Cob Wargaming: 40k Narrative campaign part 2

40k Battle Report: The Valley of Kings

This is the second part of our 40k narrative campaign. Part One the Ruins of Caltar is also available to view. Part Three Hellfire Munitions is next.

The Taint of Mechan: Mission 2 battle report.

The Valley of Kings

Part 1:

Sejanus gaped in awe at the immaculate suit of armour before him.

“It is an honour, sir,” He finally managed to speak.

“It is,” Lortentus replied, his voice came out harsh, scraping through his lips like the crunch of gravel. “But it is an honour well earnt.”

It was not the voice Sejanus had known his master use, so often his words were soft and stoic, but the change in his tone was to be expected after the graveness of his injuries. Brother Marxus had done his best to reconstruct what was left of his Master’s face after his brush with death; and even Sejanus, who had seen his fair share of grisly war wounds was taken aback by the flesh still hanging in bloodied strips where Lorentus’ face gave way to the newly placed metal bionics. Lorentus had been more machine than man for some years now, but to see the entire right side at his face replaced by cold steel still made Sejanus’ lament the loss of Lorentus’ last scraps of humanity. But, for the Bloodless Men, to become an Immortal Machine was the ultimate achievement, and it was a goal Lorentus was quickly reaching. His Master’s voice roused him from his thoughts.

“I realise it is unusual,” Lorentus continued, “To receive this promotion so suddenly,”

“If it is your wish,” Sejanus replied, “Then I trust your judgement,” Lorentus smiled, a smile that only reached half way across his face, the remaining fleshless metallic skull stared out with an unwavering glare that remained emotionless.

“It is not my wish,” He replied, “Nor is it my judgement,” He stood now, and walked to Sejanus with the Terminator Helmet clasped between his hands. Sejanus slipped to one knee before his Master and allowed him to slip the hulking helmet onto his head as he announced proudly. “It is the wish of the Emperor.”

Round one has gone to the Space Marines, but there is still life in the Chaos forces yet! Another 1000pts battle is ready to be fought this time in the Valley of the Kings! In this battle the two forces are battling for control of the Valley of the Kings, a crumbling maze of ruins in a rocky valley, at the end of which is a Cadian Outpost held by a small force of Imperial Guard. Which ever force can claim the valley will gain control of the Outpost and enlist the Cadians to their cause.

We decided to use the same army lists as in our previous game, with the exception that we each could pick one unit from the others list that they could not take.

After their complete decimation of Chapter Master Lorentus The Space Marines ban the use of Chaos' Terminators.

In retaliation the forces of Chaos remove Dreadnought Sicarius from the Space Marines army list.

Let's take a look at the tweaked forces!

Army lists.

Space Marines.

Chapter - "The Bloodless"

First Founding Chapter - "Iron Hands"

Chapter tactics - "Iron Hands" (6+ Feel No Pain for infantry, It Will Not Die special rule for Characters and Vehicles.)

Chapter Master Lorentus - 170

Artifcer armour, storm bolter, power sword, Iron Halo (4+ invulnerable)

Terminator Captain Sejanus - 135

Chainfist, Iron Halo (4+ Invulnerable)

Tactical squad Alpha - 195

Verteran Sergeant with Powersword

Ten man squad,

Two plasma guns

Tactical Squad Beta - 195

Veteran Sergeant with plasma pistol and chainsword.

10 man squad.

Plasma cannon and Missile Launcher

Land Speeder - 90

Multi-Melta, Assault cannon

Assault Squad Gamma - 140

Veteran Sergeant with Poweraxe.

Bike Squad Omega - 73

Veteran Sergeant.

Chaos Space Marines.

