordinary Imperial Citizens, wandering off whilst whistling nonchalantly. I yield!
As a mea culpa - I think I could have designed a better battlefield. I think I was swayed by the design of the mat, and so left a 'town square' of open space in the middle. It probably would have worked for Dawn of War deployment, which I usually pick. Hammer and Anvil caught me by surprise too - although it did mean it was harder to stop deepstrike, which was appropriate for both sides.
The Host Raptorial clearly has potential, I reckon. I squandered it a bit - with hindsight, throwing the Warptalons into the tower whilst using the others to savage the forward lines might have been better. Wherever they landed, they'd have been hard pressed to kill enough to avoid getting shot apart afterwards, though, and getting the points for the character killing was the priority when they dropped in. That at least they managed, no thanks to Haarken, who might have potential against hordes? But not so much against armoured marines.
I agree. Though I did a shocking job of screening my characters, it actually helped me out that they were left out like bait. If the Heldrake had shut down some Aggressors, instead of chasing the Battle Leader; or the Warp Talons gone for another shooting unit, my lines would have been in trouble.
I think Haarken will have better days at the office - he's not a terrible character killer, but one thing you can say for Primaris is that they are durable.
If playing them again, Stylus and I agree that a Chaos Jump Lord would make a better supporting character for the charge. The bonuses from the Sorcerer could still be done, but a tougher, fightier HQ would make better use.
It was a fun game to play, and nice for the Space Wolves to do well for a change. The Reivers were a waste of the Command Points I invested in them to try and make them viable combat troops, but I think I've satisfied myself that it's not their role. If I'd used them properly - say two squads of five dropping in on those back objectives and terrorising the Cultists, they would have done a good job.
As the for the scenario itself - we both agreed that Visions of Victory doesn't really work for us. It's just far too easy to give your opponent useless cards, and so it boils down to a straight fight, which makes for a duller game.
I did wonder if it might work better in reverse - if you got to pick your best cards to play. It may be the difference between a hockey score and a football score, but at least you could make things happen.
All good lessons, and we have some different scoring mechanisms in mind for our next fight!
Where this list varied is in its plasma: I felt a bit shorthanded on firepower during their last showing, so I've doubled-up on ten Hellblasters with standard Plasma Incinerators.
And then, as if to make up for this beastly unit, I've taken a squad of ten Reivers. I'm a glutton for punishment, but I'd love to see them work properly, and the Stalker Pack detachment from the Vigilus campaign book might give me the wherewithal to do this.
For the cost of a Command Point, some nifty stratagems and relics are opened up for my Reivers and Battle Leader (he's using the relic - the wonderfully-named Ironfang of Ammagrumgul axe - although I'm not daft enough to make him my warlord this time).
So I have a lot of guns and few counterpunch units to deal with all this Raptor business that's going to land on my head. Let's see how it goes!
Terrain and Mission
Sybaristic jades that we are, we've tried pretty much all the different Maelstroms around over time. So a random selection is made, and it gives us Visions of Victory - the meanest maelstrom in town.
Four objectives in hand, but you draw twice for each, and it's your opponent that picks which one you have to do. So it's likely to be a low-scoring game even if you have the speed to rush that impossible objective at the back you've just been told to get. Mind you, with the general hostility of my high command, having the enemy call the shots is no worse than usual!
This fine, snowy plaza is courtesy of Stylus's collection - a power station, set well away from the nearby settlement. Must be a radiation thing. Not a lot of places to hide, perhaps, but no easy line of sight from the ground either, as the power station is pretty hefty.
Once the objectives are out, Stylus picks Hammer and Anvil, and very wisely picks the edge with the big tower.
Deployment
I picked the side with the big damn tower, so that's Hellblaster central! They go up top, along with the Wolf Lord and Rune Priest for moral support.
The rest of my small-arms gunline stretches across the width of the deployment: Intercessors, Boltstorm Aggressors, Intercessors and Flamestorm Aggressors. The Battle Leader also sits behind them, to lend rerolls to wound.
The Inceptors go into deepstrike, along with the Reivers. I also use the Cunning of the Wolf stratagem to put my third squad of Intercessors into deepstrike, since you can never have too much deepstrike against Raptors.
The Host Raptoral obviously goes into deepstrike, with all characters accompanying.
