Cob Wargaming: 40k Narrative campaign part 5

No More Talk

The Taint of Mechan: Mission 5 battle report.

The war for Mechan 44 is in full swing now, the planet is ravaged by battle as each of the forces prepares for its final push with the final show down is looming large on the horizon! However, each army has one last chance to gain one last advantage over the other. In a remote corner of the planet the forces of Chaos and The Bloodless have each made a move to disrupt the others communication lines. In this penultimate fight each force must defend their own communication line from sabotage whilst trying to destroy and disrupt their opponents. The winner of this fight will be able to place three of their opposing players units into reserve for the first turn, to represent the communication lines being damaged, and the final attack becoming uncoordinated. Although these units will automatically arrive on the second turn, it is still one turn without some heavy guns or a smattering of troops that will ultimately hinder the effectiveness of their first turn and prevent them gaining a strong starting foothold in the final mission.

So let's get to it!

This is the fifth part of our 40k narrative campaign. Parts one, two, three and four are also available to view. The final mission: Fate of Mechan will be available soon.

Minds of Mechan

The Fate of Mechan 44

The Forces.

Space Marines

Chaos

Terminator Captain Sejanus - 120

The Burning Blade – 55

175.

Captain Nelson - 90

Artificer Armour – 20

Relic Blade – 25

Combi-Plasma – 10

145.

Elites.

Venerable Dreadnought ‘Honour’ - 100

Venerable – 25

Twin linked Lascannon - 25

Built in heavy flamer – 10

160

Terminator Squad ‘Glory’ – 200

Additional two terminators – 80

Cyclone Missile luncher – 25

305

Troops.

Scout Squad ‘Shadow’ – 55

Camo Cloaks – 10

Snipers – 4

Missile launcher 15

Tactical squad ‘Fracture’

Veteran Sergeant with power sword and plasma pistol

Plasma gun and missile launcher

195

Tactical squad ‘Quake’

Veteran Sergeant with power sword and plasma pistol

Plasma gun and plasma cannon.

195

Fast Attack

Land Speeder ‘Blitz’

Multi Melta – 10

Assault Cannon – 30

Assault Squad 'Storm' - 85

Vet Sergeant – 10

Power Sword - 15

Plasma Pistol and combat shield – 20

Plasma Pistol – 15

150

Total - 1499

Chaos Lord. Mark of Nurgle, Gift of Mutation, Veteran of the Long War, Black Mace, Sigil of Corruption, Plasma Pistol. 180

Sorcerer. Mark of Nurgle, Veteran of the Long War, Gift of Mutation, 2 Mastery Levels, Sigil of Corruption, Plasma Pistol. 180 All Psychic Powers will be taken from the discipline of Nurgle.

10 Chaos Space Marines, Mark of Nurgle, 1 Plasma Gun, 1 Melta Gun, Veterans of the Long War. Champion has; Gift of Mutation, Power Fist, Combi-Melta. 250

18 Chaos Cultists. Champion has Shotgun. 84

Helbrute. 105

Chaos Terminators. Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War, 4 Combi Meltas, 4 Power Fists. Champion has Power Fist, Combi Melta and Gift of Mutation. 287

Chaos Predator. Twin Linked Lascannon, Side Sponson Lascannon, Havoc Launcher, Combi Melta. 162

6 Chaos Chosen. Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War, 1 pair of Lightning Claws, 1 Power Fist, 1 Power Axe. Champion has Gift of Mutation, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword. 252

Total: 1500 points

Tactical Squad 'Fracture' ready for battle!

The mission

In this mission each force has three objectives, set up an equal distance apart across the back line of their deployment zone 6” from the edge of the board. These objectives represent the communication line and they run parallel to each other on both sides. On each objective there is an engineer (represented by an Imperial Guardsman) these engineers must be escorted by infantry units across the board, and must be planted on an opposing objective marker. Once an engineer has been placed on an opposing team’s objective marker, the engineer has sabotaged that communication relay and that team scores 3 Victory Points at the end of the game.

The engineers cannot be shot at or killed, but they can be captured. If an opposing teams engineer is held by a friendly unit with no enemies within 3” at the end of the game then that engineer has been captured, the captured engineers are worth 2 Victory Points at the end of the game.

If an engineer is left unmanned, and has no friendly units or enemy units within 3” then he counts as having fled or surrendered and is worth 1 Victory Point to the opposing team.

The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, with First Blood and Slay the Warlord Victory Points only being used in the event of a tie.

Pre-Game

Chaos

Warlord Trait: The Chaos Lord was selected to be the Warlord and he rolled Exalted Champion, this gave him the chance to re-roll his Boon rolls.

Mutations:

Chaos Lord got +1 initative but greedily chose to re-roll this and ended up with unworthy offering

Sorcerer got Stubborn which was pretty rubbish to have for the Sorcerer but it might come in handy

The Space Marine Champion rolled Unworthy Offering

The Terminator got +1 Initiative but he was carrying a Power Fist so that was no good!

The Chosen Champion got to Re-roll failed armour saves, which was fantastic for chaos, they finally got one useful mutation.

Space Marines

Sejanus rolled for his Warlord Trait for this game on the Strategic Traits table. He rolled Princeps of Deceit, meaning three enemy units had to take a Pinning Check at the start of their first turn. Against a Leadership 10 army this was going to be pretty useless, but there was always a chance to tie down the blob of cultists for a turn and stop the mass from pouring forward which would be good.

