Cob Wargaming
The Minds of Mechan
The Taint of Mechan: Mission 4 battle report.
This is the fourth part of our 40k narrative campaign. Parts one, two and three are also available to view. The fifth mission: No More Talk will be available soon.
The Minds of Mechan.
Part 1.
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“You have to eat,” Brother Marxus spoke softly not daring to break Chief Librarian Solace’s concentration. The Librarian waved him away with a weak hand. Marxus delicately replaced the needle of Solace’s intravenous drip, and watched as the saline fluid solution began to steadily drain away once more into his bloodstream. “It’s been days,”
“Weeks,” Solace replied, his voice rasping from his dry throat. He placed his hands back onto his temples and his brow furrowed deeply.
“Then at least drink something,” Marxus replied as he studied the Librarians vitals. Solace was becoming weaker by the day, Marxus knew the Librarian wouldn’t be able to continue this ceaseless meditation for much longer.
“Leave me,” Solace muttered through gritted teeth. Brother Marxus fixed him with a stern look but Solace would not be defied and Brother Marxus did not have the rank nor authority to argue his point. The Apothicary nodded reluctantly and slipped from Solace’s chamber without another word.
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Solace sat in silence with his eyes clamped shut. The tendrils were beginning to worm their way into the foray of his mind again. He could feel grasping fingers clutching for purchase enclosing around his thoughts, probing for a weakness, searching for a way in. Solace concentrated hard, even though to do so caused his head to pound and ache fiercely, threatening to explode. The fingers loosened their grip again, but did not disappear, instead those tendrils caressed around the back of his mind now, clutching and probing.
Solace pounded his fists into his eyes, and with a mutter of agony forced that probing power away. His head was threatening to crack clean down the middle, sundering like earth during a powerful quake. For almost a fortnight he had been holding the psyker who had been trying to invade his mind back, it required constant concentration, constant attention. Solace had not eaten, drank or even slept in this time, and his body and mind were beginning to fail him. As those fingers crept back into his thoughts; worming their way back into his troubled conscious, he knew that soon he would surrender and allow that powerful psychic presence to plunder the secrets of his mind.
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But Solace could not allow that to happen, he would not allow it. Master Lorentus had placed Solace at the heart of his War Council, and Solace had been privy to highly sensitive information regarding their campaign to regain Mechan 44. Should this maleficent presence glimpse into Solace’s mind for even a moment, the information they could see would cripple the war effort beyond repair.
He steeled himself for the effort he was about to undertake, knowing that it may well rip his very conscious in two. As those tendrils began to grasp again for his thoughts, Solace instead of forcing them back, grabbed hold of them. He wrapped his own psyche around them and with a great effort extended his mind, following those reaching arms across the psychic plain to find their owner. When he reached the source he had expected to find a locked fortress gate, instead, he found an open door.
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He wandered into the mind of his quarry with ease, and found himself in a large, grand chamber. The darkness around him shifted and chattered with a thousand voices, about him he could glimpse countless images of war, and he could hear the roar of bolter fire, smell the burning gunpowder and feel the agony of the fallen. There were no thoughts here, only the countless gory images of death and lust for destruction. To remain here would surely send him to the brink of madness and as he turned to leave, in his way he saw a robed figure, a black hood pulled so far over its face that only its mouth eluded the shadow it cast across his expression. That mouth flicked upwards into a cruel smile, it spread across that shadowed face like a curved scythe, Solace saw row upon row of teeth, bunched tightly together, criss-crossing and jutting out in unnatural angles. As the smile grew wider, more and more of these sharp teeth were on show, so much so that Solace was repulsed by how crudely and clumsily they were squashed into that grinning maw. Solace recognised with worrying dismay that he was in the clutches of an incredibly powerful Chaos Sorcerer. The Psyker studied Solace for a long while, letting the Librarian wallow in the writhing madness that was his inner most thoughts before he spoke.
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“At long last,” He began, “We finally meet,” Solace tried to push past the sorcerer and return to his own mind, but his twisted Chaos counterpart would not allow him to leave. Solace had turned from a guest to a prisoner. “I have wished for this parley for so long Solace.”
“What is it you want?” Solance demanded.
“To meet in person,” The Sorcerer replied.
“We shall meet on the battlefield,”
“Yes, when your master commands it, amongst a throng of loyalist lapdogs,” The Sorcerer hissed, “I feel this is more of a private affair. Don’t you?”
“What do you propose?” Solace said, as once again he tried to slip free from the Sorcerers twisted subconscious. But again, he was rooted to the spot.
“The two great minds of Mechan should meet, alone, and sort this matter out between themselves,” The smile on the sorcerers face broadened, and even more teeth glittered from the dark depths of that smile. Solace didn’t think that grin could get any wider, already it was threatening to consume the Sorcerers entire face.
“What if I refuse?”
“You are free to do so,” The fell psyker replied and even released his torrid grip on Solaces trapped psyche. “However, I wouldn’t count on you getting any sleep anytime soon,” A sickly laughter slipped past those jutting teeth and slithered into the air. “Or ever again,”
Solace felt a dim hopeless settle over his heart. As the inevitability of his situation translated itself as a look of grim determination, Solace muttered.
“Where?”
