Weekend at Burnies V - The Scourged

Weekend at Burnie’s has rolled around once more, and I’ll be doing a whistlestop tour of the games I played.

Consistent with the theme of the previous four events (#Cabal4Life), I went with a Chaos army, although my list selection did have some different motivators:

• I’m very ring-rusty with Warhammer 40k, having only played one game this year (and having not kept up at all with all the new rules and releases)
• A weekend of five games is quite a lot of me, so I wanted a list that would not tax my poor brain, and let me complete all the games within the set time
• My main motivation was for me and my opponents to have as much fun as possible, so I wanted an easy-to-play list that wouldn’t slow the game down as I got muddled over datasheets and stratagems; but also one that was robust enough to make the game challenging (last-roll deciders are always the best kind).

With that in mind, I brought out The Scourged, and basically the same list that gave Winter SEO’s Necrons a good run a few months back. They’ve only had a bit-part in a previous event, so I’m counting them as a ‘new’ army. I did manage to paint up a couple of new characters to lead them (and failed to add a couple more units, but I had enough to fill 1500pts).

The list is a very shooty one, which entirely suits the Mark of Tzeentch that everyone has (don’t blame me, I built it in 8th Edition). The real heavy lifting will be done by the Vindicators who, with a combination of Dark Pact, Helbrute and Warpsmith, can put out a ridiculous amount of damage (I think the record was 40+ wounds against a tank in a single volley).

The other vehicles are either for buffing (Helbrutes) or just to keep the theme (Predators) and I’m not expecting much from either. The infantry are to take and hold objectives, with the Chosen providing my only real melee threat.

So that brings me to 12 units, 9 datasheets and probably only 4 stratagems I’ll be using regularly (Skinshift to heal up the vehicles, Smokescreen to protect them, Re-roll to improve my Vindicator’s output and Tank Shock for funsies). I can keep all that in my head!

The plan was the build a pair of shooting bastions with Vindicator, Predator and Hellbrute - one of them supervised by the Warpsmith - then pack the infantry into the Rhino for mobile support and keep the Havocs in reserve to provide some extra firepower or grab a cheeky linebreaker.

And to save me repeating myself for every report: I almost always declared a Dark Pact for my shooting, and it nearly always turned around and bit me. I must have lost one-third of my wounds over the entire weekend due to the displeasure of the ruinous powers. That’s what you get for messing with fate.

Game 1: Drukhari

My first game of the weekend was an absolute stormer. A new opponent, Will, and his magnificent Wych Cult Drukhari. It was a fast moving force of Wyches, Beast packs, Venoms, Reavers, Hellions, Raiders and a Razorwing – I was severely outnumbered and almost certainly going to be outmaneuvered. Will’s army was also fantastic to view – lots of conversions and Age of Sigmar models to freshen up the dark eldar (my personal favourite were the Beastmasters vaulting off their hoverboards).

We were playing the mission where you score points for killing more units and holding more objectives, and the tide of the game flowed back and forth ferociously.

I found that, whatever I aimed at, I could reliably kill (both Beast packs were annihilated by the Vindicators in the first turn), but the Drukhari had the numbers to absorb this and overwhelm me. Sure enough, they were mixing it up by Turn 2, and the Wyches’ lance ability (which they gain after disembarking) was carving up my vehicles faster than I expected.

I focused on knocking out the Drukhari vehicles, to gain points and deny them manoeuvrability, and my Chosen even managed to wipe out a squad of Wyches before another one came and chopped them up.

Meanwhile, the Drukhari kept swarming onto my objectives, while lone squad survivors ran onto objectives. This proved a double-edged sword in this game, as it could claim points for one side of the mission, but leave easy kills for the other half.

The bloodbath ended in Turn 5 with very little left on both sides, and neither of us knowing who had won. When we totted up the points, it was decided by a single scoring point – victory to the Drukhari! Brilliant fun.

Game 2: World Eaters

A return match against Plant, whose Black Templars I had fought at the Wild West event. Whereas that fight had been a clash of melee armies, this one was definitely about how much I could shoot down before my forces were carved into mincemeat.