With no Psychic powers to speak of that was it for the Space Marines Pre-game. The Space Marines lost the roll for deployment, but Chaos chose them to deploy and go first.

No More Talk.

Part 1.

Captain Nelson stared deeply into the blade. He had admired the weapon for as long as he had been given possession of it. Holding this sword had always filled him with pride and honour, but today the hefty Relic Blade felt alien in his hands, it filled him with very different emotions. For Space Marines, especially those of The Bloodless, such trivial things as material possessions usually hold little sentimentality. For those who aspire to become the Immortal Machine, emotions such as covetousness and possessiveness, amongst many others are undesirable and unworthy traits. As is another emotion.

Jealousy.

Captain Nelson let his eyes wander from the shining steel to the stoic form of Terminator Captain Sejanus who stood proud in his hulking suit of armour. He had long ceased listening to the words that Sejanus was speaking, his commands drifted into his senses only momentarily before they were lost again, swallowed by his own noisy thoughts. Nelson watched the stern and nodding heads of the Sergeants that were littered around Sejanus, taking their orders loyally and retreating back to their men to take up their positions. There was no doubt that Sejanus was a powerful and charismatic leader.

But he shouldn’t be my leader, Nelson thought quietly. It was a very quiet thought. It was a very dangerous thought.

But as Nelson stared back at the Relic Blade sitting quietly in his hands it was a thought that returned to him. This blade was given to him by Lorentus himself upon his promotion to Captain of 4th Company. It was the sword that Master Lorentus wielded on that fateful day when Mechan was lost to them, and it had become one of the Chapter’s most revered Relics. Nelson had seen the honour of wielding the blade a testimony to his skills and the respect he had earnt in battle. More than that, he had seen the gift as the intention to be named Lorentus’ successor, he had seen the gift as a symbol of becoming his beloved master’s heir. It would only be a matter of time until his promotion to Terminator Captain.

But that promotion never came. Instead it was Sejanus who had received the honour. A Veteran Sergeant who had propelled himself through the ranks at an unprecedented speed, maybe even an unnatural speed. Nelson felt his grip on the hilt of his blade tighten involuntarily as he settled his eyes back on Sejanus, he watched the Terminator Captain addressing his troops.

My troops, that quiet voice whispered again.

Captain Nelson dipped his head in a deep shame. Jealousy was one thing, but these thoughts that were plaguing him now, were something entirely different.

Heresy.

Nelson stood and sheathed the blade and already he felt his mind clearing. His faith in Sejanus was yet to be won, but his faith in Lorentus was absolute. He had chosen Sejanus over him and he had to believe that there was a valid reason. Nelson knew that he must live with Lorentus’ decision.

Or die with his mistake.

Deployment

Space Marines

For deployment the Space Marines were looking a little thin on the ground to both cover Objectives and transport Engineers. Firstly they turned Quake into two combat squads, Captain Nelson was put with the Sargent and the plasma gun and placed next to the engineer to take him across the board. Whilst the Plasma Cannon would stay camped on the objective to defend it. Fracture took the very far right Objective, the Space Marines kept them as a ten man unit, hoping that they could both take the Engineer and stop any Chaos forces getting past. The Landspeeder and Dreadnought took up position in the centre of the board, where their anti-tank weaponry could get a good cover of the board.

The Space Marines wanted to put the Terminators into Deep Strike Reserve but then there was no one on the last objective, and so they were placed down on the far left with Sejanus. They should be strong enough to go forward and hold back whatever came the opposite way. That was the theory anyway.

The scouts would infiltrate to get into a good position to pick off some infantry and the Assault Squad would also Deep Strike to show up wherever they were needed once the game got going!

Chaos

For Chaos Deployment was more straight forward. The Cultists were placed in the centre of the board to pick up and Engineer and sweep forward, with their numbers and increased toughness they should survive to get to the otherside! They would be supported by the tank and the Sorcerer would go with them. Chaos decide not to place him in the unit for increased mobility, his psychic powers will be practically unopposed and with no psyker on the Space Marine side, his magic will be very useful!

The Terminators stay close to the centre of the board also to support the cultists but are moved over to help deal with the Loyalist Terminators should the worst come to the worst. The Lord and the Chosen deploy to go up against the tactical squad on the right, they should squash them easily! The Hellburte and Chaos Space Marine squad go up against Sejanus and his Terminators. The hellbrute should provide a hefty punch to those Terminators with his Multi-Melta and Powerfist!

Turn 1

Space Marines

Chaos had been crafty in allowing the Space Marines to take first turn, their counter deployment was pretty terrifying, the cultists in the centre being backed by the tank and Sorcerer they looked like they would simply wash over the board, with ‘Quake’s’ combat squad looking like they wouldn’t be able to stand up against the mob, and Nelson had no anti-tank capabilities. It would be down to some lucky pot shots from the Dreadnought’s Lascannons to help cripple the tank and cover the advance. But either way, the centre of the board was looking like a crushing Chaos victory and an almost guaranteed 3 points.

With this in mind, Nelson takes a slight detour, heading instead to join Fracture up the left side of the board. Taking two engineers to the same objective marker would stretch the Chaos defence and hopefully negate the 3 points that Chaos would likely score with the cultists down the centre.