Chaos Lord - 65

Veteran of the Long War - 5

Mark of Slaanesh - 15

Murder Sword - 35

Aura of Dark Glory - 15

Plasma Pistol - 15 Total 150

26 Chaos Cultists - 114

Close Combat Weapons - 0

2 Flamers - 10

Champion has shotgun - 2 Total 126

8 Chaos Space Marines - 114

Close Combat Weapons - 0

1 Meltagun - 10

Mark of Slaanesh - 16

Veterans of the Long War - 8

Icon of Excess - 30

Champion - Gift of Mutation - 10

- Plasma Pistol - 15

- Power Weapon - 15 Total 218

1 Helbrute - 105

5 Raptors - 95

Veterans of the Long War - 10

Mark of Slaanesh - 10

Icon of Excess - 30

1 Plasma Pistol - 15

1 Meltagun - 10

Champion - Gift of Mutation - 10

- Lightning Claws - 15 Total 195

5 Chaos Chosen- 90

1 x power fist, 2 x power weapon, 1 pair of Lightning claws - 85

Mark of Slaanesh - 10

Champion has Plasma Pistol and Melta Bombs - 20

Total 205

Grand Total - 999

Set Up

As the theme of this battle was for our armies to gain control of this certain area, we decided to play an Objective game! We would be generating Objectives from the Warhammer 40k rule book, including the Primary Objectives of First Blood and Slay the Warlord.

We would first generate Three Objectives, each one being worth a point. Once we had completed that Objective we would be able to generate a new one in it's place.

Every Unit in our Armies would be able to claim Objectives so long as no other enemy unit was within 3" of the same Objective.

First off we rolled for our Warlord traits.

Master Lorentus rolled Champion of Humanity meaning if he caused the enemy Warlord to be removed from play he would gain an extra D3 Victory Points.

The Chaos Lord rolled D3 units could Infiltrate, unfortunatley they rolled a 1.

To set the board up for this battle we rolled off for each separate piece of scenery. Whoever won the roll off for that particular piece would be allowed to place it anywhere on the board.

After we had placed our scenery we then rolled to see whether the fight would be fought along the width or length of the board, both sides had placed scenery in lines of cover with a small no man's land in the centre of the board, clearly anticipating the battle would be fought along the width. The random roll decided the battle would actually be fought length ways which changed the dynamic of the battle significantly!

The Space Marines rolled highest and chose to deploy first so that they could get first turn unless the Chaos forces stole the initiative!

The Space Marines learnt a few harsh lessons from the first battle especially regarding heroes! So this time Lorentus and Sejanus both set up already attached to tactical squads for extra protection as well as extra punch! With no Dreadnought Tactical Squad beta tries to replicate the punch of his heavy weapons by placing their heavy weapons squad members on a high vantage point, this way they could start pounding the Chaos lines from turn 1. The Landspeeder, bikers and Assault Marines all deploy on the right flank, there is a line of few Objectives there, and hopefully they will be able to zip forward and grab a couple easy points!

The Chaos forces deployed the Helbrute, Chosen and Raptors hidden behind some scenery on one side hoping they could survive the first turn and dominate this side of the board. On the other side the Cultists deployed up front ready to swarm forward and absorb fire so that the unit of Chaos Space Marines with Assault weapons and Lord could get forward unharmed and chop up some Loyalist marines.

Next the Chaos side rolled for the Gifts of Mutation, this turned out to be much better than last time, the CSM champion got Icy Aura which could hopefully prove useful and the Raptor Champion gained a Wound. Marvellous. The Cultists infiltrated moving straight up to get closer to the enemy.

Chaos failed to steal the initiative and so Space Marines took the first turn.

Turn One

Space Marine Turn 1

The Space Marines roll for their Objectives!

They roll Claim Objective 3, and Claim Objective 5 they roll twice! Making Objective 5 worth two points!

Luckily Objective 5 is a short movement distance away from the deployment zone and will be an easy take! Objective 3 however is all the way on the other side of the board, dangerously close to the Hellbrute! That Objective may have to wait.

The movement phase starts with Sejanus and Beta moving up to secure Objective 5 and claim some easy Victory Points! The Space Marines still want their heavy weapons to fire so they string out in a long line to keep Unit Coherency, the Heavy Weapons staying still atop their vantage point.

The Landspeeder zips forward in order to gun down the Cultists that have edged forward with their Infiltrate move. The bikes and Assault Squad shuffle behind cover, anticipating the movement of the Hellbrute next turn!