Plant’s World Eaters are stunningly converted and painted, so I was a real pleasure to see them across the table – although they didn’t stay on their side for long! 

I won the first turn, but just fell short of being able to bring down one of his big vehicles (I was hoping to knock out the Land Raider and slow down the Berzerkers within), but the Feel-No-Pain from the blood pacts was in effect.

In the World Eaters’ turn, they were already upon me – Kharn leading the forces down the centre, while the Daemon Prince took the Jakhals (who were surprisingly resistant to damage) down the flank. 

I eventually managed to knock out two of the big beasts and half the Berserkers before I was overwhelmed, but the combat punch of the World Eaters, their sheer resilience (we’re not talking about squishy elves) and the fact that my Chosen got caught flat-footed when they failed a charge meant that the writing was on the wall.

I managed to survive until the final round due to the late appearance of my Havocs, who wisely deployed far away from anything and sniped away with lascannons for the rest of the game.

I forget what scenario we were playing – I don’t think we paid much attention to it. It was all kill, main, burn and my army was certainly killed, maimed and burned by the end of it. 

It was fantastic to see what the World Eaters can do when they’re handled well (and makes me curious how my best melee army – the Creations of Bile – would measure up against them).

Game 3: Crimson Fists

It’s not a Weekend at Burnie’s unless I’ve faced some Space Marines, and next up was CrashOverride’s Crimson Fists. This was an Anvil Siege Force, and very much set up for shooting, which would make for an interesting match-up after fighting two melee armies.

As this was the third match of the day, we were all flagging a bit, so it was a relief that the mission was a classic Murderball.

To add an unexpected twist, the table we played on was filled with huge line-of-sight blocking terrain. So there was no chance of a long-range artillery duel between our respective vehicles, and more a city-fight where we sought out the best firing angles.

I went second, but managed to survive the opening volley and actually knock out a few of the loyalist vehicles with my return shots. In fact, I was doing quite well in the shoot-out, but found myself dropping behind on the points. 

One factor was CrashOverride using his mobile infantry units to box me in – Terminators dropping in behind me, then Aggressors charging forwards out of the Land Raider. Both of these units were taken out by my shooting (go Dark Pacts!), but destroying these meant I wasn’t dealing with the Heavy Intercessor squads who were doing the actual scoring.

I’d also lost my Rhino early on, so my Chosen were stranded (and, having lost their Sorcerer to sniper fire, a lot more vulnerable). As the game drew to close, I’d actually killed almost everything of the Crimson Fist army – the exception being the Land Raider Redeemer, whose flamer overwatch was so lethal, I couldn’t move onto any of the objectives and score them. Victory to the Imperium!

Game 4: Tyranids

Going into the second day I was on three defeats. This wasn’t as distressing as you’d imagine, since I had an undefeated run at WaB4, so having an unvictorious streak here appealed to my sense of symmetry.

My next opponent was Dorn’s Apothecary, running a lovely looking Tyranid list presented a different sort of challenge: no traditional swarms of bugs, just huge weapon beasts (Tyrannofex, Maleceptors, that indestructible Norn Emissary), backed up by elite melee squads (Von Ryan’s Leapers, Genestealers) and a couple of infiltrators to rattle me.

The mission was also one I’d never experienced before – we started with only a couple of objectives, but units can spend an action to generate more objectives. Sounds like fun, but with the Tyranids’ ability to seize board control, I don’t think it played to my gunline strengths.

Moreover, this adaptation was Invasion Fleet, which granted lethal hits against vehicles – more bad news for my vehicle-heavy list, which proved the case as I lost both a Vindicator and Predator in the opening volley. The remains of the flank – a Helbrute and Warsmith – promptly ran for cover as the rest of my army scrambled to catch up.

I was able to shoot down both Maleceptors and a squad of von Ryan’s Leapers, but couldn’t get range on the Tyrannofex (the one solid hit I did secure was neutralized by its zero-damage ability). My Chosen sped forward to start contesting objectives, but found themselves quickly torn apart in melee by the Broodlord and Genestealers.