Fracture and Sejanus’s Terminator squad take their Engineers and head up the board, there isn’t a lot in range to fire at yet so they begin to move forward. The Landspeeder zips forward in a rather suicidal but crucial move as the Hellbrute is staring down Sejanus and his squad on the left flank. It’s multi-melta is the only thing on the board that can really hurt it and it will most likely only get one shot at it before it is destroyed.

Onto shooting and Terminator Squad ‘Glory’ fires two krak missiles at their Chaos Terminator Counterparts. Only one manages to score a wound which is saved by its 5+ invulnerable save.

The Landspeeder scores a hit with its Multi-Melta but cannot penetrate its armour. It is now stuck in the middle of no-where and will need to rely on a Jink save.

The Snipers light up the Chaos Sorcerer, who hasn’t been placed in the unit of Cultists, of the four shots, all four land and two of them score AP2 hits! With only two wounds the Sorcerer is in trouble! He manages to pass his two 3+ armour saves, and luckily saves one of the AP2 hits with his Sigil of Corruption. But already down to one wound he’s looking very vulnerable. A krak missile may have finished him off…if it hit. Which it didn’t.

Fracture snap fires a hopeful krak missile at the Sorcerer as well, but he’s become very good at dodging missiles and the shot misses.

The Dreadnought fired a Lascannon shot at the Tank, the shot hit and penetrated but with the Cultists in front of it, it gained a 5+ cover save which it passed.

At the beginning of Chaos’ Turn 1. The Space Marines choose the Terminators, Cultist Squad and Chaos Space Marine Squad on the right flank to take Pinning Checks. The Terminators and Space Marines pass easily. The Cultists however do fail their check and go to ground! It’s a lucky break for the Space Marines, not only buying them more time to deal with their advance but also trapping the tank behind them stopping it moving too.

Chaos

Okay lets go! The Chaos Sorcerer immediatley moved forward behind the rock out of sight of the Scouts and their sniper rifles. Chaos was already regretting not putting him into the cultist unit. Speaking of which the cultists were pinned and were blocking the Predator from moving, if only the tank could just run them over! The Termies, Hellbrute, Chosen and Chaos Space Marines all moved up 6"ready to take some valuable ground.

In the Psychic Phase the only power that was in range was Gift of Contagion but it was denied, perhaps he was still feeling the effects of his wound.

The Chaos Terminators fired hopefully at the big squad of Loyalist Terminators opposite and actually got a kill, which was the first slain model of the game.

The Hellbrute fired at the Landspeeder, Chaos wanted an early kill on this vehicle because it could cause some serious damage. The Hellbrute missed but it did get the Landspeeder to jink. The Chaos Space Marines also fired at the dreaded Landspeeder, 7 bolters managed 6 hits which translated into 1 glancing hit, hooray! The Chosen fired 4 of their bolters at the hated scouts, getting 3 hits which gave hope of finally destroying that unit in this campaign. But they rolled a triple 1 to wound, gutted! Finally the Predator targetted the Dreadnought and got a penetrating hit causing it to be shaken.

Turn 2

In the second turn it was time to call in the Jump Infantry! They passed their reserve roll and arrived. The Space Marines placed them down next to the Sorcerer, the scouts couldn’t see him anymore and didn’t want to move from their vantage point, and Fracture had a meaty Chosen Unit baring down on them which would need some firepower to deal with. It was a hopeful placement and the Space Marines were hoping that their plasma pistols and bolt pistols would be able to finish him off. The dice had something else in mind however. A horrific 10 inch scatter took them away, not only on the other side of a huge rock so they couldn’t see the Sorcerer anymore but slap bang in front of that mass of Cultists. Uh-oh.

Fracture moved up a little more, to get Line of Sight on the Chosen squad. As did Sejanus and Terminator Squad Glory, they shuffled through the trees however, trying to stay covered as there was some heavy fire coming their way. The Dreadnought stayed in cover as that Predator was deadly, and the Land Speeder stayed where it was too, hoping to get lucky and one shot the Hellbrute.

In the shooting phase the Land Speeder snap fired all its weapons at the Hellbrute having Jinked in the previous turn. The crucial Multi-Melta shot missed, and so did all four Assault Cannon shots. The dawning realisation that leaving him there to snap shoot was a horrific idea, is a quick and painful realisation indeed. The Terminators open fire at the Chaos Space Marines to try and whittle down the small arms fire that will head the Landspeeders way. They score only one kill.

The Plasma cannon also tries to chip in and help reduce the numbers of Bolters that may glance the Landspeeder to death. Its only contribution is to Get Hot. Luckily its user passes his armour save.

The Assault Squad open fire at the cultists, hoping to whittle down the numbers, but it’s looking like using a watering can on a forest fire. They score only 1 kill with their bolt pistols, and the wound suffered by a Plasma Pistol shot, is saved by the Cultists 6+ cover save for having Gone to Ground. Perhaps that failed pinning check wasn’t so great after all…

Fracture faces an interesting dilemma. They have unwittingly gained Line Of Sight on the Sorcerer as well as the Chosen. With all their fire power they should be able to kill the Socerer, but they will have no hope of standing up against that full unit of Chosen as well as the Chaos Lord. It’s a long and arduous decision, and after a bit of measuring the Space Marines see that the Chosen would need a 10 inch charge next turn to engage Fracture. Liking those odds Fracture opts to shoot at the Sorcerer. They kill him a couple times over with Bolter fire, and the decision looks like a good one. This gives the Space Marines a crucial First Blood point should there be a tie break needed.