In the Shooting Phase Lorentus unleashes his Orbital Bombardment! It was a total flop last game so the Space Marines are hoping for some more success! Lorentus aims for a big juicy glob of Infantry, the scary looking Chosen are standing close to the Raptors, who proved themselves a nuisance last game! The Blast Template covers the entire unit of Raptors and clips a couple of Chosen!

Naturally the shot scatters! But it manages to scatter on top of a juicy target that Lorentus' keen eye had missed! The Hellbrute! The rain of fire thunders down and engulfs the metal monstrosity. The machine has no chance against the powerful Bombardment and suffers a penetrating hit and explodes! The explosion hits a couple of Chosen but doesn't manage to wound any of them. To Chaos' dismay the Bombardment also kills a Chosen with dual Lightening Claws! A very costly opening shooting phase for Chaos which not only robs them of their Hellbrute but also hands First Blood to the Space Marines!

Having ventured so close the encroaching Cultists now feel the wrath of the entire Space Marines army! The Landspeeder takes down three, the Bikers take down four, Alpha kills three more and Beta with their Missile Launcher and Plasma Cannon kill six! The Cultists fail their Morale check and head for home.

At the end of the turn the Space Marines have claimed Objective 5 for 2 Victory Points and First Blood for another. Meaning at the end of Space Marines turn 1 the score is 3 - 0.

Chaos Turn 1

Ouch, before they have even blinked Chaos are 3-0 down, minus a Helbrute and most of a Cultist squad. It ain't easy being mean!

Anyway, Chaos objectives were secure objectives 1 and 5 and also overwhelming fire power.

First up we rallied our poor cultists and sent them back into the line of fire and headed up with the CSM squad for objective 1 and the rest all headed for objective 5 which was right in the heart of the enemy.

We did a little damage in the Shooting phase, the Raptors Melta gun boiled up one of the bikers and the Chosen burst open one of the Assault Marines, The CSM squad ran 3" to secure objective 1 and gain us a valuable point. The Raptors assaulted the pair of Bikers but lost one of thier kin to overwatch.

Being a Champion of Chaos meant that the Raptor Champion had to issue a challenge, with all his bonus attacks and re-rolls for Veteran of the Long War the champion still only hit once, the combat held its breath, he failed to wound, but the re-roll for Shred managed to inflict the all important wound that killed him! The other Raptors did not fare much better causing only 3 wounds which were all saved. The last remaining biker somehow killed one of the Raptors which made the Combat a draw. Retaliation was inevitable! Killing a character meant the Raptor champion could roll on the Boon table but he rolled Temporal Distortion which gave him Fleet, not really useful unless the rest of his squad was destroyed.

At the end of Turn One, Chaos had captured Objective 1, Objective 5 was being contended by the Raptors who should have really done alot better. Our new objective was Assassinate, kill an enemy character.

SPACE MARINES DEPLOYMENT ZONE

CHAOS DEPLOYMENT ZONE

1

2

3

4

5

6

Turn Two

Space Marine Turn 2

The Space Marines roll for their new Objectives. They get Overwhelming Firepower (destroy something in the shooting phase) and Behind Enemy Lines (Get a Unit in your enemies Deployment zone)

The Raptors shock attack luckily didn't manage to totally destroy the bikers! Sejanus and Lorentus leave their units in order to take down the aerial pests! The Assault Marines also edge closer to make doubley sure that the Raptors don't make it out of Turn 2 alive!

The Landspeeder zips back across to the right flank where the Chosen are now starting to advance, without the threat of the Hellbrute, the Landspeeder may be able to take Objective 3.

In the Shooting Phase the Landspeeder begins by opening fire on the Chosen! It takes down two of them forcing a morale check. Amazingly the Chosen fail! They fall back behind the safety of the ruins trying to disguise their cowardice as a 'tactical retreat'.

With the cultists depleted and not threatening any units, Alpha and Beta focus their fire on the approaching Assault Marines. They manage to cause three wounds that get past the hefty armour saves but two of those wounds are saved by Feel No Pain! Meaning only one casualty is caused!

Sejanus, Lorentus and the Assault Marines all charge the Raptors!

