Battle Report: Assault on Outpost 13

The forces of Chaos pushed on into Dark Angel territory, trying to secure the planet of Cherbull…

I gave my predictions as to what I would be facing yesterday, but this is what I found:

Interrogator Chaplain

Command Squad x5 / Power Weapon x2
Razorback / Extra Armour

Scouts x5 / Sniper Rifle x2

Dreadnought / Venerable / Twin-Linked Autocannon / Heavy Flamer / Extra Armour

Tactical Squad x10 / Plasma Cannon x1 / Plasma gun x1
Rhino / Extra Armour

Tactical Squad x10 / Plasma Cannon x1 / Plasma gun x1

Landspeeder / Assault Cannon

Landspeeder / Assault Cannon

Vindicator / Extra Armour

Devastator Squad x10 / Plasma Cannon x4 / Power Weapon x1

I took a different lineup, lead by my new Sith Jedi, Sorcerer Talon:

Sorceror / Level 3 / Mark of Nurgle / Sigil of Corruption / Mutation

Hellbrute

Plague Marines x7 / Plasma gun x2

Rhino / Extra Armour

Marines x7 / Meltagun x1 / Mark of Nurgle

Rhino / Extra Armour

Marines x7 / Meltagun x1 / Mark of Nurgle

Rhino / Extra Armour

Predator / Lascannon Sponsons / Extra Armour

Obliterators x3 / Mark of Nurgle

Forgefiend

Great Unclean One

Plaguebearers x14

We rolled for set up and missions, got diagonal deployment with an objective in each other's deployment zones worth 3 points each, together with three secondary missions worth a point each.

Bull elected me to set up and go first, with Night Fighting on turn 1.

There was only one option here and that was head for the trees and stay in cover. I sent my three Rhinos in that direction, (1) two of them managing to immobilise themselves in the woods – great!

(1) Two immobilised Rhinos on the edge of the wood

Everything else ambled into the cover of the trees, the Forgefiend killing two scouts who had deployed to my right, the Predator giving a Speeder a fright who had to jink-save 3 penetrating hits to stay alive.

At this point there wasn't much for the Dark Angels to shoot at, so there was some movement here and there and not much else.

Then the drama began. The Great Unclean One turned up at the beginning of my next turn. I decided to throw him down the throats of the awaiting enemy, but scattered on top of a marine squad and had to roll on the mishap table. I rolled a 'wrong coodinates' result, meaning Bull could place my HQ anywhere on the table he liked. Of course he put him far away from his battle lines and effectively took him out of the game – he couldn't get across the table in the remaining 4 turns to do anything – so he sat behind a bit of terrain (after being shot twice by the Quad Gun) and sulked.

My Forgefiend and Predator poured fire into the Vindicator, managing a hull point between them.

Again there wasn't much for Bull to shoot at and his skimmers backed away from my Heavy Support.

Next turn my Plaguebearers turned up and, in defiance of the dice gods, I elected to deep strike them right in front of the enemy again. Ironically the landed without scattering but were in full view of the entire Dark Angel army. I needed a distraction.

(2) Plague Marines stray a little too close

(2) I threw the Rhino containing my Jedi and Plague Marines right up to the Defence Line, then realised that Bull could surround it and destroy it. Luckily for me he rolled low on a difficult terrain move so couldn't cut me off completely. However, he did manage an exploding penetrating hit, leaving a crater and a handful of dazed Plague Marines where the vehicle had been (3). He then charged in with his Dreadnought – the one thing that particular unit needed to avoid.

(3) Rhino is blown into small pieces

The biggest problem was that my Sorcerer had taken a wound in the explosion, leaving him on only one remaining wound. I had rolled Iron Arm as a psychic power, which I duly cast, giving him a total of Strength 6, Toughness 7 and Eternal Warrior – most of which wouldn't matter against a Dreadnought. The Dread squished a couple of Plague Marines and I managed to take a Hull Point in return.

The rest of the Dark Angels shot into the Daemons but only managed to kill two or three.

Next turn I pumped shots into the Vindicator and managed to take its last Hull Points – First Kill objective point to me. The marines in my immobilised Rhinos decided to get out and run through the woods – their transports were not being fixed anytime soon. I moved the Hellbrute out of the wood, just in front of the Dreadnought combat. He charged in and managed to take down the Dread, but not before he had reduced the Plague Marines to the Champion and the Sorcerer.

The Dark Angel troop unit opening up on the remains of the Plague Marine unit, killing both the Champion and my Sorcerer – Kill The Warlord objective point to Bull.

(4) Hellbrute jumps in to support the Daemons

The Plaguebearers were not doing much against the Devastator squad who they had charged, and were in danger of being killed over time – I'd have to throw the Hellbrute in to even things up (4).

Elsewhere, the combination of the Predator and Obliterators took out the Speeders, whilst the Forgefiend moved over to the left and killed two of the skulking scouts in the ruins. They wouldn't be able to claim the Linebreaker objective point now, whilst I had several units in Bull's deployment zone virtually guaranteeing me an additional point.

My troop units burst out of the wood and one managed to get into assault with the troops who had killed our glorious leader, inflicting a decent amount of damage and killing the veteran sergeant in a challenge – alas the Boon table roll indicated that the offering was not significant enough, so my champion got no upgrade.

The combat in the middle between the Devastators and my Plaguebearers, now joined by the Hellbrute, swung back in my favour and Bull was running out of units here – not wanting to commit his Chaplain and Command unit and risk a possible 'Kill the Warlord' point going to me.

Bull decided to call it there, not feeling things were going to improve. On the night we called it a 5-4 win to me.

However, I have since realised that I was not actually controlling my own objective – I had no troops near it. With that being the case, the final score was actually 2-1 to me but, more importantly, Bull had a very good chance of winning control of his own objective in the following turns and making the score 4-2 in his favour.

More thoughts tomorrow. I suggest you go look at Bull's Battle Report to see his perspective of things. We have our third game of 2000pts due over the holidays so keep an eye out for the preparation for that.