Battle Report #25: Old School 40k #3, Lahkers vs Khorne Daemons

Specifically Daemons of Khorne, not Khorne Daemonkin.  This was my third and final game in the Old School League.  Opponent was Chappy, running a Khorne Daemons list.  Have I mentioned there were Daemons of Khorne Involved in this battle?

Okay, okay, I'll quit it.  I'd recently been musing I wanted to fight Daemons, and by the Silent King, I got my wish.When I saw the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage (whew!) I started to regret my wish a little.  Oh well.  No time to worry, only time to soldier on like a good Necron.

Lahkers list, revised to be slightly more sensible
Catacomb Command Barge (Kobeh) w/Warscythe, Tachyon Arrow, Mindshackle Scarabs, Phase Shifter, Phylactery
Cryptek (Ref-Tek Jahksen) w/Staff of Light, Chronometron, Phase Shifter
10x Warriors
14x Warriors
10x Immortals w/gauss
10x Deathmarks
10x Triarch Praetorians w/Voidblade and Particle Caster
Triarch Stalker w/twin-linked Heavy Gauss Cannon
3x Tomb Blades w/Shield Vanes and TL Gauss Blaster
5x Scarab bases
2x Canoptek Spyders w/Fabricator Claw Array, Gloom Prism, TL Particle Beamer
Doom Scythe (fast skimmer according to Old School rules)

Chappy's Khorne Daemons
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
2x Daemon Princes
3x 10-man Bloodletter squads
2x blobs of Khorne Hounds, each with a Herald
Soul Grinder

Custom mission was "Mistakes were Made", Purge the Alien with an addition: we got victory points for retreating (on purpose) below-strength/below-starting-wounds units from the opponent's table edge.  Deployment was Dawn of War, with our zones split into thirds, each a different length out, the arrangement up to us.  Zones were 6", 12", and 18".

Chappy won the roll-off.  He allocated his 18" deployment zone to his center field, his 12" zone on his left flank, and the 6" on his right.  All the Khorne dogs went in the center, the Daemon princes and Bloodthirster of Insensible Rage went on his left flank, and on his right the Soul Grinder took cover behind the building.

My left flank was the 18" zone, the middle the 12" zone, and my right flank the 6" zone.  I put the Doom Scythe on the far right to hang out and try to draw off some of his forces.  The rest of my army I packed into the corner, deciding to lay his daemons low as they came at me, or be forcibly deconstructed trying.  I did not attempt to seize the initiative.

GAME TURN 1

Chappy had his center and right-flank forces wheel around and head towards my lines.  Then he rolled for the Warp Storm, my first taste of the Blood God's anger.  It only hit my Praetorians, thankfully, and did nothing.  The Soul Grinder dumped Battle-Cannon flavored pie on my Warriors and killed 3.  The left pack of Hounds ran further towards my Warriors, and the right pack charged and failed to reach my Spyders.

I didn't do a lot of moving, mostly scooted my Tomb Blades and Praetorians forward, and had my Spyders and Scarabs tiptoe forwards, not quite sure whether I wanted the Scarabs in combat this early or not.  Mass gauss killed about 6 of the double-wound Khornedoggies in the left pack, and the right lost about 4 from my Doom Scythe's fire.  I tried to charged Kobeh, the Scarabs, and the Spyders into the left pack of Hounds, but only Kobeh got in.  He challenged immediately, and the Herald accepted.  I hoped to snipe him out and debuff the dogs.  Kobeh dealt 2 wounds to the Herald and took none.

GAME TURN 2

Chappy got 2 of his 3 Bloodletters in from reserves.  They both deep-struck in on my extreme left flank, one hit in the middle left flank, the other scattered back and landed by the Soul Grinder.  I had the Deathmarks intercept the squad that landed nearer to me, and they finally got their act together and killed all but 3 of the Bloodletters.  The Warp Storm rolled KHORNE'S WRATH...and nothing happened.  Another bullet dodged.  Five of my Deathmarks were slain by the Soul Grinder's fire, most likely; my notes contain no reference to how they died.  The Daemons moved ever closer to my lines, the Bloodthirster of Incredulous Rage moving towards the Kobeh-Herald combat.  The other Prince charged the Spyders and killed one of them.  The right pack of Hounds charged and wiped out my Scarabs, getting First Blood for Chappy.  The mighty Bloodthirster charged into Kobeh, penned his barge 5 times, and vaporized him for Slay the Warlord.

