The Battle for Levilnor City A Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report. Background

Transcription

1 The Battle for Levilnor City A Warhammer 40,000 Battle Report Background The foul minions of Father Nurgle have laid siege to Levilnor City, capital of the mining world of Minoa. A depraved army of the unclean batters the city with heavy artillery and sorcerous witchcraft whilst the foulest of traitors, twisted mockeries of the noble Adeptus Astartes, launch vicious assaults on all who stand before them. At their head is the Daemon Prince Bubonicus, the Filth Master, favoured son of Nurgle. A great and terrible champion of Chaos, it was he who concocted the debilitating plague which infected the Deeper Well and then the entire planet. In the centre of the city, the renegade witch Qupox Eboli has raised a long-buried temple to the Dark Gods to the surface, tearing it from the very flesh of the planet. The traitors now seek to seize the temple and begin a ritual which will open a gate into the Warp, bringing forth all the daemonic horror Nurgle can unleash. A single strike force of Crimson Fists is all that stands between the traitors and their goal. Their numbers are few, but they are led by two great heroes of the Chapter Pedro Kantor, and the legendarily immortal Alessio Cortez. Their plan is simple seize and destroy the temple, and eliminate the Witch and the Prince. Let the flames of battle consume us! Scenario The basic aim of the mission is to play out the Crimson Fists' counter-assault on the Chaos forces assaulting the planetary capital. To this end, we settled on three sets of objectives. The most important was the Temple of Skulls Eboli had raised in the centre of the city; clearly a temple to the Dark Gods would be capable of unleashing some kind of nastiness, and both the Crimson Fists and the Traitors would naturally want to take control of it. Of secondary importance for the Crimson Fists was killing off Bubonicus and Eboli; conversely, the powerful Chaos champion would surely be looking forward to the chance to slay some of the Imperium's most powerful heroes. To encourage a clash of heroes, an additional point for slaying one of the opponent's HQ choices with your own was added. The third tier of objectives acted as tiebreakers, with the expectation that controlling one or more of these targets of opportunity might be enough to force a win even if one player or another overran the Temple.

2 This mission uses the Seize the Initiative!, Reserves and Deep Strike special rules. Each player rolls a D6. The player who rolls highest may choose whether to go first or second. The player that goes first chooses one of the long table edges to be his own table edge. He may then deploy his forces anywhere in his half of the table as long as his models are more than 12 away from the centre line. His opponent then deploys in the opposite half, following the same 12 rule. Deploy infiltrators and perform scout moves as normal. Once deployment has finished, the player who deployed first starts game Turn 1 with his player turn. Objectives There are three objectives for this mission, each worth a number of points. The winner is the player who has the largest number of points at the end of the game. Primary: The players must seize the Temple of Chaos in the centre of the board. Whoever has the most models wholly within 2 of the Temple at the end of the game claims this objective. Vehicles count as one model per point of armour value above 10 on their front armour; e.g. a Rhino would count for 1 model, a Chimera for 2 and a Land Raider for 4. Monstrous Creatures count for as many models as they have wounds remaining. Scoring units count double. This objective is worth 3 points. Secondary: A player gains 1 point for each of the enemy's HQ choices he kills in the course of the battle. If the kill is made by one of his own HQ choices, he gains an additional point. Tertiary: Capture any of the four objective markers placed equidistant along the centre line. Each objective is worth 1 point. Only scoring units may capture these objectives. Liam's Pre-game Commentary This has been a while in the making, but with any luck all will go well. My initial idea to do a battle report was aimed at playing a 1500pt game which could comfortably be finished in an evening even while taking photos and writing notes, but I'd played a 2000pt game earlier in the week and ended up suggesting 'something bigger' which turned into this monstrosity. With a 6' x 8' board, 7000 total points and a super-heavy in the mix the game should certainly turn out to be cinematic! My basic plan is the same as it always is with the Marines; rush the Land Raider forward and try and get the Terminators into murdering range as soon as possible. Usually Lysander (in the guise of Alessio Cortez) rides with them, but there's three other characters who need a battle taxi and putting Lysander in with them would mean there's over a thousand points of my army concentrated into a single tank. He'll probably Deep Strike with the shooty Terminators, ready to get into the thick of things and solve problems with a big hammer and an angry demeanour. The variety of objectives on offer means that there's plenty of places to pick up points, and I have a fair number of scoring units to grab tertiary points here and there. I'm hoping for a big clash with the Daemon Prince, which I think Cortez can win and Pedro can possibly manage as well, and with any luck I can keep the Guard infantry from swarming the objective with timely application of the Vindicators.