I attempted some enfilade fire by infiltrating some Havocs, but they found themselves occupied by a counter-infiltration from a Lictor. And what remained of my last shooting castle was pulled down by the Genestealers and a Winged Hive Tyrant. 

The latter should have died in combat, but my Warpsmith flubbed his hammer role to leave the xenos on a single wound and – to my horror – learned that he no longer has mechatendrils on his melee profile. His head was ripped off faster than you can say ‘but they’re modelled on him!’.

I managed to hold out to the final turn, but I’d lost the victory point battle by a country mile and my army felt outclassed in shooting, melee and manoeuvre, which didn’t leave me many places to go. All the same, Dorn’s Apothecary was a cracking opponent and, despite the desperate last stand, I enjoyed myself.

Game 5: Mordian Iron Guard

My final game at Weekend At Burnie’s came full circle, as Mordian Jon was one of my opponents in the very first one. Like myself, he’d gone for a simple list (filled with his classic lead models): three tanks, three double-strength squads, a mortar team and lots of characters to order them about (and Merlin, the regimental mascot pig).

I knew this army well, and felt on more familiar territory, particularly when we decided to end the day with a Murderball mission.

After setting up our respective shooting lines, I won the first turn and made my intentions clear when my Vindicator wrecked a Leman Russ in a single volley. 

The remaining tanks found themselves quickly outgunned and in the subsequent turns, my armour was able to take them down one at a time (including one memorable shot that would have done for an Imperial Knight).

But the name of the game was objectives, and I’d left my Legionnaires behind to sit on my home objective, where they were slowly whittled down by the indirect fire from the mortar teams. They were doing enough damage that I infiltrated my Havocs in to that flank to shoot up, and eventually charge, the mortar imperials.

On the other flank, and in the centre, the massed ranks of redcoats were running over the objectives and into my guns. I concentrated fire on the right flank, leaving only a Primaris Psyker in place. With contemptuous ease, my Predator slewed into a handbrake turn on the objective, intending to Tank Shock the imperial off it. 

Somehow, the Psyker survived, then proceeded to smash bits off the tank with his force staff. After few rounds of this, and running dangerously low on wounds, I was forced to summon a Dark Pact to shoot him down with a combi-bolter, before the dark gods exacted their price and the tank blew up as well. What a hero.

With all the armour gone and the flanks decided, the centre of the field was becoming a bloodbath, particularly with the bonus objective cropping up there, or in the Mordians’ backline, so often. 

With fifty-odd bodies to carve through, my Chosen made a good fist of hacking down the first squad, before Orgyns and counterfire took out all but the Sorcerer. 

He desperately clung on to his last wound, before jumping back into the Rhino, replenishing his supply of grenades, and leaping out to finish off whatever the chaos heavy guns had left alive.

In the end, it was a massacre of the imperials. All the objectives were in my hand, and only the regimental mascot (rumoured to be a perpetual) survived.

It was a fantastic game to end with. Mordian Jon is always a gentleman to play, and it was a brilliant knockabout.

Locker Room

Despite my interest currently drifting away from the grimdark future, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. My game plan of quick, easy-to-manage games worked like a charm, since I was able to finish all my matches with time to spare to rest up and check out the other tables. I felt my army gave a decent showing, even the games where I lost the VP game by a cricket score. But 1500pts certainly seems to spend differently among the armies I faced, and this does seem to be the least forgiving edition I’ve played.

As a postscript, it turns out at we had both received the same number of votes of Player’s Player and, after a dice-off, Mordian Jon claimed the prize. Which is fair enough, as he’s a lot nicer than I am.

And so ends the five-event run of Weekend at Burnie’s. The 40k version is being put on hiatus for now, but I’m sure more events will be arranged for other systems. They have a very special place in my heart, as they first introduced me into this wider gaming community, and Mr AP Burn and his crew are legends for organising them for all these years.