Lady Jenna vs. NEW CSM in "Saving Captain Jax" (1500, 10/12)

[BigToof]

Lady Jenna vs. NEW CSM in "Saving Captain Jax" (1500, 10/12)

Hi All,
Yes, I know, not a Lady D rep.  That debacle is done and pending to write up, but I must first rest, recoup my mental facilites and try to keep from letting fear wee exude from my very soul as I recount it.

So instead, I am reporting a great game with Lady Jenna and the Wolves versus, yes indeed, the NEW Chaos Space Marines.

And it was a great game.

My opponent had brought a very different list with lots of new units.
Surprisingly, it had almost as many units as mine!

I had also changed up my list as well, adding more Grey Hunters and Wolf Guard, but besides that not too much.

Hope you all enjoy.  And yes, there is fluff

Best,
-BT

P.S.  C&C greatly appreciated!

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

The Imperial Alliance 1500 pts: 79 Infantry, 1 Vehicle, 1 Fort; 12-15 VPs
Space Wolves
-Rune Priest Harald "Mad Harry" Runesmith w/ Runic Armor
-Lone Wolf "Heartless" w/Chainfist, Stormshield
-Wolf Guardx4 in Terminator Armor, Power Axes, Combi-Plasmasx2, Combi-Flamer
-Grey Huntersx10 w/Plasmagunsx2, Wolf Standard
-Grey Huntersx10 w/Plasmagunsx2, Wolf Standard
-Grey Huntersx7 w/Flamer, Wolf Standard
-Long Fangsx5 w/Missile Launchersx4
Lady Jenna's Marauders
-Lady Jenna Mordheim (Primaris Psyker w/Force Staff)
-Stormtroopersx5 w/Meltagunsx2
-Lt. Jack Hawkins, Platoon Command Squad w/Flamersx4
-Infantry Platoon w/Lascannon, Sgt. w/Power Axe
-Infantry Platoon w/Lascannon, Sgt. w/Power Axe
-Infantry Platoon w/Lascannon, Sgt. w/Power Axe
-"The Boxbreaker" Leman Russ Exterminator w/HB Sposons
Ageis Defense Line w/Quadgun

Chaos Space Marines (1500pts): 77 Infantry, 3 Vehicles, 1 Fort; 9 VPs 
Chaos Lord w/Juggernaut, Blinding Axe, Sigil, Ichor Blood, MoK, Vet of Long War
Dark Apostle w/Brand of Skalathrax, Vet of Long War
Cultistsx20 w/Flamersx2, Autoguns
Cultistsx30 w/Flamersx3, Autoguns
Cultistsx20 w/Flamersx2, Autoguns
Chaos Spawnx5 w/MoK
Helldrake w/Baleflamer
Forgefiend w/Hades Autocannonsx2
Forgefiend w/Hades Autocannonsx2
Ageis Defense Line w/Quadgun

---------------
Mission: Relic (that... could be good... or bad)
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil (Night Fight ON)
Psychic Powers: Harry: Misfortune and Foreboding (switched out for Prescience)
Jenna: Iron Arm (hells yeah!), Hemorrhage (uh... ok...)
Warlord: Harry: Legendary Fighter (Hmm...); Chaos Lord: Can infiltrate 3 (!) infantry (whew) units

Pre-Game Thoughts:
Huh, that is a LOT of cultists.  Which... I've never encountered before.  That Lord is just scary and I don't know what half of the wargear really does.  The Dark Apostle and Forgefiend are also big question marks.  The Helldrake scares me.  So, basically, my opponent's list is either made of scary things or unknown things.  I feel like a blind man being lead through a hall full of jagged glass...

-----------------------------
Chapter 2: Dark Skies Ahead
-----------------------------
Grant Hargrove, Dark Apostle to the Dark Gods of Chaos, sat in his bunker, sipping what passed for tea in the burned out part of one of the former shining cities of the Imperium.  His cultists had done a fine job, throwing the city into disarray, and the local planetary defense forces were overwhelmed both from within and without.  In fact, things were going swimmingly, except for the arrival of an errant Imperial Guard Cruiser. 
Luckily, they had fallen for his ruse and now were trapped on his world, being plucked to pieces as they ran here and there, looking for shelter and comfort that would not be forthcoming.

Yes, this world belonged to the Dark Gods, and it would be a matter of days before...

"Masstoor!  Masssstor!"

The screams and grunts heralded the arrival of his Cultist "Champion."  Hargrove looked over to see the hooded, masked figure shambling down the steps.  It panted, out of breath, drool leaking out of the mask and leaving a rather distasteful looking pool on the ground.

The Dark Apostle sighed.  It was going to be one of those days.

"What is it, Skum?"

The Cultist perked up at the mention of his name.  Hargrove was sure that Skum had a proper name, with a proper background, but it was lost to the mists of time and head trauma.  Although he found Skum distasteful in all ways and manners, the Cultist was fanatically loyal and had the perplexing resilience of a cockroach.

"The Lords return!  They killed all!  They... now killing us."