This was disheartening, but I had nowhere to go.  I had to stand and fight (or rapid-fire, preferably).  The Tomb Blades finished off the 3 Bloodletters for 1VP, and the Deathmarks and Warriors hosed the rest of the Khorne dogs down for another VP.  The Praetorians got into a fight with the Blue Prince, and went 2-2 for wounds inflicted.

GAME TURN 3

Chappy was shoving his Daemons in my face at this point.  KHORNE'S WRATH struck again, and this time damaged the Doom Scythe and Stalker.  The Herald from the now-vaporized squad of Khorne dogs joined the other Herald and his squad.  Then we began the long list of assault moves.  The other non-blue Prince assaulted and immobilized the Doom Scythe, bringing it to 1HP.  The Bloodletters who had landed by the Soul Grinder charged and wiped the Tomb Blades; the Bloodthirster of Indefatigable Rage kicked my Ghost Ark into the next county; the remaining Dog Squad assaulted and broke my Warriors, with Ref-Tek Jahksen and a single Warrior somehow getting away.  The Blue Prince and Praetorians slapped each other, my guys coming out on the worse end.

I was done for, but determined to try and kill at least one more unit.  The Stalker and Immortals killed and wounded many Khorne dogs.  My Deathmarks fired at the Khorne dogs, got a few Precision Shots, and sniped out the wounded Herald.  I charged my Stalker into the dogs, and it managed to hold its own.  Only one Praetorian survived the attacks of the Blue Prince, and did nothing of note.

GAME TURN 4

Chappy's final squad of Bloodletters came in, he deep-struck them without incident by my Immortals.  The Soul Grinder clumped out of cover and I believe it shot at the Warriors who had formerly been in the Ark, and killed most of the squad.  The Bloodthirster of Incorrigible Rage charged into my Stalker and (surprise!) stomped it flat.

I may have played one more turn, may have killed a few Bloodletters off, but my notes say nothing on my possible Player Turn 4.  There wasn't anything I could do.

We called the game at the bottom of Turn 4.  Chappy ended with 11VP, I ended with 4VP.

Well.  I got my wish.  I fought Daemons.  Chappy pointed out that his two Daemon Princes were T5, and that I could have used my S10 Tachyon arrow to potentially remove one of his powerful dudes from the table.  That was a great idea, of course I forgot about it in the moment.

I liked the 40k Old School league.  It was fun planning out lists with the old Force Org chart.  My opponents were good sports, I got to play new armies...only thing I was really disappointed with was my own performance.  It's been a while since I got rolled this bad, multiple times in a row.  I want to get good, I want to have fun, but I'm such a scrub general.  Read up on tactics, keep playing, hope the dice favor me again...seems like that's all I can do.  That and paint the models.  Love the painting, it's half the hobby for me.

Extra Pics:

Battle Report #24: Old School 40k #2, Lahkers vs Dark Eldar

Here with game #2 of the Old School 40k league.  My opponent was Zach and his mechanized Dark Eldar.  I thought this would be a relative pushover from my experience with Nathaniel.  I was wrong.

The game #2 special mission was a "crash site" mission.  We scattered 4 objectives around the table corners, each worth 1 VP, and placed a single objective, worth 2 VP, in the table center.  Around the center objective was a circle, 24" in diameter, of permanent Night Fighting (to simulate the crash site's dust cloud.)  I like that.  I just wish I hadn't been facing an army with universal Night Vision.