And just when Solace believed the Sorcerers smile could grow no wider. The grin grew. It grew so wide it split the sorcerers face in two.
It's time for the fourth mission in our narrative campaign!
The war on Mechan 44 has gathered some serious pace and is hurtling towards it's final battle in which its fate will be decided! The Space Marine Chapter of 'The Bloodless' has endured some hard tests but has been victorious in all of them so far, granting them a throng of in game bonuses for the final mission, they can enjoy free Relics, a Leman Russ Battle Tank and even a handful of Imperial Guard warriors to bolster their forces. The forces of Chaos will need a turn around in fortune to regain some momentum if they wish to keep a hold of the planet they conquered all those years ago.
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In this mission we see the conflict between both sides greatest Psykers. Chief Librarian Solace of 'The Bloodless' and the fell Chaos Sorcerer Amon meet on a quiet and remote battlefield to exchange blows on both the physical and psychological plain in order to defeat the other and gain psychological dominance over the other force. To represent the Psyker's abilities to mold and manipulate both fate and the environment, the Psyker who is victorious in this mission will gain the following bonuses. The victorious force in the final mission will be able to:
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Re-roll to choose deployment sides.
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Re-roll to choose deployment order.
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Re-roll to seize the initiative
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Once both forces have deployed the victorious player may make a Scout move with up to three pieces of scenery, moving them up to 6" in any direction.
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So without further ado let's take a look at the forces and the mission parameters!
The Forces.
Space Marines
Chief Librarian Solace
65
Mastery level 2 – 25
Terminator armour – 25
Storm bolter – 5
Total = 120
Terminator Squad
200
Assault cannon – 20
Total = 220
Dreadnought Sicarius
100
Venerable – 25
Autocannon – 20
Heavy flamer – 10
Total = 155
Scout Squad
55
Camo Cloaks – 10
Snipers – 4
Missile launcher – 20
Total = 84
Tactical Squad Alpha
70
+5 space marines – 70
Veteran Sergeant – 10
Plasma Pistol – 15
Plasma gun and missile launcher – 30
Total = 195
Bike Squad
63
Veteran Sergeant – 10
Plasma Pistol and Melta bombs – 20
Plasma gun – 15
Total = 108
Assault Squad
85
Plasma Pistol – 15
Veteran Sergeant – 10
Melta Bombs – 5
Total = 115
Overall = 997.
The mission
Chaos
Amon the Chaos Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, 2 additional mastery levels, Sigil of Corruption, Burning Brand of Skalathrax, Power Weapon, Veteran of the Long War. 200
Squad of 6 Thousand Sons, Aspiring Sorcerer has Melta Bombs. 178 – Squad Phosis
Squad of 6 Thousand Sons, Aspiring Sorcerer has Melta Bombs. 178 – Squad Hathor
Squad of 5 Chaos Terminators, Mark of Tzeentch, Veterans of the Long War, 4 Combi Meltas, 4 Power Swords, Champion has a Power fist, a Combi Melta and the Gift of Mutation. 282
Chaos Predator, 2 side sponsons both Lascannons, twin linked Lascannon, Havoc Launcher, Combi Melta. 162
Please note:
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In this battle reort we are using a few of models as proxy.
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Amon the Chaos Sorcerer uses the Cypher the Fallen Model.
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The Thousand Son Rubric marines units are represented by normal Chaos Space Marines.
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Chief Librarian Solace is represented by the Dark Angels Terminator Captain.
Our stand in Thousand Sons ready for battle!
In this mission both sides have one true goal: kill the opposing players Psyker! The Game will use Killpoints, each unit being worth a Victory Point, but killing the other players Psyker will be worth three Victory Points. The Mission will also award points for First Blood, but not for Slay the Warlord or Linebreaker. Whoever has the most Victory Points at the end of the turn 5 is the winner.
Pre-Game
Space Marines
Solace gets ‘Conqueror of Cities’ as his Warlord trait giving all of his units, move through cover (ruins) and stealth. A handy little boost to manoeuvrability and cover saves for the forces.
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For his power Solace uses the Biomancy discipline. He rolls both of his powers on the chart gaining psychic focus for the additional primaris power of ‘Smite’. He gets Life Leech and Haemorrhage as his powers. Warp Speed would have been helpful to increase his usefulness in combat, as the Librarian isn’t the greatest fighter, but Life Leech will be helpful to try and keep the psyker alive. As he carries a Force Sword he also receives the power of ‘Force’ for free.
Chaos
Amon chose Tzeentch getting Firestorm and Boon of Mutation, for his final power he rolled on Biomancy and got Warp Speed. These powers weren't the ones I had wanted but it was still exciting to see how they would effect the battle.
The Aspiring Sorceror from squad Phosis got Breath of Chaos and Firestorm. The other Aspiring Sorcerer from squad Hathor also got Firestorm and Boon of Mutation. I couldn't wait to start melting Loyalist Scum!
Warlord traits
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For my Warlord Trait I decided to roll on the Strategic traits chart and I got Divide to Conquer which meant that my opponent got -1 to his Reserve rolls. Hopefully this would really help me out.
Gifts of Mutation
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Only the Terminator champion had Gift of Mutation and he rolled Bloated which gave him an extra wound! This was a huge result, with his 4+ invulnerable save and now an extra wound it would take some serious firepower to take him out!