Skum sort of shrugged at the last sentence.  Life expectancy amongst the Cultists was short at best, and with a Khorne-marked Lord on the planet, death in abundance was all but assured.  Still, Hargrove had to admit, it wouldn't do for the Khornites to run out of decent things to kill.  They'd no doubt come looking for him and voice their displeasure in an undoubtedly murderous manner.  But, that is why he had contingency plans.

"Skum, get one of the special prisoners out, we have a... special situation."

"Yesss, Masstor, right away!"

As the cultist half-scampered, half-clamored down the hall, Hargrove took out his eight-pointed Sigil, which he had long since devoted to the worship of all the Dark Gods.  The visions he had been given suggested that this world was more than just a moment's dalliance for the might of Khorne, but instead a far greater opportunity if he played his cards right...

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

Lieutenant Jack Hawkins, Seneschal of The Anne Bonney, paced in front of his Captain's door.  He was trying to find the proper words to convince himself not to go through with it.  It was a message, barely encoded in Imperial cyphers, but clear as day.  But, they weren't an Imperial Regiment, they were a single Rogue Trader vessel.  Maybe a few hundred strong.  Certainly not enough to bail anyone out of anything.  But, they had guests.  Guests that might...

In mid-thought, the door opened and out stepped Lady Jenna Mordheim.  She smiled at him, and he felt his heart go alight, and then drop to his feet as Rune Priest "Mad Harry" of the Space Wolves walked out after her.  Jack had heard that the Space Marines were all but gelded with their enhancements, but the old priest was acting anything but.  The way he kept looking at Lady Jenna made Jack's blood boil, and it took all of his training to keep from walking up and belting the man across his enormous jaw.  Jack admitted that he'd probably break half of his knuckles, but still considered the action worthwhile.

He then glanced back at Lady Jenna and felt rather sheepish when he saw a hurt look cross her face.  From time to time, Jack forgot that Lady Jenna was a Primaris Psyker, one of the most powerful in the Imperium.  She could read his thoughts as easily as glancing at the cover of a book.

"Jack?" asked Lady Jenna in a polite tone, "Is something wrong?"

Jack bit his lip and then continued, "Begging the Captain's pardon, but we've received a distress call."

"Another one?" laughed the enormous Rune Priest, "Lass, are you the local rescue crew?"

Jack threw him a look, "Sometimes it feels more like we're a garbage..."

"Jack," interrupted Lady Jenna, "I take it, that it's more than a normal distress call?"

Turning back to her, Hawkins nodded, "Yes... Yes, Captain.  It's from the Elysian 76th."

Lady Jenna nodded, "That's... your old regimented, isn't it?"

Jack returned her nod gravely, "Yes... Yes, it is Captain.  I...  I can't ask you to jeopardize the crew, but certainly we could investigate and since we have... assistance, perhaps..."

Mad Harry chortled, barging into the conversation, "You could just come out and say it, lad.  The Space Wolves'd be glad to help.  After all, you got our tails out of some rough business.  'd be impolite otherwise."

Lady Jenna smiled at the Rune Priest, "Thank you Rune Priest Runesmith, your assistance would be most appreciated.  Jack, please set a course for the distress signal, all speed.  Let's just hope we're not too late."

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

To be continued!

[The Man They Call Jayne]

Now this looks promising. Iron Arm is also an AMAZING power to roll. I had a S9 T7 Ahriman the last game. Its just not funny. Hemmorage. . .that can be good, against thinks like Dark Eldar and other T3 units.

Those Forgefiends. . .ouch, the firepower coming from them is almost sickening.

Looking forward to seeing a Chaos Victory here, as unlikely as it may be against the almighty Bigtoof

[Cammerz]

Never mind the Lady D report, It'll be good to see what the new chaos can do.
Looking at his list, I reckon you'll easily destroy his cultists, and without them he'll have trouble getting that relic. Something tells me that your Russ will be very good for this job.

The fluff is great, albeit short, I'm sure you'll fix that as more of the report arrives. Lt. Jack is an immediately likeable character and I'm already hoping that things will turn out well for him (unlike poor old Vasily who gets all the nasty stuff).
Your main problem will probably be those Forgefiends (as long as your Quad Gun stays intact to deal with the Drake).

Well, I'm looking forward to it, please don't make me wait too long.

[Arguleon-veq]

Yeah theres really no way for that army to hold the relic, so it should be an imperial win, it will be interesting to see how much damage the new Chaos stuff can do though.

Beware that Baleflamer on the Helldrake, they are brutal.

[BigToof]

Now this looks promising. Iron Arm is also an AMAZING power to roll. I had a S9 T7 Ahriman the last game. Its just not funny. Hemmorage. . .that can be good, against thinks like Dark Eldar and other T3 units.

Those Forgefiends. . .ouch, the firepower coming from them is almost sickening.

Looking forward to seeing a Chaos Victory here, as unlikely as it may be against the almighty Bigtoof

Hi Jayne,
Iron Arm is AMAZING for its points.  I'm always shocked as to how much it can swing fights.
The FFs were definitely painful, but surprisingly, the Cultists put in a good amount of work, much more than what I would have thought.
A Chaos Victory?
Well... have to see on that... 

Never mind the Lady D report, It'll be good to see what the new chaos can do.
Looking at his list, I reckon you'll easily destroy his cultists, and without them he'll have trouble getting that relic. Something tells me that your Russ will be very good for this job.