My list

Zach's list (recalled from memory)

Succubus, in unit w/2x Grotesques and 1x Aberration

9 5x Kabalite Warrior squads, each with Blaster

3x Raiders, all w/Dark Lance

4x Venoms w/Splinter Cannon

2x Ravagers, both w/3 Dark Lances

Razorwing Jet Fighter w/4 missiles and standard guns

Zach got the +1 attack for his combat drugs roll, and his Succubus got Trait #2 on the Dark Eldar table.  Kobeh rolled on the Personal Traits table, got one I didn't like, rerolled it, and ended up with Feel No Pain.  As a Necron.  Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me something...

Deployment was diagonal table quarters.  I won the roll off, and let Zach go first, assuming that he would be running into my face, and my guns.  He blobbed up his stuff on the top left quarter, and I gathered my troops on the bottom right.  The Scarabs and Spyders were set up to go up and around the top in a pincer movement in unison with the Praetorians, who would go around the bottom.  Everyone else was just set up to walk straight across the middle of the table.  Yeah, right into the 24" of Stealth that the enemy could ignore.

GAME TURN 1

I thought Zach would play like Nathaniel.  How wrong I was.  Zach jockeyed for position a bit, but barely moved a few inches closer to me before unleashing volleys of lance and splinter fire.  The Ravagers immobilized Kobeh's Command Barge straight away because I was foolish and took the hit on the Barge itself.  I took every subsequent hit on Kobeh, and his 4++ tanked them all.  Combined splinter fire killed 6 Immortals.

Shaken but determined to exact vengeance, I spawned Scarabs and sent them and the Praetorians around my flanks.  My troops marched forward and fired at the Ravagers, and Kobeh fired his one-shot Tachyon Arrow.  I got no results on them, but did force the Ravagers to jink.

GAME TURN  2

Zach moved only as far as he had to to get better shots.  He moved his Reaver jetbikes out to screen his Ravagers.  Subsequent massed fire killed 3 Immortals.  They tanked a lot of dice, but ended up breaking and running towards my board edge.  And with Lord Nahz, too...disgusting and cowardly.

My Deathmarks came in, and I decided to do something stupid (again) and try to glance a Venom with them.  They dropped in by the black Ravager, rapid-fired the nearest Venom, and did not get a single glance.  I had the Praetorians hook right, up towards the Reavers, and between them and my Warriors spamming gauss I killed a single jetbike, for they had both Skilled Rider and were in the Stealth bubble and got a 2+ cover save.  The Praetorians failed to reach them in the assault phase.

GAME TURN  3

Zach tired of my Stalker, focused his lances on it, and killed it.  The Succubus and her Grotesques jumped out to play with the Deathmarks, and the Reavers jetted over to my Scarabs.  They got into combat with the Scarabs and killed all but 1 base.  The Succubus and her buddies wiped the Deathmarks; no 4 models should ever possess that many attack dice.

My warriors and Praetorians stood effectively alone against the Eldar pirates.  Nahz and his one Immortal finally rallied, but were too far and too few to affect the battle.  The warriors fired on the Grotesques, they went to ground, but still took a few wounds.  My Spyders tried and failed to join the fight with the Scarab base and Reavers, the base dying moment later.  The Praetorians got in among the Grotesques, lost most of their models, and dealt a few wounds.

GAME TURN  4

Zach wore down my Warriors with massed fire; they were defiant to the end, making the majority of their Reanimation rolls.  Good on them.  The Reavers assaulted the Spyders, killed one, and my last Spyder clubbed one Reaver to death.

I conceded.  Scored was 3-0 VP, Zach with First Blood and 3+ table quarters under his control (2 VP), me with nothing at all.

I absolutely underestimated the Dark Eldar up till now.  I may have even inflicted more total unsaved wounds in close combat than at range.  It never crossed my Necron-dominated mind that the spiky space elves with the high initiative, many attacks, and crazy combat drugs might in fact hold back and use all those poisoned shots and longer range to their advantage.  Well.  Now I know.

Also not quite sure this is a list suited to a casual league.  An MSU casual list, sure.  An MSU list with all transports?  Absolutely smart and competitive...just not as casual as I'd expected.  The other half of that is me bringing a super-casual list, which literally does not have a single duplicate unit for reasons of "these models need to see daylight again, stuff 'em in".