Deployment
Space Marines
The scouts and bikers deploy on the right flank, ready to zip up the board and try and take down the Chaos Predator with their melta bombs. The force has only a smattering of anti-tank weaponry and so the Space Marines are relying on luck and good rolls more than anything else to take down the Predator. Never a good tactic! The scouts will hopeful land some rending hits (again relying on luck!) to deal with those pesky Rubric Marines and their high armour and invulnerable saves. Sicarius and the tactical squad deploy on the left flank, Sicarius is planted just out of reach of some ruins, he’ll be able to get into them in the first turn for his additional cover save to hide from the Lascannons on the Chaos tank, but with the cover save and stealth he should be fairly safe, allowing him to lay down some impressive anti-infantry fire to cover the tactical squads advance. Solace in his terminator unit is placed on the right flank also to follow up the bikers advance and cover them should they fail to destroy the predator. The assault squad goes in the middle of the board, where they will be able to zip around the battlefield and help out where needed.
Chaos
Having won the priority roll and wanting to counter deploy I deployed my force as best I could to combat the placement of the Space Marines. As I had come to expect, the Loyalist Space Marines hid in the cover or behind the main mountain but this was not really an issue, after all I was sure to have superior psykers. I hope! My Tank was placed in the middle ready to cover both sides of the mountain and hoping to target the Dreadnought. The two squads of Thousand Sons taking either side of the mountain looking to rain AP3 death onto some Space Marines. Amon joined Squad Hathor ready to get into the ruins on the right. Squad Phosis set up on the left to protect the flank of the Predator. The Terminators were plonked into reserve with the intention of appearing behind enemy lines and sowing discord where I felt it would be needed. A bit more of a structured plan for this game and another new Mark of Chaos, let’s see what happens.
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The Minds of Mechan.
Part 2:
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“Is this wise?” Terminator Sergeant Grammel muttered checking the sight on his Stormbolter yet again. Solace stood stony faced at the fore of his small company that stood about him, ready for the oncoming fight. “We should at least call for air support,” Solace shook his head grimly.
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“Not possible. Too much attention,” Solace replied. The horizon suddenly began to tremble and writhe with the numerous shapes of an approaching force. “No one can know this happened. No one can know we were here.”
“You mean no one knows we are here,” Grammel spoke sharply, almost but not quite, out of order.
“No,” Solace confessed.
“So, no re-enforcements,” The Sergeant spat, struggling to keep his tongue in check.
“No.” Solace eyed the Terminator Helmet in his hands for a moment, whispering a silent prayer into its hollow eyes before slipping into onto his head. “The mission is simple, Sergeant, kill the Sorcerer.” The Librarian spoke sternly, “There will be no need for re-enforcements,”
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“You hope,” Gammel added softly yet still defiantly, his expression cemented into one of doubt as he secured his own Terminator Helm. Their enemies began to take shape before them now, their hulking armoured frames bearing down on them with a lumbering yet ceaseless advance.
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“No. I know,” Solace whispered. He eyed the scouts on his flank and gave them a sharp nod to begin their advance. They slipped through the ruins silently and vanished in an instant. Solace had brought only the finest warriors under his command, those whom he trusted both with not only bolter and blade, but with the treacherous secret of this unauthorised skirmish. Venerable Dreadnought Sicarius gave a bellow on Solace’s right, signalling the company to advance towards the enemy. Terminator Sergeant Gammel gave Solace one last lingering and questioning look. It was a stare that, although hidden behind the lifeless face of his enclosed helm, was a deep and compelling glare that begged the Librarian to reconsider. Solace answered the voiceless question by wrenching his sword free from its sheath and holding it aloft before him as he began his trudge towards the enemy his order to advance ringing out throughout the silent ruins that surrounded them.
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Gammel watched his commander advance for a moment. His men began to follow the Librarian towards the encroaching heretics already beginning to loose fire from their bolters in mighty shouts of gunfire. Gammel checked the sight on his Stormbolter nervously and for the final time. His faith in the Emperor was strong, but as he drew his Powersword reluctantly from its scabbard and finally began his advance, he quickly realised his faith in Solace was all but lost.
Space Marines:
Turn 1.
Firstly, Sicarius moves up to get into those ruins, Alpha moves with him to try and get into shooting range but also staying in the cover of the ruins. Those AP3 inferno bolts are going to be deadly and the Space Marine advance is going to be slow, moving from cover to cover.
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The bikes immediately make use of Solace’s Warlord Trait by nipping through the ruins to evade the Rubric Marines who have been counter deployed in front of them, those three bikes will not survive half a round of shooting against them and so they make a sharp detour and will turbo boost to get even further away. The scouts stay where they are camped in their ruins, with stealth and their camo cloaks they are sitting on a 2+ cover save and should make a nuisance of themselves.
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Solace and his terminators move up to face those Rubric Marines, their armour will keep them safe against the Inferno Bolts and right now they are the only unit that can realistically stand up to them.
The assault marines zip over to the left flank, the sorcerer and his marines are a real threat and Alpha and Sicarius are going to need a lot of help to bring them down and earn those Killpoints.
The Psychic phase is a no show as none of Solace’s powers are in range.
