Saturday 22nd March saw a rematch between my Ultramarine's against 'the6thdegree's' Iron Warriors over a beautifully made table at Warhammer World. It was about 6 months since we last fought army against army- imperial against heretic, marine again marine.
We managed to book the Tau Research Station on Vigos table- the location for the next conflict...
We went for a largish game at 3600 points each, giving space to include new units. I had recently built a pair of Imperial Knights, along with a Fire Raptor which I really wanted to try out. I also wanted to try out the Stormeagle as a ROC pattern after reading the rules in the new IA2 update.
We decided to have an objective in each deployment, worth 5pts to ourselves and 10pts to our opponents (courtesy of Blog Wars) and the Golden Daemon in the middle was worth 10pts.
Ultramarine Force
Marneus Calger
Tigurius
Master of the Forge on (jet)bike with conversion beamer
Damocles
10 Sternguard with grav/melta combi weapons in a drop pod
5 Terminators with thunder hammers and storm shields
Mortis Contemptor with Kheres and cyclone missile launcher
Mortis Dread with Autocannon's using IA2 rules including skyfire/interceptor
10 man Tactical squad with Missile launcher and Melta gun
5 man tactical squad in razorback
5 man Scout squad
5 man Assault squad
Sicaran with lascannon sponsons
Scorpious
Fire Raptor
Stormeagle
Knight Paladin
Knight Errant
Iron Warriors Force
Abaddon
Warpsmith
3 x 10 Chaos Space Marines in Rhinos
10 Cultists in Rhino
5 Chaos Terminators with combi-weapons and Power Fists/Chain Fists
2 x Helbrutes (one with Multi-melta/Power Fist and the other with Reaper Autocannon/Missile Launcher)
2 x Heldrakes with Hades Assaultcannon
Landraider
Forgefiend (with 3 x Ectoplasma)
Defiler
Havok Squad with Flakk Missiles and Autocannons
2 x 3 Obliterators with Mark of Nurgle
Vindicator
Aegis Defence Line with Icarus Lascannon
Deployment
Ultramarines
The plan was simple - Knights would take the centre- with support from Calgar, Terminators, Contemptor and Sicaran, Tigurius would sit holding the objective in my deployment zone with the Assault squad and 10 man Tactical squad with the dread there to provide air cover. The Master of the Forge would be located as far away as possible in a good position to fire conversion beamer blasts at the chaos force. The Sternguard would drop pod into the heart of the Iron Warriors and eliminate targets with melta and grav fire. The Raptor and Eagle 'should' arrive in turn 2 with combined re rolls (from Tigurius) and +1 to the roll (from the Damocles) these would fly on to again take out targets- the scouts would be within the eagle to hopefully claim the Iron Warriors deployment objective if they get the chance.
Deployment
Iron Warriors
Going second, the Iron Warriors were going to take a Turn 1 pounding, so deployed in as much cover as possible and focussed on a choke point in the middle of the table where the Golden Daemon was placed (which luckily was only big enough for a single Knight to move through at a time). The Land Raider with the Warpsmith and marine squad inside it, positioned to the within the forest opposite the UM's objective. In support of the Land Raider was a rhino with further marines, and a Forgefiend deployed within the woods. The Defiler was positioned to offer fire support from the centre, along with another Rhino with cultists, a Hellbrute and Vindicator. Behind the aegis defence line was the Icarus Defence laser, the Obliterators and Havocs- with a Hellbrute Dakka in support. The 2 Helldrakes, Abaddon and Termis were kept in reserve.
Iron Warriors
Going second, the Iron Warriors were going to take a Turn 1 pounding, so deployed in as much cover as possible and focussed on a choke point in the middle of the table where the Golden Daemon was placed (which luckily was only big enough for a single Knight to move through at a time). The Land Raider with the Warpsmith and marine squad inside it, positioned to the within the forest opposite the UM's objective. In support of the Land Raider was a rhino with further marines, and a Forgefiend deployed within the woods. The Defiler was positioned to offer fire support from the centre, along with another Rhino with cultists, a Hellbrute and Vindicator. Behind the aegis defence line was the Icarus Defence laser, the Obliterators and Havocs- with a Hellbrute Dakka in support. The 2 Helldrakes, Abaddon and Termis were kept in reserve.