The fluff is great, albeit short, I'm sure you'll fix that as more of the report arrives. Lt. Jack is an immediately likeable character and I'm already hoping that things will turn out well for him (unlike poor old Vasily who gets all the nasty stuff).
Your main problem will probably be those Forgefiends (as long as your Quad Gun stays intact to deal with the Drake).

Well, I'm looking forward to it, please don't make me wait too long.

Hi Cammerz,
More fluff will be incoming.
As you can see, my free time is getting more and more fleeting, so apologies that this one is taking a lot of time.  Hopefully the results will be worth it!

Yeah theres really no way for that army to hold the relic, so it should be an imperial win, it will be interesting to see how much damage the new Chaos stuff can do though.

Beware that Baleflamer on the Helldrake, they are brutal.

Relic is one of those love/hate missions.  MEQs are so much better at holding single points than Cultists, but the Cultists can actually do pretty well.  If only he hadn't jumped at first turn...

The Helldrake was pretty brutal, so was a lot on the list that I wasn't expecting!

The CSM Codex really is solid.  Not overpowered perhaps, but a lot of it does quite well when put together.  Kind of reminds me of the Eldar Codex when it first came out.

Best,
-BT

[BigToof]

And here is the rest of the rep!

Hope you all enjoy!

Comments greatly appreciated!

Best,
-BT

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

Setup: Well, things get interesting just as we put down our fortifications, as the CSM put down their Defense Line 18" from their long edge.  Which means that it's a mere 6" from the relic!  Thinking for a bit, I put mine across one corner offering up some protection from the salvos that I know will be coming my way soon.

The rest of the terrain is sort of interesting as the CSM put down a large ruin to the right (about 18" or so from my ADL... gosh, I wonder what's going to go there?).  I respond by putting a large ruin in my other corner.  Trees and smaller ruins sort of go down in a hodge-podge way, but what is clear is that there's a massive no-terrain area near the center of the board.
Whoever wants the objective is going to be out in the open for no doubt mass shooty.

CSM deploy first, putting down 30 cultists and the Apostle looking about 6" from their line.  Behind them come both Forgefiends.  The Chaos Lord goes with the Spawn out to the right.

I'm about to deploy and think for a bit about what to do.  The Chaos Lord is just too fast to deal with in only a few turns of shooting and if I don't deal with him, I could totally be blocked off from the relic.  The other possibility is do a "head-fake" and deploy heavy to the left.  Which is what I end up doing.  (Please note: the sides are referring to the pictures, as I was getting hand cramps from trying to fiddle with 70-odd cultists.)
I put Erik (AKA "Heartless") behind the ADL with the Long Fangs and their Terminator-Wolf Guard bulletcatcher.  I put out all three units of Grey Hunters in the center and left, each one with a Terminator helper.  The weakest of the units is towards the center.  I hope the Chaos Lord might take the bait and get slowed down a bit.
My blob, with Jenna and Harry, go in the ruins with the Lascannons having ample lines of fire.  The Russ also goes in the ruin, providing mobile cover for Jack, whose PCS goes behind it.

I then notice that there's fourty-ish cultists off to the side.
I ask if they're outflanking, but he tells me that they're INFILTRATING.  I guess I missed that part of the conversation.

So you know that 6" "gap" in his deployment between the big cultist blob and the ADL?

Now filled to the brim with Cultist.

That... might be a problem.


Picture Caption: New CSM axiom: When in doubt, add more cultist.

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

"Affirmative Rogue Trader, you are clear for landing, Welcome to Hellaxia."

Lieutenant Jack Hawkins nodded, cutting off communication with the chipper sounding voice.  If he didn't know otherwise, he could have sworn that he was talking to a loyalist. 
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the slightly pale face of Lady Jenna, doing her best to appear comfortable.  Given his Captain's usual state of emotional control, he could only imagine the turmoil that she must be under.  It was said that the power of Chaos was supposed to be especially traumatic for Psykers, and Lady Jenna's abilities were more a liability than a benefit this time around.  Jack tried to stifle a bit of memory from his Imperial Guard days, about how to dispense the Emperor's Mercy if a psyker started to show signs...

Lady Jenna glanced up with a smile, "I hope it won't come to that, Jack."

Jack coughed and blushed slightly, "Uh, yes, Captain.  If you don't mind me asking, why are we going through with this charade?"

She nodded, "There is an enormous... presence on the planet, Jack.  But, what I do not feel is any probing fingers of a master Psyker.  They are unaware that we are aware of them.  You said yourself that it would be suicide to try and walk through their orbital guns."

Jack nodded in return, "Yes...  But it doesn't make me feel much better that we're getting perilously close to them.  I already have the Navigators ready with a clear route out of here, but..."

"You're concerned about the ship, and wondering if we're making the right choice."

It took him a moment, but Jack slowly nodded again, "We're just going in for one officer.  It's... a lot to sacrifice..."

Jenna interjected, "But that one officer, this... Captain Jax, is important to you, to your men, and also, as far as I can tell, is one of the few uncorrupted souls on the planet.  If we can complete the mission, the gains will be worthwhile.  And hopefully the losses minimal."

