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Raikan 43rd vs Word Bearers (1000) in "Soulless"

Started by Mabbz, September 29, 2016, 11:13:45 PM

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How will this go?

Glory for the Imperium! (Imperial Victory)
2 (66.7%)
I'll get you next time... (Draw)
1 (33.3%)
Death to the False Emperor! (Chaos Victory
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 3

Mabbz

Guard and an Assassin vs Word Bearers (1500)
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I figured I play on a regular basis, so I should write up a report for once. That was a month ago, and I'm finally getting around to it. Naturally I'm going to steal Big Toof's usual format of report, as it works too well and I lack creativity :P

My Imperial Guard force is pretty much the same one I've been using for years with only minor alterations. The newest thing is the Assassin; I recently came across it in my collection and wanted to try it out, removing some other stuff to take it. Up to now it's just died pointlessly every game, but maybe today will be better?

Let me know what you think, and see if you can guess the outcome.

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-------------------
The Lists
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Raikan 43rd (1000pts): 37 Infantry, 3 Vehicles
Imperial Guard
- Commander Vaurien Bowken: Company Command Squad, w/Lascannon, Master of Ordnance, Camo Gear, Power Axe
- Brother Marcus: Ministorum Priest
- Brother Severus Ministorum Priest
- Sergeant Note: Veteransx10 w/Camo Gear, Lascannon, Plasma gunsx2, Power Sword
- Sergeant Chase: Veteransx10 w/Carapace Armour, Meltagun, Flamersx2, Power Axe, in a Chimera
- Sergeant Garius: Veteransx10 w/Carapace Armour, Meltagunsx2, Heavy Flamer, Power Axe, in a Chimera
- Manticore
Officio Assassinorum
- Culexus Assassin

Word Bearers (1000pts): 26 Infantry, 2 Vehicles
- Sorceror w/Artificer Armour, Mastery Level 3, Spell Familiar
- Terminator Squad w/Power Axes, Power Fists, Storm Bolters
- Cultistsx10 w/Heavy Stubber
- Chaos Space Marinesx10 w/Autocannon
- Land Raider
- Hellblade

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"Jacor II is in anarchy." Commander Vaurien Bowken told his senior staff. "Chaos cults have sprung up and are rioting. We've been sent to find the leader's and put them down, then assist the PDF in getting the populace back under control."

"Why can't they deal with it themselves?" Brother Marcus grumbled flatly. "Surely a few riots wouldn't get the attention of the Munitorum?"

"They haven't." The voice came from the viewscreen, but the picture didn't reveal the speaker. Instead, the icon of the Inquisition appeared, causing several people to sit up straighter in alarm. "I have intelligence revealing that the forces of the Traitor Legions are behind this uprising. The PDF cannot contain the riots and seek out the enemy, so I have requisitioned you. Is that a problem, Brother Marcus?"

The priest glanced around the room uncomfortably. "No..."

"Capital. I am certain that you will complete this assignment. I would be displeased to hear otherwise. Incidentally, you should know that I have sent some further assistance for this task." The doors opened, and a strange figure entered. Try as he might, Vaurien couldn't quite seem to focus on it.

A shout of pain jerked his attention away from their guest. Sebastian, the company's Psyker, was on the floor, clutching his head and gasping painfully. Before Vaurien could do anything, the stranger quickly backed outside. Once he was gone, Sebastian's breathing started to calm down.

"What was that?" Vaurien demanded.

"I apologise, Commander," the inquisitor replied. "I had thought your Psyker would have been strong enough to resist his presence. Evidently his will is not as strong as I had thought. You should be wary, lest he succumb to the enemy's taint." The screen went blank before Vaurien could respond.

"Take Sebastian to the medbay," he instructed two of his veterans. "Bloody inquisitors... Well, we have our orders. Let's move out."

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Mission: Kill Points
Worlard Traits:
Company Commander: Stealth (ruins) and Move Through Cover (ruins) for everyone!
Sorceror: Night fighting first turn, Night Vision for everyone. So a weaker version of mine, essentially...
Psychic:
Sorceror: Iron Arm, Smite, Haemmorage, Endurance
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Cammerz

Difficult to tell with this one, he's got that flyer which you'd need a lucky shot to dispatch but then he doesn't have a great deal of anti-tank. I suppose it all hinges on whether you took out that Land Raider early on (I'm expecting the Manticore to have targeted that from turn 1 so long as the Raider didn't take it out first).

It's good to see a new battle report on here, I should probably attempt to write more myself but for my most recent games I've just been dropping a summary in the anecdotes thread.

