Weekend at Burnie's 2 - Round 4 - Chaos Space Marines vs Iron Hands

It’s the second day of the event, and I have activated my secret weapon of not-getting-drunk-the-night before, which should put me ahead of the competition.

Perhaps it's in poor taste to mention getting ahead. My next fight is with Iron Hands.

So this new Iron Hands supplement. I hear it's not bad.

The Folly of Nayala - Iron Hands

• Iron Father Feirros (aka Eurion Kolec) - Warlord (HQ) (Warlord)
  Bolt pistol, Gorgon's wrath, Harrowhand, 2 x Servo arm
  Ability: Student of History 
• Primaris Librarian (HQ)
  Force sword; Bolt pistol; Frag grenades; Krak Grenades
  Relic: Tempered Helm
  Powers: Reforge, Psysteel Armour
• Primaris Lieutenant (HQ)
  Master-crafted auto bolt rifle;
• 6 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Bolt rifles
• 6 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Bolt rifles
• 6 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Bolt rifles
• Primaris Apothecary (Elite)
  Reductor pistol, Absolvor bolt pistol
• Redemptor Dreadnought (Elite)
  Redemptor fist, Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, 2 x Fragstorm grenade launcher, Icarus rocket pod
• Redemptor Dreadnought (Elite)
  Redemptor fist, Heavy Flamer, Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, 2 x Fragstorm grenade launcher
• 10 x  Hellblaster Squad (Heavy)
  Heavy plasma incinerator
• Stormtalon Gunship (Flyer)
  Twin Assault Cannon; Typhoon Missile Launcher;

Points: 1491 | Battle-forged + Battalion + Vanguard: 9 CPs

Heretic Astartes - The Cabal

The Unkindest Cut - Black Legion Patrol

• Strato - Chaos Lord with Jump Pack (HQ) (Warlord)
  Chainsword, Combi-Bolter, Frag & Krak Grenades
  Warlord Trait: Black-clad BruteRelic: Ghorisvek’s Teeth
• Daemon Prince with wings (HQ)
  Helforged Sword & Malefic talon, Mark of Nurgle
  Diabolic Strength
• 6 x Chaos Space Marines (Troop)
  Power Sword, 5 x Bolt Pistol & Chainswords, Icon of Excess, Mark of Slaanesh
• 7 x Raptors (Fast)
  Power Sword, Plasma Pistol, 2 x Plasma Guns, 4 x Bolt Pistol & Chainswords

The Pestilent Congregation - The Purge Vanguard

• Decius - Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (HQ)
  Combi-melta, Force Sword, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Nurgle
  Miasma of Pestilence, Warptime
• 5 x Chaos Chosen (Elite)
  4 x Combi-bolter, 4 x chainswords, Thunder Hammer, Reaper Chaincannon, Mark of Nurgle
• 5 x Plague Marines (Elite)
  Power fist, 2 x Flail of Contagion, 2 x 2nd Plague Knife, Blight & Krak Grenades
• Helbrute (Elite)
  Helbrute fist (combi-bolter), Power scourge, Mark of Nurgle
• Rhino (Elite)
  Combi-bolter), Mark of Nurgle

The Infinite Jest - The Scourged Vanguard

• Artemidorus - Sorcerer  (HQ)
  Bolt pistol, Force Stave, Frag & Krak Grenades, Mark of Tzeentch
  Prescience, Weaver of Fates
• 5 x Chaos Chosen (Elite)
  3 x Combi-bolter, 5 x chainswords, Combi-plasma, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch
• Helbrute (Elite)
  Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch
• Helbrute (Elite)
  Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Mark of Tzeentch

Points: 1500 | Battle-forged + Patrol + Vanguard + Vanguard: 5 CPs

After previous battles with Salamanders and Raven Guard, this is turning into an Istvaan V reenactment.