3 Nick's Pre-game Commentary Bubonicus' Plan At the end of the day the main objective is to secure the Chaos Temple. This will require lots of troops and Bubonicus knows this is something he simply does not have. The Lords of Decay are tough as old boots, but there are only small numbers of the corrupted legion left, and while the Traitor Guard led by Qupox Eboli are more numerous they will not stand up to a fight against the Emperor's finest. Bubonicus will need to be cunning if he is to stand a chance. The Shadowsword is the ace in the pack for this battle. It will be deployed such that it can target as much of the battlefield as possible, and certainly the temple in the middle. The plan is simple: use the Shadowsword and other traitor tanks to pound the Space Marines into submission from a distance. Once they are on their knees, dash for the objectives, and hope that the small number of troop choices I have hold on for the win! The tricky part is going to be keeping the Shadowsword alive long enough to cause serious damage. The Plague Marines will be deployed on either flank to slow any would be attackers down, while Bubonicus and company will deep strike into the action where they are most needed. I am not expecting much from Qupox and his infantry in this game, so while the tanks do the pounding they will concentrate on simply staying alive in the hope of grabbing those objectives at the crucial time. Game on! Army Lists Both army lists appear after the report.

4 The Game Terrain The terrain was set up as best as possible to represent a ruined city; given the fact it's supposed to be under siege and that the Chaos Temple has been dragged up through the earth it seemed fitting that the city was in a bit of a state! It was a bit touch and go to begin with, but with the addition of some craters and areas of broken ground the board filled up nicely despite being 6' by 8'. The objectives were placed equally spaced across the board, two either side of the Chaos Temple the communications array is one and the rest are on 40mm bases. For irony's sake the Space Marine statue was placed directly in front of the Temple of Skulls. Deployment Space Marines The Marines deployed in a wide line, with Tactical Squads on either side ready to sweep forward and claim the flank objectives and a mess of heavy weapons occupying the ruins in the backfield. The Vindicators deployed aggressively, hoping to close the gap through no-man's land as quickly as possible. The shooty Terminators and Cortez held back to Deep Strike, as did the Land Speeders; the Scouts with bolters infiltrated and everything else started on the board. From right to left: Combat squad with flamer, Land Raider Crusader with Pedro, Chaplain, Librarian and Assault Terminators, Vindicator and Rhino behind it, sniper Scouts, Devastator combat squad with lascannons, Vindicator, combat squad with missile launcher, Vindicator with Rhino behind it, Attack Bikes. The third Rhino is out of shot behind a silo, and the heavy bolter-toting Devastators are hanging out with the Thunderfire cannon in the Mechanicus ruin.

5 Chaos Traitors Responding to the aggressive Marine deployment, the Traitors keep to the back third of their board, presumably hoping to use their vastly superior range to blunt the Marine charge through the relatively empty centre of the board. The only squad to deploy further forward than the giant Space Marine statue was a lone Infantry Squad, aiming to keep a pile of lasguns between the melta-toting Attack Bikes and the juicy armoured vehicles. The Shadowsword cowered behind the cover of a rusted ruin, its Volcano Cannon pointing directly at the Land Raider. From left to right: Banewolf, Platoon Command Squad and Infantry Squad behind the silo, Predator, Chimera with Battle Psykers, Plague Rhino, Leman Russ, Shadowsword, Manticore, Hydra, Plague Rhino, Infantry Squad. The Traitor deployment was relatively sparse, with a good thousand points of reserves hanging back to join the fray later on, including the Daemon Prince. Apparently there was a party on in the Warp, because he decided to hang out there until Turn 3 and 'staying in reserve' is more or less the last thing he did! Finally the bolter Scouts infiltrated into the ruined building near the left-of-centre objective, and with a failed 'Seize the Initiative!' roll from Nick the game kicked off! Turn 1 Space Marines