Eh.  It's a game.  Hopefully the Deathmarks will redeem themselves next game, and I might even bring a mildly more intelligent list.

Extra Pics:

I mean, they're hedonistic depraved space elves, but they do make badass fighter jets.

Kobeh rages at the Eldar for crippling his command barge...that may have been for the best, considering this game...

Battle Report #23: Old School 40k #1, Lahkers vs Space Wolves

Joined an "old school 40k" league which is using only the Combined Arms detachment, and a few tweaked rules of 7th edition.  It's meant to be a laid-back casual league, where you can kick back and have fun and not worry about surprise Seer Councils or formations or anything like that.  (Also no flyers, flyers are counted as Fast Skimmers.  Yay for turn 1 Doom Scythe!)

Game #1, I fought Keith and his Space Wolves.  All I knew about them was that Thunderwolves had eaten my Wraiths for breakfast a few years ago.  They became my number one priority on my To Vaporize at Range list.

My detachment:

Keith's detachment:

Harald Deathwolf w/3 Thunderwolves

Ajax "Captain Fenris" Rockfist (named Terminator) w/3 Terminators

10x Blood Claws in Drop Pod

10x Tactical Marines in Rhino

5x Wulfen, three w/TH/SS, two with Lightning or Frost claws

Venerable Dreadnought with axe and Dreadnought-equivlanet Storm Shield

We placed objectives, and also named our "enemies" for the modified mission we were playing (if killed they counted for 1 VP, separate/in addition to Slay the Warlord).  I named Ajax as my target, Keith named Lord Nahz.

Keith won the roll-off and deployed first, grouping his Thunderwolves, Rhino, and Wulfen up.  I laid out the gunline with the Praetorians and the Scarabs and Spyders set up to run through the Quonset huts and charge whoever they ran into.  I chose not to steal, I wanted him to come to me.

GAME TURN 1

And come to me Keith did.  First, the Dreadnought Drop Pod landed right by my Ghost Ark.  Keith's deployed forces moved up, the Thunderwolves going the fastest.

I advanced and decided to ignore the Dread and hope for the best.  Concentrated shooting, while initially underwhelming, did kill 2 Thunderwolves.

GAME TURN 2

Ajax and his Terminators deep-struck behind Kobeh's barge, and the Blood Claws' Pod landed on the right flank.  I chose to use my Deathmarks' special rule and deep-strike in after the Blood Claws, intending to sweep them with 2+ To Wound rapid-fire.  Turns out the Deathmarks were a bit rusty after so much time in the box, they took out a single Claw with their out-of-turn shooting attack.  The Thunderwolves charged in among the huts, the Rhino dumped its Marines out and reversed, and the Wulfen advanced as well.

There used to be a Catacomb Command Barge there.

Ajax then threw his shield Captain America style, penned Kobeh's barge on the rear arc, and blew it up.  One shot, with a shield.  Stop ruining my games, Marvel.  To top it off, the three Praetorians caught in the explosion couldn't be bothered to make their 3+ armor saves, or even their Reanimation rolls.  And as an added bonus, the VenDread assaulted and blew up the Ghost Ark.

The Triarch Stalker came on, and I took a chance and had him arrive right behind the VenDread.  The Scarabs moved to surround the Thunderwolves, and the Warriors and Spyders prepared to hose the Wulfen and Blood Claws.  The Immortals killed a Terminator, Ajax failed his morale check, and they fell back towards the Immortals, and then insta-rallied because Marines.  Not as planned.  The Spyders and Warriors failed to do appreciable damage to the other Wolf units.  At least the Scarabs got in among the Thunderwolves and began chewing them up.

Turn 3

I've played Necrons for several years, but can I keep them out of assault?  Nooo...