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There isn’t a lot of shooting to speak of. However the scouts infiltrate and scout move has bought them a nice shot at the Predator’s side armour albeit through some trees. It’s a tough call whether to take some sniper shots at the Rubric Marines or whether to try and take the tank down in one fell swoop, or at least mar its effectiveness for turn 1 with a missile shot. The scouts opt to try and cripple the tank and the krak missile lands a hit and scores a penetrating hit! The tank however gets a 5+ cover save and makes it.
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Alpha begin by trying to whittle down some Rubric Marines, the missile launcher snap fires and misses. Out of seven bolter shots, six of them hit but only two score wounds which are easily saved. And when the plasma rifle comes to fire it overheats and kills its owner! A disastrous shooting phase has only resulted in the death of one of the Space Marines own!
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Sicarius is not yet in range to fire. The bikes turbo boost to get out of range of the Rubric Marines Inferno Bolts but as the dawning realisation that I can jink with my bikes looms they re-direct their boost and head straight up the centre of the board, making a bee-line for that tank! 4+ saves for everyone!
The jump packs run and luckily get to go 5” enough to get into some cover and position themselves to assault Amon the Chaos Sorcerer next turn.
Chaos:
Turn 1.
Lets do this!
Thousand Sons squad Phosis (on my left) advanced towards the Scouts, its time they paid for the trouble they caused me last game! Squad Hathor and Amon headed into the ruins in front of them and the Predator stood still so it could open up everything on the Space Marine Bikers.
Onto my first ever Psychic phase in a game of 40k! I was worried by the Assault Marines heading for Amon so the first thing I cast was Boon of Mutation with Hathor targeting Amon. This worked beautifully! I rolled Multiple Rewards which lets you roll 3 times on the Boon Table with this Amon got +1 on his Armour saves and an extra point of Strength twice! Amon looked to capitalise on this casting Warp Speed on himself getting +3 Initiative and 3 more attacks. He just became a badass! Hathor also cast Firestorm on the main squad of Space Marines getting a direct hit and Strength 5 this caused 4 wounds and got a kill. Phosis tried to do the same to the Scouts but it did not cast. Amon also cast Firestorm on the bikers but it scattered harmlessly away. All in all a pretty good way to lose my Psyker virginity!
Onto the Shooting phase, Phosis was able to fire 9 shots at the pesky Scouts, scoring 6 hits, getting 4 wounds and incredibly 3 of the Scouts failed their cover saves! The other Thousand Sons fired at the incoming Assault Marines, getting 5 wounds but only killing 1 of the them. The Burning Brand of Skalathrax, dramatic in name and nature, got 3 kills for Amon but incredibly the Assault Marines passed 2 Feel No Pain rolls. Bah! Onto the Predator which aimed at the bikers (Fire everything!!!) the Havoc Launcher got a wound but the save was passed, the Combi Bolter failed to wound. The side sponsons caused a wound but this was saved by Jink and the same happened for the Twin Linked Lascannon on top. Bah!
Space Marines:
Turn 2.
The bikes zip straight up towards the tank thanking their lucky stars they managed to duck and weave away from so many Lascannon shots! They are within touching distance of the tank and cannot possibly fail to charge it in the assault phase. Excellent!
The few remaining scouts cling to each other staying in their hidey hole! Surely their luck cannot get much worse!?
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The Terminators and Solace move up, now within range to lay down some tasty AP2 psychic powers! The assault squad jump towards Amon and his men, not wanting to risk a failed charge they ensure they will make it by utilizing the full 12” movement. The tactical squad moves up to support and try and get into rapid fire range to really dent the squad before the assault marines charge.
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Sicarius moves up too to get into range, he stays in the ruins however just in case the bikers fail to cripple the tank and decides to vent its anger on the vulnerable Dreadnought.
In the psychic phase, Solace only manages to gain a grand total of four Warp Charges. He throws all four of them at smite and doesn’t score a single 4+. This mission is looking more and more doomed by the minute.
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In the shooting phase the scouts and terminators open fire on the Thousand Son unit in front of them. They make every armour save that is asked of them, even a 4+ invulnerable save against a krak missile.
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The left flank has more luck. The Dreadnought, Tactical Squad and assault squad all open fire on Amon and his unit.
Sicarius scores four hits and four wounds, two of which are rending hits! The unit looks like it will be depleted until they make two 3+ armour and two 4+ invulnerable saves. Yikes! These are really tough cookies to crack especially when your opponent is rolling well!
The tactical squad goes next, and after a massive volley of 11 bolter shots, they only score three wounds, which are all saved. Another krak missile is snap fired and this somehow manages to find a target! It scores a wound and there is a great cheer as the invulnerable save comes up just short with the result of a three! The first Thousand son goes down in the second turn.
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Sensing a weakness…well more like they have pistols so may as well shoot them, the assault squad fires some optimistic bolter pistol rounds into the squad they are about to charge. Amazingly not only do all four rounds hit, but all four of them wound! The Thousand sons fail two of their four armour saves and now they are dropping like heavily armoured flies! The assault squad pushes its luck however, by firing its plasma pistol which of course overheats. The assault marine passes its armour save however.
Amon passes their morale check for losing half the unit in the shooting phase.