Jack nodded.  It sounded good and clear.  Sneak in, hit hard, hit fast and get out.  Not as if they hadn't done it a dozen times already.  Just that was against pirates and raiders, not the forces of Chaos.  He shuddered a bit.  Hopefully Jax would appreciate all they were going through...

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

Turn 1: CSM
------------
Dark Apostle Hargrove allowed himself a smirk, looking out at the hastily assembled Marines and their Guardsmen support.  He could feel their fear like a summer's breeze, invigorating his forces.  How could they hope to stand against the will of the Dark Gods?  With a gesture, a thunder of autoguns began, showering the opposition with death.
------------
The CSM start the party with the Chaos Lord taking a left turn, staying in the ruin in front of him, but clearly going towards the blob and Grey Hunters.
The Apostle moves up to man the Quadgun.  The Forgefiends move up a bit.

Mass shooty begins, and at first I'm not too worried, but then the armor of my proffered up central Grey Hunters just fails.  I roll a bevy of 1's and 2's, and the whole squad is taken down to just two members who turn and run!  (Though thankfully not off the board)


Picture Caption: When did Cultists get scary?!

Turn 1: SW
-----------
Lady Jenna winced again, holding her head and adjusting her psy-dampeners.  The tide of Chaos-filled screams and whispers was near maddening, but tolerable for the immediacy. 

She glanced over and noticed Jack staring at her with concern.  She took a moment to weakly smile in his direction.  The forces of Chaos should not be underestimated, but their duty was clear.  She only wished that madness was not one of the potential consequences...
-----------
Harry pops Prescience on the blob.

I move the Grey Hunters to the left, moving forward to start threatening the defense line.

The blob opens up with their Lascannons and combined with the Long Fangs gives the Space Wolves First Blood as they wreck (barely) one of the Forgefiends.

Erik throws down a good number of wounds on the Spawn-Star and one of the beasts falls.
The rest of the fire goes into the cultists on the left, chewing down about two-thirds of the squad.  Sadly enough, they don't retreat thanks to the Apostle.


Picture Caption: Well... first blood... But that's about it?


Turn 2: CSM
------------
Apostle Hargrove frowned as he watched more of the Cultists fall.  The craven worshippers of the Corpse Emperor were advancing on his position.  Clearly, some support was needed.

"Release the Helldrake!" he roared.

Far away, a group of cultists released the doors to a massive cage set into the side of a mountain.  The thing inside roared, thrashing out of its confines and setting more than a few of the humans ablaze before flying free.  Enormous wings and engines roared to life as a thing that should not be flew into the sky.  Ready to destroy.
-------------

So... the Helldrake arrive and moves over to flame the left-most Grey Hunter squad.

The Spawn-star zooms forward, now in no-man's-cover land.  The Cultists shuffle around a bit.  The Helldrake takes a glance from my Quadgun, but that's about all it can muster.  (Man, AR12 is a totally different beast from those Necron AR11 fliers...)

Shooting has the last of the right-most Grey Hunters downed in a hail of autogun fire.  Not much else is done except when the Helldrake flames and burns down half of my left Grey Hunters!  I even roll a 1 on my only save for the Terminator-Wolf Guard...


Picture Caption: Freakin' TROGDAR!


Turn 2: SW
------------
Jack gawked along with his men as the enormous creature flew by.

A dragon?  How did they get... a dragon?  It made no sense at...

Shaking his head, he yelled at the Lascannon squad next to him.

"I don't care what it looks like!  Fire!  Fire like your lives depend on it!"
------------

Well, that was mighty unpleasant.  No stormtroopers yet.

Harry again gets off Prescience.

I decide to push forwards with the Grey Hunters anyway, keeping to the left.  I release Erik from his Quadgun and run him forwards.  The Terminator-Wolf Guard from the Long Fangs take over.

The blob fires and hits the Helldrake with a Lascannon.  Thankfully, it immobilizes the big annoyance, meaning that it should leave the table next turn.

The Long Fangs fire into the Spawn-Star and down another Spawn.  The rest of the shooting goes into the cultists on the left and really whittle them down to just a small handful of guys.  Who unfortunately stay...


Picture Caption: Some more shooty...  But is it enough?


Turn 3: CSM
-----------
Trogdar leaves the board.

And the Spawn-star moves up to dock with the only still intact Grey Hunter Squad.
More cultist shuffling.  Shooting knocks the left-most Grey Hunters to four members... who break and fall back!  (How could it get worse than this?  Humbled by Autoguns again?)

And then assault makes me flopsweat as the Spawn-Star hits the Grey Hunters.  In an odd moment that becomes especially important later, the Lord takes a difficult terrain wound as his Juggernaut stubs his toe going through concrete.  The Lord challenges my Terminator.  I decline, hoping that I can retreat if enough wounds are done, and...  then the lord does TEN WOUNDS.  I don't make my Invul save for my Terminator-Wolf Guard and the entire squad goes down.

I'm at least relieved that he gets +1 BS as a reward.  (BS indeed!)


Picture Caption: He just... annihilated a whole squad???


