On a dark grim Sunday me (Warbrodude) and Forgenoiser decided to blow the dust off our Warhammer 40K armies and finally start preparing for the upcoming summer tourney here in Vilnius. The battle also doubled as a test for our terrain in a game very much different from Infinity.
Forgenoiser's Astra Militarum and my Chaos Space Marines were heavily mechanized in this game. There were 20 vehicles in total on the table. Both armies brought 2 demolisher cannons each, which meant that all units had to maneuver and keep their distance from the pie plates of doom.
The mission was Cleanse & Control from the Maelstrom of War set with an additional rule that Kill Points counted towards the victory point total. Chaos won the roll-off for deployment and scrambled to deploy first.
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Mechanized forces of Chaos preparing to strike
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| Armored company's defensive line. |
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| A Manticore deployed in deep cover. |
Chaos forces were led by a Word Bearer clone of Huron, who's a Master of Deception, while the Imperial commander rolled the Master of Ambush warlord trait. Due to this, I had 2 infiltrating units and Forgenoiser was infiltrating a trio of Chimeras with units inside. There were mindgames as all the infiltrating units were armed with tank-busting guns.
The gods weren't that fickle and Militarum did not manage to Seize the Initiative. In the first turn a Chimera was blown up, another one was immobilized and in retaliation Chaos' tanks all lost a hull point while a lone surviving Havoc ran like the unworthy coward he was.
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| First contact: Melta-wielding Raptors target the Infiltrated Chimera's front... |
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| ...while Havocs unleash Plasma fire on the Chimera's side |
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| The Havocs close in on the damaged Archeotech device. These will be their last steps. |
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| Passengers spill out from the burning transport and open fire in all sides. |
The second turn saw the coming of reserves. 2 Hellbrutes from the Mayhem Pack formation deep striked, meanwhile a pair of Sentinels outflanked the attackers. There were many loses on both sides, including Huron's whole retinue of Plague Marines, an infantry squad shredded by raptors and a 'Brute falling to friendly fire from the demonically possessed Vindicator.
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| A Hellbrute suddenly falls from the sky: Chaotic reinforcements are inbound! |
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| A second 'Brute lands right in front of the Imperial commander's vehicle. |
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| Burned and lasered raptors take their fury to the enemy |
The following turns were more of the same, with reinforcements arriving on both sides, loads of casualties and objective grabbing. One notable moment was when Huron weathered a storm of las-fire and meltas, only to be insta-killed by a Storm Eagle missile from the Manticore.
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| The Chaos Lord takes refuge behind his army's wrecks just before an Storm Eagle missile hits him. |
The last turn was broken into two small skirmishes between the survivors: a gun-less Hellbrute against 2 Sentinels with a Demolisher and other 2 Sentinels fighting off a pair of Vindicators. While the first fight was fruitless for both sides, the later one ended with the Sentinels destroying a tank in close combat and then one of them living a Vindicator shell at point blank range and securing an objective.
The game was a close finish with the Chaos Marines narrowly beating the Armored Company 23 - 21.
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| Sentinels stomp a vindicator until only a smoldering wreck remains. |
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| Surviving sentinel pilot secures the Archeotech panel. |
The few LoS blocking terrain pieces were really helpful in mitigating damage. The fact that troops could hide from enemies from several directions made the Manticore's barrage weaponry much more relevant. Sadly nobody who could climb on the bridges and claim firing positions survived past turn 2.
Forgenoiser is already working on a new army list. Soon the battle field will be full of blood and fire. Again.
--Warbrodude
