by Novus
Sunday I dropped by Frontline Gaming to see if I could get a game in and oddly, the place was empty but for Frankie. So, in hopes of getting a game with anyone but Frankie (he's really good and I'm kinda bad) I hung out and got some painting done.
Always bring a model to build/paint while your waiting to get a game... it's just good sense.
Feeling that if I was going to get a game in, it would only be with Frankie, I asked if he wanted to play and he said "Yes!" Which could be good, but will probably be bad for me.
This is my army, The Virulent Host:
Chaos Space Marines/Imperial Guard Roster
Total Roster Cost: 17501 Chaos Lord, 165 pts = (base cost 65 + Mark of Nurgle 15 + Lightning Claw x1 15 + Power Fist x1 25 + Sigil of Corruption 25) + Chaos Bike 20
5 Plague Marines, 150 pts = 5 * 24 (base cost 24) + Plasma gun x2 30
1 Plague Champion, 27 pts = (base cost 24 + Combi-Boltgun 3)
6 Plague Marines, 174 pts = 6 * 24 (base cost 24) + Plasma gun x2 30
1 Plague Champion, 24 pts
3 Obliterator, 237 pts = 3 * 79 (base cost 70 + Mark of Nurgle 6 + Veterans of the Long War 3)
1 Heldrake, 170 pts
1 Primaris Psyker (HQ) [Guard], 70 pts
Squadron
1 Leman Russ Executioner [Guard], 190 pts, HFlamer
1 Leman Russ Executioner [Guard], 190 pts, HFlamer
9 Veteran Squad (Troops) [Guard], 108 pts = 9 * 7 (base cost 7) + Plasma gun x3 45
1 Veteran Sergeant [Guard], 7 pts
Aegis Defence Line, 50 pts
1 Gun Emplacement, 50 pts = (base cost 0 + Quad-gun 50)
2 Chaos Terminators, 84 pts = 2 * 37 (base cost 31 + Mark of Nurgle 6) + Combi-Flamer x2 10
1 Terminator Champion, 54 pts = (base cost 33 + Mark of Nurgle 6 + Chainfist 15)
Frankie's Army
Sorry, I'm too lazy to retype that.
Game Setup
Deployment: Vanguard (the diagonal one)
Mission: The Scouring (6 Primary objective markers, Fast Attack kills count for VP, Linebreaker, Warlord, and First Blood) We forgot to roll how many points each objective was worth, so we just called them all 1 point.
First Turn: Me and Frankie failed to seize.
Night Fight: in effect for turn 1.
My reserves: Heldrake and Termicide squad.
Frankies reserves: 3 Void Raven Bombers and Baron.
Turn 1, Top
My turn 1 was a tiny bit of movement and no shooting because Frankie kept his army out of range. And I forgot to take pictures... again. The yellow circles are where my objectives are.
Turn 1, Bottom
Above you can see Frankie's deployment. The circle under the central Venom is the right-most of his objectives. Due to Accute Senses and Night fight he was able to kill my Quad Gun and remove a hull point from one of my Plasmacutioners.
Turn 2, Top
My Heldrake failed to come, as usual, but my Termies landed right where I wanted them. Termicide!
After some Lascannon and Plasmacannon shots as well as some Combi-flamer shots, this is what his army looked like. Two Raiders, one Venom and 2 squads of Warriors down! Good start!
Turn 2, Bottom
Those Heldrakes are actually supposed to be Void Raven Bombers. Naturally, two of his three made it onto the table on his second turn. That building above is where his third objective was hidden.
The yellow circles are where two of his objectives are. The other is faaaaar to the left in another building (see above). It didn't get approached by either force during the entire game.
After a good amount of shooting he wasn't able to do much to my army: he killed my Termies (as expected) and one of my Plasmacutioners via his bombers and put a HP on the other. The tank that died absorbed a tremendous amount of fire (thus saving the rest of my army), only dying on the last weapon roll of Frankie's turn. Bummer.
Turn 3, Top
Still no Heldrake! I moved my Oblitz forward in hopes that I could bring their Assault Cannons to bear and kill some more skimmers, but I was unable to kill them due to crappy rolling. My Plasmacutioner was able to Explode the Raider on the right flank and kill 5 of the Warriors inside. At this point, I'm really just trying to keep him at arms length, if possible.
Turn 3, Bottom
All of the Dark Eldar reserves finally came in, Baron walked on from the table edge. They advanced and shot a lot, concentrating their fire on my Oblitz and killing them. But the DA really didn't do much damage against the rest of my army thanks mostly to Feel No Pain on the Plague Marines and some amazing cover saves. Miraculously, my final Plasmacutioner withstood another crazy amount of fire from both the Venoms and the VRBs, only suffering a Stunned result and a HP, bringing the total to 1 remaining.
At this point I really thought I was boned because I kept seeing Heldrakes and forgetting that they were actually Void Ravens.