The mission was Vital Intelligence (aka ‘Multiball!’) where you score points on five objectives at the end of the round, and one (or all) can be doubled in value at random. I really like this mission, where the score usually matches the flow of the game, but can also randomly sting you.

My opponent was ‘Iron Pappy’ Joe, who was into Iron Hands before they were cool. To be fair, the list he brought was definitely a friendly one, avoiding the worst abuses that that Internet is currently having a hissy fit about.

One of the features of the weekend was that, to represent the desperate state of the campaign, the army values on the second day escalated to 1500pts. Many players switched their lists totally, but I kept mine consistent, just so my brain wasn’t going to be overtaxed learning new datasheets.

I took a squad of Raptors, to escort my warlord, and a Daemon Prince to replace the Greater Possessed. I’ll miss the Greater Possessed, but my narrative was that The Purge and Scourged were fighting for the favour of their respective gods to ascend this character to deamonhood.

After three battles, I reckoned The Purge had put in the better performance, so we were joined by a Daemon Prince of Nurgle (sadly without Disgustingly Resilient).

Deployment

I lost the roll-off so deployed first. I bookened each of my home objectives with a Scourged Helbrute (the advantage of their natural reroll is that, if you opponent has no deepstrike, they’re not super-dependent on castling up for protection or aura buffs).

The Rhino was loaded up as usual to rumble onto the centre objective, and everything else hid behind the central ruin, just in case I lost first turn. I decided not to put the Raptors and Lord into deepstrike – I thought I’d need their mobility and plasma on the field from the start.

The Iron Hands responded by building some castles of their own: on the left objective were ten Hellblasters, two squads of Intercessors and an Apothecary. On the right objective was another squad of Intercessors, plus a Lieutenant, Librarian, Iron Father and two Redemptor Dreadnoughts (both made into characters).

Turn 1

The game started with a bang – multiball! Every objective would be worth double points. Since we had both secured two each, that made the central one prime real estate.

I raced forward with the Rhino – using Warptime to place it squarely on the central objective, then Miasma of Pestilence to make it -1 to hit. Added to the -1 to hit from using my smoke launchers, it was hopefully going to be a bugger to shift.

The Scourged detachment kept their role as my backline firepower, though the Chosen did move into the ruin to set up a firing step.

Everyone else ran after the Rhino: Raptors, Jump-Lord, Daemon Prince, Helbrute and Terminator Sorcerer. The idea was to present far too many targets to bring down and overload one of the castles.

The exception was the Chaos Space Marines, who I didn’t think could survive the crossfire out there. As my only objective secured unit, I hid them in the ruin, ready for a late surge.

In Shooting, I learned my lesson from the last game and made a determined effort to bring down the Storm Talon. The Helbrutes excelled themselves and the thing was a smoking wreck before I even had to use the Flakk Missile. First Strike to me!

I then looked for my next target priority. I will admit that, when I learned the Redemptors were now characters, I had assumed I couldn’t target them unless they were closest and avoided shooting them. Obviously as they were over 10 wounds, there were fair game, but with that spanner-marine behind them and all sorts of repairs and invulnerable saves going on, it would have been a bad idea to try and chip away wounds, so my ignorance was, coincidentally, tactically sound.

In which case, it was the Hellblasters who were next in line. I hit them with overcharged plasma, missiles, bolter fire (having previously warmed up with Smite). The iron armour stood firm, along with the stratagem Reject the Flesh, Embrace the Machine (turns their 6+ Feel No Pain save into a 5+), which meant at the end, only three of them had died.

All in all a promising start, and I was set to take an early lead.

Joe’s turn was something of a shocker. He determined to push the Rhino off the central objective, and focussed all his fire on it (he did ask me not mention that he tried to bring down a Rhino with bolters, so let’s just keep that between you and me, Internet).

The issue was not really the weaponry (the Iron Hands never left Devastator Doctrine, which gave their heavy weapons extra AP, no penalty to move and fire, and rerolls of 1), but the -2 hit penalty on the Rhino. The Hellblasters couldn’t overcharge (you’d be mad to) and neither the gatling cannons on the Redemptors, nor the many bolt rifles, could generate enough hits to overwhelm the Rhino’s toughness.

