Operation Torch Them: Alpha Legion vs Tempestus Scions

Homebrew mission time! 

The title for this post is a vague reference to WW2 and Operation Torch, the British invasion of French North Afrika under Monty where his Desert Rats got their name. This is because the inspiration for the battle came from an account I read as a kid of Monty's hit-and-run attacks on various desert air fields. 

In the interests of better puns, however, the raiders tonight are the Alpha Legion, and it's the Scions' armour that needs to refuel at a repair station that's suddenly under attack! I, Kraken, have command of the loyalists, whereas Mr Chaos Marine himself, Stylus, has the XXth Legion. 

I do enjoy a good double-cross.

7th Armoured DiviScions

During the Drawbridge Campaign, the Hagan Lampreys noticed that the Mantis Warriors supposedly lost one of their Captains to the Alpha Legion. He later turned up quite unscathed, strangely enough. Although the Imperials eventually won the campaign, the Mantis Warriors used the Scions almost as cannon fodder in the last battles, and it's left a sour taste in their collective mouths. 

An Inquisitor has been asked to step in and consider whether or not the Mantis Warriors collaborated with the traitors in some way. This list represents the escort sent to collect this stalwart. 

It's a bit of a hodgepodge of elites - this is really because I actually struggled to field 1500 points of neat Tempestus (and will clearly have to get a Vendetta at some point). But let's pretend that this is the red carpet reception party, featuring as much brass as the Lampreys have, all to impress the Inquisitor!

If they'd been expecting action, they'd have petrol and bullets aplenty, but as you'll see below, the vehicles aren't quite ready for battle, hence the points difference in our lists. Otherwise, this is much what you'd expect in any Scions lists - lots of firepower, many small units and some very nasty vehicles. 

Tempestus Scions Battalion Detachment, 9th Iotan Gorgonnes, 1498 points and 12 CP

• HQ - Lord Commissar, Bolt Pistol and Power Fist
• HQ - Primaris Psyker, Psychic Barrier and Nightshroud powers
• HQ - Tempestor Prime, Warlord with Bellowing Voice, Command Rod and Power Maul
• Troops - 5 x Tempestus Scions, 2 x Hotshot Volley Gun
• Troops - 5 x Tempestus Scions, 2 x Hotshot Volley Gun
• Troops - 5 x Tempestus Scions, 2 x Melta Gun and Vox Caster
• Troops - 5 x Tempestus Scions, 2 x Flamer and Vox Caster
• Troops - 5 x Tempestus Scions, Tempestor has Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
• Troops - 5 x Tempestus Scions, Tempestor has Plasma Pistol and Power Fist
• Elites - 3 x Bullgryns, Bullgryn Mauls and Slabshields, Bone 'ead has Brute Shield and Grenadier Gauntlet
• Elites - Commissar with Plasma Pistol and Power Fist
• Elites - Tempestus Scion Command Squad with 2 x Plasma Guns, Medi-pack and Platoon Standard
• Elites - Officer of the Fleet
• Elites - 4 x Servitors, multi-melta, heavy bolter and 2 x servo-arms
• Elites - Tech-Priest Enginseer
• Flyer - Valkyrie with 2 x Heavy Bolters, Lascannon and Helstrike Missiles
• Flyer - Vulture Gunship with 2 x Vulture Gatling Cannons
• Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime with Taurox Battle Cannon and twin Autocannons
• Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime with Storm Bolter, Taurox Missile Launcher and twin Hotshot Volley Guns
• Bonus - Ordo Minoris Inquisitor with Bolter and Power Sword

Alphrika Corps

This list was designed to wheel out Kraken's new toys, so that puts in the Terminators, Hell Blade and spanking new Chaos Lord he only finished the night before (an illegal load-out with his weapons, but we were going WYSIWYG).

After that, I was already running out of points, being at a disadvantage to the Lampreys, so a couple of Chaos Space Marines squads, a big mosh-pit of Noise Marines (love those guys) and a Sorcerer to keep everyone moving forward.