The Wolves closed in on center field, with a little shooting, but mostly charging.  The Warriors and Spyders were both charged and wiped by the Blood Claws and Wulfen, respectively.  The Stalker got charged by the VenDread but came through; he hit, penned, and destroyed the VenDread's axe arm, leaving him with only the shield and S6.  Not enough to even scratch the Stalker, and then the Stalker penned the VenDread in assault, but the Wolfy walker turned the tables yet again by saving the hit with his shield's invuln.  The Praetorians, down to only a couple models, killed the last Thunderwolf, leaving Harald Deathwolf alone, who weathered the tide of Scarabs gamely.

I had nothing to move, nothing I didn't want to.  The Immortals hosed the Terminators and killed two of them, leaving Ajax alone.  It went straight to assault after that.  The Stalker-VenDread combat repeated Turn 2's folly, and the Scarabs got in the one wound to KO Harald for Slay the Warlord.

Turn 4

Keith moved Ajax in against my Immortals, he successfully got into combat and challenged.  Nahz, lacking an invuln and without AP2, skulked to the back line and refused the challenge.  Ajax slapped a few Immortals around to vent his anger.  The Wulfen joined the Stalker-VenDread combat, the Stalker weathered the blows but failed to inflict any damage.

I conceded at the end of Keith's turn 4.  He had 9 VP total (First blood, Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker, 2 objectives) and I had Slay the Warlord.

I think my biggest mistake of the game was not dropping my Deathmarks by "Captain Fenris" Ajax and his Terminators.  I had my 2+ wounding assassin unit ready to kill something important (like, I don't know, the guy I'd selected as my target), but nooo, I dropped them off to kill some no-name Blood Claws.  That and deploying the Stalker right by the VenDread, instead of deploying it on my left flank, where it could put its 36" heavy gauss cannon to use and not get tied up in CC.

The other league players were friendly, though, and they had a good atmosphere there.  Laid-back, no pressure, just good times gaming.  I must mention the Blood Angels-Iron Snakes showdown that was happening on the other table.  Brothers of the Snake was the first 40k novel I read, so Iron Snakes have a special place in my heart.

Battle Report #22B: 750pt Double-Header Part 2, Raven Guard vs Iron Hands

Marine Mirror Match, Xtra Tactical Edition!  This battle report contains an excessively wordy look at Raven Guard and Iron Hands tactics.  I hope you're happy, Ike.

This was game two of the afternoon we spent doing 40k at a café.  This time, Nathaniel and Ike were duking it out, with their Raven Guard and Iron Hands, respectively.

EDIT: For once Gabe, I am.

Nathaniel's list:

Same list as previous game, except the Sternguard Sergeant is the Warlord.

Ike's Clan Raukaan CAD:

HQ

Chapter Master w/Gorgon's Chain, Artificer Armor, Lighting Claw, Power Fist, Iron Halo, Jump Pack

Troops

5x Tac Marines

5x Tac Marines w/Grav-gun in Rhino

Elites

Dreadnought w/Assault Cannon, Power Fist w/Storm Bolter

5x Terminators, one w/Assault Cannon, one w/Chainfist

Mission was Purge the Alien (kill points), deployment was Hammer & Anvil.  Nathaniel's warlord was his Sternguard Vet Sarge, he got the RG Exit Strategy trait (add/subtract 1 from variable game length roll).  Ike's warlord was his Chapter Master, he got Merciless Resolve (12" Crusader bubble) from the Clan Raukaan table.

Deployment

Ike won the deployment roll-off.  Iron Hands, being dead 'ard tough (It Will Not Die on vehicles Dreadnoughts and characters, 6+ Feel No Pain on everyone), do best at sitting back and not dying, with Drop Pod Dreadnoughts taking out major threats early in the game.  Without drop pods, however, Ike opted to keep his most fragile unit (Tac squad with Chapter Master) in the woods to force any Raven Guard to assault through terrain, and secured the flanks with the Rhino-borne squad, Dreadnought and Terminators, who could either handle assault units (Elites) or be at least immune to tarpitting (Rhino).

Stay tuned to see why I was right about that last part but not the way I wanted to be. -Ike

Yes, the box is terrain.  No, we didn't get sponsored by Champion.