The scouts try to cover Fracture and fire at the Chosen. The missile launcher misses (again) and the two wounds scored by the snipers are saved.

The Dreadnought although Snap Firing due to it’s being Shaken in the previous turn, managed to score a hit with its Lascannon, it scores an unsaved Penetrating hit and shook the Predator! That should quell its effectiveness for next turn at least…

Space Marines

Chaos

Chaos had so many hopes for that Sorcerer! He could have done so much damage to the Assault Marines but it is always a risk not putting him in a squad for some Look Out Sir! protection. The Cultists closed in on the Assault Marines hoping to tear them apart before taking their Engineer forwards. The Predator turned slightly to better protect its flank. The Chaos Chosen went into no mans land to both advance that Engineer and to get within assault distance of the Tactical Marines. The Chaos Terminators changed direction, heading for the Dreadnought with their Melta Weapons and looking to exploit the gap in front of it and also to provide a bit of support to the cultists and therefore dominate the bulk of the board. This left the Hellbrute and the Chaos Space Marines to take on the huge unit of Terminators, they would struggle in a straight fight but perhaps they could find a way to sneak around them.

In the Shooting Phase the Cultists achieved nothing with their pistols but the Champion caused an unsaved wound with his Shotgun, The Predator attempted to help them it but it was Snap firing and unable to get any hits. The Chosen elected not to shoot at the Space Marines because any kills would increase the assault distance and it would be a disaster if they didn't make it. The Terminators killed a Tactical Marine from Squad Quake who were guarding one of the objective points. The Hellbrute scored a hit on the Landspeeder with its Multi-Melta and its wicked eyes flashed at the oppurtunity for a kill. The Space Marine Player thoughtfully declared "anything but a one to kill," so of course Chaos rolled a one! But it was okay because the Meltagun in the Chaos Space Marine Squad killed it off although the rest of the Squad had nothing to fire at.

In the Assault Phase the Cultists made an easy charge and closed in on the Assault Marines who all missed their Overwatch fire.

The Chosen were hit by an impressive 3 shots from the Tactical squads Overwatch but did not suffer any casualties, they then made an impressive 10" charge with a mighty roll of 11!

Onto the actual fighting.

Dead Ned from the Cultists issued his compulsory challenge and somehow survived! The rest of the Assault Marines only took down 3 Cultists, Dead Ned was very close to getting a kill but the rest of the squad did the rest. Out of a massive 39 attacks there were 24 hits which caused 9 wounds, only 4 of these wounds were unsaved which was enough to wipe out the Squad of Assault Marines. The Cultists then Consolidated directly towards the middle Objective.

In the Other Combat the Chaos Warlord issued a Challenge which the Space Marine Sergeant bravely backed away from. The Deamon in the Black Mace clearly didn't like this and gave the Chaos Lord 6 attacks a handfull of wounds were caused but only 1 of which failed the Armour Save. The Loyal Space Marines had 8 Attacks but couldn't get a single wound. The rest of the Chosen Squad showed them how to do it and brutally wiped out the Tactical Squad. Things were looking very good for Nurgle.

Turn 3

Space Marines

Well, some harsh lessons were learnt last turn in a very costly round for the Space Marines.

If you bank on your opponent failing a 10” charge you can almost guarantee they will make it! That was a bitter pill to swallow and the entire right flank now looks very, very exposed. The Assault Squad were ultimately undone by that horrific scatter, but it would have been nice if they could have taken a few Cultists with them! And leaving that Landspeeder there to die was a foolish move indeed.

But, the show must go on!

Captain Nelson takes his combat squad to go and tackle the Chosen unit with the Chaos Lord, but we’re not really fancying his chances as the fight stands now and so some fire power may be needed to soften them up first.

Glory and Sejanus move up towards striking distance of the Hellbrute, with the Landspeeder gone it looks like the Hellbrute will have to be punched to death instead.

Quake stays put on its Objective, but they have just seen the massive Cultist squad that’s heading their way mince the Assault squad and now they have the Chaos Terminators making a beeline for them. Things really aren’t looking good!

In the Shooting Phase, the Space Marines start with Glory firing off two krak missiles at the Hellbrute. They both hit, but none of them score a glancing or penetrating hit. Looks like it’s going to have to be a punch up then!

The greatly outnumbered and outgunned ‘Quake’ combat squad weigh up their options. It looks like they are going to die, and so they opt to shoot at the Terminators to try and take some juicy targets with them! They open up with their bolters, rather hopefully, and their prayers are answered when one Terminator dies from a bolter round! The Plasma Cannon goes next. It doesn’t get hot, and it actually lands a direct hit that covers all three of the remaining Terminators! All three hits wound, and only one terminator passes its 5+ invulnerable save! Quake had just taken out three Chaos Terminators and suddenly things didn’t look so bad after all.

On the right the scouts open fire to try and whittle the Chosen down, they kill the Power Axe and Power Fist wielding Chosen warriors with their snipers and already the group isn’t looking as deadly. The missile launcher fires again…and misses again.