Turn 3: SW
----------
Harry growled a bit as he watched the Chaos Lord tear apart the Grey Hunters in front of him as if they were nothing.  The Lord was riding some kind of enormous beast and was bellowing foul challenges at the top of its lungs.  He snorted.  Nothing new after all.
He heard a whimper and looked around at the Guardsmen around him.  A number of them, although professionals, were clearly out of their league and half looked ready to break. 

He had better say something.

"Right, lads, it looks worse than it is.  Just go in, shoulder down and you'll end up fine."

Mutters of dismay went amongst the group.  Clearly they weren't up for a charge.  Harry was about to speak again, when Lady Jenna stood up, glowing for a moment before tearing her clothes asunder as she grew into her biomancy enhanced form.  Towering over all of the men and clutching the remains of her outfit to herself, she waved a hand for them to be silent.

"Please!  Please listen!  All of you are my dearest friends.  I would not endanger your lives for the world.  But it now comes down to this moment.  Do we stand and fight, or do we give ourselves over to fear and terror?  The creatures out there...  I cannot explain to you how monstrous they are.  But, they are vulnerable.  They bleed as easily as we do.  And in their arrogance, they forget!  They forget that we are tempered by our word and bond to see this through!  That we are more than greedy, hedonistic madmen.  We are family.  Now, let them see what we can muster!"

The Guardsmen roared and Harry shot a small grin to Lady Jenna, who slumped down slightly, clearly affected by the Chaotic powers, but doing her best to ignore them.  A good enough speech, if a bit sappy.  Maybe, it would be enough...
-------------

With the Spawn-Star on my doorstep, steps have to be taken.

Harry once again gets off Prescience.  Jenna pumps up with Iron Arm and gets +2S/T! 
The Stormtroopers come in and deep strike behind the Forgefiend which has been causing me... minor trouble today.  My opponent then asks if he can use his Quadgun against the Stormtroopers.  I... don't know.

Can a fixed emplacement turn?  If so, how much?

We decide to 4+ it and he wins.

So he shoots.  Four hits.  Four wounds.  Four failed saves.  (Insert sad trombone sound here).

Thankfully, the last living guy has a meltagun.

Grey Hunters and THE BLOB move up.  Erik scampers ever closer...
The lone Stormtrooper fires at the Forgefiend, hits, pens and explodes it.  The explosion does... really minimal damage to the cultist blob, but wounds the trooper who yes, fails his 4+ armor save.  (I'm starting to wonder if my dice just don't like the Wolves and it's starting to rub off)

Shooting has me rail more into both the left and right smaller cultist blobs, getting the right one down to about half strength and the left to just a small number of guys.

Then... the blob charges!

The Khorne Lord destroys about a half dozen or so Guardsmen in front, but Jenna and Harry with their Force Weapons manage to smear the few remaining wounds off the Spawn.  And then the Power Axe Sarges just go nuts and somehow take down the Chaos Lord!  (although barely!)

(THANKS TO CRISIS VIPER FOR POINTING THIS OUT --->  WE DID NOT CHALLENGE IN THIS ASSAULT!  WOULD IT HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE IF IG DID NOT ACCEPT?  OPINIONS BEING COLLECTED BELOW!)


Picture Caption: Hells yeah!  Blob power 4-evah!


Turn 4: CSM
----------
Trogdar comes back, eying the blob.  That's not good.
More cultist shuffling.  They must like that.

Shooting has Trogdar burninate about a third of my blob.  (Damn you, Trogdar.  Damn.  You.)  The Cultists finally decide to throw some fire Erik's way, but for once Terminator armor FINALLY works like it's supposed to, and he shrugs off the shots.

Autogun and Quadgun fire go into the blob, but thankfully Harry absorbs all the wounds!  (Good man, Harry, good man).


Picture Caption: Helldrakes are gonna be my nemesis man, I tell you...


Turn 4: SW
-----------
Apostle Hargrove howled at his Cultists, who seemed to do nothing but fall around him. 
How had everything come undone?

He heard cries of alarm and saw the Guardsmen... charging them?

Guardsmen charging?  Was this some kind of trick or...

He felt the eyes of the cult on him.  The Dark Gods would demand someone step up to show the glory of the powers of Chaos.

But, today, that honour would NOT be his.

"Skum!," he barked.

The small man shambled forwards, trying to salute, but almost falling over.

"Go for the Dark Gods!"

Skum nodded, shambling forwards, howling and raising his autopistol in the general direction of the fight.

It was hard to see through his ill-fitting mask and dust kicked up, but to Skum it mattered not. 

He was one of the chosen.  The ones with the eye of the Dark Gods themselves on him!  He could not lose!  He could not...

Then a massive shadow loomed before him, and Skum felt his jaw drop slightly as a towering amazon of a woman stood before him, enormous sparking cudgel in her hand.

Whimpering, Skum asked, "Uh...  Can we be friends?"

Lady Jenna sighed and whipped her staff around, catching the fetid looking man and carrying him over the heads of the other cultists.  It was sad to see how the practitioners of Chaos worked their delusions most on themselves.
----------------

Prescience goes on again.  Jenna buffs up with +3S and +3T!