Nathaniel started with his Vanguard Vets and 10-man Assault squad on the table, with the Sternguard, Solac and the Land Speeder in reserve.  The Raven Guard's version of Chapter Tactics gives their non-vehicle units Shrouded till the start of Game Turn 2. Due to the unusually small table Nathaniel could position his Vanguard Vets at the edge of his deployment zone, for maximum first-turn assault capability, without being too worried about them getting killed before they had a chance to charge.  The Assault squad he positioned farther back, a little safer due to being obscured by the edge of the box they stood on. Their only probable threat being the possibly that Ike's Terminators might step to the right and try to get a volley off on them.

And, as in the game against me, Nathaniel stole the initiative.

GAME TURN 1

Nathaniel sent the Assault squad up on the box, keeping towards his edge so that the fewest IH weapons could reach them.  The Vanguard Vets he sent up the right flank, hugging the box's side.  That was all.

Ike said (after the battle) that here he got to aggressive.  He didn't take advantage of the Iron Hands' natural advantages (comparative) of ranged firepower and toughness, and instead had all elements, save for the Tac squad, advance.  This brought them almost within 12" of both of Nathaniel's jump infantry.  The key word being "jump" of course.

Check out An Afternoon of Kill Team if you want to see Gabe make the same mistake as Scout Marines vs Orks. Of course, that match took place well before this one did, so I'm feeling a bit foolish that I didn't see it happening when I did it here.

Ike's Rhino turned left to get a shot at the Vanguard Vets.  Ike then had his Chapter Master call down an Orbital bombardment on the Assault squad.  Some servitor along the line must have malfunctioned, for the large blast template scattered to Ike's left flank, and ended up only hitting the Veteran sergeant, who was carrying the storm shield.  He deflected the strike away from his squad, and then died to Ike's Grav-gunner as his shield was raised, but his sacrifice was not in vain.

GAME TURN 2

Nathaniel got his Land Speeder in and opted to Outflank on Ike's right flank, having seen Ike's forces had left enough room around them that he could fit his squads in right by them and took the opportunity.  The Assault squad moved down from the box and landed between the Termies and the Dreadnought, and the Vanguard Vets made it to the edge of the forest.

Nathaniel took a minute to think about what to do, and settled on targeting the Dreadnought first.  With the list he had, he had little chance of winning a head-to-head combat with a fully functioning AV 12/12/10 walker.  He evened the playing field by firing his Land Speeder's guns at the Dread's rear arc.  The Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter brought the Dreadnought down to 1HP.  The Assault squad then assaulted it, attacked with krak grenades, and wrecked the Dreadnought for First Blood and a Kill Point.  In the meantime, the Vanguard Vets made it into assault with the Tac squad in the forest.  They killed the entire squad, leaving Ike's Chapter Master without any backup, but lost three of their four Marines.  The Assault squad consolidated towards Ike's Rhino.

Ike, now without his beloved Dreadnought and down a Tac squad, had his Terminators double back towards the Land Speeder, within assault range and secure in the knowledge that even rerolling Ravenjink doesn't protect it from power fists.  He had the Rhino Tank Shock the Assault squad, they passed their Ld test and one made a Death or Glory attack with an Eviscerator, glanced it, and stopped it in its tracks.  The Rhino's Tac squad whiffed their shooting against the Assault squad.  Ike finally saw some success when the Terminators assaulted and vaporized the Land Speeder in assault.  His Chapter Master slew the last Vanguard Vet, and ducked behind the tree to his right. The Chapter Master failed to make his IWND roll.

First time I've Tank Shocked a unit since 5th ed. I actually had to check the rulebook to make sure it was still part of the game! I had to relearn the entire procedure on the spot of course. I was honestly kind of hoping for it to to explode though. -Ike

GAME TURN 3

The Sternguard Veterans and Captain Solaq came on and Outflanked onto Ike's left. At the moment, Nathaniel had the Rhino corned on the left side of the field, with Ike's Chapter Master in the middle (only a short distance away), and the Terminators a short distance beyond him.  And he had the rear arc of a Rhino to shoot at.  Nathaniel wrapped his Assault squad around the Rhino, blocked the exit points, and then had the Sternguard fire on it.  They wrecked the Rhino, and as all the exit points were blocked, the Tac squad could not deploy and was lost.  Double dip kill points for Nathaniel.  The Assault squad then charged the Chapter Master and made it into combat losing 4 Marines to his Lightning Claw alone.  They dealt him several wounds and were locked in combat with him.

