Red, White and Blood: World Eaters vs White Scars

There's always time for just one more battle, even in the dying moments of the year. Kas and Kraken here, with 1750 points worth of Grimdark Deathdealing for your reading pleasure! 

I'm Dreaming of a White Scars Christmas

White Scars are probably the chapter I know what I'm doing with best at the moment, thanks to the Mantis Warriors, so Kas (who is hosting tonight) has his Crypt Angels doing their best impersonation. It's on the darker side of white, in fairness, but we aren't here to split hairs. 

No, it's skulls we'll be splitting here! I'm taking a mobile assault list that ranges between fast and foot troops who can smash through screens or elites, backed by some punchy firepower to knock out armour. Leading them is a cheapy Phobos Captain, a Primaris Librarian and the somewhat ever-present Biker Chaplain, this one riding the White Scars relic superbike, Wrath of the Heavens. 

A few of Kas's newest toys have landed from the last commission, so I'm trying out the Gladiator Lancer and Storm Speeder in anti-armour mode, as well as the las-fusils on the Eliminators (Kas almost always runs them as sniper rifles, probably wisely, but their move-shoot-move trick might be worth a go I reckon). No surprises otherwise, it's a pretty standard Marine list. Judiciars are excellent charge protection, they're a must for me at the moment.

Except that the Phobos Captain proves a lucky pick - I had no idea which Chaos Marines I would be up against, and seeing the list below made me feel extremely glad I'd taken someone with a 12" deep strike denial bubble!

White Scars Battalion Detachment, 1750 points, 12 CPs

• HQ - Phobos Captain with Master-crafted Instigator Bolt Carbine
• HQ - Primaris Librarian with Force Sword, bolt pistol, Ride the Winds and Spirits of Chogoris powers
• HQ - Primaris Chaplain on Bike, Warlord with Chogorian Storm trait, Mantra of Strength and Wrath of the Heavens relic
• Troops - 5 Assault Intercessors, sarge has a power fist
• Troops - 5 Assault Intercessors, sarge can't afford a power fist and is stuck with the chainsword
• Troops - 5 Heavy Intercessors, Executor Bolt Rifles plus Heavy version
• Elites - 3 Bladeguard Veterans
• Elites - Judiciar 
• Elites - Redemptor Dreadnought with Heavy Flamer, Storm Bolter and Macro-Plasma Incinerator
• Fast Attack - 3 Outriders
• Fast Attack - 3 Outriders
• Fast Attack - Storm Speeder Thunderstrike with Thunderstrike Lastalon, twin Icarus Rocket Pods and Stormfury Missiles
• Heavy Support - 3 Eliminators, Sarge has an Instigator Bolt Carbine, the other two have Las Fusils
• Heavy Support - Gladiator Lancer with Lancer Laser Destroyer, storm bolters and an Icarus pod

Eaters of the Leftovers

I've been trounced twice by the World Eaters recently, and was very glad to see there was no Great Brass Scorpion this time. Until I see what has replaced it. 

A Termite? A Dreadclaw Drop Pod? A Decimator? I don't even know what a Blood Slaughterer is, but I expect the worst! And the list is hotching with Berserkers, which means that much of my vaunted White Scars melee prowess is hopelessly outclassed. 

This list is going to run straight at me, chainaxes whirring, and probably not leave much standing in its wake, using the DP's traits and relics to provide rerolls and extra speed. What doesn't emerge from deep strike will either be lurking at the back shooting me (no joke, those Soulburner Petards, even in a list with very little shooting) or hiding in the ruins with their hands over their ears (cultists). I know and fear Termites from my own homebrew one as well - they dominate most matches I've seen them in, being both tough and incredibly vicious at short range.

It is, however, deep strike heavy, so I might have a chance to outmanoeuvre the Khorne boys, keeping them at arm's length until its Assault Doctrine time...

I was trying out some new toys, and unused options. After the Crypt Angels Civil War and the Primaris-only Saints had left their homeworld, there had been no use for droppods or dreadnoughts. I had proxied dreadnoughts as hellbrutes, but with two of those too they never really got used; so today the dreadnought is playing as a Decimator. Additionally, although it does not look like it here (it was mid conversion) the drop pod has been ripped up, cut, and put back together as a convincing (and already painted) assault claw - that's not the huge lord of war claw, but the small fast attack one. 