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In the assault phase the assault marines charge Amon and his unit and the bikes charge the tank. The bikes combat is up first and they only manage to glance the tank with their normal attacks, missing with the melta-bomb! The assault squad charge in and Amon’s burning brand would have been able to dish out a tasty D3 S4 AP3 hits in Overwatch had he not been placed in the Slow and Purposeful unit and the Chaos side feels cheated having been denied so much AP3 Overwatch! The assault marines cannot fail and so charge!
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The Space Marines however have had a crippling oversight in that Amon’s Warp Speed is active. Not only does he have an Initiative of 7 and 5 attacks with his Powersword but he also has a staggering Strength of 6! This is a blunder of epic proportions! Amon issues a challenge and so the Space Marines reluctantly accept, hoping to tank some of those hits and leaving at least some of the unit alive to strike back. Amon does not disappoint in carving up some loyalists, he scores 4 wounds with his 5 attacks very easily, and none of the Feel No Pains can save the Space Marines. The Sergeant and three other marines go down. Disaster! The Thousand Sons go next, and thankfully with only one attack each they do not manage to kill the remaining marine, who passes the one armour save he is called on to make. He strikes back eager for some revenge! He scores three hits with his three attacks and scores two wounds from those. It’s a shock to both sides when both armour saves are failed and both the remaining Thousand Sons in the unit fall! Completely against the run of play The Space Marines gain their first Kill Point as well as claim First Blood! Leaving the score at the end of Turn 2, 2 – 0 to the Space Marines. What a topsy-turvy game its turning out to be.
Chaos:
Turn 2.
The Psychic Phase was not quite as eventful as my first turn, Phosis tried Firestorm on the Scouts but he was denied although Amon managed to cast Warp Speed on himself ensuring badass status for another turn!
Onto Shooting and my Predator bravely chose to help himself out by shooting the Bikers coming straight for him! The Bolter and the Side Sponsons both missed with the snapshots but the main Twin Linked Lascannon took one out. Squad Phosis also shot at the Bikers, with some of them being able to rapid fire, with 10 shots they only got hit 5 times. They got 3 wounds but alas the Bikers passed 2 jink saves leaving a lone Biker looking a bit less threatening in front of my Predator. My newly arrived Terminators fired at the Scouts looking to finish off the irritating snipers, they scored 5 hits but rolled four 1's and a 2 to wound, Bah! Will them Scouts ever die!
In the Combat Phase and Amon with all his boons and boosts should of made short work of this last Assault Marine, he only managed a single wound but it was enough to cut down the loyalist and get me a victory point.
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Taking the score to 2 - 1 to the Space Marines...for now.
Curse that Assault Marine! My roll on the Boon table got me the Crusader special rule, which seemed a bit pants, Bah!
The first thing I did was to Deep Strike the Terminators near the Dreadnought, hoping to destroy it and dominate this side of the battle field. Something in the system went wrong though and they scattered a massive 11” in the opposite direction.
Next the tank driver cranked it into reverse and pulled the predator a full 6” backwards. Squad Phosis stepped back 2” just to make sure they were far enough away from the Space Marine Terminators for another turn.
The Forces.
Space Marines:
Turn 3.
The Deep-Striking Terminators have caused a massive headache for the Space Marines. The Thousand Sons unit would have been the easiest Kill Point for Solace and his Terminators, but if they go unchallenged the Chaos Terminators with their multi-melta’s will go and make mincemeat out of Sicarius and the already struggling Alpha squad on the left flank. It’s a risky move, but if they can gain the advantage of extra attacks on the charge they should be able to wipe out the unit (hopefully). Solace and his men back up and race around to challenge the Terminators.
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The Bikes learn their lesson and so scoot over to the side of the tank, standing in front of it and allowing it bear all of its weapons onto them was a foolish move. Sicarius shimmies through the ruins, and gets Line of Sight on the Terminators, with any luck he can whittle the numbers down further and swing the battle in Solace’s favour. Alpha moves up to within striking distance of Amon, who is now alone. They will have to decide whether to charge or make use of their close proximity and try and fell the Chaos Sorcerer with Rapid Fire.
The Psychic phase rolls around and Solace gets a healthy 6 Warp Charges, he throws 5 at casting Smite, desperate to cause some AP2 wounds on those Terminators! He gets it with three and it is not denied. He scores only two hits and one wound with his power, and the wound is saved by a 4+ invulnerable save from those Tzeentch Terminators!
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Shooting now. Sicarius manages to land one rending hit on the Chaos Terminators and brings one of them down, the battle is now between Solace and Five Terminators against four Chaos Terminators and the Space Marines fancy their chances.
Alpha makes the pain staking decision to try and shoot Amon to death! They unleash all their fire with 12 bolter shots, scoring a massive 8 hits and an even bigger 8 wounds!
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Amon has a 2+ save thanks to his boon, but surely out of eight dice he can find at least one 1? The answer? He rolls Two 6’s, Three 5’s and Three 4’s. Unreal! The missile launcher goes next and manages to score a wound that is again saved! The Sergeant fires his plasma pistol and that is saved by a 3+ invulnerable save on the Tzeentch Sorcerer. A 2+ save and a 3+ invulnerable? Amon is going to be around for a long while yet…
The assault phase and Solace and his men charge in. Chaos must be feeling confident as they opt to only fire bolters in Overwatch instead of using their multi-melta’s. They do not land a hit and the Librarian and his men charge in.