Turn 4, Top
My damned Heldrake finally gets to come in! I try to set up a sweet Vector Strike against his Bomber and Baleflamer run against his skimmers but only 1 of 3 Vector Strikes lands. Frankie makes his save against the Strike. I start moving my troops out to grab the objectives I placed in anticipation of a Turn 5 ending. While the bombers were around, I kept my squishy Veterans in cover.
Also, I detached my Nurgle Biker Lord from his squad and scooted him forward in the hopes that if I do open up the raiders, I can assault and crush them.
Somehow, one of my Plague Marines managed to down a bomber with a Plasmagun! My Heldrake then rakes the group of skimmers with Baleflamer fire and kills the Raider, thus spilling Warriors out onto the field. And my Plague Marines on the right fire on the Raider at my right flank and down it, too, killing 5 of the Warriors inside! That was a good shooting phase for me!
I declared my assault and Frankie Overwatched, causing a wound to my Lord. I rolled the dice and came up with a 5" assault range... which left me about 1/16" short. Wah-Waaaah. :(
Turn 4, Bottom
Frankie's final Bomber enters play. He fly's his other remaining Bomber off the table and generally advances his Venoms but pulls the troops on the right back toward his objectives.
During his shooting phase he's able to kill my Drake with direct fire from his fresh bomber... this is disappointing for me!
And, seeing as my Lord (on the left in the pic above) is now flat footed in the open, his remaining squads and other Venom unload on him...
... and kill him DEAD! Suddenly, things don't look so hopeful for me.
Turn 5, Top
In my movement phase I start spreading out my Troops to keep any single bomb of his from doing too much damage and to capture those objectives! My poor Difficult Terrain test for the Vets meant that I had to run them and forego shooting... well, crap!
My strategy at this point is to just kill all of his troops so I move any units I have into range and blaze away! My Primaris fires a Lightning Arc of 12 bolts (BOXCARS!) and kills 5 of his remaining Warrior squad!
This leaves him with only a squad of 5 Warriors left thanks to my Plaguers on the right flank.
Turn 5, Bottom
One of his fliers bails off my long table edge and his army generally advances.
Frankie disembarks both of his Trueborn, links one squad of them with the Baron, and moves on my right hand squad of Plagures with them and my now out of cover Vet squad in the center with the other. He's in a position now to contest two of my three objectives!
Oddly, his shooting did very little to me this turn. Plague Marines are resilient!
The Trueborn in the center fire on my Vets and do little damage. They then assault them, in hopes of forcing them to fail a Leadership check, and some really good overwatch rolls destroy them!
The Trueborn and the Baron assault my Plaguers on the right and my boyz come up the victors so Frankie pulls a Hit And Run and jumps the Baron in behind my Vets. He can no longer contest, so this is a great move as it keeps me from maybe pulling off a Slay the Warlord if the game goes to turn 6.
Due to some failed assaults I still have all three of my Objectives and First Blood. He has one Objective, a Fast Attack Kill, Linebreaker, and Slay the Warlord. This could be a tie!
I roll...
Aaaaaaaand, the game goes to 6!
Turn 6, Top
My turn 6 was spent sitting on objectives and shooting whatever I had at his troops. This strategy helped me reduce his last squad of Warriors to just one man! All I really need to do is weather his turn and I may pull off the win.
I really would like to know why folks don't use Primaris Psykers more often! That's mine in the pic above. That Lightning Arc power is pretty freaking awesome! It would have been better if I could have scored just one more wound, though. It only takes one dude to score an objective.
Crap!
Turn 6, Bottom
Frankie jumps my Vets with the Baron and his Venoms and miraculously does a tremendous amount of very little. His reserved Void Raven comes back in. The other Raven flies off the table but kills my final Plaguers on the right, losing me that objective! Frankie pulls ahead!
He then assaults my Vets with Baron and in a crazy improbable fluke, the Baron dies to Plasmagun Overwatch! That's Slay the Warlord for me and he loses Linebreaker! We're tied again!
If the game ends here, I win! We both have Slay the Warlord, but I still have two of my Objectives and First Blood. He has one Objective and a Fast Attack Kill.
But as luck would have it, Frankie rolls for the game to go to turn 7!
Turn 7, Top
I am totally unable to do any significant damage, at all. All I can do now is hope that my Vets can hang on against what is sure to be a tsunami of bullets, bombs, and bad words.
Turn 7, Bottom
That tsunami I mentioned? Yeah, that just destroyed my Vets. They nearly held on against a Void Raven and 2 Venoms but I just couldn't roll well enough against that many dice. It was close, though. Damn!
The game ends in a TIE!
We both have Slay the Warlord. I have one Objective and First Blood. Frankie has one Objective and a Fast Attack Kill. Neither of us have Linebreaker.
It was a fun but tense game. I really thought he was going to wipe the floor with me as I'd never really played against Dark Eldar and never against a veteran tourney player such as Frankie.
It's also very refreshing to have my opponent actually fail rolls now and again. We both rolled pretty badly in some key areas.
It's a tie, officially, but I prefer to think of it as not-a-loss versus a very skilled player.
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