The plan is to drop the termies in with the pod (in turn one), melta something, then charge with the butchers and their two rounds of fighting; and follow up with the drill full of bezerkers and kharn on turn two. For good measure there is a rhino keeping the marines and apostle safe; and I drop the slaughterer into reserves to allow a flank charge. 

There is a downside to this plan... I have four units to place. 

World Eaters Battalion Detachment, 1747 points, 9 CPs

• HQ - Winged Daemon Prince of Khorne, Warlord with Violent Urgency trait, Talisman of Burning Blood relic and twin Malific Talons
• HQ - Dark Apostle (and his two Disciples) with Benediction of Darkness, Wrathful Entreaty and the Mark of Khorne
• HQ - Kharne the Betrayer! with Gorechild and his own special Plasma Pistol
• Troops - 10 Chaos Cultists
• Troops - 7 Chaos Space Marines, Champ has bolt pistol and bolter, specialist has a Reaper Chaincannon
• Troops - 10 Khorne Berserkers with Chainswords and Chainaxes
• Elites - Decimator with twin Soulburner Petards
• Elites - 5 Red Butcher Terminators, all with Combi-Melta and Lightning Claw
• Fast Attack - Blood Slaughterer with twin Slaughter Blades
• Fast Attack - Dreadclaw Drop Pod with Blade Struts and Thermal Jets
• Fast Attack - 5 Warp Talons
• Dedicated Transport - Chaos Rhino with Combi-bolter
• Dedicated Transport - Terrax-Pattern Termite with twin Heavy Flamers, drill and Terrax Melta Cutter

Mission and Terrain

It's an Open War deck draw tonight. Take and Hold, deploying along the classic long edges, so 6 Objectives each worth 1 VP in your Command Phase from turn 2 onwards. Our twist means all shooting has -1S if it's from more than 18" away, which is a bit of a bugger for my big guns, but I'm sure I'll cope!

A familiar battlefield - it's the same one as last time, so presumably the Marines are now trying to turf the World Eaters out of their new fortress. 

It will get switched before next battle, but had been lazy and left up in garage throughout December. It was fought over twice more yesterday too!

Deployment

Roll offs achieved, I go defence and pick the side that now has the most objectives nearest to it. My deployment is a strung-out line, the better to keep my denial bubble wide, with a single CP gone on Outflank for a unit of Outriders. 

Otherwise I've got the Chaplain, Librarian, some Assault Intercessors and the Outriders on my right flank, the Phobos Captain, Dreadnought and more Assault Intercessors on the left, and a castle of Heavy Intercessors, Judiciar and Gladiator in the middle, backed by the Storm Speeder. The Eliminators take point in the highest tower they can find, and don't use their sneaky movement trick at all during the entire battle, the dafties. 

Claiming objectives is going to be hard, as you start scoring on turn two, but I want to be moving forward. I am going to be putting a lot of stock in a minimum size unit of cultists; so they risk certain death and leave them behind a building, holding one objective, and put my other three units in a bunch ready to jump forward and threaten the marines home objectives. 

That leaves us set up like this:

Then I win the roll-off, and decide (very wisely) to go first!

White Scars Turn 1

As I said, my plan here is mobility. I don't go too far forward on the left side, but I bring the Dreadnought and Speeder out to shoot up the tiny cluster of World Eaters on the far side, with the Heavy Intercessors and Gladiator nudging right to do the same (and stretch that bubble!). 

The Bikers and Chaplain roar forward at full speed, with the Librarian and Assaultercessors following up behind on to Objective 2, under the gantry. Only the Bladeguard and the Captain stay still, keeping my bubble spread wide. 

Shooting is a near-miss - despite an excellent start from the Gladiator, which knocks 10/12 wounds off the Decimator, none of the rest of my shooting can claim the last two wounds past its invuln save! The Storm Speeder even splits fire a little, putting its Icarus launchers on the Rhino for a few wounds, but it's a disappointing start. 

The Outriders are now close enough for a long-bomb charge on the cultists, so the Librarian helps them with Ride the Winds, despite the Khornate scorn strat attempting to stop it, but they fail the charge even with Fierce Rivalries and a reroll to help them, which Kas is extremely relieved at. 

Ah well - I reckon I'm in as good a place as I can be otherwise, so let's see what's going to be charging me...