6 The Marine line rolled forward, with most of the vehicles popping smoke to try and ward off any return fire. The middle Vindicator and the Rhino with the melta Marines hide in the shadow of the Chaos Temple, claiming an early lead by camping out on top of it. The combat squad on the left hand side try to push their way through difficult terrain; apparently power armour doesn't include any systems for 'walking over small rocks' because they manage to move a mighty 2. This will turn out to be a sign of things to come, as they promptly roll a 1 to Run as well; over the course of turns 1 and 2 this squad progresses a mighty 7 from a possible 24. Clearly the GodEmperor does not smile on footsloggers. The Marines rumble forward. A vital communications array, one of the targets of opportunity for this mission. The nearby Crusader storms forward, popping smoke and staring directly down the barrel of the Shadowsword. Over on the opposite flank, the Attack Bikes bravely turbo-boost into the path of a squad of Guardsmen toting a lascannon; behind them, another Vindicator and the flamer/melta Tactical Squad in a Rhino follow up more slowly. With nothing left to move, the Marines open fire. The Thunderfire cannon is just about able to get a tight-angle shot on the Medusa, giving away a massive 3+ cover save; a well-chosen airburst shot quickly dispenses with that nonsense and shakes the Medusa, keeping the siege gun's weapons quiet for a turn. The combat squad with the missile launcher try to finish the job, and promptly miss. Must remember to refer to it as a 'rocket' launcher. The plasma cannon in the Rhino has a crack at the Guard in the ruin and overheats, frying its firer's eyebrows clean off. On the left flank, the two Scout squads make a sterling effort to get themselves promoted to full battle brothers. The scout with the missile launcher casually annihilates the Chaos Predator, promptly earning back every point spent on his squad; not to be outdone, the heavy bolter scout blows away three of the renegade Guardsmen cowering behind the silo.

7 Traitor Guardsmen cower behind a silo. The Predator suffers an ignominious end at the hands of a Crimson Fists neophyte. The lascannon Devastators could clearly learn a thing or two from their neophyte brothers, as they completely fail to harm the distant Russ. With little else in range, the Marine turn ends with much of the Chaos force still intact, and an angry-looking Volcano cannon staring the Land Raider in the face. Chaos Traitors Turn 1 sees very little movement from the Traitors, the enemies of the Emperor preferring to put their faith in long range. A few things do shuffle around; the Plague Marine Rhino on the right flank (from the Space Marine PoV no bias at all, honest!) trundled forwards, aiming its havoc launcher at the speeding bikes., and the Banewolf thunders down the left, putting on an extra burst of speed to move the full 18 into the cover of the ruined chapel. The shooting phase starts with more of a whimper than a bang, with the Hydra and the Rhino failing to inflict any damage at all on the Attack Bikes. The renegade Guardsmen, faced with the prospect of a Demolisher round to the face, aim their lascannon away from the bikes and into the oncoming Vindicator but similarly failed to do anything. So far, so bad. Appalled by the lack of ability displayed by his underlings, the Chaos tank commander orders the Shadowsword to open fire. A perfectly-placed template blows the Land Raider into tiny chunks, and stuns a Vindicator to boot. The Terminators and command staff scrambled out relatively unscathed, The Banewolf takes cover in the shadow of the although Pedro is awoken from his siesta by a shrapnel ruined chapel. wound. The squad passes a Pinning check with flying colours, a few moments before the dazed Chaplain remembers to start up the prayers and reminds them that they were Fearless anyway.

8 Not to be outdone, the Russ puts a precise lascannon shot into a storm shield Terminator, turning him into so much blue and red paste. The battle cannon fails to find its mark, though, and the traitor witches in the Chimera add to the litany of failure by inflicting no damage at all with their blast-template sorcery. The tank's crew fires the multi-laser and manages to find a chink in the Librarian's Terminator armour, putting a wound on the Astartes psyker. A few more shots were fired to no effect, but the real damage had already been done. Stuck without their battle taxi, Pedro and his retinue looked extremely vulnerable. Turn 2 Space Marines Since we managed to play a weird hybrid of Apocalypse and regular 40k, reserve rolls were made. It didn't have much material effect in the Nick gloats as the Shadowsword brings the pain. Marine turn, with the Terminators and a Land Speeder turning up (i.e. exactly what would have shown up under the Apocalypse ruleset), but it would have a bit more of an effect in Nick's turn. There was one obvious target for Cortez and his hammer of tank-killing the hell-engine at the back of the board. A few moments of dithering over exactly where to place the Terminators ended in a decisive strike in the centre of the Chaos lines, followed by a heart-stopping scatter towards the board edge. The Terminators landed base-edge-to-boardedge, staying on the table by a hair. The Speeder wasn't so lucky; it landed directly on top of the Plague Marine Rhino, although a high roll on the mishap table gave it a second chance at life. The Terminator clump stumbled out of the crater and into the shelter of the ruined building occupied by the Scouts, and the rest of the army continued its advance. The Vindicator mounted the Temple of Skulls, ready to fire a A precision Deep Strike leaves the Terminators within striking distance of the Shadowsword. Demolisher round into the witches hiding in their Chimera. On the right flank, the flamer/melta squad's Rhino zoomed forwards, its cargo piling out with the flamer at the head.