I was concerned about my anti-vehicle capability, knowing there would be a lot to handle, so in addition to the Hell Blade's lascannons, I added a Venomcrawler and the always-terrifying Terrax-Pattern Termite, with its five melta-shots and generous transport capacity.

Knowing this was a suicide mission gives me the freedom to let rip on objectives and loyalists alike - bring it on!

Alpha Legion Patrol Detachment, 1200 Points, 12 CPs

• HQ - Chaos Lord, Warlord with Clandestine Trait, Mindveil Relic, Melta Gun and Twin Lightning Claws
• HQ - Sorcerer with Prescience and Warptime powers
• Troops - 6 x Chaos Space Marines, Bolters and a single Melta Gun, the Champ has a Chainsword
• Troops - 5 x Chaos Space Marines, Bolt Pistols and Chainswords and a single Plasma Gun, the Champ has a Bolt Pistol and Chainaxe
• Elites - 10 x Noise Marines with Sonic Blasters, 2 Blastmasters, Champ has Sonic Blaster and Chainsword
• Elites - 5 x Terminators with Combi-plasma guns and Power Axes, Heavy Flamer, Mark of Slaanesh
• Heavy Support - Venomcrawler, Eviscerating Talons and 2 x Excruciator Cannon
• Flyer - Hell Blade with twin Lascannons
• Dedicated Transport - Terrax-Pattern Termite with Termite Drill, 2 x combi-bolters and Terrax Melta Cutter

Mission and Battlefield

So, as we've said, this is an ambush on an air base. Kill points (VPs per Power Level) will settle the game - the Scions need to try and destroy the ambushers whilst preserving their own troops and vice versa. The three objective points are worth ten points each at the end of the game to Stylus if he can destroy them, but twelve to me if I can keep them alive. (This helps balance the fact that there are more Kill Points available to Stylus). 

The points themselves represent Ad Mech refuel and repair stations. They work a bit like smaller Skyshield Landing pads - they can repair Imperial Vehicles for a d3 wounds if they spend their entire turn on them, have T8 and a 4+ save, but only 10 wounds, and Stylus can (and probably will) attack them. 

The Scions are operating on low fuel and ammo, because they're here on ceremonial duty rather than combat patrol. All my vehicles can only count half their wounds for profile purposes until they manage to end a turn on a repair station, which I also have to hold as though it were an objective. 

The objectives are along the midline of a 4x4 board. The attacker (Stylus) can deploy up to 9" in and goes first, the defender (me) can deploy up to 20" in and goes second. We're alternating deployment, and all the usual strats and reserves rules are allowed. 

To war!

Deployment

The quandary I'm basically in is this: do I hang back in cover and hope for a decent counterpunch turn, letting Stylus take out the pumps? Or do I keep close and get the tanks the drinks they desperately need as soon as I can, risking early losses or even charges?

That Valkyrie has both Commissars, the Prime and the Command Squad on board

The final solution is to sit on the fence. Sticking roughly to the narrative, the Inquisitor and his Ogryns hang out in the middle, wondering why nobody's come to pick him up yet. The Tech-Priest is also near the midline, hugging the precious pipelines with his servitors. 

The cannon Taurox has the two hotshot gun squads, the missile one the two volley gun squads

Almost everyone else is in the back of one van or another, apart from the Melta squad who are parachuting in holding a 'Haga Welcomes the Inquisition' banner between them. Said vans are lined up on the nearest pumps, but it's not going to be easy for the Tauroxes on account of the river some twit stuck in the way. 

I may be outnumbered, but I've got deepstrikes and I'm not afraid to use them! The Terminators go into the teleportarium, while the Noise Marines stuff themselves into the Termite, which burrows underground.

Everything else clusters around the buildings to the north - there's just not enough of me to cover the whole battlefield. The Chaos Space Marines hide behind the building - and then move into range of the central objectives with a double-stratagem of Forward Operatives (Kraken helpfully told me I could do this multiple times in the pre-game).

The Venomcrawler goes centrally, ready to scuttle ahead. The Chaos Lord and Sorcerer stay screened behind it, and the Hell Blade goes in the far southern corner, ready to zoom ahead.