Turn 1:Ultramarines
- Drop Pod lands behind the Aegis defence line
- Sternguard with Grav Combi Weapons killing off 3 Obliterators
- Sternguard with Melta Combi Weapons destroy the Vindicator
- Imperial Knight Errant with Thermal Cannon kills Hellbrute and kills a Obliterator in the blast
- Conversion Beamer immobilised the rhino with the cultists
- Sicaran destroys the remaining Hellbrute
- Scorpious damages the other rhino.
- T6D rolls the worst game of his life….so many failed saves!
the Iron Warriors 'dead pile' T1....
Turn 1: Iron Warriors- Cultists disembark from Rhino, and open fire on the Sternguard combat squad- 2 Marines are lost
- Marines disembark from the other Rhino behind the aegis defence line killing a marine in the melta combat squad
- Obilterators killed a further two of the melta Sternguard squad
- Fire from the forgefiend and Defiler cause several hits on the two Imperial Knights resulting in the lost of 2 hull points to the Errant and 1 to the Paladin knight.
- Further fire proves ineffective due to the continued abysmal rolling on the6thdegree's part
Turn 2 :Ultramarines
- Both Stormeagle and Fire Raptor arrive from reserves
- Stormeagle fires upon the Landraider- causing a glancing hit
- Scorpious opens fire on the Chaos marine squad- causing 17 wounds with 4 Barrages, killing them all outright (T6D – how??????????)
- The 2 sternguard combat squad combine hellfire shooting- 10 shots, 10 wounds- killing 10 cultists (T6D – to which dice gods were praying???? Madness!)
- Fire Raptor causes several wounds on the remaining Obliterators
- Errant Knight kills several Havocs
- Sicaran open fires on the defiler- destroying with weight of fire
- Terminators and Calgar march towards the centre of the board
- (T6D – At this point I thought the game was over with around half of my units destroyed).
Turn 2: Iron Warriors
- Helldrake arrives from reserves and takes position to oppose the Fire Raptor- initially attacks via a vector strike- causing damage- then auto cannon fire blows it out of the skies
- Obliterators, obliterate the Knight Errant with Multi-Melta fire (T6D – oh yeah!!!!)
- Forgefind fires with bioplasma weapons- resulting in 4 hull points lost to the paladin (6th rolling 3 6's one after the other...) killing the noble knight (T6D – oooohhhhh yeeeeaaaahhh!!!)
- Further fire from the Havocs and Rhinos result in wounds to terminators, but all are saved
- (T6D – finally with the dice gods on my side I managed to wipe out around 1000pts worth of LordH’s scariest units…I might still be in the game).
Turn 3: Ultramarines
- Stormeagle destroys the land raider with combined lascannon, melta and missile fire- killing a marine from the squad embarked
- Sternguard kill open fire on the havocs with vengeance bolter fire, killing them all bar one
- Sicaran kills another obliterator
- Master of the forge opens fire with the conversion beamer on the forgefiend- taking a hull point and immobilising it
- Fire from the Scorpious kills the remaining Havoc
- Auto cannon rifleman dreadnought opens fire on the remaining 'undamaged rhino' blasting it to pieces and killing 2 of the squad embarked.
- The Damocles fires it ordnance on the squad who have just disembarked the wrecked rhino - however this is missed.
Turn 3: Iron Warriors
- Abbadon arrives with his terminator retinue- however there is a mishap and they arrive off table- and are delayed (T6D – a tense moment when we had to look up which result was Delayed and which were destroyed…).
- Rhino behind the aegis defence line moves into cover- however the6thdegree rolls a '1' thus immobilising it!!
- Second Helldrake comes on in reserve- vector striking the stormeagle- causing hull point damage- it then shoots it from behind blowing up spectacularly- killing all but 1 scout embarked within.
- Warpsmith repairs the damage to the Forgefiend
- Initial Helldrakke destroys the relic Sciaran with autocannon fire
- Forgefiend runs into cover
The6thdegree appears to rolling quite a high number of '6's' I'm thinking the dice gods are looking more favourably on the forces of chaos (T6D – they were, whilst you were at the bar, I sacrificed an annoying WFB player that was loitering around). (That would explain a lot.... LH)
Turn 4: Ultramarines
- Autocannon totting Dreadnaught, and Scorpious open fire on the chaos marines that have disembarked from the wrecked rhino-killing them all but 3.
- Contemptor destroys the first Helldrake- however the beast causes a hull point damage to the dread when it crashes into its face.