By the end of the turn, the entire army had fired, and the Rhino had lost a mere five wounds. I’ve had similar experience with Bloat-Drones, so I sympathised.

Turn 2

But I wasn’t about to give up the advantage. After scoring six points (plus First Strike) to four, I went on the offensive. I reckoned that taking on both castles at once would be ambitious, so I decided to swing to the left and clear up the Hellblasters (especially as their objective just became the double one). The Redemptors looked most dangerous in combat, so let them chase me.

The Rhino applied the handbrake and stayed put on the centre objective, though I ran the Chaos Space Marines to back up my claim to it, since I wasn’t guaranteed it would last a second round.

But the Purge Chosen and Plague Marines jumped out of the Rhino and moved towards the Hellblasters. The Raptors also flew towards them, finding the Apothecary the closest target to their plasma guns.

I moved the Jump-Lord and Daemon Prince in close support, but didn’t commit them to the attack, since I was wary of shoving my entire army in one corner.

And, since I couldn’t resist the challenge, the Purge Dreadnought moved to take on the right-side flank of the Iron Hands by himself. I figured he was going to get targeted anyway, and Mr Whippy is happiest in combat.

Shooting was spend softening up the Hellblasters, since I was learning how tough there were to shift with their 6+ Feel No Pain save. The Apothecary also got a full volley of overcharged plasma, and was reduced to a scorch mark on the ground.

I charged with the Plague Marines first, since the could soak the Hellblaster Overwatch (they overwatch on 5+, you know). They lost one of their member, but locked in the Hellblasters and closest Intercessor squad, allowing the Raptors to jump on the Hellblasters from the rear. I would have like to throw the Purge Chosen into the fight as well, but the barricade was looking pretty well choked by that point, and I figured I may need their firepower if the combat dragged on.

The Helbrute also made his charge into the Redemptor. It cost him a good number of his wounds to get there, but I made sure he was going to be first to fight.

Unfortunately, the Redemptor made some good armour saves from the Helbrute fist, and only suffered 6 wounds before it struck back and tore the Helbrute apart.

My combat wasn’t so great on the other side of the field either. The Flails of Corruption rolled low, and most of the attacks failed against the durable Iron Hands. By the end of combat, three Hellblasters and four Intercessors still stood, and I’d lost two Plague Marines in the process.

The Iron Hands rallied this turn, and I was about to learn that hold tactical objectives from this many Troop choices wasn’t going to be easy. One unit of Intercessors moved up the right castle to threaten the central objective. Another squad in the left castle moved to take on the Raptors as the Hellblasters fell out of combat.

The two Redemptors moved ominously forward, while the one who had tussled with the Helbrute had most of its wounds patched back up again.

In the Shooting Phase, the Rhino once again came under special attention – and this time it paid off in style, blowing up and taking half of the Chaos Space Marine squad with it.

The squad targeting the Raptors had a more difficult choice – it had to whittle them down, but if it killed the whole squad in shooting, it couldn’t then charge into them and steal the objective. In the end, Joe selected just enough bolt rifles to kill off six Raptors, leaving just one standing. There’s precision for you!

In the Assault Phase, the Intercessors charged the last Raptor (I tried to overcharge my plasma pistol and kill myself, but no luck) and retook the double objective. The Intercessors fighting the Plague Marines took two of them down, but the last one stubbornly held on.

Moreover, the central Intercessors charged the Chaos Space Marines and Terminator Sorcerer. This proved a tougher nut to crack, and only one more heretic astartes fell, but it was enough to secure the central objective. The round ended with Joe scoring four points to my two, and pulling back my lead.