I do like the BT style of report, fluff playing an integral role in setting the scene before the battle itself kicks off. I'll certainly be reading this one when the rest of it comes online.
As for the poll, I'll go for a Guard victory this time around.

Mabbz

Quote from: Cammerz on September 30, 2016, 03:08:08 PM
Difficult to tell with this one, he's got that flyer which you'd need a lucky shot to dispatch but then he doesn't have a great deal of anti-tank. I suppose it all hinges on whether you took out that Land Raider early on (I'm expecting the Manticore to have targeted that from turn 1 so long as the Raider didn't take it out first).

It's good to see a new battle report on here, I should probably attempt to write more myself but for my most recent games I've just been dropping a summary in the anecdotes thread.

I do like the BT style of report, fluff playing an integral role in setting the scene before the battle itself kicks off. I'll certainly be reading this one when the rest of it comes online.
As for the poll, I'll go for a Guard victory this time around.
Speaking of his anti-tank (or lack thereof), I don't actually know the exact upgrades and weapons that some of the Chaos forces had, but here's a few things that I forgot from the list.
- The Land Raider had two twin linked lascannons, a twin linked Heavy bolter and demonic possesion. I'm not a chaos player, so I don't know how much of that is standard
- The Hellblade only had one weapon (well, a pair of identical ones anyway) and I don't remember the name, but statwise... each gun was a 3 shot twin linked autocannons with rending.
- Also, the game was played at my local Games Workshop, on a table with a huge number of ruins for cover. So great for my Warlord Trait, but not so great when I'm playing a fairly shooty army

Will that make you re-think the outcome?

I'm not sure when I'll actually post the battle. Quite possibly not until Monday.

Cammerz

Quote from: Mabbz on September 30, 2016, 04:15:15 PM
- The Land Raider had two twin linked lascannons, a twin linked Heavy bolter and demonic possesion. I'm not a chaos player, so I don't know how much of that is standard

All but the daemonic possession is standard, the daemonic possession reduces the Ballistic Skill by 1. So if you were able to take out the Land Raider early on then he'd have very little anti-tank left (the Terminators could do some damage in close combat and the autocannons might get lucky).

If you did what I did in my last Imperial Guard game then you'd have relied on 'Fire on my Target!' to grant Ignores Cover to your Master of Ordnance and dropped templates on the Marines from turn 1 (although mine kept scattering harmlessly, which was a shame).

BigToof

Great to see more from you Mabbz!

I voted IG, as I think list-wise you can probably take them, but it's not an easy fight by any means.
Also, love the fluff and hope to see more.

Best,
-BT
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Mabbz

So the full report might be delayed another day or two, but here's the setup and some fluff, to tide you over. Also, it appears spoiler tags are broken.

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Setup
----------------

This game was played at my local Games Workshop (Nottingham City Centre, on Friar Lane, if anyone wants to join me on Thursday evenings). The main 40k table there is a ruined cityscape, completely packed with ruins. I took a couple of pictures to give you an idea, but in practice it means two things:

1) 3+ or 2+ Cover saves for all my troops thanks to my warlord trait! Yay!
2) Blocked line of sight to my enemies, making shooting quite a bit harder! Oh dear. At least I have artillery.

I win the roll off and set up in defensive positions in some of the ruins. My Chimeras are put in cover near the two main roads to counter attack as necessary.

The Land Raider with its Terminator and Sorcerer passengers decide to take the right hand road to avoid my lascannons. The Chaos Marines deploy on the roof of the bastion/landing platform hybrid building, and the cultists for some reason hide in the ruins on the right board edge.

Infiltrating sees my Culexus hide on the upper floor of a building near the right hand road. Hopefully I can take out the Land Raider with artillery then have him charge the Sorcerer. Failing that, he can always just murder the cultists.

By the way, Vassal doesn't have the flyer model, so I'm using a Helldrake


Picture Caption: Hmm... Currently, nothing has line of sight except the Culexus and one of the Lascannons.

photos of the board




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------------------------
Interlude
------------------------

Sorcerer Dionyphus had just concluded his sermon with the latest batch of converts to Chaos. The denizens of this world had been easy to persuade, their blind faith in the corpse Emperor easily transferred to the Dark Gods. Already the people were rising against their Imperial masters.

Of course, it was likely that once full scale rebellion was underway, the Imperium would arrive in force, either to reclaim this planet, or to annihilate it. This was of little consequence though; those converts who showed promise would be taken away to be recruited properly into the ranks of the Word Bearers. The rest would stay behind, either to ensure that the seeds of heresy planted on this world would bloom forever more, or to die in the fires of exterminatus.