The rest of my small-arms gunline stretches across the width of the deployment: Intercessors, Boltstorm Aggressors, Intercessors and Flamestorm Aggressors. The Battle Leader also sits behind them, to lend rerolls to wound.
The Inceptors go into deepstrike, along with the Reivers. I also use the Cunning of the Wolf stratagem to put my third squad of Intercessors into deepstrike, since you can never have too much deepstrike against Raptors.
The Host Raptoral obviously goes into deepstrike, with all characters accompanying.
The Cultists lurk on objectives at the back, staying as hidden as possible, and everyone else puts their running shoes on and crowds the front line, hoping to use the power station as a shot blocker on the way in.
Hammer and Anvil is very much what I was hoping wouldn't happen, but such is grimdark life. At least I'll probably get to go first. I do dither over it, but once it becomes clear that setting up on the front line means I'm already in melting range of the Hellblasters, I opt for the first turn. No stealing, so off we go!
Black Legion - Turn 1
The first set of objectives are of course ludicrously unkind, but actually not as bad as I feared. Once the nice ones are ditched, I'm left with Witch Hunter, Rise to Glory, Secure Objective 5 and Assassinate. Three of these involve killing a character, so I'll take that hint.
Forward Helturkey! It swoops majestically over the Space Wolf lines as everything else trundles as quickly as possible towards the waiting knives of the loyalists.
It's a pretty quick turn after that. The Heldrake's baleflamer torches a solitary Hellblaster, and then it pounces on the Space Wolf Battle Leader, who's left himself a bit exposed. This is mostly because the damn tower is so full of delicious Hellblasters that there's no room up there to charge into them - the Hover Chicken's base is too big to get up there.
Alas, I don't quite eat him whole, and he even cleaves a pair of wounds back off me with his funky axe, but he's left looking shaken and bloodied. So that's a start, I suppose! I discard Witch Hunter (not that I couldn't get it, I'd just rather gamble for something different than more character killing), and pass the baton.
Objectives Scored: none
Space Wolves - Turn 1
My objective cards are equally useless: Defend Objective 6 (far in the Black Legion's backfield), Assassinate, Hold the Line (can't get it in the first turn), and Heroes of Fenris (characters have to be in 1" of the enemy at the start of the Fight Phase - this is achievable, as long as I'm prepared to leave the Heldrake alone during the Shooting Phase - which I'm not).
So in lieu of scoring points, I'll just have to kill stuff. After the Battle Leader scurries out of combat, I warm up with a Smite on the Heldrake. Then really warms it up by washing with the Flamestorm Aggressors. With rapid-firing Bolt Rifles from the Intercessor Squads, this is enough to bring the big bird down.
That leaves the Hellblasters free to shoot at the Defiler, which takes half its wounds, and the Boltstorm Aggressors finish it off with their first volley - and then it explodes, taking wounds off the Spawn, Exalted Champion and Chaos Space Marine squad.
The Aggressors then get a second volley (I'm not used to this luxury) and wipe out two of the three Chaos Spawn.
Shame I was forced to discard Overwhelming Firepower, because that was a good round of shooting! Still I've taken out the two big daemon engines and left the rest of the army with a massive no-man's land of bolter fire still to cross.
I only hope that no-one notices that, by deploying so deep, I've left my characters hopelessly exposed to deepstrike.
Objectives Scored: First Strike (1)
Black Legion - Turn 2
Claim and Despoil is my new objective, and that means taking an objective from the Wolves, which is easier said than done right now.
At this rate, I'll have nothing left in a turn or so, so it's time for Haarken and his boys to make their debut. In they pop, crowding the back line behind the tower, where there are some rather vulnerable-looking characters for me to hunt.
There is a really nifty Space Wolves stratagem that allows the Rune Priest to direct fire at arriving deepstrikers - unfortunately the height of the tower means that he can't actually see the Host Raptoral coming. That piece of terrain can be as much a liability as a benefit.
Everything else, such as it is, stays on target. The Marine squad takes over the top of the power station, the last Spawn slithers onwards and the cultists stay in cover at the back.
The psychic phase sees the sorcerer throw Prescience over the Raptors, but I fail to put Daemonic Strength on Haarken. He'll just have to rely on his own, although when the shooting phase starts with him throwing his spear directly into the ground in front of him, I don't have high hopes. At least it's characterful.