Turn 3

I caught a break with the double objective being back on my Helbrute, but my assault was falling to pieces. I doubled-down on the left castle and sent in all my reserves to support the attack: Daemon Prince, Jump-Lord and Purge Chosen all joined the melee.

Although before they did that, the Purge Chosen turned back and lit up the Intercessors in the centre. Having already been scratched by a Smite, the Purge got to reroll all misses and, supported by the Helbrute’s lascannons, took down three of them.

The Chaos Lord went to work with his chainsword, taking out all the Intercessors on the objective before the Chosen could attack (so they instead used their pile-in move to screen around him, ensuring I kept that objective this time).

The Daemon Prince took on the Hellblaster remnants, Lieutenant and tagged the Intercessors already fighting the Plague Marine. He under-performed (I only had one malefic talon, to match the model, and the usual D2 wasn’t instant-killing the Iron Hands, who were managing to save at least one). Even worse, they somehow managed to club away half his wounds with their rifle butts.

In the centre, the Scourged Chosen had moved to take on what remained of the Intercessors, and somehow failed the charge, losing one of their own to Overwatch.

So the turn ended with my having failed to recapture the centre objective, and with the Redemptors finally coming into play, I felt my early advantage slipping away.

Sure enough, the Dreadnoughts started moving into the middle of the field. They were followed by the Iron Father, with his repair roles and master-crafted heavy bolter. The Librarian (who hadn’t had much joy this battle, other than losing a wound to a Perils) jumped on the back objective to keep it warm.

The war machines started training their heavy weapons on my infantry units. In short order, all the Chaos Space Marines and Scourge Chosen were mown down, along with a couple of Purge Chosen too, leaving me with very little left to contest the field.

The milling combat in the left castle continued apace. The Daemon Prince took some more wounds from the Hellblasters (Come on, man! Pass an armour save!), though the sole Plague Marine continued to pass his disgustingly resilient saves and stay in the fight (this one’s a fighter – maybe they should make him an Iron Hand).

In response, the Daemon Prince switched tactics: clearly the surest way to kill a two-wound model with Feel No Pain is to hit it with a D3 attack. Luckily, he came to battle with a Hellforged Sword as well as a Malefic Talon, and all three of the Intercessor squad were swiftly dispatched.

Turn 4

The double-objective this turn was the one my other Helbrute was babysitting – the one the Redemptor was moving intently towards. Which mean I was going to lose my lead unless I did something. The Scourged Sorcerer raced to place himself between the to Helbrutes, so he could cast Prescience on either, and be a bit more useful with his Smites.

The Jump-Pack Chaos Lord flew off towards the centre of the battlefield, while his place on the objective was taken by the lone Plague Marine, who was free to move now all his Intercessor opponents were dead.

The Helbrute on my right was facing an oncoming Redemptor, but its line of sight was entirely blocked. So it circled around the tower (keeping one toe on the objective) and used Blasphemous Machines to avoid the penalty for moving, and Fire Frenzy to shoot twice. It caused some respectable hits, but the machine was very much ticking over by the end, and ripe to charge.

Meanwhile, I took a desperate measure to deal with the other Redemptor. Having failed to wound it with the Terminator Sorcerer’s Smite or combi-melta, my warlord took matters into his own hands.

Using the nearby Intercessors to slingshot into the Redemptor itself, it challenged the machine to single-combat.

With mortal wounds from his warlord ability and relic, plus enough Death to the False Emperor rolls, it wasn’t impossible I could kill it. Just not today. My attack only scratched the machine, and my warlord got smacked down in retaliation. That bit of recklessness gave up another victory point in a game that was becoming very tight.

Over in the battle on the left castle, worse was to come when my Daemon Prince was finally beaten back into the Warp. The two remaining Purge Chosen had charged in to help, killing the Lieutenant with a thunder hammer, but what had once been a huge melee was now an exhausted slog between a couple of Hellblasters and heretics.