"My lord." One of the more promising recruits stepped forward from the ruins. "I have a report. A small Imperial force has landed, and is sweeping the area."

"Already?" mused Dionyphus. "I had not expected the Emperor's dogs to react so quickly. No matter. They will make a fine example of the false Emperor's impotence for our converts."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Damn that Inquisitor and his pets," cursed Vaurien. "If ever there was a time I could have used a psyker..."

"It might be for the best that Sebastian sits this one out." Laura sounded as cheerful as always, even lugging around her vox caster. "After all, who knows what a Chaos witch could do to him? Besides, I like being able to point out the targets for the basilisk without him constantly yammering away about how 'the Fates have revealed the enemy will be over there'. I can figure that out myself, thanks."

"Remind me, how many friendlies have you accidentally hit this year?"

"None. They weren't friendlies once I'd hit them."

Before Vaurien could react to that, a shout came up from the front. His communicator clicked on.

"This is Chimera 1. Enemy sighted, down the main road. Looks to be a Land Raider. Over."

"Pull back!" Vaurien bellowed. "Take up defensive positions, and report back." A Land Raider? The enemy was supposed to be in hiding, why did they have that kind of heavy equipment?

Mabbz

#6
Report is up guys, hope you enjoy it.

Comments and criticism welcome

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Turn 1: Imperial Guard
---------------------

"Where the hell are they" grumbled Vaurien, scanning the area with his auspex.

"Well, given the Chimera spotted them down that road, there," Laura patiently pointed off to the right of their battle line. "I'd say it's probably hiding behind that building over there. Want me to drop a shell on it?"

"I'd prefer not to waste ammun-" Vaurien's words were cut off as a Lascannon beam lanced through the air towards a landing pad. He saw movement pulling away from the edge.

"There's your target."

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My opponent doesn't seize, so I get to shoot first (always a pleasure). I don't bother moving much, I just push my Chimeras forward a bit.

Most of my models don't have line of sight, so all I do is use one of my Lascannons (with Fire one My Target) to snipe a Word Bearer off the landing pad. The only other things that can fire – the Manticore and the Master of Ordnance – miss completely.


Picture Caption: I can't see them, so I'm safe, right?

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-------------------------
Turn 1: Word Bearers
-------------------------

Dionyphus smiled as he saw the Chimera back. "It would appear the heathens know we are here. Let us go forth and spread the Words or Chaos Undiv..." He trailed off staring at a nearby ruin.

"Sir?" Terminator champion Malector probed cautiously, after several moments of silence.

"There's something wrong in that building." The sorcerer's voice had an unusual edge to it; a mix of uncertainty and concern. "Something alive, and yet not." His voice hardened back to its usual level of confidence. "Go and investigate. Let no loyalist trick rob us of our victory."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

To no one's surprise, the cultists and the marines move forwards as fast as they can. Seeing the terminators disembark and head straight for the Culexus though, that did surprise me. Still, even if my little assassin died distracting them for a turn, it still will have done better than it did in my last game (squished by a dreadnought).

Shooting sees the Land Raider knock a hull point off my Chimera. Then everything else shoots the Culexus. Miraculously, he only loses one wound thanks to his Etherium

The assault phase sees the Terminators charge, but the assassin's hilariously high weapon skill and initiative ensure that he gets away with only one wound remaining, after he easily takes down the champion in a challenge


Picture Caption: Huh. I expected them to be nearer.


------------------------
Turn 2: Imperial Guard
------------------------

Right, since my opponent decided to delay her attack while she kills Lexi, I may as well get some shooting done and maybe a counter attack. I moved the undamaged Chimera forward and disembarked the Vets, ready to deal with the Terminators if they win their combat. The other Chimera shuffles out of sight of the Land Raider.

Shooting is somewhat better this turn, as the Manticore hits the Land Raider and the Sorcerer twice. Dionyphus escapes unharmed, but the tank loses two hull points and a Lascannon. Oh, and my Lascannon snipes another random Marine

In combat, Lexi easily kills another of the Terminators, who fail to do anything in return. They then fail their morale check, and are easily cut down by the assassin! I consolidate downstairs, out of Line of Sight of everything but the Land Raider.


Picture Caption: As a guard player, the concept of high initiative is strange and wonderful to me.

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Turn 2: Word Bearers
------------------------

"Malector! Status!" yelled Dionyphus in frustration.