Remembering that the big blob has FOUR flamers (one of which is AP3), I decide to move Erik up really close to the Cultist blob.  The burninated remains (minus Soul Blaze wounds), gets closer, as do the very, very few Grey Hunters left.  Shooting from the Russ and Fangs gouge some big holes out of the cultists, finally tearing apart the right little blob and taking a chunk (or rather... bite-sized piece) out of the big one.

Erik charges the big blob.  They shoot and do a wound to him, but he makes it in.  My big blob charges the remains of the left small blob and the big blob.

I decide not to challenge, wanting to see who the CSM player is going to throw out.  If he throws out the Apostle... this could be a long fight as I have no AP3 weapons.  Instead, he throws out the Cultist Champ.

Yeah, I push Jenna out and she punts the little guy off the board.  The Imperials do a number on the cultists, destroying the rest of the small blob and harrying the big blob, which still holds.


Picture Caption: Epic grindfest!


Turn 5: CSM
-----------
Trogdar once again leaves airspace.
Grind continues and Harry manages to get base to base with the Apostle!  No wounds are exchanged though.  Many, many cultists start falling.


Picture Caption: Yeah, Cultists don't like it when you get THAT close.


Turn 5: SW
-----------
With not much left on the board, we go straight to the big fight.  Harry manages to take down the Apostle, who just can't cut through the Marine's 2+ armor.  Without their leader, the cultists try to flee, but are cut down.

Picture Caption: Man, it feels like I'm playing Fantasy or something...

And with nothing spikey left on the board, the game ends.


Result: Space Wolf/IG Victory!

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

Post-Game Thoughts: Freakin' Helldrakes!

Ahem, one moment.

.

..

...

Yes, that was a nasty bit of a fight.  Didn't think that cultists could do so much, but the ADL made them quite durable, and I was rolling HORRIBLY.  I guess you throw enough wounds out and horrible things happen.

The Chaos Lord was just TERRIFYING.  I mean, 10 Marines down by a single model all at once??  I know he's not exactly cheap, but that amount of offense is just insane.

Thankfully, I had the ultra-power that is THE BLOB to back me up, and boy did I need every little bit of it.

Quicky Breakdown:

Harry was awesome, with his continued buffs for the blob.

Jenna still did great, and really contributed to pushing out the Spawn.  Her tragi-comedy of smashing the Cultist champ at the end was also hilarious.

The Russ, for once, felt pretty invincible and it was doing what it was meant to do: put out wounds.  I liked that.

Stormtroopers helped a lot, sniping that last Forgefiend in a fairly epic suicide run.

Erik was pretty stellar also, as he helped make the anvil to the blob's hammer and he was surprisingly hard as he absorbed all of the flamers.

Still not sure what to do about Helldrakes:

Helldrakes are the new black.  Really now.  For about the price of a Lemun Russ, you get a flying AR12 monster that can basically put a flamer template on anything non-Terminator and it DIES.  I was just lucky I got it immobilized so it couldn't really cause too much trouble.

Overall, great game, really down to the last assault, and goes to show that 6th ed isn't an ENTIRE shoot-fest after all...

------------
Epilogue
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Erik Redclaw put his Chainfist down on another scrambling Cultist, not even bothering to turn his head as the enormous weapon almost cut the small man in half.  He snarled, trying to ignore the dancing specter that kept taunting him.  It looked like his long-dead sister, and always, always acted as a reminder of his once failure to ignore the whispers of Chaos.  The apparition laughed, clapping its hands.

"Erik!  Oh, that's such a good kill.  Worthy of a true Khornite!  Come now!  Join the fun!  Just start on any of the Guardsmen!  They're not that much harder to murder than a Cultist!  Come on, it'll be fun!"

He shook his head and tried not to say anything.  The whispers were getting worse.  He was once a vaunted Rune Priest, but had fallen so far, so hard.  All he had to do was die honourably.  To give himself up and let the universe take him.  Why was it taking so long?!  Maybe...  Maybe he should...

Then he felt a strong hand on his shoulder and looked over to see an opulent bosom.  He heard the apparition gasp as he looked up to see Lady Jenna.

Damn, he thought.  A psyker.  She could read his mind.  She would tell Harry.  Now, he would be executed as a failure, a heretic.  He was not saved, not free from the pull of Chaos.  It would...

Lady Jenna then pointed directly at the specter and said, "Go away.  Leave him alone.  You are not an agent of the Dark Powers and you know it."

The apparition shuddered and disappeared into the darkness.  Erik looked up in confusion, but only saw the retreating Psyker's back.  What... What had just happened?

-----------------
Lady Jenna smiled at Jack as he came closer.  The officer that they had come to save was injured, but Jack was taking care of matters.  He always did. 

But that was going to change now that Officer Jax was in the picture. 

Jack tried to hide the memories, but Jenna couldn't help but pick out bits here and there.  Whoever Jax was, she and Jack were close, closer than Jenna.  A million questions came to her mind, but she pushed them away.  Jack deserved better than her, better than a mutant. 

Today had shown her that. 

The Dark Powers were only a footstep away, and it was folly to think that one could live an entire lifetime free from their grip.

She must have been quiet too long, as Jack then spoke up.

