Welcome back for part two of the epic clash of Lions vs Black Legion Khorne. Last post had the two force lists, so now we're ready to get into the actual battle. Our FLGS, the
Johnson City Hobby Town, is great when it comes to supporting local gamers and has quite a nice selection of terrain to use. We went with some of the Battle Realm board squares, some nice jungle themed city terrain, some woods, and a scattering of bunker strong points.
We rolled for long table edge deployment and Big Guns Never Tire for the mission with 4 objectives in a line down the middle. One was by the bunker at the top of the picture, one in between the two buildings just above the midpoint of the board, one in the open area in the middle of the large building, and the last in the woods at the bottom of the picture. Neverness won the roll to deploy and go first, and took the right side of the board based on the picture.
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| Board Set Up |
He put his Helbrute, Vindicator, and Landraider with the large Black Legion Squad inside it on his right flank, Kharn and his Berzerkers had the middle of the board, and his bikers and small squad has the left flank. His Daemon Prince and Terminators were in reserve. I deployed Tactical Squad Bleddyn, Devestator Squad Bretheil, and the Thunderfire Cannon on my left flank, Captain Glyndwr with Tactical Squad Gwionyn in the middle, and Tactical Squad Breithal, Assault Squad Valerius, and Devastator Squad Esgalion held my right flank. The Sky Talon, both Ironclad Dreads in Drop Pods, and the Sternguard in Drop Pod were all in reserve. Scout Squad Osric infiltrated onto the objective in the middle of the woods. The mysterious part turned out to allow 1s in shooting to be rerolled. The Imperial Fish successor chapter in me was not amused.
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| Forces Deployed as Turn 1 Starts |
I failed to seize the initiative so Neverness started his turn one. He began with a general push forward which included the Helbrute running to seize the topmost objective. His Vindicator fired the first shot of the game at my Devastator Squad on the flank but it scattered wildly enough to kill two Tactical Marines instead with a 3rd lost at the end of the turn to the Soulblaze. The Landraider destroyed the Thunderfire Cannon but failed to get the Techmarine. He also shot at my Scouts but I made all the cover saves.
I responded by bringing in both Ironclads to start my turn. Both landed with no scatter between his two tanks. This let an Ironclad deploy behind his Vindicator and the other between the two with it's flanks covered by the two Drop Pods. My middle and right Tactical Squads and my Assault Squad all advanced. Between the left Dev Squad and the Tactical Squad's missile launchers, his Helbrute was killed for First Blood. The Vindicator was shaken and the Landraider was stunned. He also lost 3 Bikers to Missiles and the Scouts. Score at the end of Turn 1 was 5 to 0 (First Blood, Linebreaker, and 1 Objective for me, no score yet for Neverness).
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| End of Turn 1 |
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Neverness didn't get any reserves on Turn 2. His Bikers and the small Black Legion Squad advanced on the Scouts. The Vindicator moved up and turned sideways to get the Ironclad from having a shot at it's backside. His Berzerkers closed on the closest Ironclad. He killed 3 Scouts with shooting but failed to charge them with the two remaining bikes. His Berzerkers charged the Ironclad by wrapping around the Landraider and Drop Pods, and destroyed it. But since Kharn only managed two hull points, he lost a Berzerker to combat before his Champion melta-bombed the last hull point.
My turn two started with the Sternguard arriving but not the Sky Talon. The Sternguard came down on the second from top Objective. I advanced all 3 Tactical Squads (Left one now on the top Objective) and the Assault Squad. The Scouts and Assault Squad combined to shoot down the two remaining Bikes. The Vindicator died to Devastator fire. The Sternguard, middle Tactical Squad, and the Drop Pods combined to kill 8 Berzerkers. Score was now 9 to 0 (2 Objectives, Heavy Killed, First Blood, and Linebreaker for me).
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| End of Turn 2 |
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This turn his reserves all showed up. His Terminators came down in the middle of my backfield and the Daemon Prince flew on toward the middle of the board. Landraider tank shocked my Sternguard, killing one, then the squad inside deployed on the Objective. Kharn and his three remaining boys advanced on my remaining Ironclad. I lost 3 Sternguard to shooting, as well as 3 members of my middle Tactical Squad, and a Scout. The large Black Legion charged my Sternguard (none lost to Overwatch), Kharn and buddies charged Ironclad (losing 1 to Overwatch), and the small Black Legion Squad charged my Scouts. Sternguard lost 2, killed 1 and passed break test. Scouts lost 1 and killed 1 for a tied combat. Kharn only did one Hull Point of damage and the Ironclad wounded 3 times to get both Berzerkers and Kharn for Kill the Warlord.