Something was wrong. His comm link to his brethren was being scrambled, but that wasn't the cause of his concern. The Imperium had access to jamming devices after all. The problem was that he was a psyker. He should be able to sense their souls, but as they entered the ruins, their psychic presence had gone indistinct, in much the same way the comm beads had.

He could see movement, and he could hear fighting. But he could barely see the fiery light of their souls. All he could tell for certain was that they were being extinguished.

Then the lights went out.

Dionyphus scarcely noticed the missiles exploding around him as he hurried over to the cultists. He needed to find out what was in the ruins. He needed to clear his head.

He needed to know what was causing this growing sense of dread.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Hellblade arrived and headed straight for my Command Squad, while the Sorcerer hurried over to join the Cultists, casting Endurance on them for safety.

Shooting was fairly uneventful. The Marines failed to harm my Chimera, the Hellblade manages to glance my Manticore and the Land Raider misses the Culexus. The Sorcerer and cultist start running slowly through the ruins, presumably hoping to sneak past my assassin (why he didn't do that in the Land Raider is beyond me)


Picture Caption: Seriously, are they ever going to attack me?

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Turn 3: Imperial Guard
------------------------

Vaurien and his men ducked into cover as the slender aircraft opened fire, but it quickly became apparent they weren't the target. Taking stock of the situation, he started bellowing orders.

"Chimera 1, find out what the Land Raider's doing! Everyone else, bring down that flyer!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, if they insist, I suppose I could attack them...

The Vets get back inside and drive over to the Hellblade. The other Chimera moves flat out towards the Land Raider, since even if it dies the guys inside have the meltaguns and heavy flamer needed to deal with a Land Raider and some cultists. I also angle the transport to cover Lexi, after I move him slightly out of the ruin.

Half my army misses the Hellblade, so I decide to continue the trend of the battle by having my Veteran's Lascannon snipe a third Marine (just four more to go before they start taking morale checks). Then the fun part, as the Manticore scatters... and kills all the cultists. Once again the Sorcerer is unharmed, but he's running out of meat shields to hide behind.


Picture Caption: You cannot escape your fate, witch!
   
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Turn 3: Word Bearers
------------------------

The Sorcerer runs to its last available source of protection, the Land Raider. Aware of the threat posed by those meltaguns, my opponent decided to try and kill them with an explosion, so she rammed the Chimera! This does absolutely nothing though, and to add insult to injury his Lascannon fails to penetrate!

Meanwhile, the rest of her army fails to do anything at all, in a display of some of the worst dice rolling I've ever seen.


Picture Caption: Did... did you actually take your turn?

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Turn 4: Imperial Guard
------------------------

Brother Marcus grinned as he inspected the lack of damage. "Alright boys, there best shot barely scratched the paint. Show this hunk of Heretek how it's done."

He ducked back down, and a pair of guardsmen popped up. He heard a faint 'whump', followed by an explosion. "And that," he told the rest of the squad, "is why you should only ever trust the Mechanicum for all your technological needs"

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The Chimera drives around to block the far hatch, and easily blows the Land Raider up. The rest of my shooting targets the Hellblade, knocking off a hull point and accidentally killing one of my plasma gunners. Yes that was the first model I lost all game.

Finally on to the assault, as the Culexus finally gets to do his job and charges the Sorcerer. With instant death against psykers, he easily kills his target

And with the score now at seven victory points to zero and the Hellblade set to leave the board in the next turn or two, my opponent surrenders


Result: IMPERIAL GUARD VICTORY!

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Post-Game Thoughts:
That was way easier that it should have been. My opponent had been out of the game for a while, so she made some pretty big blunders, most notably focusing too much on my Culexus. If she had just driven her Land Raider straight at me, she could have outrun the assassin and started attacking my backfield. The cultists could have distracted the assassin, or just ran at me to provide some meat shields for me to have to deal with. And my Manticore really wasn't the best target for the Hellblade; that thing could have easily chewed up some of my Veterans, or damaged the Chimeras and possibly saved the Land Raider from my Meltaguns.

In short, my opponent looked at my army and thought that the Manticore and the Culexus were the big threats. In doing so, she pretty much fed her army to them piecemeal for no real gain.

As for my army, everything worked pretty well. The Culexus is the only thing I haven't used much before, and it was probably the star. As a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX it absorbed tons of fire and an assault from the Terminators, and my opponents obvious fear of her sorcerer being anywhere near it led to the sorcerer being basically irrelevant to the game. Killing so many enemies was just a bonus.

I'd like to get another game against that player now they've learnt from this battle, but we have to see.