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The bikes go back in against the tank.
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The bikers immobilise the tank with a penetrating hit from a Melta-bomb.
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Down to the big conflict between the Terminators! The Chaos Terminator issues a challenge that Terminator Sergeant Grammel accepts. He swings first but cannot wound the beastly Chaos Champion. Solace gets to swing against the other Terminators first and his Force Sword although very good at scoring hits doesn’t manage to wound. Not a great start.
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The Chaos Champion goes next. And of his two attacks he hits with only one, his Powerfist however wounds easily and Grammel cannot make his 5+ Invulnerable save and is Obliterated! On the Boon table the Chaos Champ rolls Unworthy Offering. The Chaos Gods didn’t think much of Grammel clearly! The Tzeentch Terminators swing next and they are a force to be reckoned with! They kill three Terminators! The Space marines unable to make ANY 5+ invulnerable saves so far. Disaster in the combat phase again!
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It all comes down the Space Marines retaliation and how many wounds those Terminators caused before they died. With their higher number of attacks they scored a great 6 wounds enough to wipe out the squad. Chaos however made 4/6 4+ invulnerable saves and only lose two of their unit. It’s now Solace and one Terminator against the Chaos Champion (who has 2 wounds remember) and his one Terminator. The battle swings heavily in Chaos’ favour and Solace’s charge now looks to be the end of him. Solace (annoyingly) passes his morale check and stays locked in combat. Oh dear.
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The score is still 2 – 1 to the Space Marines, but this looks like it is about to change very quickly.
Chaos:
Turn 3.
The Mark of Tzeentch really proved its worth last turn and helped me weather a storm in the Space Marine Shooting Phase. I started by moving the Thousand Sons squad Phosis towards the Scouts with the intention of getting another victory point. Amon, who was feeling lonely, wandered up towards the Space Marine Squad in front of him looking for a cuddle or a kebab and a victory point!
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​Onto the Psychic Phase and Phosis successfully cast Firestorm on the Scouts and got a direct hit but they somehow saved every wound caused, Bah! Amon decided to show them how it should be done, he cast Firestorm but it scattered so it caught only a single Marine in the flames who was reduced to nothing but ashes. Amon also pulled off his favourite trick, casting Warp Speed on himself, the Loyalist Space Marines tried in vain to block it but failed miserably!
Onto the Shooting Phase, Amon followed up his psychic flames with more from the Burning Brand of Skalathrax. He successfully roasted another 2 Marines before they fled a massive 11” away which unfortunately took them well out of charge range. Squad Phosis shot at the Scouts who went to ground to improve their cover save to 2+ but somehow they failed it and were destroyed by the Inferno Bolts which got me a victory point. Next up came the Predator and we had some major rules confusion regarding tanks in combat, immobilse and shooting (any comments that could clear up what they can and can't do would be more than welcome.) We decided to let the tank shoot weapons that were in line of sight of the Biker Sergeant but as it turned out it only took a Bolter to take him out. Onto the Combat Phase and the Terminators locked horns again, My Chaos all survived the Librarians attacks and put down his last remaining friend which got me another victory point! But Solace survived this round of combat again and passed his morale check to stay locked in combat. The Loyalist was bound to fall in the next round and victory was closing in...
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With the scouts, bikers and Terminators all killed in this turn the game swung heavily to favour the Chaos Gods with three Victory Points!
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The score now is 4 - 2 to Chaos.
Space Marines:
Turn 4.
The battle has really run away from the Space Marines now, and it becomes clear that even a draw will be a tall order for the Space Marines now. But fortune favours the brave…and they could really use some fortune!
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Alpha rally automatically and their…ahem, ‘tactical retreat’ actually turns out to be quite useful. At least they are alive and Sicarius and Alpha stay bunkered in their ruins hoping to be able to slay the Sorcerer with some shooting and steal some points. But with their numbers seriously depleted and Amon proving to be practically unstoppable it looks to be a very big ask indeed.
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In the Psychic Phase there is only one thing Solace can really do. It is unlikely he will be able to score two wounds on the Chaos Terminator Champion and so in a crafty move he casts Force on himself. He has 5 Warp Charges and uses them all and only manages to cast it with one dice! Chaos throws all seven of their dice to deny it but even they cannot score a single 6 with seven dice! Force is cast and hopefully Solace can score a wound that will kill the Champion in one hit!
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In shooting Alpha and Sicarius’ combined efforts cannot score a wound on Amon and now the battle seems indeed lost, killing him would have put the Space Marines into a very tentative lead, but all hope seems lost now!
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In a crucial combat Solace issues a challenge to the Chaos Champion which he cannot refuse. Solace swings with all of his might, but cannot find that crucial wound to fell his opponent. His Quarry wastes no time in scoring a hit and a wound that Solace cannot save! The Librarian is killed instantly by the blow and the bitter sting of Instant Death gifts Chaos 3 Killpoints and also gifts them the game!
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With the score at a massive 7 – 2 to Chaos, and only two units left on the board the Space Marines concede defeat and Sicarius and Alpha squad high tail it out of there with their lives barely intact!