- Master of the Forge fires upon the Forgefiend again- causing another hull point damage
- 3 remaining Sternguard take out a single obliterator (I was so surprised that the Sternguard lasted this long! LH)
Turn 4: Iron Warriors
- Abbadon arrives this turn with his retinue (T6D – better late than never)
- Forgefiend kills 3 terminators and wounds Calgar (By this point I'm thinking the game is lost..LH)
- Combined fire from the remaining Obilterator and rhinos kill the 3 sternguards
- Scorpious is damaged initially via vector strike from the second Helldrake- then destroyed with autocannon fire
- 4 tactical marines are killed via for from Abbadon and his Terminator retinue.
Turn 5: Ultramarines
Assault marines move into position to charge the terminators and Abbadon
Assault marines move into position to charge the terminators and Abbadon
- Tigurius Kills 2 Terminators with Smite firing
- Contemptor opens fire on the remaining Helldrake- but fails to destroy it
- Marines disembark from the razorback and take position to hold the objective
- Assault marines are all killed in the combat with the terminators and Abbadon (T6D – what did you think would happen?)
Turn 5: Iron Warriors
- Obliterator fires upon the Contemptor with lascannon fire- which would have destroyed the dreadnought- if it wasn't for his 5+ shielding save (and miraculous rolling by Lord Halfpenny)
- Abbadon charges into combat- challenging Tigurius and killing him before the mighty Librarian could land a blow (T6D – sissy psyker)
- Terminators charged the Rifleman Dread- killing him in combat- with a terminator dying in the resultant blast. (this made me laugh... LH)
- T6D – at this stage, despite the early carnage it is definitely anyone’s game…
Turn 6: Ultramarines
- Contemptor blasts the last Helldrake out of the sky with Kheres and Missile fire
- Marines storm forward to claim the objective in the centre with support from Calgar
- Abbadon is only able to remove one marine in close combat
- Master of the Forge fails to penetrate the Forgefiend
Turn 6: Iron Warriors
- Iron Warriors open fire- killing 3 marines near the objective
- Forgefiend kills the remaining 2 terminators
- Abbadon butchers the tactical squad holding the objective
- 2 Chaos Terminators charge into combat with the Damocles Rhino and smash it apart
Turn 7: Ultramarines
- Marneus Calgar leaves the tactical marines holding the objective and charge into combat with the Warpsmith and 8 Marines- killing 3 in combat, without a wound in reply- the forces of chaos fail their morale check and are destroyed by Calgar's Sweeping Advance (with both rolled a '1' for the sweeping advance!) (T6D – ok…number 1, next remember to take Icon of Vengeance with the Warpsmith squad…didn’t realise he wasn’t Fearless…and 2…remember to challenge…might have stopped the squad taking the hits…).
- Contemptor killed the remaining 2 Chaos Terminators
- Everything opened fire on Marneus Calgar with a hope of getting a 'slay the warlord' unfortunately Calgar survived with 1 wound!! (T6D – so close!)
Final scores- Ultramarines 28- Iron Warriors 21!! A win to the Ultramarines- the Golden Daemon returns to Lord Halfpenny!!!
Lord Halfpenny- Review
Wow- what a battle- it was a very tight battle, which after Turn 2 was looking like it would only be a matter of turns before a tabling. The6thDegree rallied in T3 and came back with to contest the game- narrowly missing out on the Win.
My favourite moment has to be the fact that the Sternguard survived to T4- sat in the Iron Warriors deployment- and they proved their worth in taking out scores of Chaos with initially melta/grav fire- then with the trusty bolter. The Knights performed well, however the battle did show that they are vulnerable if the shield is pointing in the wrong direction.
Calgar's final charge into combat and wiping the squad and Warpsmith was a joy to behold- the stuff of legends!!
The 6th Degree- Review
Probably my best game of 40K ever – it shows how good a game it is when it swung so wildly from me facing a tabling, to me wiping out a good chunk of LordH’s key units.
I’m glad I took as much firepower as I did – I needed it! I think it might be time to retire the Havoks though – they are cheap and seem good on paper, but in practice are pretty ineffective. The Heldrakes were using Hades cannons for the first time – knowing LordH, I knew he would choose big toys over marines, so that S8 was really useful. I was impressed with the Forgefiend – if it didn’t die in Turn 1, I knew they could be really good…shame they always tend to die so early though.
In the end, though it was a great game and LordH is deservedly takng the Golden Daemon back down south.