This event was closely followed by an unrecorded game against Gabe where he pointed out that several key assumptions I had about how the movement rules work with transported infantry units. With my mind thus blown and understanding of SM mech builds turned upside down I re-read the Dedicated Transport and Movement sections of the rulebook and learned that transported infantry units can actually fire Overwatch through the fire points of the vehicle carrying them. Good to know! -Ike

Ike, rapidly running out of options, couldn't do much more than bring his Terminators into the ongoing combat.  The Assault Marines survived just long enough to kill the Chapter Master for Slay the Warlord, and then were turned into pancakes by the Termies.  It was now down to Ike's 5 Terminators versus 5 Sternguard and Captain Solaq.

GAME TURN 4

At this point, Nathaniel had 7 Kill Points to Ike's 3.  Nathaniel could win just by standing around; Ike had to kill everything on the board to win.  Nathaniel doubled his chances to win by having Solaq break away from the Sternguard and advance on the Terminators.  This forced Ike to select one of two targets, both of which could only be killed one at a time , allowing the other to escape.  This was only made worse by the fact that Solaq is a multi wound melee character, with a unique relic that forces any hostile unit that targets him to pass a Leadership test to fire at him with full BS.

Ike chose to move around Solaq and fire at the Sternguard.  He killed 2 Vets at range, including the Sternguard Sarge, and got Slay the Warlord.  He did not get into assault, however.

GAME TURN 5

Nathaniel ran Solaq away from the Terminators, as did the Sternguard.  Between them they killed two Terminators at range.

Ike continued to pursue the Sternguard, on the basis that if he killed Nathaniel's shooty unit, he would have the advantage if the game continued.  This time the Termies made the charge to the Sternguard and killed them, but Solaq only danced farther away.

The game ended bottom of Turn 5, with a Raven Guard victory!  Nathaniel had 8 VP at the end (First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker with Solaq, and 5 Kill Points) to Ike's 5 VP (Slay the Warlord and 4 Kill Points).

Endgame.

Nathaniel and Ike talked a bit after the game, and it was decided Nathaniel's win came primarily from him playing to the Raven Guard's strengths (mobility, excellent assault capability), and Ike not playing to the Iron Hands' strengths (back up and kill your foes as they come at you).  Ike not getting the IWND rolls on his Chapter Master was a big deal in a game this small, it allowed the Sternguard to wreck the Rhino and the Assault squad to finish off the Chapter Master.

I liked these two small games, they went quick, we could chill out, and I could keep track of what was going on far easier than larger games.  The tactical decisions have a lot larger of an impact, since less units are involved, and there is less room for error.  I'd like to do this again, with a more refined list, rather than "Necron Gunline lite, hold the vehicles".

Battle Report #22A: 750pt Double-Header Part 1, Lahkers vs Raven Guard

Hey, I'm back!  After a woefully extended period of 40k-lessness, I got a pair of games in with Nathaniel and Ike, with 750 point lists, at a convenient café.

First game was the Lahkers versus Nathaniel's Raven Guard, and specifically his newly assembled Shadow Force Solaq.  The Lahkers had Acting Overlord Nihkyanh, present to expand his skills and knowledge of the dynasty's myriad foes, the royal Lychguard escorting him, and numbers on their side.  The Shadow Force consisted of Captain Solaq, the special Vanguard and Sternguard squads, Land Speeder Darkwind, and a single extra squad of Assault Marines with Eviscerators.

My list:

Nathaniel's list:

Deployment

We chose Kill Points as the victory condition, and rolled Hammer & Anvil for deployment.  Nathaniel won the roll-off, and chose to let me go first.