The Raptor Champion issues a Challenge which is accepted by Lorentus! In the duel Lorentus takes a wound and the Raptor Champion also takes a wound. The Raptors attack next and do not manage to cause any wounds. The Assault Marines champion takes down a Raptor with his Poweraxe. Sejanus lands all three hits and wounds with all three! He slays the remaining two Raptors and Raptor Champion. The Assault Marines consolidate back towards the safety of the ruins, Sejanus and Lorentus move back towards their units with their consolidation.

The Space Marines claim no Victory Points this turn. Leaving the score at 3-1.

Chaos Turn 2

The Raptors had vanished and failed to even damage any loyalists and the Chosen had ran away like little girls! The other side was looking better with the Core units and the Lord still alive and kicking. Feeling embarrassed the chosen turned around and headed back the way they came and the rest of the troops all moved up.

With nothing in range to shoot the remaining force all decided to Run, and these boys put Forest Gump to shame! Both the Cultists and the Chaos Space Marines rolled a 6" run and licked their lips at the thought of finally getting into combat. The Lord also had his trainers on and rolled a 5 so he was able to keep up with the rest!

A short turn because their wasn't much left. except hope! With a bit of luck chaos could achieve all three objectives next turn and get on top of this so far one sided combat.

Turn Three

Space Marines Turn 3

With the Chaos forces beating down on the Space Marines they spot an opportunity to grab some easy Victory Points!

With Chaos starting to look clumped together on the right flank the Space Marines move units Beta and Alpha towards the Chaos Lord and Chaos Assault Marines bearing down on Objective 5. The Cultists are looking sparse, and the Overwhelming Firepower Objective is looking achievable so the army forms into a large firing squad! Every unit has a line of sight and a clear shot. Sejanus cannot reach Beta to re-join them and so joins the Jump Infantry and Lorentus re-joins Alpha both heroes preparing themselves for the Chaos counter charge next turn.

The entire Space Marines Army opens fire! And it takes the combined efforts of the Land Speeder, Assault Marines, the last biker as well as both tactical squads and heroes to take down the remaining ten Cultists and finish off the unit! The Victory Point for Overwhelming Firepower is claimed. But all the units are out in the open and unable to charge! Leaving them at the mercy of the Forces of Chaos, who can pick and choose any unit they wish to charge or target!

However, the firing squad ultimately served its purpose, taking the score to 4 -1.

Chaos Turn 3

My beloved Cultists were gone, the remaining Chosen headed forwards trying to make use of themselves before it was too late. The Lord and the CSM squad moved into the middle of the board, and were left with a very difficult choice to make. There was a single biker left which if destroyed in the shooting phase would be a valuable victory point, also there were 2 characters very close by which if killed could be another victory point. But who should charge? and who should shoot? should both charge and hope to free up Objective 5? Should the Lord join the CSM unit to avoid Overwatch fire? (see pic below) A decision was eventually made.

The CSM squad fired at the lone Biker, and the Meltagun utterly destroyed it, leaving the rest of the squad twiddling their thumbs. The Chaos Lord fired his Plasma pistol at the Assault Marines but rolled a 1 to wound. The Chosen Champion did the same however his Plasma pistol killed one. In the assault phase the Chaos Lord lost a wound to Overwatch but charged the Assault Marine squad containing Sejanus. He scored 5 hits of which 2 wounded but were both saved. In retaliation Sejanus successfully wounded with the Chainfist leaving the Chaos Lord with only one wound. The remains of the Chosen squad had also managed to make it into the combat, the Champion getting 3 hits, causing 2 wounds but once again they were saved. His opponent, the Assault Marine champion missed with all of his attacks. With only a single Chosen left all seemed lost but this sly dog managed to kill 2 Assault Marines and win me the combat. The Space Marines unfortunately passed their Leadership Test and remained locked in combat.

Victory points now stood at 4-2 but victory seemed a long way off. For the new objective Chaos rolled, kill a flyer i.e. the dreaded Land speeder

The Valley of Kings.

Part Two:

“Undertsood,” The reply came and Lorentus held his breath as he awaited the oncoming barrage. His new bionic eye could glimpse beyond the thick covering of cloud and avoid the glare of this unforgiving alien sun to watch as the behemoth guns unleashed their torrent of fire. The deafening roar of artillery screamed noiselessly in the void of space. But as the gigantic shells pierced the atmosphere they emitted a dull pounding that echoed out like a rumble of thunder. The unassuming noise was enough to not even cause the heretics to gaze up at the sky, which was soon becoming illuminated with the red glare of retribution.