9 At point-blank range, the Attack Bikes unleashed melta death at the Plague Rhino. With a mighty hiss, they rolled... a pair of 2s. The Emperor's Finest failed to hit a barn door with a barn-sized banjo. The flamer squad had more like, burning three of the renegades alive and gunning down five more with bolt rounds, including the sergeant. The carnage sent the traitors running despite the re-roll granted by the super-heavy in the distance; apparently the Chaos approach to the chain of command is 'out of sight, out of mind.' A Vindicator barges over a crater. The Shadowsword itself came under fire as the cyclone missile launcher opened up. Two hits lead to a scramble find out exactly what armour value the Shadowsword has on the side armour with its sponsons removed; an exercise soon revealed to be pointless as the missile hits resulted in a pair of 1s. Without having even shaken the Shadowsword's heavy weapon, the Terminators looked like they were in for a short sharp shock followed by a swift meeting with the Emperor. Over on the left again, the scout missile launcher failed to live up to his earlier promise and missed a Chimera sat out in the open. The lascannons managed not to embarrass themselves too much and stunned it with a lackluster hit; at least 'lackluster' is better than their last turn's achievement of 'miserably poor.' A mighty run lets the Terminators take shelter in a ruined building. The scout heavy bolter opened up again with the hellfire shells, but a scatter and some impressive cover saves saw only one member of the Guard squad die (although the amazing curved shot also took out a member of the platoon's command squad; they teach some tricksy banana shots in scout school). The Thunderfire had another crack at a vehicle, using the ground shot to try and do some damage to a traitorous Rhino, but it failed to make an impact. The right-most Vindicator had a crack at the Hydra, but proved to be out of range a Raptors descend on roaring jets. Two stub their toes on the deathtrap ruin.

10 catastrophic failure of judgement which rested mostly on 'but half the board is ALWAYS 24...' At the bottom of turn 2, the Marines are struggling to make an impact. With a huge number of units still to emerge, the reserve rolls for turn 2 could prove critical for Chaos. Chaos Traitors A mighty round of reserve rolls sees both of the Chaos planes, the Raptors, the Terminators and one of the two Obliterators emerge onto the board in a dazzling aerial assault. The Raptors aim for a targetted drop near the Thunderfire cannon, but at the last The Terminators begin to look very, very isolated. moment manage to scatter themselves into the burned-out ruin. Two of them skillfully finagle their way out of the bother of fighting a battle by tripping over in the ruin and screaming 'MEDIC!', and the rest are left on the wrong side of the ruin to make an impact on the artillery piece. Both the Valkyrie and the Vendetta end up on the right-hand side of the board, and they zoom on at either end, with the Vendetta nearest the Marine board edge and aiming its three lascannons at the rear hatch of the plasma cannon Rhino. The Obliterator drops safely next to the Icon, as do the Terminators rather near to their Loyalist counterparts. The Plague Marines bail out of their Rhino and bring their bolters to bear, and the Hydra trains its turret on the Terminators as well. Surprisingly, the Shadowsword aims over their heads, the Volcano cannon tracking onto the suddenly-very-exposed Tactical marines near the ruin. The freshly-emerged Vendetta blasts the Rhino's rear armour, with two of the three shots connecting. The last gunner, having all the firing aptitude of a Space Marine in a barn, is promptly thrown from the plane. His sacrifice does nothing to appease the Dark Gods, however; although the Rhino is immobilised, the Explodes! result is negated by smoke. The Raptors run out of the ruin, escaping their difficult terrain hell. The sound of promethium burning kicks off a burst of massive firepower aimed at the Terminators. Between a pair of combi- The Vendetta storms onto the board. flamers, a pair of combi-meltas, a Reaper autocannon, the remaining combi-bolters, an entire squad of Plague Marines including a rapidfiring plasma gun, the Primaris Psyker with an impressive ten shots, a Leman Russ battle cannon, a Rhino's havoc launcher and combi-bolter, the remaining traitor Guardsmen and a pair of Hydra autocannons... just two Terminators die and Cortez takes a single wound. To add insult to injury,