It’s a tough decision whether to fire at or charge the Chosen with Nelson and his half of ‘Quake’. The odds are still a little stacked against them, and so the Space marines open fire! ‘Quake’ starts first, both the Plasma gun (the Space Marines opted not to Rapid fire) and Plasma pistol miss (both with a roll of 2 thankfully) and so things aren’t looking great. The Rapid firing bolters however somehow pick up the slack and manage to kill 2 more Chosen! This leaves a gaping hole in the squad with all but the Chosen champion slain and the Chaos Lord is out front. Nelson takes the opportunity to Rapid Fire is Combi-Plasma. He scores two hits but only one wound. The Chaos Lord opts to take the hit on his 4+ invulnerable save with his Chosen squad looking thin on the ground, but he fails it, and takes a wound.

In the combat phase, the Terminators charge the Hellbrute who misses his Overwatch. The Terminators manage to weather the storm of the Hellbrute’s power fist, and they easily punch him to death. However, he does explode and the explosion kills a Terminator!

In a crucial moment, the Dreadnought passes his ‘It Will Not Die’ roll and recovers a Hull Point.

Chaos

Suddenly things were not going so well for Chaos! The Chaos Space Marines were preparing nervously to charge the Loyalist Terminators.

The Chaos Terminator chose to combat his lonliness with a wander towards the Dreadnought getting within deadly Melta weapon range. The Cultists bought into this risky gamble and headed for the middle objective, hoping in their black hearts that the lone Terminator could bring down the Dreadnought. The Predator followed up the Cultists because it could only fire Snap shots again. The Chaos Lord and the Chaos Chosen Champion waved each other a teary goodbye as the Lord took the Engineer to the objective and the Chosen Champion sacrificed himself to try and slow down or even damage the Tactical squad that had gunned down his friends.

In the Shooting Phase the Chaos Space Marines missed alot of shots at the Terminators but the Meltagun brought one down. The Cultists fired many pistols at Tactical Squad Quake and picked off a single marine. The Chosen Lord used his Plasma Pistol to kill the Sergeant in the other half of Squad Quake.

Now onto the important part, the Lone Chaos Terminator fired his Combi-Melta at the dreadnought, scoring a hit and destroying it, however the Space Marine player remembered to take the Cover Save. In a game defining stroke of luck he passed the Cover Save with a solid 6!

Onto the Assault Phase. The Chaos Space Marines survived the furious tirade of overwatch fire from the Terminators and made it into the combat, which looked more and more like a terrible idea!

The Cultists tried a long charge up to the squad next to the objective, to get them away from the Dreadnought but could not find it within their mutated legs, luckily for Chaos they also survived the overwatch fire.

The Chosen Lord went in for the kamikaze charge as his superior watched him from a distance. The overwatch was horrifically accurate, but with his ability to re-roll Armour Saves the Chosen Lord was still alive. Finally the Space Marine player risked a shot with the Plasma gun, on a normal day this would overheat but not this day! The Plasma struck the Chaos Lord and melted him away!

The only combat was between the crazy Chaos Space Marines and the Loyalist Terminators. The traitors got a whopping 13 hits against the 5 remaining Terminators but only a single one was slain. The Champion did his usual compulsory challenge which got him and two of his friends killed! The Squad loses combat and inevitably flees.

Turn 4

Space Marines

In the shooting phase the centre of the board unleashes on the Cultist squad. ‘Quake’ starts with it’s plasma cannon which overheats again just at the crucial moment! The amour save is passed again however. The Rapid firing bolters fare better and kill three.

Now it’s the Dreadnought’s turn to fire. It starts with its Heavy Flamer and covers seven models six of which are slain! It opens up with its Assault cannon and picks off another two killing 8 in total! The group is reduced to only four models after a grand total of 11 deaths in the shooting phase!

Terminator squad ‘Glory’ fires at the fleeing Chaos Space Marine squad, they score 3 wounds with their bolters, but all of them are saved. A krak missile gets a kill however.

It’s a painful decision to make right at the start of turn 4, but the only thing that can stop the onslaught of cultists is the Dreadnought.

‘Quake’ is starting to look thin on the ground and that engineer cannot get to the objective with it looking a near certainty that Chaos will score 3 points with their Lord. The Dreadnought moves out of cover and into the open directly in front of the cultists ready to gun them down and more than likely sacrifice himself.

Glory and Sejanus are mere inches from the objective now and at the start of turn 5 they would place their engineer on the objective and get a precious 3 points on the board. They could run, but it is more than likely the Chaos Space Marines will pass their morale check and rally meaning they should really shoot them down to neutralise the threat.

The snipers move down from their vantage point now, they need to reclaim the Engineer left by Fracture.

Nelson and his unit abandon hope of placing their engineer on an objective and so they opt to go and take the Chaos Lord down instead, the Lord will be at the objective next turn and has to be stopped!

The snipers have all moved and so take some hopeful pot shots at the Chaos Lord. The snipers all miss and yet somehow the missile launcher which has yet to land a hit all game finds its target! Not only that but the Lord fails his invulnerable save and is reduced to one wound! The missile launcher was clearly saving itself for this crucial moment.

Nelson and ‘Quake’ open up with Bolt Pistols to try and finish him off, they score a massive three wounds with four shots but the Chaos Lord saves them all.

The cultists fail their moral check and flee from the centre of the board, dropping their engineer and leaving him stranded in no-man’s land.

In the assault phase Nelson and his squad go in for the kill against the Chaos Lord, they only need a 6” charge. The Overwatch misses but Nelson still stumbles ducking from the shot and fails his charge! A crucial moment in the game as now the Chaos Lord will score Chaos 3 easy Victory Points!