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Unable to see through the smoke, Dionyphus stumbled out of the wreckage. More terrifying though was his psychic sense; he was completely blind, his power seemingly disappearing into some void. Reeling from the confusion, he tripped and fell

Suddenly, a figure loomed over him. It reach down and gripped his head, forcing him to meet its gaze. The... thing wore a helmet of some kind, a skull mask with a huge metal eyepiece. The eye was closed.

Dionyphus mustered the last of his defiance. "You- you cannot win. My soul belongs to the Dark Gods. I will return."

"All souls belong to the Emperor," the creature hissed. "And by his will, yours shall be no more."

The Eye opened, and as Dionyphus felt his soul erode under its gaze, his last thoughts were of fear.

Cammerz

Wow, I do sort of feel sorry for the guy after a result like that. He really should havee engaged the bulk of your army early on, I'm not sure what the marines were thinking of just sitting back there being picked off one by one. But as you say he's been out of it for a while, at least he has an excuse.

That assassin did phenominally well with the terminators, being forced to issue challenges is just one of the problems chaos players encounter on an all too regular basis (although it can be a serious bonus to them when they tie your Bloodthirster up in combat for an extra turn as he needs to kill the champion before he can target anyone else).

The fluff was good, although we didn't get too much from her I reckon Laura stood out as a character I'd like to read more about in future.

Job's a good un!

Mabbz

Quote from: Cammerz on October 06, 2016, 10:05:03 AM
Wow, I do sort of feel sorry for the guy after a result like that. He really should havee engaged the bulk of your army early on, I'm not sure what the marines were thinking of just sitting back there being picked off one by one. But as you say he's been out of it for a while, at least he has an excuse.
I think he believed his Terminators would deal with the Assassin, allowing his Sorcerer to advance unmolested. When that failed to happen, he became obsessed with keeping his Sorcerer away from Lexi. He had paid for various psychic buffs (a spell familiar, for example) and planned to rely on them to survive. But with Lexi around, all blessings within 12" just vanish, effectively nullifying the core of his army. Then he just didn't have a backup plan.

Quote from: Cammerz on October 06, 2016, 10:05:03 AM
That assassin did phenominally well with the terminators, being forced to issue challenges is just one of the problems chaos players encounter on an all too regular basis (although it can be a serious bonus to them when they tie your Bloodthirster up in combat for an extra turn as he needs to kill the champion before he can target anyone else).
To be fair, having to challenge was a fairly minor problem; his champion wasn't particularly tooled up compared to the rest of the squad. Losing a point of leadership was a blow (I don't remember what they rolled for their morale test), but I was slowly eating the squad anyway.

Quote from: Cammerz on October 06, 2016, 10:05:03 AM
The fluff was good, although we didn't get too much from her I reckon Laura stood out as a character I'd like to read more about in future.

Job's a good un!
Glad to hear it. I'm not sure when I'll next get a report out (My LGS is doing kill team for the next few week, so none of my current characters will be available), but when I next get a proper game in I'll see about fleshing out the characters more.

BigToof

Great rep, Mabbz!
Keep it up, love to see more IG action as I've sadly not seen it in a while.
I was also surprised to see how much fire the Culexus drew, but I suppose that's to be expected given their rather scary reputation.
Speaking of which...  ENJOY THE KARMA!

Best,
-BT
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Mabbz

Quote from: BigToof on October 09, 2016, 10:59:07 PM
Great rep, Mabbz!
Keep it up, love to see more IG action as I've sadly not seen it in a while.
I might do a kill team rep soon, after I won my first ever game of KT a few days ago. So far I've just been using the chimera vets from my standard list (meltas + H. Flamer), but I've been toying around with some other ideas, like rough riders with flamers, or a stormtrooper platoon.

That said, it's my birthday tomorrow and I know for a fact that I'm getting the Tau Codex. So there's a good chance that my Tau will finally get taken off the shelf after several years of me not having their rulebook.

Quote from: BigToof on October 09, 2016, 10:59:07 PM
I was also surprised to see how much fire the Culexus drew, but I suppose that's to be expected given their rather scary reputation.
I think it's also because my oppponent had built their army around the sorcerer, tooling him up considerably and choosing biomancy to make him and his Terminators nigh unkillable (he seemed very pleased to get endurance and iron arm). Then my Culexus nullified ~30pts of wargear and all his powers just by existing, and basically screwed up his entire plan.

Quote from: BigToof on October 09, 2016, 10:59:07 PM
Speaking of which...  ENJOY THE KARMA!

Best,
-BT
Thank you kindly.