11 the Obliterator's plasma cannon scatters away from the Loyalists and melts one of the Traitor Terminators instead. The Terminators promptly pass their morale check and ready the chainfist for some good old-fashioned tank punching. Once again, the Shadowsword is left no choice but to show them how its done, and the Volcano cannon eradicates 9 of 10 Tactical Marines from the board, wrecks a Vindicator and shakes a Rhino. The Valkyrie joins in with the right-flank beatdown, blowing one of the Attack Bikes off the board with its lascannon. The lone Veteran Sergeant in the Tactical Squad stubbornly holds fast, but the Attack Bike breaks and runs 17. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as the bike ends up in a position to rally and immediately zoom off to blast the Vendetta with its multi-melta. Turn 3 Space Marines Having survived the torrents of firepower aimed their way, the Terminators wasted no time and charged. Cortez and the chainfistwielding Terminator crashed into the Shadowsword's flank, while the Sergeant and missile launcher aimed at the rear armour of the Medusa. Both Land Speeders made it onto the board; the first aimed to drop near the Shadowsword The Terminators inflict maximum damage on the Chaos and scattered backwards, whilst the second armour. landed precisely behind the traitor Valkyrie. The fleeing biker rallied and zoomed off to threaten the Vendetta, and the lone Tactical Marine sergeant hot-footed it over the ruin to bring his combi-melta to bear on the empty Rhino. With so much melta coming into short range, the renegades looked like they were in trouble. Or so one would think, at least. The attack bike missed again, as did the Land Speeder with a rear shot on the Valkyrie. The lascannon Devastators had a crack at the Vendetta and failed to hurt it, and their heavy bolter-wielding brothers similarly failed to impact the Raptors. On the left flank, two Vindicators opened up on the psyker Chimera, achieving a single Stunned result; unfortunately even this meagre achievement was snatched away by a cover save granted by the Assault A Vindicator ramps it onto the Temple of Skulls as a Land Speeder Terminators moving out of cover and annihilates the Hydra at range. then failing to Run any appreciable distance.

12 Thankfully, the hotshot missile scout stepped up to the plate again and blew away the psyker Chimera, killing two of the heretic witches in the process. Moments later, the other neophyte Space Marines opened up with their bolters, leaving just the Overseer standing in a crater. As if to prove that one doesn't need to be in short range to do some damage, the scattered The Overseer laments the loss of his charges. Land Speeder fired a long-range melta shot into the Hydra, blowing it sky-high. The lone Sergeant, determined to exact some small measure of revenge for the loss of his squad, loosed his combi-melta and wrecked the Plague Rhino blocking the exit from the ruins. With the shooting out of the way, the real business of the turn began. The power sword wielding Sergeant took a few swings at the Medusa and achieved nothing, though the cyclone managed to immobilise it with a fist through the rear armour. Next up came Alessio Cortez, and with a thunderous impact he struck the Shadowsword three times, the Fist of Dorn twice smashing through the renegade super-heavy's armour. A 4 and a 5 became a 5 and a 6, and with a second roll on the chart Cortez smashed the Volcano cannon asunder. The chainfist managed two hits, and converted them into a pair of Engine Damaged results, immobilising the Shadowsword completely. A single round of combat saw the massive tank effectively crippled, taking it out of the game. Now all the Terminators had to do was survive the Chaotic retribution sure to be coming their way... Chaos Traitors The Daemon Prince and remaining Obliterator descended onto the table, the Prince using the Raptors' icon to land safely near the Attack Bike and the Obliterator emerging in mid-field, giving himself a huge range of targets. Abandoning the shooting game, the Valkyrie and Vendetta both turbo-boosted forward, carrying their cargo closer to the objectives and giving themselves cover saves. The Raptors leapfrogged the Prince to aim their meltas at the back of the plasma cannon Rhino, and the Plague Marines advanced towards the Temple. At this point Liam unsportingly declined to allow the Infantry Squad to squeeze through the gap in the silo, and Nick duly asked for this to be noted. Here's the note. The Daemon Prince emerges from the Warp.

13 The Banewolf came out of hiding to sit on an objective and threaten the Assault Terminators with its chem cannon, and the left-hand set of Plague Marines who had as yet played no part in the game pushed their way through a tank trap and bundled out of the Rhino, bringing their bolters to bear. Still drunk from partying in the Empyrean, Bubonicus vomited all over the Attack Bike. Despite the corrosive contents of the Prince's stomach, the biker was unharmed. The Raptors were equally unlucky, The Plague Marines run for the objective as the Chaos Terminators scoring a single hit with the melta charge their Loyalist counterparts. which stunned the Rhino. Their bolt pistols failed to glance, leaving them bereft of their anticipated charge into the Tactical Marines. In the centre of the board, the Obliterator melded his arm into the form of a lascannon, blasting the Vindicator perched on top of the Temple of Skulls into bits. The Chaos Terminators poured another round of shooting into the Loyalists, killing off the chainfist and wounding Cortez again. Still cowering in the shade of the ruin Qupox Eboli attempted to add his psychic might to the firefight, but failed his psychic check and instead experienced a dizzying headache. The Medusa annihilated the Land Speeder in its direct path, and the second Obliterator immobilised the Rhino holding the Temple. A pathetic round of shooting on the left flank saw the Russ fail to kill any of the five-man combat squad thanks to their crater, the Banewolf fail to inflict any damage on the Terminator squad, and a round of shooting from the Plague Marines kill a single Scout. Abandoning ranged weaponry, the Chaos Terminators charged, unleashing a flurry of attacks which laid Cortez low. The Loyalist power fist managed a single kill in return, before the lumbering Traitor Astartes crushed the remaining Terminators with their own powered gauntlets. At this juncture time was running out, and it was agreed to play one more turn before ending the game. At this point Nick confidently declared that it would be alright, as we should definitely know by the end of the turn how the game was likely to end. This kind of prediction never ends well. Turn 4 Space Marines With the prospect of reaching combat finally available, the Assault Terminators thundered towards the Plague Marines. Pedro split off on his own, aiming Dorn's Arrow at the Platoon Command Squad attempting to sneak down the flank and onto the objective.