It was only when the mammoth shells punched through the cloud, blazing white hot and shining like falling stars, did the screams begin to ring out. Lorentus watched as the battle lines of his enemies buckled and crumpled as each cowardly traitor threw themselves to the ground and clasped their hands around their heads, as the deafening shriek of the burning ammunition hurtled towards the earth.

However, Lorentus could already see the barrage was off target and most of the infantry he had wished to purge was clear of the concentrated fire. But before a curse could taint his tongue or pass his lips his hope was restored. Concealed behind the remnants of some stone gateway a ghastly Hellbrute emerged. The twisted mess of flesh and metal was trying in vain to shift its hideous mass from the oncoming onslaught, roaring and thrashing at those around it as it clumsily attempted to escape. Lorentus saw the first shots pound into the ground around it, and as the ground shook and exploded in a concoction of fire and mud, he managed to glimpse the monstrosity raise a feeble arm across its face in some last ditch effort of protection. But it was no use. The Hellbrute was engulfed in white flame and as the shells hammered into the ground with unbridled fury in a barrage of purifying fire the machine erupted into hellish red flame.

As the final shells pounded into the ground and the cacophony of noise ceased, all that was left of the twisted monstrosity was scrap metal smouldering in a blackened crater.

Lorentus’ heart lifted with a rare sensation of joy, and a smile wormed its way onto what little flesh it could find on his face. Another sacred machine has been liberated of the taint of chaos, and the tortured metal finally put to rest.

Space Marines Turn 4

For their new Objective the Space Marines roll Assassinate.

The Game seems to be reaching its climax! The forces of Chaos are concentrating their efforts on taking down Sejanus with their Lord and Chosen. Lorentus leaves Alpha to go and assist the beleaguered Jump Infantry and his newly appointed Terminator Captain!

Having shot last turn to take down the biker and claim their Overwhelming Firepower Objective, the Chaos Assault Marines are wide open. Taking them down in close combat would be difficult and costly, and so the Tactical squads prepare to decimate them with fire.

The Landspeeder zips at full speed to claim an unguarded Objective 3.

In the shooting phase Alpha and Beta unload their weapons, and with their rapid firing bolters they manage to kill three Chaos Marines. The Space Marines traitorous counterparts fail their moral check! And flee back to their board edge.

Lorentus charges into combat and with the two challenges on going he can pick and choose which combat to intervene in. He decides to perform a Glorious Intervention for the Assault Marine Champion who was struggling against the Chosen Champion, trusting Sejanus to take down the Chaos Lord by himself (while also saving himself a brush with the Lord’s Murder Sword.)

Lorentus’ combat is a let-down as he only lands two hits on his adversary and doesn’t even manage to cause a wound! His enemy lands a successful wound however it cannot find its way through Lorentus’ armour. In Sejanus’ combat the Chaos Lord lands a flurry of blows, but, he cannot make a mark through Sejanus’ Terminator armour. Sejanus however is not as kind, and with his Chainfist he slays the Chaos Lord outright with a tasty Powerfist smash of Instant Death! Which is quickly becoming the Choas Lord’s favoured way to die.

At the end of the Turn the Space Marines have:

Slay the Warlord for 1 point.

Assassinate for 1 point.

Claim Objective 3 for 1 point.

Taking them to a grand total of 7 points for the game to Chaos’ 2 points.

With this in mind, the forces of Chaos concede defeat with their only remaining unit heading for hills with their tails between their legs!

Post Game

Another victory for the Space Marines! Who win the game 7 - 2 and will have access to 250 points of Imperial Guard in the final battle in the campaign.

We really enjoyed this Objective based game it keeps things much more interesting than just trying to all out destroy your opponent! It causes you to think more tactically and place units in jeopardy in order to claim Victory Points!

The result does however seem very harsh on Chaos who were not as lucky as the Space Marines when rolling for their Objectives. The Space Marines were lucky to claim two easy points from such a close Objective as well as snatch First Blood by robbing the Chaos forces of their Hellbrute before he even had a chance to move.