Alpha Legion - Turn 1

With a scream of engines, the Hell Blade races forward to the opposite end of the battle field. The Venomcrawler lurches forward, but the Chaos Space Marines stay put, allowing them to rapid-fire (and I don't want to encourage those Bullgryns). The Chaos Lord repositions to everyone can benefit from his reroll aura.

I have already decided the Vulture is my prime target, and to compensate for being hard-to-hit, I put Prescience on the Hell Blade (having to spend a Command Point when I get Perils of the Warp with my first roll of the game).

I open up on the gunship with both Hell Blade and Venomcrawler, knocking off half its wounds. The rest of my forces fail to tickle the Bullgryns with bolter fire, though the melta operator does take a chunk from the central objective.

(the plasma operator is less fortunate when he overcharges his gun, rolls double 1, and then another 1 on the reroll - the gods really wanted him dead!)

Following up on the central objective, the Venomcrawler charges in and gets stuck in with its Eviscerating Talons - the objective is destroyed!

That's the end of my turn, but a promising start - one down, two to go!

Hagan Lampreys - Turn 1

No time to muck about - I need my vehicles functioning as fully as possible as quick as possible. But I also need to kill things! The dilemma! 

The Vulture lands on the tower refuel point, going into hover mode in order to do so. The Valkyrie could do the same, but that means landing right in front of all the Chaos troops, which seems a bit of an iffy prospect. So I pay command points to shove the flamer squad out of the back to support and screen the Inquisitor and Psyker. 

I set up a firebase on the other flank, one Taurox heading forward as volley gunners spill out of the other. A quickly failed psychic phase, then time to shoot.

The vehicles, of course, being armed with fumes and spitballs at present, mostly disappoint. Between them, they kill two Chaos Marines. At least this means the Vulture manages to kill someone! Everything else is crippled by the Alpha Legion camouflage, and it's not great rolling either. 

This is totally made up for by the Volley Gunners. Iotan Gorgonnes get extra hits on sixes as long as they shoot whatever is nearest, and out of a possible eight shots, one squad scores ten. This puts some pretty good holes in the Daemon engine, which the servitor with the Multimelta capitalises on. It explodes, of course, and rains wounds on all my nearby troops.

Haha! My trap card was activated!

This includes the Bullgryns, who pile into the damaged Chaos Marines and beat another two to death with their fancy batons. It's not a terrible first turn, but it's certainly not enough to crimp the Chaos ambush yet. Because the worst is yet to even arrive!

I'm amazed that two of my guys are still alive, and even get to kick back against the Bullgryns, knocking three wounds off one of them (I've missed Death to the False Emperor).

Alpha Legion - Turn 2

No time to be coy - I need reinforcements asap!

Before that happens, the Hell Blade zooms over the far end of the field, to continue its one-sided dogfight with the Vulture. The two Chaos Space Marines back away from the Bullgryns, but not before playing Feigned Retreat to ensure they can still shoot (I've still got a melta gun in there).

The other, slightly more intact, squad moves to engage the Scions on the northern objective, and the Chaos Lord and Sorcerer stand ready to take on the Bullgryns.

And now the Alpha Legion speciality! The Termite emerges behind enemy lines and disgorges its cargo of Noise Marines. One squad of Scions uses Superior Intelligence to anticipate this and guns down three of the Noise Marines, but with dead fingers mashed against the trigger of their sonic blasters, they take out one of the squad that shot them (I love Noise Marines).

I also drop in the Terminators in my half of the battlefield, on the southern side. They've been screened out a little from the action, but they can start to threaten that last objective.

I take some wounds off the Bullgryns, in the Psychic phase, then follow up with a krak grenade that leaves only one standing (although both the squad and the Lord's melta guns fail to find their mark). So it looks like I'm doing this the hard way.

The Hell Blade once again targets the Vulture, who has been repairing itself and manages to survive on a single wound.

Back to the infiltrators, the Noise Marines' sonic blasters all-but wipe-out one of the Scion squads, and the two blastmasters finish off the Vulture.