14 Moving swiftly on, the leftmost Vindicator fired a Demolisher round into the side of the Banewolf, wrecking it with contemptuous ease. Over on the right, the lone Attack Bike finally scored a hit, managing to stun the Vendetta. The heavy bolter Devastators continued their course of failure, achieving 0 wounds on the Daemon Prince and earning themselves the title of 'most worthless unit' in the process. The missile scout had a crack at the Vendetta and scored a hit, but his luck had apparently run A Terminator beatdown. out as he failed to penetrate. Keen to match their fellows for sheer, unadulterated failure to do anything, the lascannon Devastators fired two shots at the Valkyrie, achieved two hits, and failed to penetrate with either of them. The Speeder had a similar lack of success, firing another melta shot into the rear of the Valkyrie and missing it again. Although it wasn't apparent at the time, this would prove to be the crucial moment of the game; those with experience of turbo-boosting skimmers should be able to see what's coming very soon. Pedro opened up with Dorn's Arrow, slaying three of the traitor lieutenant's retinue, and the Thunderfire cannon fired a subterranean shot at the distant Plague Marines to try and slow their advance. Calling up on the spirits of the dead (which given that he's a member of the Crimson Fists must give him plenty of choice), the Librarian blasted the Avenger into the Plague Marines on the left. Unfortunately he must have picked a fairly docile spirit, as the disease-infested Nurgleworshippers saved all three wounds. With nothing left to do, Pedro charged the platoon commander, and the Terminators charged the Plague Marines. Pedro slapped down his target with ease, and was just about close enough to give his Inspiring Presence to the Terminators. Between the Chaplain, Librarian, and the lightning claw Terminators, the Plague Marines were dead before they knew what hit them. The Terminators consolidated a mighty 6, putting themselves in prime position to watch what happened next. Chaos Traitors The Valkyrie's jets roared into life, boosting it across the board and onto the objective. After a moment's careful thought, Nick shuffled it back an inch or two, leaving it in range to claim both the Temple and one of the tertiary objectives. Given the scenario's rules, the squad inside counted for 20 models on the Temple of Skulls, and the Valkyrie's front armour of 12 meant it counted for 2. This allowed the Traitors to hold the temple by a single point. Over on the right, the Daemon Prince leapt over a silo and landed next to the plasma cannon squad's Rhino, contesting their objective as well. At this point Nick casually mentioned that the Vendetta had extra armour,

15 turning its Stunned into a Shaken. The Special Weapons Squad descended from the Vendetta into the Rhino's rear, toting a pair of meltas, and coolly wrecked it. Another wave of nausea saw the Prince vomit over the Tactical Squad, his acid puke killing three of them. The Raptors killed a further two with meltas, leaving the squad dangerously short-handed. Just to make absolutely sure of victory, the Russ turned its guns on the combat squad in the crater, this time killing four of the five and sending the lone Sergeant running for his life. With time running out, the decision was made not to bother with the Prince and Raptors' combined assault on the Tactical Squad, and the game ended. A quick bit of adding up saw Chaos ahead 5-1 on points, 4 of which were held by the craftily-placed Valkyrie. The winning move. Victory to the Forces of Chaos! Nick's Post-Game Commentary A win for Papa Nurgle! The final score on objectives is a little flattering for the Traitors as the game was extremely close. Another turn may have seen a very different outcome. The plan actually worked quite well, although Lysander and Co. gave Bubonicus a major shock when they bravely executed a deepstrike behind enemy lines to target and ultimately knock out the Shadowsword. However, they paid for it with their lives as the Terminators from the Lords of Decay put them to the sword shortly afterwards! The Shadowsword was awesome. It only fired twice in the game, but that was enough for it to