"Uh, Lady Jenna, you should know about me and... Captain Jax."

Jenna nodded, "I... can understand Jack.  You don't need to..."

Jack squared his jaw, "Jenna, please.  Listen to me.  Jax and I...  We were married.  It was a stupid thing that we did when totally drunk off our heads.  But it was a wrong decision.  We were close, but I was getting shipped out.  She's a Stormtrooper for Throne's sakes.  We got it annulled in less than a week.  I was young, foolish and...  And I didn't have you."

Jenna blushed and tried to look away, but Jack just ran over to where she was looking.

"Please, Jenna.  I...  I couldn't tell you before.  I...  I don't know why.  But just know that as long as Jax is on the ship, it isn't going to be anything you have to worry about.  I won't do anything.  Can you trust me on that?"

Lady Jenna nodded a bit, sniffling away a few tears, "I.. think I can manage that, Jack.  But... you know... We do need a Stormtrooper leader now..."

[The Man They Call Jayne]

That was just painful all round. Heldrakes are nasty indeed, although I like having the Autocannon availiable, a Baleflamer is just so hard to ignore.

+3S/T with Iron Arm is a thing of beauty and will save you so many times (the perfect Biomancer scoring Iron Arm, Warp Speed and Enfeeble).

It almost look like you were going to buy the farm but you rallied magnificently. Top Batrep.

[Cammerz]

Another great report BT, I really enjoy reading these Lady Jenna ones.
Jack in particular is a great character, as of course is Jenna herself. But I'm glad that some attention is also being paid to the Space Wolves, especially Heartless (I'm trying to recall what happened to him in the past, am I right in saying it was the daemonhost which went around with your old Inquisitor?).

And Lady J's psychic abilities are just monstrous, just point her at an enemy unit and roll away. I presume the only trouble she'd really have is if she was up against Terminators, but I suppose if you knew they were coming you could swap the staff out for an axe.

Mass autofire does look quite fun, although they're clearly not very tough, no wonder the cultists didn't rush out early to grab the relic. Perhaps a unit of Chaos Marines might have helped him there but given that you tabled him, it doesn't really matter.

So, great job on the victory, I'm sure you'll find some way to deal with the oncoming storm of Heldrakes (and as for that Quad gun, I'd say that they can freely pivot, as the models do if you don't go and glue them. Think of them as tank turrets). Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next one. If we can see some of Lady D then that'd be fantastic.

Job's a good un!

[BigToof]

Thank you all for the very fine comments!

That was just painful all round. Heldrakes are nasty indeed, although I like having the Autocannon availiable, a Baleflamer is just so hard to ignore.

+3S/T with Iron Arm is a thing of beauty and will save you so many times (the perfect Biomancer scoring Iron Arm, Warp Speed and Enfeeble).

It almost look like you were going to buy the farm but you rallied magnificently. Top Batrep.

Hi Jayne,
You are not exaggerating in the least by the amount I was flop-sweating at the middle/end.
That Helldrake is just silly dangerous and the Chaos Lord is just amazingly powerful.
I'm just lucky that I didn't have much else in the list to worry about!
Of course, mass autoguns hurt, and the Forgefiends were no pushover, but they paled in comparison to the raw power of those two units.

Another great report BT, I really enjoy reading these Lady Jenna ones.
Jack in particular is a great character, as of course is Jenna herself. But I'm glad that some attention is also being paid to the Space Wolves, especially Heartless (I'm trying to recall what happened to him in the past, am I right in saying it was the daemonhost which went around with your old Inquisitor?).

And Lady J's psychic abilities are just monstrous, just point her at an enemy unit and roll away. I presume the only trouble she'd really have is if she was up against Terminators, but I suppose if you knew they were coming you could swap the staff out for an axe.

Mass autofire does look quite fun, although they're clearly not very tough, no wonder the cultists didn't rush out early to grab the relic. Perhaps a unit of Chaos Marines might have helped him there but given that you tabled him, it doesn't really matter.

So, great job on the victory, I'm sure you'll find some way to deal with the oncoming storm of Heldrakes (and as for that Quad gun, I'd say that they can freely pivot, as the models do if you don't go and glue them. Think of them as tank turrets). Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next one. If we can see some of Lady D then that'd be fantastic.

Job's a good un!

Hi Cammerz,
Thanks for the kind reply!

Heartless did indeed lose his primary heart thanks to Lady D'ysperax when he fell to the whispers of chaos and starting following a Daemonhost, thinking that it was his long dead sister.
Whether or not this new apparition is just madness or something more sinister is yet to be seen...
Jenna and Jack are so fun to write, I'm glad you like them, as I could easily pen more out.
I'm just trying not to get too sappy with them is all

The cultists really needed to go second and hold onto the objective with multiple units.  If they could have done that, then I couldn't have stopped them if I got stuck against the Chaos Lord roadblock.
Oh, and that Helldrake...  brrrr....

Speaking of Lady D'ysperax a new rep is coming up... sooner than you might expect...

Best,
-BT

[crisis_vyper]

While I was reading this battle report I noticed something odd....

The Khorne Lord destroys about a half dozen or so Guardsmen in front, but Jenna and Harry with their Force Weapons manage to smear the few remaining wounds off the Spawn.  And then the Power Axe Sarges just go nuts and somehow take down the Chaos Lord!  (although barely!)