The Termite warms up its Melta Cutter and completely obliterates the Taurox before it (maybe I shouldn't complain about facing Eradicators?)

Finally, the Terminators all train their combi-plasmas on the other Taurox. It survives on a couple of wounds, but since I fortuitously put the Mark of Slaanesh on them (thanks for the reminder Kraken), I can play Endless Cacophony and add it to the vehicle kill tally.

You are so welcome.

In the Combat Phase, my chainsword marines lose a squad member to flamer overwatch, but manage to convincingly beat up the Scions.

The Chaos Lord and Sorcerer try to double-team the last Bullgryn, but leave him on a single wound. For his own part, the abhuman fails to bring down the Sorcerer with his maul.

Three vehicles in a single turn - that was a decent counter-punch.

Hagan Lampreys - Turn 2

That last turn could have been a lot worse, in many ways. My vehicles are mostly in bits, but there's plenty of boots on the ground - let's get kicking. 

The Valkyrie lands on the tower, hoping to score some spare parts from the Vulture's remains, but before it goes the Commissars jump out. Then on the way, it drops off the Command Squad and Prime on the bridge. 

The rest of the infantry circle up around their characters, and I finally drop the Melta squad in on the Termite. 

Which allows me to play the Ambush stratagem and have the Terminators open fire on the Melta squad - I only manage to plink off the nonessential personnel, but it was worth it for the Alpha Legion-ness of the ploy (and the concern in Kraken's voice).

The psychic phase is a quick three wound smite of the Chaos ex-Plasma squad (now also an ex-squad, really), then the real action begins. 

The Officer of the Fleet uses a fancy stratagem to phone his airstrike in from the Command Squad's vox, and that kills off the other two Chaos Marines. At the same time, the Prime yells at their plasma gunners to Take Aim, and some pretty hot rolling completely wipes out all four Terminators. Ouch!

The remaining Volley Gunners kill off a pair of Noise Marines, but the return fire wipes the lot, and that's all the damage I manage to do there. As the Chaos Lord paints the last Bullgryn up the wall, the Commissars and the Inquisitor return the favour on the Sorcerer. 

And the Melta squad? They totally fail to hit, let alone hurt, the Termite. Oops.

Alpha Legion - Turn 3

Oh dear, my counterpunch just got counterpunched. I wasn't expecting to lose every one of my Terminators and I am now left with precious few boots on the ground.

My Mindveil Chaos Lord (whose boots don't technically touch the ground) flits away from the characters to take on the plasma command squad. He gives a parting melta shot to the Commissar-Lord, which bounces off his refractor field.

But I'm clearly in scorched-earth mode - rather than target the objectives (i.e. the point of the game), the Hell Blade sends a lascannon blast into both Commissar and Inquisitor, atomising them both.

Speaking of overkill, the squad of Melta Scions get a taste of their own medicine when the Termite's armour-busting Melta Cutter is turned on them.

gg, meltas

Adding to the End of Days theme of this turn, the Noise Marines gun down the Servitors, then charge the Scions, get wiped out in Overwatch, and then kill half of each remaining Scion squads in their death throes - they had a busy time!

The overwatch was pretty lethal thanks to Vengeance for Cadia, Point-Blank Accuracy and the last of my CPs. Rerolling everything with an extra point of strength and bonus hits on six, and a lucky streak got me ten wounds off eight shots. For the second time this game! Shocker.

The Chaos Lord - now spared plasma Overwatch - jumps into the command squad and slashes them to ribbons. Only the medic is left alive, which quickly decides that his noncombatant status entitles him to run for it in the Morale Phase.

Hagan Lampreys - Turn 3

Now that the Valkyrie is fully fuelled up and on full wounds, the sensible thing to do would be to slap the Prime back in it and whisk him away for a safe debriefing. So obviously, he stays put and decides to take on the Chaos Lord, as his few remaining troops scramble for cover from the lethal Termite down below.

My assorted characters take cover or chase after the Lord, but other than putting a lone wound on him with Smite, they don't manage much. The Valkyrie does start a decent dogfight with the Hell Blade, though, taking five wounds off with a Helfire missile. That's the first time I've ever hurt anyone with one of those!