16 justify its points and cause the Marines to throw a lot of weight it's way. With so much being attention being directed to the Shadowsword enough of the Traitors survived to take the objectives. The cheeky turbo boost from the Valkyrie carrying the Veterans was enough to grab the Temple and one of the objectives for the win in the last turn. I wouldn't have played it any differently, but I would have liked more troops to help with taking the objectives. Luckily one of the skimmers nipped in and took the game but I couldn't rely on that every time! Looking forward to Chapter 2! Liam's Post-Game Commentary Well that was certainly an experience! It was great fun to play, and I think the idea behind the scenario worked well. The game swung back and forth in the way of all close matches; at the beginning of Nick's turn 4 I was 6-1 ahead on points only to see them all slip away thanks to the bloody Valkyrie. If only my meltas could hit... although that Scout with the missile launcher is definitely making it to full Battle Brother. The game had exactly the right feeling of friendly competition, with enough tension to make it interesting without the kind of pointless quibbling that can often slow a larger game to a crawl. The scenario very nearly worked perfectly, with just the right balance of points between all of the various objectives. Had we carried on to turn 5 the game could have ended very differently for argument's sake I rolled the dice for the double-melta squad aiming at the Valkyrie and blew it up, immediately pushing the game 4-2 in favour of the Marines. It would have been interesting to see how it played out; not to begrudge Nick his victory, mind, which was won by the kind of sneaky tactical thinking which perfectly suits a Chaos player. That's not to say everything was perfect, mind, and there's definitely some lessons to be learned from this game. First off, if you're going to play Apocalypse, play Apocalypse! Having a 12 gap between the two armies would have seen them clash a lot sooner, rather than turning the game into the long-range shooting match it became. It would also have advantaged the Marines a bit, though of course that's not the main consideration. Second, the Shaowsword should really have counted for a point or two, probably as part of the secondary objective. Given its price tag, Nick was very concerned that it might not make its points back (it did, between an LRC, a Tactical Squad and a Vindicator, but it was a close-run thing), but its mere presence shaped the game very heavily. Given that, it should definitely have been of equal worth with the Chaplain or the Primaris Psyker. Third, and perhaps most importantly, either the board was too big or the armies were too small. I was honestly expecting Nick to have more stuff on the table; given that I've played his Guard fairly often I have no idea why I forgot how small the army was, but there it is! More to the point, the terrain density was just about right everywhere except for in the middle, leaving the Temple of Skulls somewhat exposed. Thematically this was possibly appropriate, but it meant that much of the game occurred on the flanks and left Nick with little choice but to hang back on the defensive, turning the game into a bit of a dice-rolling exercise when we'd been hoping for a cinematic clash in the middle. Next time it might be an idea to use a smaller board, have more terrain available, use bigger armies or all three! Those are all fairly minor quibbles, though, more 'points to remember' than objections. The important part of the game was achieved something visually impressive which was a lot of fun to play. I'm certainly keen to give it another go and try and make the next one even better (preferably

17 on an occasion when we can spend more than the 3 hours we did on it). Resolution Pedro Kantor stared in horror as the traitor's Valkyrie swept onto the twisted temple of Chaos, disgorging a mass of renegades who swarmed over the dark stone like black flies. Over the voxnetwork, he could hear his brothers dying as the Daemon Prince tore through their Rhino and crushed them with its Warp-given strength, and though the Crimson Fists were holding strong on this flank, many brothers had already suffered griveous injuries in the course of battle. With a heavy heart, he switched to the command channel and said, 'Deguerro.' 'Chapter Master?' 'Send a signal to the Spirit of Dorn. Orbital strike on the Chaos shrine.' 'Chapter Master, there's still ten brothers fighting near the temple. They will be lost if the Spirit of Dorn fires its bombardment cannon.' Pedro took a slow breath. The memory of his Chapter's near-destruction was still fresh, and the sacrifice of ten brothers was a terrible burden to bear, but even as he desired to charge across the field to take the fight to the enemy Pedro knew that to stubbornly stand and fight would see many more die, and if the Warp gate in the temple were opened then the entire planet might be lost forever. Over the vox, he said, 'I know. Send the signal anyway, and tell them to get Thunderhawks down here for extraction.' 'Acknowledged.' The Chief Librarian's voice tailed off, and even across the artificial connection of the vox Pedro felt the disturbing sensation of psychic activity. The feeling dissipated, and Deguerro's voice came again, 'The signal is sent.' 'Thank you, brother.' Pedro stared at the temple, taking in the scene as his battle brothers shot down the Valkyrie with their powerful multi-melta, Sergeant Heracles leaping from the wreckage and swinging his power fist into the face of one of the renegade Guardsmen. The effort was heroic, but too little and too late to recover the temple and secure its destruction. In the distance, Pedro could see the traitor Astartes of the Lords of Decay advancing, slow but certain. The annihilation of the temple was swift and sudden. An explosion like the sound of a dying sun rang through the air, Pedro's auto-senses dampening but not completely eliminating the earthshattering roar. His helmet lenses reduced the blinding flash just enough for Pedro to see the dark rock of the temple scattered into a fine haze of grey shards. As the sounds of destruction died away, he began to hear the whine of Thunderhawk engines in rapid descent. Turning his face away from the destruction, Pedro signalled to his Terminator retinue to move on to the extraction point. Even as he sprinted towards the Thunderhawk, Pedro swore to inscribe a new vow upon his armour the destruction of the dark prince of Chaos whose malefic plan had brought these terrible events to pass. Army List The Crimson Fists HQ - 675pts