Points Scored: Not Yet

World Eaters Turn 1

Sure enough, the World Eaters don't disappoint. The Dreadclaw slams down on my left flank and spews out the Red Butchers, with the DP flapping up to support them and boost their charges. Cultists reluctantly poke their heads out of the ruins and shoot uselessly at the Outriders, the Dark Apostle and chums sing a shrouding song to the Decimator as it starts slowly growing its arms back, but there isn't a ton to move so it's a pretty fast phase. 

Shooting sees the Decimator burn the souls off two of the Eliminators and wound the last one, then the Red Butchers use their combi-weapons to weaken the Storm Speeder. Er, down to one wound! Which is cutting it fine, they'd have been out of charge range for the Dreadnought, as they couldn't melta it either. 

In the event, they and their Dreadclaw sweep in and sweep up, trampling the remains of the Speeder as they crowd round the Dreadnought and Phobos Captain. The latter is useless against Terminators, but the former promptly flattens the Dreadclaw with dismaying ease, then starts eyeing up the Daemon Prince (who has failed his charges) for next turn...

I underestimated the redememptor / overconfident with my claw - with the failed charges and bad positioning / good screening - that could be costly.

Points Scored: Wait For It...

White Scars Turn 2

I'm not getting any more of a reprieve than that, so I spend a few command points. Adaptive Strategy gives the Assault Intercessors all the doctrines for a turn and Feigned Retreat lets the Dreadnought fall out of combat but still shoot. I nudge my forward line up to keep shots on the Decimator and bring my flankers on at the back to replace the deep strike denial hole left by the Bladeguard as they stride towards the Red Butchers. 

The Chaplain and his Outriders predictably shatter the Cultists with fire and sword. Once again, my shooting is below par - I manage to plasma and snipe away a Red Butcher plus just take out the Decimator with a reroll (I think the Heavy Intercessors did it in the end). But the charge phase is where the big money is, and knowing that Kas is ready to interrupt, I have to weigh my first pick carefully. 

In the end, it's the Assault Intercessors, and they manage to pull down two of the mad Terminators with their knives, thanks to Assault Doctrine bonuses. Alas, these then interrupt and kill off the Bladeguard with their double fight ability, although it's reasonably close. 

That lets me punch the DP down with the dreadnought, and then I'm about to go round again with the Assault Intercessors. But Kas is also wanting to go round again with the remaining Red Butchers! We aren't totally sure who takes priority here and roll for it, the upshot being the Red Butchers go round again. 

The three of them take down three and a half Intercessors, who completely whiff their attacks. Uh-oh - I didn't see that going to a second round, I thought I had them there! 

Points Scored: 3 objectives held

World Eaters Turn 2

With the objectives skewed in my favour, Kas can't afford to hang about here, so the rest of his troops pop up and make with the crazed screaming. The Termite in the middle spits out Kharn and his Berserkers, with the Warp Talons and Blood Slaughterer coming out to threaten my troops on the right flank. 

Shooting starts with the Termite taking the Gladiator down to a single wound, but failing to take off the last Eliminator (ignore the map, there's only one of him). Then both Warp Talons and Berserkers go piling in, but Kharn is feeling properly betrayery and manages four consecutive ones for his charge rolls, instead opting to stand in the middle of the field and shout about how angry he is. 

The combats do not, of course, go my way. The Berserkers rip through the Heavy Intercessors in a welter of gore before pouncing on the Gladiator, although they do very sensibly stay well away from the Judiciar. Likewise the Warp Talons savage the Assault Intercessors as well as the poor Librarian, who has intervened only to get mulched by a barrage of Death to the False Emperor hits! 

I pull down two Warp Talons in revenge, then the Gladiator somehow manages to run over one of the Berserkers. Then the Red Butchers and the Assault Intercessors keep punching, although it's a bit of an exhausted and feeble affair. We're left with one champion each staggering around taking tired swings at each other.  

Points Scored: 1 objective held

White Scars Turn 3

Suddenly I'm quite low on options! And I'm only holding two objectives now, so I need to sort that out. 

The Redemptor goes and wastes the Rhino on Kas's back line, killing a couple of occupants in the process, but leaving the objective there pretty thoroughly held. My Outriders go into the back of the Berserkers, but can't shoot them as they've wrapped the Gladiator well enough that it can't flee over the pipeline with its reduced move. It's a tied fight - between the tank's guns and the Outriders' blades, I take down a handful of Berserkers, whereas they only take out a single biker, but they still hold the middle. 