I set up the gunline with the tough Lychguard and Immortals on the right, the slightly-less-durable Warriors and Ref-tek in the woods, and the Spyders and Scarabs on the right.  I held the Tomb Blades in reserve.  Nathaniel deployed only the Vanguard Vets and the Assault squad, with Solaq, the Sternguard Vets, and the Land Speeder in reserve.

Nathaniel then stole the initiative, and got Night Fighting as well.  Stupid sneaky bird Marines.

GAME TURN 1

Nathaniel moved up with his squads, that was it.  Being Raven Guard, they had Shrouded until the start of their Turn 2.  This didn't worry me, however, I had the Solar Pulse on Nihkyanh.

I expected to wrap the Raven Guard up like a box with a flea in it, and then stomp on it.  Easy, right?  The gunline advanced, the Scarabs were spawned, the Solar Pulse was fired off, and I picked off most of the Assault squad at range.  Other than that, it was a quiet first turn.

GAME TURN 2

Nathaniel got both reserves in, and after conferring with Ike (who was spectating) had both Outflank.  He rolled the "you choose" option, and chose to arrive on my left flank, right behind the squishy Scarabs.  His mauled Assault squad and Vanguard Vets moved within assault range of my troops.  Then Nathaniel toasted the Scarabs with the Sternguard's heavy flamer and Solaq's pistol for First Blood.  The Land Speeder tried and failed to wound a Spyder.  The Vanguard Vets charged, won, and wiped out my Immortals.

My hopes for the Tomb Blades arriving were in vain.  I struck back at the Raven Guard with much anger but little effectiveness.  My whole Warrior squad only killed a single Assault Marine.  The Lychguard chased and got into combat with the Vanguard Vets, and slew all but the Sergeant, who was caught up in a challenge with Nihkyanh. 

GAME TURN 3

Though outnumbered, Nathaniel's Marines fought all the more ferociously.  The Land Speeder and lone Assault Marine killed a couple Warriors, and in the assault phase the Sternguard Vets punched one Spyder to death.  The lone Assault Marine was cut down by Warrior overwatch before he could get to grips with them.  Nihkyanh decked the Vanguard Sarge, won the challenge, and he and the Lychguard about-faced and headed for the distant Sternguard.

In my turn, the Warriors failed to glance the Land Speeder, thanks to its special Bird Marine re-rollable Jink, I forgot to roll for Tomb Blades to arrive, and the remaining Spyder failed to wound the Sternguard.

GAME TURN 4

Nathaniel scooted his Land Speeder towards my right flank, peppered the Warriors a bit, and otherwise focused on punching things with the remaining Sternguard and Solaq.  Despite having only a few models on the table, he was ahead by way of having First Blood and more kill points than I did, with Line Breaker if he could survive the game.

I finally got my Tomb Blades on the table, and they promptly failed to ding the Land Speeder.  I sent the Warriors out of cover and towards the Spyder-Sternguard combat, desperate to kill the Marines.  They failed their charge roll, which *spoiler!* was probably the final turning point.

GAME TURN 5

Nathaniel had nothing to do but hope Solaq and his last Vet stayed alive, and stay alive they did.  His Land Speeder zipped around and killed a few more warriors.

My turn was only a little bit longer.  The Tomb Blades futiley chased the Land Speeder, Nihkyanh and the Lychguard hoofed it as fast as they could towards the combat, and in the end only the Warriors managed to get into combat.  They did kill the last Vet, but Solaq survived.

The game ended bottom of Turn 5, with a Raven Guard victory, Nathaniel's 5 VP (First Blood, Line Breaker, and 3 enemy units killed) to my 2 VP (both Veteran units killed).  Captain Solaq rode off triumphant on the Land Speeder, leaving Nihkyanh feeling foolish, angry, and impotent.

It was a fun game, though, a nice little match that didn't take too long and that we could enjoy over coffee.  Coming up next, Nathaniel's Raven Guard take on Ike's Iron Hands.