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The result is a crushing victory for Chaos! Amon and his Tzeentch forces have easily overpowered Solace's fated crusade to defeat the powerful Chaos Psyker!
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With Solace defeated Amon is free to fiddle the winds of fate and twist the final battlefield in his favour to grant Chaos their first bonus for the final mission the Fate of Mechan 44.
Post Game.
Chaos
Death to the Scouts!
Finally a win for the dark powers of Chaos! This was much needed to prevent an absolute white wash in this campaign. This win will also guarantee me an interesting little bonus for the final battle, being able to move some scenery after deployment!
We'll see how that one pans out!
The key thing for me in this game was Psychic dominance, this gave me some serious advantages and easily made up for my lack of numbers, it was also nice to be able to melt the faces off the Space Marines!
So far in this campaign I have tried Slaanesh, Khorne and now Tzeentch. Originally I didn't think much of Tzeentch but playing this game and reading some Horus Heresy books has definitely changed my mind, although Alpha Legion will always be my favourite.
I specifically liked the little bonus' and boosts you can give your army in this and having Tzeentch boost your Invulnerable Save is priceless. It will be interesting to see how Nurgle will treat me in the next battle. It was also nice to have a change of luck in this battle, its not often I can call my opponent the unfortunate one! A very enjoyable battle, Psychic Phase, we must do this again some time!
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We briefly mentioned we had a rule error/confusion.
To clarify, our rules confusion came in Turn 3. The Chaos Predator was immobilised when in combat in Turn 2 and so could not move away from the Bike Sergeant in the following movement phase. We struggled with the rules a little, as it specifies that they do not count as being in combat (the tank can move away if it wishes to) but they will fight if they are still in base contact in the assault phase. So we had to discuss whether the Tank could shoot at the biker even though technically they would be in combat because it couldn’t move away. It seems a grey area in the rules (in our humble opinion) as it seemed a little contradictory that the Tank didn’t count as being in combat until it came to the assault phase meaning it could still technically shoot as it wasn’t ‘really’ in combat yet.
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We may been misinterpreting or misreading the rules and so please leave us a comment below to help clear this up for us!
The unstoppable Sorcerer Amon chases the last Loyalists from the battlefield
Space Marines
A few errors on the Space Marines side here to dwell upon.
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Not Deep-striking the Terminators was a big mistake in the end. Solace and his men were far from where they needed to be and could have been much more effective deployed nearer Amon to bring that Chaos Sorcerer down.
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The scouts had little impact on the game and should have been placed much further back, they were placed too far forward and were easy Kill Points for Chaos. Their weaponry was always going to be ineffective against all that 3+ armour and 4+ invulnerable and so a few pot shots from the safety of the back of the board would have been the wisest move for them.
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Forgetting about Amon’s Warp Speed when the Assault squad charged was a huge error also, the Assault Squad proved themselves very effective against the slow Thousand Sons Warriors and so should have gone after the other unit that didn’t have Amon in. They would have won the fight easily and would have freed up the scouts and Solace’s unit to help elsewhere. In the end although they managed to (very, very luckily) score the only points of the game it came at a great cost and they were immediately cancelled out by the Over-booned Amon.
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We won’t try and blame the dice too much there were a lot of unfortunate rolls for the Space Marines, the Chaos Tank should have been dealt with pretty much in Turn 2 as it survived a lot of hits and a lot of melta-bomb action. The scouts failed an in ordinate amount of 2+ saves and Solace never got enough Warp Charges to utilize his powers effectively. More over the Chaos player passed a crazy amount of 4+ invulnerable saves and were very lucky with their boon rolls gaining extra strength, extra wounds and improved saves being amongst some of the best rewards you can get.
But the Chaos victory was well-earned and perhaps long overdue! It will be interesting to see how they can use their very unique bonus for the final battle and no doubt Amon will be making a re-appearance to melt some more faces…
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Thanks for reading! It was a great battle and hopefully a great battle report! Now for the final installment of the Minds of Mechan story. All truly loyal Space Marine players should proceed with caution!
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The Minds of Mechan:
Part 3.
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“Charge!” Solace roared, and his men heeded the call. Solace and his Terminators ran at their heretical counterparts who squared their bulky shoulders ready to meet them. Solace unleashed one last torrent of Bio-lightning from his fingertips the fierce electricity crackling through the air ahead of their advance. The Chaos Terminators however shrugged off his powers with ease, these brutes were blessed or cursed by some fell sorcery that not even he could touch. They replied with hails of their own bolter fire. The bullets spattered off of Solace’s thick armour with ease, and the more bullets that shattered and exploded on his frame the more he was propelled to the fight, gathering so much speed that when he finally met those fell warriors, he hit them with the power of a thunderbolt.
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Solace crashed headlong into the fray, as he approached his first quarry he tucked his head low into one bulking shoulder and crashed his thick, shoulder square into the Terminator’s Helm. He heard the great crash and clatter as their armour’s connected, and as he heard a great crack and sunder of armour he assumed it must have been that of his adversary. But, a sharp stabbing pain went boring into his shoulder, coupled with the snap of bone splintering and fracturing, and he knew it was his armour that had failed him. He stumbled backwards, clumsily, and his heretical foe stood before him, unmoved.