18 Chapter Master Pedro Kantor 175pts Pedro Kantor Captain Alessio Cortez 200pts Darnath Lysander Librarian Deguerro 190pts Epistolary Terminator armour + storm shield Psychic powers: Null Zone and Avenger Chaplain del Torro 110pts Digital weapons Elites - 710pts Terminator Assault Squad Meridius 475pts 5 Terminators 3x lightning claws 2x thunder hammer + storm shield Dedicated Transport: Land Raider Crusader Aegis Invictus w/ pintle-mounted multi-melta and extra armour Terminator Squad Cain 235pts 5 Terminators Cyclone missile launcher Chainfist Troops pts Tactical Squad Heracles - 235ts 10 Marines Melta-gun Multi-melta Sergeant w/ power fist Dedicated Transport: Rhino Dei Morte Tactical Squad Seville - 240pts Flamer Multi-melta Sergeant w/ power fist + combi-melta Dedicated Transport: Rhino His Will Tactical Squad Cicero 245pts Plasma gun Plasma cannon Sergeant w/ power fist

19 Dedicated Transport: Rhino Domine Tactical Squa Napoli 175pts Flamer Missile launcher Sergeant w/ bolt pistol, chainsword and melta bombs Scout Squad Gutierrez 150pts 5 Scouts Sniper rifles Missile launcher Camo cloaks Sergeant Telion Scout Squad Sanchez 85pts 5 Scouts Bolters Heavy bolter Fast Attack 240pts Land Speeder Imperator Ex 70pts Multi-melta Heavy flamer Land Speeder Imperator Triumphant 70pts Multi-melta Heavy flamer Attack Bikes Xavier 100pts 2 Attack Bikes 2x multi-melta Heavy Support - 745pts Vindicator Casus Belli 125pts Siege shield Vindicator Eruptus 125pts Siege shield Vindicator Extermina 125pts Siege shield Thunderfire Cannon Eradicate 100pts Devastator Squad Koln - 270pts 10 Marines

20 2 heavy bolters 2 lascannons Sergeant w/ bolt pistol and chainsword Total Points 3500pts Kill Points 24 Total Scoring Units - 6 Army List The Lords of Decay and the Eboli Renegades HQ - 250pts Primaris Psyker Qupox Eboli 70pts Daemon Prince Bubonicus 180pts Wings Mark of Nurgle Wind of Chaos Elites - 520pts Chaos Terminators 345pts 7 Chaos Terminators Icon of Nurgle Reaper autocannon 2 Aspiring Champions with chainfists 2 combi-meltas 2 combi-flamers Psyker Battle Squad - 175pts 9 Psykers Dedicated Transport: Chimera with dozer blade Troops - 872pts Infantry Platoon - 265pts Platoon Command Squad - 45pts 2 flamers Vox-caster Infantry Squad - 75pts Lascannon Vox-caster Infantry Squad - 70pts Lascannon

21 Special Weapons Squad 75pts 2 melta guns Demolition charge Veteran Squad 145pts Plasma pistol 2 melta guns Plasma gun Demolitions Plague Marines 231pts 7 Plague Marines Personal icon Plasma gun Dedicated Transport: Rhino with havoc launcher Plague Marines 231pts 7 Plague Marines Personal icon Plasma gun Dedicated Transport: Rhino with havoc launcher Fast Attack - 670pts Raptors 255pts 7 Raptors Icon of Nurgle Champion with lightning claws and melta-bombs 2 melta guns Banewolf 140pts Heavy flamer Dozer blade Vendetta 130pts Valkyrie 145pts Lascannon Missile pods Heavy Support pts Leman Russ Battle Tank 205pts Heavy bolter sponsons Lascannon Pintle-mounted storm bolter Dozer blade

22 Hydra Flak Tank 75pts Medusa Siege Cannon 150pts Enclosed crew compartment Shadowsword 450pts Improved side armour Obliterator 75pts Obliterator 75pts Chaos Predator 155pts Twin-linked lascannon Lascannon sponsons Total Points pts