The Judiciar yolos into Kharn, hoping (not unreasonably) to kill him then tie up the Termite for a round, but he doesn't quite make it after Kas rerolls a failed save. Kharn is quite easily able to kill the Judiciar and still waste a trio of attacks on the Termite, he's definitely a man with anger issues. 

The Warp Talons kill the rest of the Assault Intercessors after I whiff their attacks, but the Biker Chaplain, high on Strength Mantra, pulverises the Blood Slaughterer. It failed its charge on the previous turn, so other than looking pretty, has failed to perform. New Model Syndrome!

Other good news, though - the last Red Butcher goes down, killed in combat by the Intercessor Sarge after he falls back and goes back in. I'm still just ahead, but not by much, and Kas is about to catch up.

Points Scored: 2

World Eaters Turn 3 

Kharn is now all excited, and quickly nips into the back of the Outriders, killing the lot as his Berserkers tear the Gladiator to bits. 

The Termite rumbles towards the Dreadnought and melts it to slag, leaving the Chaos Marines to finally take the Eliminator out of his perch (he should have died here, we both forgot he was wounded from earlier, but luckily his shooting failed to make a difference for the next turn or so anyway). And that's a decent bit of consolidation - Kas pulls his points tally up to match mine, and we go into the back half of the game neck and neck!

Points Scored: 4

White Scars Turn 4

I don't have much materiel to work with here. I can swipe an objective off the Warp Talons with the Chaplain, who flattens them with ease, but the surviving Outriders are just too far to risk trying to pull a charge into the chaos group on Objective 3. Besides which the Termite will eat them for breakfast whether I take the objective or not! 

The good news is that I now hold three to Kas's two, as his consolidation last turn forced him to move off the centre. So the pressure is now back on him to shake me off a point quickly. 

Points Scored: 2

World Eaters Turn 4

In the event, he can't quite do it! The Termite goes back to the middle, Kharn takes Objective 1 and his Berserkers are sent to try and kill the Chaplain. But they can't quite get over the pipeline - a few are left on the wrong side of it, slowing their charge, and they fail even on the reroll. So Kas takes a quick lead, but I'm about to bring it level again, and knowing that, he brings his remaining troopers forward so they can hopefully steal something next turn.

Points Scored: 2

White Scars Turn 5

By this time, I've regenerated a few Command Points. Now that I've made my final objective score, I can bring the Outriders back in - a quick advance, a CP on Born in the Saddle, and they shoot away half the remaining Berserkers. 

The Chaplain boost in over their heads to threaten both them and Kharn, but the Phobos Captain beats him to the pip on the latter, sniping him away with his (surprisingly meaty) carbine. Rerolls go back and forth on the shot from both of us, but Kharn is out of luck. So the Chaplain can slam the Berserkers, killing off all but one, although that one still smashes four wounds off him! 

Points Scored: 3

World Eaters Turn 5

Alas, that lone Berserker is my undoing. He flees the Chaplain and grabs Objective 2 back to score at the end of the turn, as second player gets to do. There's nothing else in play (no guns in range or charges to be made), but at the last second, Kas has equalized!

The map does not show it, but the termite moved off 1 to claim 6 and the result came down to could the weary marines advance to reach where the drill had been. I needed a 6 on the advance, and had a CP... alas they failed to reach it. 

Points Scored: 3

Result: Draw! 10-10

Locker Room

I must admit, I didn't see the game being that close or exciting when I was contemplating the lists! I was fully anticipating a melee beating from multiple Blood God worshippers. Which I certainly got, but I managed to ride it out and pull through. In fact, I reckon I was robbed in some ways - if my Outriders had made a 9" charge with a reroll and 3 dice in the first turn, I'd have pulled away in points. 

Indeed - it was a good close game, and a lot of chatting on choices for objectives and approach. I was pleasantly surprised by the versatility of Scars' movement and aggressiveness (and a that's a lovely bike the chaplain has!).

The big 'd'oh' moment was the escaping Berserker. The Chaplain did whiff rather in that final combat, and if I'd saved a CP somewhere else in the game, I could have used the strat to fight him once again when his quarry tried to flee (as well as follow after him, although that wouldn't have helped if he'd survived). Hey ho - the last CP did bring down Kharne, so I can't grumble!

Great game - tense to the last, and both bloody and spectacular throughout. Roll on next year, the year of the T'au Railgun!

If only you knew a T'au player who has been chomping for a new codex.... 

(Apologies for the lack of pics throughout - we were very much caught up in the action, and quite forgot!)