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Solace gave a great and furious roar, and lifted his Force Sword high, ignoring the scream of pain that shouted from his broken shoulder. He brought it down clean across the face of his opponent, and just as the blade connected it was repelled by some unseen hand, that turned the blade away with such force that Solace stumbled, and even fell before his quarry. His bulky frame landed heavily into the mud. He scrambled to regain his footing and just as he raised to his feet a heavy crash thundered across the back of his head. The armour cracked all about him, like a great sheet of ice shattering on the surface of a frozen lake. His form was whipped down into the mud with dizzying force, his back and head burned in agony, and his vision swam in dark circles before his eyes.
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His armour had held, but only just.
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Solace lifted his heaving chest out of the dirt with shaken and weakened hands. With each deep breath his vision began to clear, and with great strain he managed to cling onto consciousness. There was a great splash of mud to his right that coated his visor. He shrugged the dirt from his sight instantly and saw the huge hulking frame of one of his comrades lying in a hideous crumpled mess, his armour ripped open, great gouts of blood jettisoning from a gory hole torn in his chest. He found the speed to haul himself to his feet and just as his boots planted back onto the ground, a great weight suddenly landed heavily onto his chest. He stumbled backwards as a great lumbering red object crashed against him. He turned it aside and as it fell he stared into the single remaining eye of Terminator Sergeant Gammel. His right arm had been ripped clean from his torso, the force at which it had been removed had also taken a good portion of the Sergeants ribcage with it, the armour there had been wrenched open as if it were a tin can. A mighty swipe of a Powerfist had also seemed to not only loose his helmet from his head, but also wrench half his face with it. The scant flesh that remained there, clung to bloodied bone, the Sergeants lips had been wrenched away, revealing crimson smeared teeth that were exposed in a gory and permanent snarl. The single eye clouded and glazed, conveyed a pain and horror that Solace wished he would never know.
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But he was beginning to understand that he would experience it soon.
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Already he was surrounded by the bloodied remains of his men, and those still on their feet, were backing away desperately loosing futile bolter fire to try and deter the ceaseless advance of their merciless enemies. Solace saw before him the huge frame of a engorged Terminator barging his way to the head of the fray, a great gout of horns erupted from its head and mouth and Solace knew that this was the head of the snake. He could see it was the only way to turn the tide of the battle that was slipping through his fingers like shifting sands.
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He held his Force Sword aloft and with his last dregs of strength, he imbued his sword with all the power he had left. The steel glowed an electric blue, and the handle smouldered and burned hot in his hands. If this blessed blade could not carve the heart from his enemy, then only the hand of the Emperor would be able to.
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He took two great strides towards his quarry and with a furious bellow swung the blade in a deadly arc before him. The Chaos Champion did not flinch however and allowed the hit to shatter against his thick armoured shoulder. The blade skittered from its surface, leaving a seared burn on the ceramite but not much else. The force at which the blow was repelled however wrenched Solace’s arm so fiercely he heard a gory snap in his collarbone and could not stop himself calling out in pain as the shrapnel of bone sliced into the soft tissue that surrounded it. Solace however gritted his teeth and brought his blade down again this time atop his opponents head the blade cutting through the air with a searing red flash. The blade however only clattered harmlessly against the horned helmet and as he followed through with the mighty swing of his sword, all he managed to achieve was to shatter one of those tusks in a splinter of dark ivory.
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The Chaos Champion wheeled his arm backwards, clenching his bulky Powerfist into a huge and meaty hammer that cackled with energy. Solace pre-empted the strike and with a scream that could have drawn blood and thrust the tip of his sword into his opponents breastplate. Where he expected the resistance of stone, instead the blade slipped through the armour as if it were paper. The force at which he thrust his blade buried the sword to the hilt as it burned a path through the Champions chest. Solace felt a smile worm onto his face, as the Champion froze, his cocked fist hanging in the air. A breath of relief slipped past his lips as he twisted the blade cruelly and wrenched it free, leaving a smouldering a deep wound seared into his opponents chest. Solace stood still grinning waiting for his adversary to collapse before his feet.
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But something quite different happened.
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The cocked fist sprang into life and pounded into Solace’s breastplate. Even as the dumbfounded Librarian saw the fist approach he could not move nor evade the blow for sheer surprise. In those final moments before the punch connected with his chest he whispered a short prayer to the Emperor that his armour would hold.
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That prayer stayed on his lips even as the Powerfist slammed through his breastplate, ripping it in two. In fact, the Librarians lips were still moving even as the bloodied fist’s fingers passed through his supple flesh and stretched deep into his innards, slipping the digits between the Librarians ribs, snapping and sundering them like twigs. Only when the Champion wrenched his hand free from Solace’s breast with the remnants of his spine clutched in his gory hand did the Librarian’s mouth slip open in a horrified and final gasp.
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The darkness of death swallowed Solace’s sight quickly. But just before it blinded him forever, in that eternal abyss the Librarian saw a single smile stretch across that infernal blackness. A smile long, wide and crammed with teeth so innumerable that, like the throes of death, they seemed endless.
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But the smile soon disappeared. And so did Solace, as his corpse slipped silently into mud to be lost on that nameless battlefield forever.