Chaos

Dead Ned and his 3 remaining Cultists failed their insane heroism attempt and kept running closer to the board edge.

The Chaos Space Marines were much braver,they passed the rally test and prepared to get some nice Plasma revenge on the Terminators. The Chaos Terminator switched on his powerfist and prepared to charge the Dreadnought. The Chaos Lord was very tempted to go after those accursed Scouts but in a strange show of professionalism he put the mission first and put his engineer on the objective, which put Chaos right back into the Game.

In the Shooting Phase the Chaos Space Marines fired some desperate Snapshots at the Terminators, The only hit was miraculously by the Plasma gun which killed a Terminator, causing the others to fail a morale check, run away and drop their Engineer! A very useful bit of luck!

Next up the Predator took aim at the Dreadnought, hoping to soften it up for my lone Terminator, but the Dreadnought exploded under the Lascannons! The very confused Terminator Champion then fired through the smoke but did not hit anything.

In the Assault phase the Terminator was now looking for orders and unsure what he could achieve, he looked up and saw Tactical Squad Quake that the Cultists had been heading for . The tape measure revealed that it was a 10" charge distance. He made it!

In the surprisingly tense Combat Phase the Space Marines scored 2 hits but could not get past the Mark of Nurgle. The Terminator Champion took down all three of them! He also consolidated a mighty 5 inches towards the lonely looking Engineer left behind by the Cultists. What a fantastic turn for Chaos who had somehow clawed their way back into the game!

No More Talk.

Part 2.

Their eyes met only for a moment.

Nelson saw two dead, jet black eyes pitted deep in that rotten face. The eyes were a feverish yellow that glowed from beneath red, swollen sockets that was ripe with infection. The Lord’s flesh oozed and ran, and even hung in putrid strands like hair down his cheeks exposing the muscle and sinew beneath, the mechanics of the Lord’s jaw visible like the intricate cogs of a clock. Nelson felt his hatred boil his flesh, and suddenly he felt hot and constricted by his hulking armour. The Lord shot him a gruesome smile, his thin, cracked lips stretched and split as they revealed a multitude of blackened teeth, the muscle’s in his jaw peeked through the putrid holes in his flesh. That hideous smile remained on the Lord's face as he turned and began to continue his advance towards the communication relays that Nelson had been ordered to defend.

Nelson lifted his hefty blade in both hands, the flawless steel was now caked in blood and the crimson ran down his hands and stained his once pristine armour. With a roar he began his charge towards the Chaos Lord, even through the heat of battle and the red mist of anger he still heard a small voice in the back of his mind whisper and niggle at the back of his thoughts.

This will show them, it said, this will show Lorentus his folly.

Nelson pushed the thought back and screamed louder as his feet pounded across the scorched earth. The Chaos Lord cast him a sideways glance, and as if it were no trouble, levelled his Plasma Pistol at the charging Captain.

Nelson saw the muzzle flash, and even saw the Plasma streak through the air in an electric blue flash. In a knee-jerk reaction Nelson flung his Relic blade before his face and the Plasma screamed against the shining blades surface. The force of the shot sent the blade hurtling backwards where it collided with Nelson’s Helm. The blow struck hard, and Nelson even heard his visor crack under the impact which sent him reeling backwards; his stride and charge interrupted as he stumbled and fell to his knees in the dirt. He landed heavily, the blade almost slipping from his grasp, but Nelson had never, and would never, allow the blade to fall from his hand and he held onto it with an instinctive reaction. Nelson was quick to pick himself up and saw through his blurred vision that was still clearing the Lord had vanished. Where his quarry had disappeared to was not a mystery for long, as there was a sudden and great explosion from behind Nelson, and the Captain turned just in time to see one of their communication relays blaze in an torrid inferno. Billows of black smoke rose high and dark as night their stretching tendrils reaching to the heavens. Nelson felt his heart sink in his chest as that smoke rose higher and higher, signalling to the battlefield…and ultimately Sejanus, that he had failed in his task to defend it.

Nelson broke quickly into a run heading straight towards that towering blaze, his communications relay, and his pride, needed to be avenged.

And fast.

Turn 5

Space Marines

The Space Marines have clearly pushed their luck in this campaign so far, with three out of four wins so far they shouldn’t really complain…but failing a L10 moral check is always painful! Especially considering it’s supposed to be our heroic Terminator Captain Sejanus! Not only has this retreat caused the Terminators to be too far from the objective, but they have also dropped their engineer and have to waste a move to go and reclaim him, lest they gift even more points to chaos. They move back, get the Engineer and get themselves lined up to dish out some revenge on those pesky Chaos Marines!

Elsewhere, the Space Marine forces are being stretched. With the death of the first combat squad of ‘Quake’ and the Chaos Terminator Champion on his way to reclaim that stranded Engineer, the other half of ‘Quake’ and Nelson part ways. Nelson goes to slay that troublesome Lord and get a Warlord kill the game looks like it’s going to be close and the Space Marines need all the help they can get! ‘Quake’ nervously goes to try and deal with the Terminator, having already seen the Chaos Terminator mince the rest of the squad, they will most likely put their faith in their shooting to take him down at a safe distance.

The scouts pick up the loose Engineer denying Chaos a cheap Victory Point.