Shooting all the plasma and bolt pistols I have into the Rune Priest achieves precisely nothing at all. Shooting generally, in fact, isn't pulling up any trees - a lone Aggressor gets melted by the Helbrute, and I plink a wound off another with bolter fire.
Then it's charge time. The already crowded tower top is quickly awash with angry madmen - the Warp Talons charge in and mug the Rune Priest, Haarken hops over them to tackle the Wolf Lord and the Raptors make it into combat, although there's only room for three of them at the top. The others form an orderly queue at the bottom, kick back and light some cigarettes.
On the other flank, the Spawn tries a hopeless charge into the Boltstorm Aggressors, and explodes spectacularly on the way in. No surprises there, but there really wasn't much else he'd be achieving.
Although I had high hopes for various stratagems, it turns out that most of them aren't worth popping just now. Vicious Descent, the Host Raptoral special, should have been played at the start of the turn to help them shoot as well, and nothing else is going to stack well on top of the buffs Haarken and Prescience already grant them. In the end, I put Veterans of the Long War on the Warp Talons, and then get on with it.
The Warp Talons go first, and tear into the Rune Priest with everything they have. And he doesn't die! Somehow, Stylus saves him on a single wound, despite receiving ten.
I saved half of the wounds naturally, so just had to use a CP reroll to leave the Rune Priest on one left.
Then he interrupts with the Hellblasters, who surge forward and cheerfully kill off two Warp Talons and a pair of Raptors, as well as drubbing Haarken for all but one of his wounds. Ouch! Who knew heavies would be so combat capable? It's the volume of papercuts that nearly does for the Worldclaimer, and I have to use a reroll to keep him alive.
I think the Wolf Lord actually did the damage against the Jump troops, but it was the Hellblasters to nearly tipped Haarken over the edge. They are no slouch in combat - you're not charging Imperial Guard mortar teams here.
Haarken goes next, and does at least finish off the Rune Priest, although only just. Alas, I've not heard the last of him, for Stylus blows 3 CPs on giving him a last round of combat. Haarken claims a worldly blow to the head, and that's it from him. As expected, somewhat uninspiring.
It was something of an emotional reaction - and not a wise use of CPs - but I needed Haarken dead this turn and, if the Rune Priest could do it, that would leave the Wolf Lord free to attack the troops.
The Raptors knock the Wolf Lord about a bit, leaving him on a pair of wounds, which he repays by chopping up another pair of Warp Talons.
It's an interesting fight, though - neither of us has delivered anything like a knockout punch, and we're left with some choice units tied up in the tower. We both score, too - Stylus for the Warlord, Assassinate and Heroes of Fenris, me for my character killing. Not great - I remain behind.
Objectives Scored (Black Legion): Assassinate (1), Rise to Glory (2),
Objectives Scored (Space Wolves): Slay the Warlord (1), Assassinate (1) Heroes of Fenris (1)
Space Wolves - Turn 2
My two new objective cards are also duds: Big Game Hunter (but I've already killed all the big game!) and Secure Objective 2 (the other objective in the Chaos backfield).
Time to counter the counterstrike! I leave my Wolf Lord and Hellblasters in the tower, since I fancy their chances now that Haarken is gone. I also keep my Boltstorm Aggressors and two Intercessor squads still, since they've still got plenty of targets to choose from.
My remaining Flamestorm Aggressors push upfield to face down the Hellbrute (they've got power fists, so a kill is not out of the question - and he's going to charge me anyway). My Battle Leader approaches the Raptors who are on the base of the tower (there's not enough room up top, so most are spilling over).
The Inceptors drop down behind the Jump Pack Sorcerer, who go left out of all the action in the tower and is no probably regretting it. My Cunning of the Wolf Intercessors arrive in the Chaos backline, a mirror image of the Host Raptoral. With nothing but Cultists to stop me, I'm sure to get one of the objectives, and also Linebreaker.
And the big drop comes with the Reivers - nine inches away from the Raptors. This is what my Stalker Pack detachment has been waiting for. If I charge the Battle Leader in first (he can't fail) then I can spend my last CP on Pack Killers and roll 3D6 for my charge (discarding the lowest). With all their attacks, they should tear the Raptors apart and free up my Wolf Lord to kill the last Warp Talons, giving my lines a reprieve and securing Hold the Line at the same time!