Chaos however made some key mistakes in this mission, they should definitely have infiltrated with the Helbrute who more likely to survive the inevitable firestorm and also it would of split up the big block of units from the Orbital Bombardment. Another Massive error was forgetting about the Murder Sword! Lorentus could have been slain easily. Nevermind!

The forces of Chaos have lot of potential in the next game their Champions issuing Challenges was causing the Space Marines some problems and in the next game they'll be sure to strike down their hated loyalist counterparts in some glorious 1 on 1's!

The Valley of Kings.

Part Three:

He was young. Sejanus noticed this immediately, the man looked like a babe with a ridiculous pencil thin moustache barely clinging to his face. The young Officer desperately tried to hold Sejanus’ stalwart gaze, but the imposing sight of 7ft super soldier glaring down through his expressionless Terminator Helm, was causing the Young Officer to shake uncontrollably. Thick droplets of sweat were forming around his questionable facial hair.

“How many men?” Sejanus asked again. The Young Officer shifted his eyes from his quaking boots back to the imposing form of the Terminator Captain addressing him.

“Two hundred,” He finally replied, his voice breaking with either fear or puberty, Sejanus struggled to decide which one.

“Fighting men?” Sejanus replied, the Young Officer swallowed so hard Sejanus feared he may swallow his own Adam’s apple.

“A hundred,” The Young Officer’s gaze shifted back to his boots as he answered, “Maybe more,” Sejanus eyed the mountains of bloodied bandages that littered the make shift Field Hospital he was standing in, they were outnumbered only by the body bags, lying in silent rows in the mud.

“Maybe less,” Sejanus replied.

“We’ve been waiting for almost three months,” The Young Officer somehow found the courage to retort, “It’s a miracle we have any men left at all,” The Young Officer was clearly looking for some sympathy; he would find none.

“How many guns?” Sejanus continued.

“A handful,” The Young Officer glanced around at the gun emplacements standing unmanned, “A few Lascannons, Heavy bolters, most are in working order, we just need the ammunition,” Sejanus nodded. The forces here were sparse but he would find a way to put them to good use, as much as he hated to admit it they would need all the help they could get in purging this world of the Chaos taint.

“Heavy Support?” Sejanus asked, rather hopefully. He expected a simple response but this question seemed to make the Young Officer the most uncomfortable.

“There was a Heavy Weapons factory, not far from here,” The Young Officer replied quietly after a lengthy pause. “We were manufacturing tanks there,”

“Were?”

“We held it for as long as we could but we lost it, there were too many of them.” Sejanus felt his heart sink low in his chest. “We had only managed to build one Leman Russ,” The Young Officer continued. “We managed to use the tank to hold them off and managed to beat them back,” The moustache began to quiver uncontrollably now as he added, “but we abandoned it after the last assault,”

“Is it still there?”

“Unless they already have it, yes.” Sejanus made no effort to disguise his displeasure as he added.

“You had better pray they haven’t.” Sejanus turned and scoured the Field Hospital for Master Lorentus, who needed to be informed of the new danger they had found themselves in. Lorentus was a distant shape in the distance, stoically examining the rows of corpses. He made a move towards him but found himself involuntarily turning back towards the Young Officer.

“What’s your name soldier?”

“Lieutenant Harrow,” He replied.

“Harrow,” Sejanus spoke, the smile on his face concealed behind his armoured helm, “If that tank falls into the hands of the Chaos Horde. I shall ensure that the first shell fired from its cannon, is aimed directly at you.” A muffled laugh slipped through his visor, “And if we manage to secure it? I’ll make sure the first thing fired from its cannon is you.” Sejanus walked away, bellowing over his shoulder. “And I’ll load you into the barrel myself!”

Lieutenant Harrow waited until Captain Sejanus was safely out of sight before he allowed his quivering knees to give way, his scrawny frame collapsed onto his bony backside and into the mud. Harrow was about to whisper a soft prayer to the Emperor, but as he thought about Sejanus’ departing threat, he realised he didn’t know what exactly to pray for.