In the shooting phase ‘Quake’ starts by trying to take down that Terminator. They are no more than 2 inches away and couldn’t fail a charge but they opt to fire instead of fighting. If they can kill the Terminator they will also be within 3” of the Engineer and will count as capturing him. They begin with the bolters, hoping the plasma pistol from the Sargent will be a last resort. Luckily, the bolters somehow do the trick and the Chaos Terminator goes down to some small arms fire. Phew!

Sejanus and ‘Glory’ open fire on the Chaos Space Marines, they pass all their saves bar one their squad of three is reduced to two.

In the Assault Phase Nelson charges the Lord. The Overwatch from the Plasma Pistol hits! But Nelson makes his 4+ invulnerable save and makes his charge!

Sejanus and his unit go in and yet again a shot from a Plasma Gun hits in Overwatch! Sejanus is up front however and he passes his 4+ invulnerable save too and makes it into combat easily.

Sejanus easily pulverises the last two Chaos Marines, and with his consolidation he manages to capture their engineer for a (much needed) two points.

Nelson goes in against the Lord. He swings with his 4 attacks, only landing one and not even managing to wound! This is a disaster as the Lord’s Demon Weapon gives him a crazy amount of attacks. The Lord swings with 6 attacks and lands 5 hits! It’s not looking good for Nelson but fate intervenes and the Lord (who has Fleshbane on his weapon) rolls three 1’s! The other hits are saved by Nelson’s armour and the combat is a stalemate.

Chaos

In the final turn Chaos cannot rally their cultists and this practically confirms their defeat, with two of their Engineers captured (being worth 2 points each) and not enough firepower to free them from their captors the score at the end of the game will be 4 – 3 to the Space Marines. However, Chaos is prepared to try and strike some final blows to their hated counterparts and score some morale victories!

The Predator opens up on the Terminators, hoping to try and one shot Sejanus and really cause some heartache to the Space Marines, the Twin-Linked Lascannon manages to miss but the side sponson lands a hit and a wound, a humble Terminator is closest however and eats the shot, leaving Sejanus still standing.

Nelson is still locked in his bitter fight. He swings first with three attacks and again only manages to land one hit! Again he cannot wound and things aren’t looking good for him!

However, in a final twist to the tale (and a final act that epitomises the luck of Chaos in this campaign) The Demon Weapon rolls a 1, and causes a wound on the Chaos Lord, which is enough to slay him! The Lord is killed by his own weapon and that seems like a fitting end to this topsy-turvy game!

End result is a 4 – 3 victory to the Space Marines, who will be able to place three of the Chaos players units in reserve in the next and final battle: The Fate of Mechan 44.

Post Game

Space Marines

Another victory for the Space Marines, but the games are becoming closer and closer as the final battle draws near… The Space Marines will be going into the final battle as hot favourites having bagged 4/5 of the perks, but these games are becoming dicey and tosy-turvy so time will tell!

It was a great game, definitely the firm favourite of the campaign so far and both sides have really started to utilize their strengths and discover and cover their weaknesses. Combat squads for the Space Marines was a huge advantage, having that Plasma Cannon camped there was incredibly useful and allowed the other half of the squad to assist Nelson and try and score some points without being slowed down and hindered by the Heavy Weapon.

Having two Captains was handy as well, the Space Marines had a good covering of strong heroes on the board and they both did very well and survived to the end (which is always the best part).

The Space Marines player however doesn’t often like having their units killed and sacrificing the Dreadnought was a tough and painful decision, but one that had to be made, and thankfully paid off.

A few tactical blunders for the Space Marines to reflect upon here however.

Allowing the Landspeeder to sit out in the open and snap fire pointlessly instead of turbo boosting to safety was the biggest error. That Firepower was really needed in the closing stages of that game, and the Hellbrute was easily taken down by the Terminators who should have just been trusted to get the job done themselves.

Pushing ‘Fracture’ too far up the board was also a mistake. They were always going to get absolutely decimated by that Chosen squad and should have been sat further back letting the Chosen come onto them and get whittled down by firepower.

But again, a fantastic game and we cannot wait for the final mission and to see the epic conclusion of this 40k campaign! Will The Bloodless reclaim their home-world? Or will it remain in the dreaded hands of Chaos? Stay tuned to find out!

Chaos

That game turned out to be really close but once again Space Marines took the day. The deciding moment of this game was probably Chaos not destroying the Dreadnought in Turn 3, if that shot had made it past the cover then the Cultists would not have been cooked alive and probably taken down the Tactical squad guarding the objective and have gotten the Engineer to his spot. This would have been enough to win the game, so in a way it all came down to a 50/50 dice roll. However their was some glaring mistakes from the Chaos side, the Sorceror should have been put in the unit of Cultists to protect him from shooting and this squad should have then been sent to deal with the Scouts on the right flank, thereby supporting the Chosen. Also the Chaos Terminators should have targeted the Space Marine Terminators and relied upon the Predator to take out the Dreadnought on its own.

But anyway that was a great game and i think i may have finally found my favourite Mark of Chaos, at least in game play terms. Having that extra point of Toughness is great and saved my bacon alot of times in this battle. It seems far more useful than any of the other Marks with the exception of Tzeentch but Tzeentch is too complicated for my liking. Nurgle still gives me the creeps however and the arrogant nature of Slaanesh is my favourite in terms of fluff! All in all a great game and I look forward to bringing a little of everything that has been used so far in this campaign to the final showdown!