But before that can happen, some shooting. The Flamstorm Aggressors burn a wound off the Hellbrute. The Boltstorm Aggressors open up their huge volley of shots on the Chaos Space Marines, but with their cover save, their armour proves hard to crack and I only take out five of them, and that's with the support of the Intercessors (who frankly, did better with their -1AP guns).
My infiltrating Intercessors do worse, only felling three Cultists with their shots (and inconveniently putting them out of charge range), but the Inceptors make up for it, shredding the Sorcerer in a hail of bolt rounds.
And then the charges. As planned, my Battle Leader makes it in against the Raptors. I then play Pack Killers and roll 3D6 for my Reiver ... who fall one short. Hmmm. Suddenly my past stratagems seem quite spendthirft, as I could really use a reroll about now. So my big pack of killers are left twiddling their thumbs, while my seriously-injured Battle Leader is wondering why no-one followed him into combat.
The Flamestorm Aggressors make it into the Helbrute, but their power fists don't make much impact on the monster and they get pulped in return.
The Raptors have something of a field day with my characters, tearing apart the Wolf Lord up top and the Battle Leader down below. So that's my command structure gone, I hope the Space Wolves are good at using their initiative.
I strike back with my Hellblasters (the real combat heroes here) and take out all but one of the Warp Talons, but the turn ends with me scoring nothing.
Objectives Scored (Black Legion): Slay the Warlord (1)
Black Legion - Turn 3
All new objectives! All too familiar sense of an uphill struggle, as I'm given Psychological Warfare and Mission Critical Objective (1). Hmm.
Although grabbing Objective 1 is easy enough, it's parked out in the open in front of all the bolters in the world. And in the heat of battle, I then forget I'm supposed to grab it, keep the Chaos Marines in cover on the roof and run everything else forward. The Cultists shuffle about to keep line of sight on the Primaris Marines, the Host stay in combat.
Shooting achieves little (and there's little of it). The Hellbrute shakes the Flame Aggressors off his fists and chugs forward, melting a Bolt Aggressor on his way in, and then charges and beats up a pair of Intercessors. They knife him in return, which triggers his frenzy, so another Intercessor suffers the beat down.
The Exalted Champion charges the Bolt Aggressors, confident that he can take the overwatch. This is false confidence (matches their false emperor), and they shoot all of his wounds off before he can close. Eep.
The Raptors and Warp Talon carry on struggling with the Hellblasters. It's a total whiff on both sides, more or less - we swap half a Hellblaster for a Raptor, and they carry on chainswording. But there's company on the way in...
Objectives Scored: None, so I discard Psychological Warfare.
Space Wolves - Turn 3
Having ditched Big Game Hunter last turn, my fresh card is ... Witch Hunter. Oh, very funny.
Despite being ahead on material, I'm falling behind in the Victory Points (and we're playing Acceptable Casualties, so a tabling is not going to help).
I pull the survivors of my Intercessors away from the Hellbrute and bounce my Inceptors forward to join the firing lines. My backline Intercessors move towards Objective 6 and my Reivers get close enough for a charge that they cannot fail.
I still have plenty of shots left in my castle, and the Intercessors, Aggressors and Inceptors have more than enough to mow down the Helbrutes and Chaos Space Marines. The Hellblasters' pistols finish off the Warp Talon (is there nothing they cannot do?)
In the Assault Phase, the backline Intercessors are still too far to charge the cowardly Cultists, so it's just the Reivers. Despite having a charge on the Raptors that they really can't fail, they do their best to let me down by only rolling 3".
Luckily that's enough to complete the charge and, with pile-ins, the whole unit can strike the Raptors. With 31 S4 attacks, I'm expecting carnage, but their butterknives fail against the Raptors' power army and only a few heretics are slain. To add insult to injury, when the Hellblasters come to strike, they do almost as much damage.
So I still have yet to clear my lines, and the Reivers are going to get a sternly-worded reprimand at their next appraisal.
Objectives Scored: None
Black Legion - Turn 4
Hooray! More unobtainable orders. Scour the Skies - if I can somehow kill all the Inceptors, it's mine. This is a steep hill.