So who refused the challenge on your side? The Champion of Chaos rule warrants that the Lord will have to challenge someone or accept someone's challenge no matter what. So someone in your squad will not be able to participate in combat.



As for the Chaos player, he is playing too much with the new toys and having too many Cultist squads. He also deployed his Chaos Lord and the Spawns at the wrong end of the table and that cost him the game. Should have put them closer to the center or to the left so that he would be able to slam into your lines as soon as possible while the rest of his army will support them.

[BigToof]

While I was reading this battle report I noticed something odd....

The Khorne Lord destroys about a half dozen or so Guardsmen in front, but Jenna and Harry with their Force Weapons manage to smear the few remaining wounds off the Spawn.  And then the Power Axe Sarges just go nuts and somehow take down the Chaos Lord!  (although barely!)

So who refused the challenge on your side? The Champion of Chaos rule warrants that the Lord will have to challenge someone or accept someone's challenge no matter what. So someone in your squad will not be able to participate in combat.



As for the Chaos player, he is playing too much with the new toys and having too many Cultist squads. He also deployed his Chaos Lord and the Spawns at the wrong end of the table and that cost him the game. Should have put them closer to the center or to the left so that he would be able to slam into your lines as soon as possible while the rest of his army will support them.

You know this is why it's great to have Crisis in your forum
Glad you caught this.  I wondered why the assault seemed to straightforward.
So... obviously I wouldn't have accepted a challenge.

Who would be the one you (as the chaos player) would have chosen to bow out?

Your choices are:

A)  Harry the Rune Priest: 3 attacks, S6, T4, AP4 Force Weapon, 2+save, Ld10

B) Jenna the "Amazon": 3 attacks, S7, T5, AP4 Force Weapon, 5+ save, Ld9

C) AxeSarge the Power Axe Sergeant: 3 attacks, S4, T3, AP 2 Power Weapon, 5+save, Ld8

I don't know...

I'd probably pick Jenna based on stats, but maybe Harry as he has a higher Ld and save?

In either case, it would actually probably benefit me (or at least I think?) that I would be stuck for another round of combat with a spawn and NOT be burninated by the Helldrake when he swung around on Turn 4.  Did I mention I don't like the Helldrake yet? 

Of course, the Drake could have gone and ravaged my last remaining Grey Hunter squad or PCS, but I'm not sure if that would have been enough.

As for the Chaos list, it was one of his first goes with the new stuff and he wanted to try it all out.
The facepalm with the Chaos Lord/Spawn misdeploy was funny though.  He didn't think I'd have the guts to throw all of my guys on the opposite side of the table!  The Cultists and Forgefiends were kind of hand in hand, as I think he wanted to save points on troops (which cultists certainly do) in order to afford the Fiends, but you know what they say about getting what you pay for...

Oh, I have a new Dark Eldar rep that's starting.  Surprisingly things didn't... go as smoothly in that game even though by pure lists, I think I had the advantage.  Let me know what you think on that one 

Best,
-BT

[crisis_vyper]

You know this is why it's great to have Crisis in your forum
Glad you caught this.  I wondered why the assault seemed to straightforward.
So... obviously I wouldn't have accepted a challenge.

Aw shucks....  :-[

Who would be the one you (as the chaos player) would have chosen to bow out?

Your choices are:

A)  Harry the Rune Priest: 3 attacks, S6, T4, AP4 Force Weapon, 2+save, Ld10

B) Jenna the "Amazon": 3 attacks, S7, T5, AP4 Force Weapon, 5+ save, Ld9

C) AxeSarge the Power Axe Sergeant: 3 attacks, S4, T3, AP 2 Power Weapon, 5+save, Ld8

I don't know...

I'd probably pick Jenna based on stats, but maybe Harry as he has a higher Ld and save?

Hm.....in this situation I would actually pick Jenna as she has like a 5+ save and that means I can kill her much more effectively, but that saying both Jenna and Harry are nasty in that regard and the choice is definitely tough.

In either case, it would actually probably benefit me (or at least I think?) that I would be stuck for another round of combat with a spawn and NOT be burninated by the Helldrake when he swung around on Turn 4.  Did I mention I don't like the Helldrake yet? 

Yes, I would to be honest.

As for the Chaos list, it was one of his first goes with the new stuff and he wanted to try it all out.
The facepalm with the Chaos Lord/Spawn misdeploy was funny though.  He didn't think I'd have the guts to throw all of my guys on the opposite side of the table!  The Cultists and Forgefiends were kind of hand in hand, as I think he wanted to save points on troops (which cultists certainly do) in order to afford the Fiends, but you know what they say about getting what you pay for...

Guts? I think it is a sound plan to be honest. Why let your forces get eaten up by a deathstar? Might as well make him make a run for it.

Oh, I have a new Dark Eldar rep that's starting.  Surprisingly things didn't... go as smoothly in that game even though by pure lists, I think I had the advantage.  Let me know what you think on that one 

Sure thing.

[BigToof]

Thanks Crisis,
First half (or so) is going up now

Best,
-BT