Dead Ned lives to fight another day!

No More Talk

Part 3.

Nelson found the Lord basking in the blazing orange light of the bonfire it had created. Nelson had heard that the battle was already won, they had secured all the other saboteurs and were currently dismantling the enemy’s communication lines. They had only lost one of their own communications relay in return.

And it was down to him.

The Captain of 4th Company stood before the Chaos Lord now, eager for some redemption. He heaved his sword high in both hands, and roared forward again, charging at his foe with great strides covering the scorched earth at a blistering speed. The Chaos Lord however squared its foul shoulders and flung the barrel of its Plasma Pistol forward. The muzzle flashed electric blue once again and this time Nelson had no time to evade the shot. The Plasma seared a burning path across Nelson’s breastplate, the shot being turned away at the last moment by the protective force of Nelson’s Iron Halo. But still the plasma left a blackened smear across Nelson’s armour and drove him forward with even more ferocity.

Nelson swept his blade in a vicious upper cut once he got within striking distance of his foe. The Lord made no effort to evade the blow and instead took the full force of the blade which cut straight through his forearm. The severed limb came loose with a gory squelch and fell to the floor in a shower of sickly, yellowish mixture of blood and pus. The Chaos Lord did not waver even as the river of gore ran from the wound and instead hauled a huge, hefty mace onto its shoulder with its remaining arm.

Captain Nelson saw the crude cudgel, and could see the jet black metal, writhe and shift with some demonic energy. Nelson was quick to pre-empt the inevitable blow from this impressive weapon, and with a great shout he swung his blade across the Chaos Lord’s gut. The corroded armour split and tore as easily as paper beneath the blow, and Nelson heard the rip of moist, rotten flesh beneath it. A great gout of blood erupted from the deep wound, followed by the sloppy sounds of offal and innards unfolding and unravelling. The purple and green organs that spilled from the wound did not look even remotely human and they cascaded to the floor and landed in a congealed pile of bloodied slime.

The Lord still stood unmoved however and now cocked its arm back the Black Mace in its hand fizzing and crackling with raw energy. Nelson saw the great swing of the weapon and even tried to parry the blow but the weapon hit with such power that the blade and Nelson were knocked aside easily. The Mace crashed against Nelson’s right shoulder and he heard a great crunch of his Artificer armour as it held against the blow. The shock however jarred deep into Nelson’s shoulder and he heard and felt the subtle click of the bone breaking and dislocating. He staggered sideways on his legs that wavered beneath him, but the Relic Blade stayed planted firmly in his palm as he stumbled in the rocky and uneven ground. He stayed on his feet, catching himself from falling and raised the blade in his left hand.

The Chaos Lord smiled broadly again, his pox riddled flesh cracking and bleeding as his face contorted with the gruesome smirk. The Lord wheeled his great mace backwards again and Nelson attempted to raise his blade in defence. However, his right arm hung limply by his side, and the hefty blade was unbalanced and cumbersome being wielded only in his left hand. He raised it as high as he could with great effort and held it before himself. The swing from the mace brushed the blade aside with ease and came crashing across Captain Nelson’s face this time, and loosed his helmet from his head with a great wrench that almost threatened to tear his head from his shoulders. His sight blurred dangerously, and the Captain’s world was turned upside down for a moment. He felt as if he were falling, and indeed he was, the Captain only regained his bearings when his body hit the floor. He landed heavily on his wounded shoulder and couldn’t fight the shout of pain that slipped from his lips, he hit the ground hard and jarred his entire body. But still the blade remained in his hand.

Nelson looked out from beneath the crimson veil of one eye that was filling with blood, the other was already swollen shut and in his blurred and tunnelled vision he saw the Chaos Lord loom large over him, blood still seeping from the bloodied stump of his arm and gory tear in his gut. Nelson attempted to haul himself to his feet, but found his strength abandoning him. The Chaos Lord raised the Black Mace high and with that cruel smile still perched on his lips he allowed his blackened tongue to worm from its mouth and caress its deathly, pale lips.

Nelson felt his teeth knit together and every muscle in his body tighten as he prepared for the killing blow. But it never came. Instead the weapon suddenly imploded in the Chaos Lord’s remaining hand. In a great crack of pinkish, purple light the weapon disappeared into thin air. The force with which it vanished tore the Chaos Lord’s arm from its side, the limb was shredded and half of it vanished with the weapon, leaving nothing but a great gaping hole in the Lord’s chest cavity. Nelson watched as the remaining innards of the Lord spilled out in a gory cascade wriggling free through the mesh of ripped flesh and snapped bone.

The Lord’s face contorted with confusion but only for a moment. Soon a glassy glaze washed over those jet black eyes, and the hulking monster wavered on its feet, tottering like a towering tree in a gale. Finally its knees buckled, and the Lord collapsed into the dirt by Nelson and the wounded Captain breathed a sigh of relief as the great gouts of blood that had poured from those wounds soon ran dry. Nelson lay next to the body of the Chaos Lord and with a faint smile thanked the Emperor for his fortune. These thanks were quickly followed by another thought that caused the smile to vanish from his face. As he lay there, feeling his shattered body ache with its wounds, and basking in the blazing orange light of the fiery remains of the Communication Relay; he realised that perhaps Lorentus was right.

Perhaps he wasn’t worthy.