Still, there's a few points up I can still grab. The Chaos Lord does his best Han Solo, and parks himself in the bunker doors, facing an Imperial firing line on Objective 1. The Raptors tire of their sport (because they're losing) and run off to Objective 5.
And that's pretty much it. Yes, the cultists manage to hose down a Primaris and a half with their combined weight of fire, but who am I kidding? This is looking bad. At least I take a tiny lead for a moment or two.
Objectives Scored: Mission Critical Objective (1) and Secure Objective 5 (1)
Space Wolves - Turn 4
Finally, I catch a break with the cards. I get Defend Objective 5 - that's 2VPs once I push the Raptors off it (the other card was Mission Critical Objective (5), so Kraken was a bit stuffed whichever he made me discard).
What remains is basically mopping up, as I'm now free to start scoring objectives. Everything moves forward (though I do remember to keep enough units in my deployment zone to Hold the Line) and the Chaos Lord is gunned down as he beats against the locked doors of the bunker.
The Intercessors shoot and charge the Cultists, grabbing Objective 6, so they can begin to defend it. The pack of Reivers charge the last two Raptors. The champion wisely overcharges his pistol and kills himself, but luckily there is still one left alive for me to charge into.
Even the Reivers can't muck this up - the final Raptor is hacked to pieces and I start to defend Objective 5.
So I have finally got Hold the Line, and am guaranteed four more VPs (for defending two objectives) at the end of the Chaos turn.
Objectives Scored: Hold the Line (1)
Black Legion - Turn 5
Right. Although I have every faith in the abilities of ten cultists to kill none of these Space Wolves, I at least need to see the objectives available before calling this.
Once I have (Supremacy, Defend Objective 4), I play the 'hide in plain sight' stratagem for 0 CPs, and the Cultists return to their day jobs of ordinary Imperial Citizens, wandering off whilst whistling nonchalantly. I yield!
Result: Victory to the Space Wolves!
Wolves' Den
That could have gone a lot better! Somehow I suspect my hash was settled after the deployment zones were picked. Crossing all that open ground towards a tower full of plasma death was always going to be a tall order, and the Space Wolves were well-equipped to make the most of their gunline.As a mea culpa - I think I could have designed a better battlefield. I think I was swayed by the design of the mat, and so left a 'town square' of open space in the middle. It probably would have worked for Dawn of War deployment, which I usually pick. Hammer and Anvil caught me by surprise too - although it did mean it was harder to stop deepstrike, which was appropriate for both sides.
The Host Raptorial clearly has potential, I reckon. I squandered it a bit - with hindsight, throwing the Warptalons into the tower whilst using the others to savage the forward lines might have been better. Wherever they landed, they'd have been hard pressed to kill enough to avoid getting shot apart afterwards, though, and getting the points for the character killing was the priority when they dropped in. That at least they managed, no thanks to Haarken, who might have potential against hordes? But not so much against armoured marines.
I agree. Though I did a shocking job of screening my characters, it actually helped me out that they were left out like bait. If the Heldrake had shut down some Aggressors, instead of chasing the Battle Leader; or the Warp Talons gone for another shooting unit, my lines would have been in trouble.
I think Haarken will have better days at the office - he's not a terrible character killer, but one thing you can say for Primaris is that they are durable.
If playing them again, Stylus and I agree that a Chaos Jump Lord would make a better supporting character for the charge. The bonuses from the Sorcerer could still be done, but a tougher, fightier HQ would make better use.
It was a fun game to play, and nice for the Space Wolves to do well for a change. The Reivers were a waste of the Command Points I invested in them to try and make them viable combat troops, but I think I've satisfied myself that it's not their role. If I'd used them properly - say two squads of five dropping in on those back objectives and terrorising the Cultists, they would have done a good job.
As the for the scenario itself - we both agreed that Visions of Victory doesn't really work for us. It's just far too easy to give your opponent useless cards, and so it boils down to a straight fight, which makes for a duller game.
I did wonder if it might work better in reverse - if you got to pick your best cards to play. It may be the difference between a hockey score and a football score, but at least you could make things happen.
All good lessons, and we have some different scoring mechanisms in mind for our next fight!
Great write up and good photos. I enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Deletecracking write up as ever.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteAnother great report. Always a quality read.
ReplyDeleteAnd always quality readers!
Delete