My Sky Talon shows up and heads for his Daemon Prince. My Captain leaves the middle squad and heads to help the Sternguard. Assault Squad heads for the Chaos Terminators while Ironclad heads for the Landraider. Shooting from Assault Squad, both Devastator Squads, most of a Tactical Squad and the Techmarine kills all but 2 Terminators. Sky Talon puts a wound on the Daemon Prince but it stays flying. Ironclad fails to hurt the Landraider. I charge the Terminators with the Assault Squad hoping all the attacks will cause some failed saves but I whiff with the majority of the chances and fail to kill anyone. I lose 2 Assault Marines but pass the test on double 1s. Captain joined the Sternguard to combine for 3 kills and 2 lost Sternguard but he passed leadership test. I lost a Scout in combat and broke but got away to rally. Score is now 7 to 4 (1 Objective, I Heavy Killed, Warlord, Linebreaker, and First Blood to his 1 Objective and Linebreaker).
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| End of Turn 3 |
Neverness started by landing his Daemon Prince and moved close to the right Tactical Squad. His small Black Legion squad shot at the Scouts and the Landraider shot at the Ironclad. His Daemon Prince then charged the Tactical Squad taking a wound from Overwatch and the Scouts were charged as well. I lost all but two Sternguard and killed a couple Black Legion, staying in the combat. Terminators finished off the Assault Marines. Daemon Prince killed 2 Marines who held. Scouts and small enemy squad all fail to kill anyone.
My turn I managed to kill 1 Terminator and fail to hurt the Landraider. My Captain continues to chew through Black Legion while the last of the Sternguard fall. My last 3 Scouts lose combat by 1 and my last 3 Scouts fall back from his last 2 Black Legion marines in the small squad. The Daemon Prince combat was no wounds on both sides. Score at the end of the 4th Turn is still 7 to 4 (1 Objective, I Heavy Killed, Warlord, Linebreaker, and First Blood to his 1 Objective and Linebreaker).
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| End of Turn 4 |
At the start of the Fifth Turn it really started to speed up due to lack of models on Neverness' side. He killed a Tactical Marine from middle squad with Terminator shooting then assaulted. His Daemon Prince killed 2 Marines and the squad failed to wound back, and then they broke and ran. The Daemon Prince consolidates onto an Objective. Terminator\ killed 2 more marines who then broke and ran off the table. His Landraider took a hull point off the Storm Talon while removing the Assault Cannon. He lost another Black Legion to my Captain and failed to hurt him back, but Leadership was passed. His 2 small squad survivors stayed on the objective.
My turn I finish off the Black Legion in the middle and my Captain consolidates onto the Objective. My Storm Talon tries to hurt the Daemon Prince but fails to wound it. I fail to hurt the last terminator with Krack Missile fire from Devastators on left flank. Right flank Devastators and Scouts combine fire to kill of a Black Legion leaving only one in the woods. I fail to hurt the Landraider once more with the Ironclad. Score is now 10 to 7 (2 Objectives, I Heavy Killed, Warlord, Linebreaker, and First Blood to his 2 Objectives and Linebreaker). Neverness rolls and we're playing a 6th Turn. This is where I apologize because there is no picture of the end of this turn.
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| Distraction Pic of Scouts For Missing Turn Pic |
Turn Six saw his Terminator fail to charge anything and merely got a shot at my Techmarine. His lone Black Legion marine failed to hit a Scout with his bolt pistol and charged them. He was killed though and the Scouts consolidated onto the Objective. His Daemon Prince jumped over the building to attack my Captain, dealing 4 wounds. I made 3 Invulnerable saves but failed the last and down he went to give up the Warlord Point. His Landraider failed again to hit or penetrate the Ironclad.
I killed the remaining Terminator with krak missile fire. The Ironclad finally rolled high on the 2D6 for penetration with the melta-gun and blew up the Landraider. And to avenge his Captain, the Storm Talon turned for a shot on the Daemon Prince and scored 3 wounds which Neverness promptly failed to save all of which killed off the Daemon Prince. At this point it was tabled for him and the final score was 14 Points to 1 (3 Objectives, 2 Heavies Killed, First Blood, Warlord, and Linebreaker for me and Warlord for him).
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| End of Turn 6 |
All in all a very fun game. We both forgot a few things along the way, but nothing major I think. There was definitely a lot of looking at the rule books and codexes. I was surprised at the lack of invulnerable save on Kharn, but then he should have killed anything before he took a hit anyway so probably wouldn't notice normally. Who would have thought that Neverness would fail 4 of 6 penetration rolls on the first Ironclad and 6 of 7 penetration rolls on the second Ironclad. Only needing a 6 to glance on a 2D6 roll, that should have been a very bad deal for my Ironclads. So that's how the clash went down and we're both talking about a need for a rematch, though since I called his Space Wolves merely Khorne Berzerkers lead by Tzeentch Shamans, it might just been Space Wolves I see next rather than Black Legion, LOL.
So that's all for now and I'll see you next time for more Ghost Bears and some actual new 40K models as well.