Taking on a clawed nightmare with a swagger stick is clearly stupid, but I'm always up for that. The Prime dashes nobly in! He strikes! He scores!

He scores a single wound, and is duly sprinkled off the bridge, where the river carries his many small remains far, far away.

Alpha Legion - Turn 4

With two vehicles and a character left, this will be a quick turn.

I remember that I'm supposed to be destroying objectives, so set to work on that, rather than chasing scattered Imperials or a full-strength Valkyrie.

The Termite turns its guns on the southern objective, melting it with ease.

The Hell Blade softens up the northern objective, and the Chaos Lord's melta gun leaves it on a single wound - which he just about manages to rip away in the Combat Phase - clean sweep!

Hagan Lampreys - Turn 4

The cycle of running away from the Termite whilst trying to take down the achievable targets continues. And it goes quite well! The Primaris Psyker (who has had a really good game, actually) smites the Chaos Lord off, then the Valkyrie lands a second Helfire missile that sinks the Hell Blade. Some kind of name affinity thing, clearly. 

There is literally nothing else I can do, though - losing all the fuel pumps is clearly a problem, but maybe I can table Stylus before I have to think about that. 

Alpha Legion - Turn 5

Nothing for me to productively achieve now - I suppose I could try and hide the Termite, but settle for spinning a few celebratory doughnuts on the grass and scaring the bejesus out of some more Scions.

There was indeed no Bejeesus left after this.

Hagan Lampreys - Turn 5

Finally, I manage to scratch the Termite! If there were another five turns of this, I'd be fine. As it is, my handful of plucky survivors all leg it instead. 

Medal of honour for this lot, and well done Commissar Haart for surviving again.

Time for a final reckoning.

In terms of kill points, the Lampreys racked up 55PL, while the Alpha Legion scored 57PL. However, the heretics also managed to destroy all three of their objectives, which gives them an additional 30VP

Tempestus Scions 55 : 87 Alpha Legion

Result: Victory to the Alpha Legion!

Locker Room

Death was the winner here - so much of it dealt out, and so fast! 

Good fun, too. The balance could maybe use a bit of work (either leave out the scores for Fuelling, or make it so that the attacker has to perform actions to destroy the pumps, for future reference), but I had a ball watching these armies rip each other to bits.

Maybe some mechanic of planting melta charges that award D6 VPs when they blow at the end of the game. Destroying things is fun, but it can be a bit binary - I knew I'd won by Turn 4.

All the new toys got their moment in the sun. The Hell Blade seems quite cost efficient for what is more or less a flying dreadnought. Like other flyers, it's just too shooty to ignore, whilst being resilient enough that you have to put a fair bit into removing it. A good option for Kas's toolbox, I'd say.

Yes, I was a bit sceptical at first, with just two lascannons, but I've never handled a proper flyer before and I can certainly appreciate their value now. 

And if the Vulture and the Terminators didn't last terribly long, I could certainly see the potential in each. If only the latter had their extra wounds!

We did some rough reckoning and, for the cost of the Sorcerer (who didn't impact the game much), I could have had my marines on 'proper' wounds - which would have made a huge difference to their staying power.

I don't normally begrudge playing a 'old' codex in a new edition, but the delay in the Chaos Space Marine one (and Thousand Sons and Grey Knights) feels especially vexing. Having played Space Marines and Death Guard in the 'new' style, it does make a huge difference to the feel of the army.

It's official - I'd like to get hold of a Vendetta at some point, mostly so I can have a slightly purer 1500 list of Scions. Mostly for OCD Completionism, though, that's far more important.

For my part, that battle was great fun - lots of carnage all around and the Alpha Legion tricks do add some spice. Kraken has assembled a very formidable Alpha Legion that is very enjoyable to play (although the Terrax-Pattern Termite is still an absolute abomination). 

Yeah, I start to get the feeling GW may have over-corrected meltas somewhat. Still, make hay while the sun shines and all, and at least it wasn't Eradicators this time!