With only a handful (no pun) of assets left, the Iron Hands took a bold choice this turn: the Librarian abandoned his objective to try and advance close enough to heal up one of the badly-injured Redemptors (he didn’t quite make it).

The Iron Father and last Intercessor stayed on the central objective and plinked a few wounds off the Terminator Sorcerer. The other Redemptor fell back to grab the abandoned objective next turn (the way time was going, the battle was going to end on Turn 5 regardless of the dice roll)

The other Redemptor closed up and charged the Helbrute on the double-objective. But Iron Hands aren’t the only ones who can Overwatch on 5+ and I scored a Lascannon hit as he ran in. I rolled well for the damage, but the Feel No Pain spared his very last wound and he succeeded in charging.

Even a critically wounded Redemptor can tear apart a Helbrute, and so he did, securing the double-objective to gain two points, deny them to me, and place himself for a Linebreaker VP as well.

At this point, I was doing the maths, and they weren’t looking good.

Turn 5

The fifth and final turn made the objective in the left castle worth double – my Plague Marine was sat there, so that was something at least. But as I looked at what was left, I reckoned the game seemed unwinnable for me.

I could use my Scourged Sorcerer to Smite away the wounded Redemptor, but the Librarian was right next to him, so could just step on that objective in his turn, scoring the point and Linebreaker.

I also had no good way of taking on both the Iron Father (7 wound and an invulnerable save) and the final Intercessor. All else I had was another Helbrute on the far end of the field, and a couple of Chosen still slugging away with the Hellblasters.

So let’s play it out.

I began with a Smite from the Terminator Sorcerer into the Intercessor. It failed.

Thinking it wouldn’t make much difference, but might help his survival a bit, the Terminator Sorcerer threw Miasma of Pestilence on himself. That failed with Perils of the Warp.

I then rolled maximum damage, which killed the Sorcerer, triggering an explosion that then killed the last Intercessor and wounded the Iron Father. So there’s that.

Undeterred, the Scourged Sorcerer tried to put Prescience on the remaining Helbrute. That also failed. So he put his last power into Smiting the Redemptor Dreadnought. With only one wound left, that easily killed the machine. Which then exploded.

And the Iron Hands Librarian was in range of the blast. He still had five wounds left, but when Joe rolled 5 for the damage, he needed to make just one Feel No Pain to keep him alive. Alas, the luck had run out and the Librarian died in the blast.

So to recap what just happened: the Iron Hands had now lost control of an objective, and wouldn’t be getting Linebreaker either. Moreover, when that Intercessor died, the Iron Father suddenly became the closest model to my last Helbrute, who started warming up his lascannons.

There were no invulnerable saves to protect him from the oncoming barrage, and the Iron Father disappeared in the conflagration. So now the Iron Hands had just lost another objective, and I’d gained a point for Slay the Warlord. I don’t know how it happened, but I’d just regained the lead!

In the Iron Hands turn, there was nothing to be done. The only active model was a wounded Redemptor on the back objective, unable to get range on anything, and the Hellblaster Sergeant, who had managed to survive my attempts to kill him since Turn 1, and was still slugging away at the Chosen.

We called the game, totted up the points, and I still can’t believe what happened.

Result: Chaos Space Marines win 19 – 17

Locker Room

Wow. What else is there to say? No matter how bleak it looks, always play it out, folks.

That was a very entertaining game (apologies for the dearth of images - I was very focused on playing). What I thought would be a brutal slog turned into quite a cat-and-mouse game over those objectives.  I had the mobility, but Joe had lots more objective secured units and also the second turn,

On reflection, I should have probably gone all-in on my second turn, and overwhelmed the castle on the left hand side. It just proved to be so durable - I've fought Primaris a lot, but I'll have to crank it up a notch in my calculations when I'm facing Iron Hands.

All the same, I did steal a victory most outrageously in this game, so kudos to Joe for taking it in good spirit (you know how these Iron Hands can lose their heads).

Absolute corker of a game, and one more to fight before the campaign is concluded!