Friday, April 16, 2010

40k Friday! Skirmish in the Bellean Sector - Ahrmian's Renegades (Chaos Space Marines) vs Disciples of Caliban (Dark Angels)


Following the battle of Encratis IV the renegade sorcerers following the exile Ahriman brought word to their master that they had divined the location of an ancient artifact of dark power. It was rumored to be a piece of a long destroyed Eldar webway that would bring Ahriman one step closer to locating the fabled Black Library.

Still reeling from their defeat at the hands of the vile Disciples of Caliban, Ahriman decided to dispatch one of his most secret and terrifying servants to recover the Eldar technology; the Daemon, Vedrix. It is widely known that Ahriman and his cabal have long been struggling to control the warp, which so easily corrupts those who seek to leash its power. The mutation caused by their unwilling master Tzeentch is something that Ahriman thought was behind him. Vedrix proved however that the dark god of fate is not to be trifled with. Vedrix served Ahriman since before the Horus heresy as his second in command. He was there when the rubric was cast and like the other sorcerers that follow Ahriman now, his powers were greatly increased. Vedrix seemed to be growing beyond the others, proving himself again and again as a most loyal disciple to Ahriman. However, Ahriman began to sense that Vedrix had the taint of mutation in him. Vedrix himself abhorred what he feared he was becoming, Tzeentch showed all that dare to oppose him, that he alone controls all destiny and none can escape his plans. The changer of ways gifted Vedrix with daemonhood against his will.

Ahriman refused to concede to Tzeentch, he defies him still. And so Vedrix remains, caged in service to Ahriman. No other is allowed the taint of mutation, for Vedrix has mastered his own will and his loyalty to Ahriman remains! The other sorcerers demanded that Vedrix be watched over, so that the taint would not spread amongst them. Master Drekav is charged with this task. Together they set course for the Bellean sector with a small force of Rubric Marines. The artifact will be claimed for Ahriman!

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**Incoming transmission from Master Drekav**
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My Lord,

Upon arriving in the Bellean sector our psykers pinpointed the Eldar artifacts on the 3rd moon of Bellean Prime. As we approached the ruins of an ancient Eldar complex scanners detected activity. The Disciples of Caliban had already deployed their scouting force. The cursed ravenwing bikers and their scouts took up defensive positions between the two artifacts, shielded by rubble and destroyed buildings. I ordered our sorcerers to move rubric marines in and secure the closest artifact. As they deployed with two of our mighty defilers supporting them they were ambushed by rocket fire and melta fire from the ravenwing.

Your hated nemesis Adso commanded them. He and his terminators teleported in and destroyed our scouting party of Chosen marines. We will have to recruit more champions to replace them, they were utterly destroyed by Adso's lightning claws. Hopefully the next group is not so weak.

It seemed the Lord of Fate was against us this day, but just then, Vedrix sensed his moment to strike and he was unleashed against Adso and his terminators as they decended upon our stalwart rubric marines. Just as they were about to be overwhelmed by the Dreadnought Cornelius and Adso, Vedrix crashed into their ranks impaling and dispatching Adso in a glorious shower of blood. Vedrix fell upon the remaining terminators who were no match for his power. The dreadnought was also destroyed as Vedrix tore the warmachine down, piece by piece. I landed on the far edge of the battlefield with my terminator champions. We destroyed the tactical marines guarding the Disciple's artifact and awaited the rubrics to arrive to make off with the webway technology.

While it was a brutal battle I believe you will be pleased with our victory!


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What a great 40k Friday Matchup! It ended in a tie, but it was a doosey. I really got hit hard by the dark angels alpha strike and lost both defilers. However, my daemon prince really saved the day instantly destroying a terminator squad lead by an hq unit.

That was the tide changer and it ended in a tie on turn 6 because of a technicallity. Brother C accidentally hit the objective marker when we were going to measure, knocking it into 3" of one of his few remaining terminators. Before he was moved, I woulda had the win controlling my objective and contesting his.

But to be gentlemen, we called it a tie. It was a great match and I learned a lot! Good game Brother C.! Hope to see your repsonse soon.

1 comment:

  1. That is a lie! Do not listen to the poison that spills from the mouths of these chaos worms. The terms were well within the 3" to capture the objective.

    I will say this however. Demon princes with wings, warptime, winds of chaos, and 4+ invuln save are very nasty. The only thing I can see a DA player being able to do to stop it is massed fire or wolfpacking in melee combat. If the later is chosen, be prepared for heavy losses. I'm still debating whether its worth it or not since its not equal numbers. Judging by their current abuse in tournaments, rest assured they will be receiving the nerfbat in the next versions of codex. I think Moros played Vedrix very well, deep struck, stayed in cover, and utilizing the 12" move and assault, he was able to tic-tac-toe his way up the board between groups of my units, never allowing my ranged fire to target him. Meanwhile, making a mess out of my terms and dread. I absolutely underestimated him, and it was a great lesson to learn.

    Venerable Dreads with Xtra armor are complete beasts. I highly recommend them in any space marine army. Being able to tie up 2 squads of units for 3 turns and absorbing 13 penetrating hits is beyond worthwhile. for 150+/- points, why are you not running these in your list? Brother Cornelius in his dread was worth his weight in gold that match.

    The Dark Angel Alpha strike on turn one proved very surprising for Moros. I had usually played my DAs very reserved. Relying on deep strikes and outflanks to get my units across the board. Since Moros was very heavily armored, I decided to try to different strategy this time. Deploying everything save the 2 terms squads. infiltrating with 2 scouts with rockets and snipers and scout moving my ravenwing into firing positions at the top of turn one. This also allowed me to get my deathwing assault deepstrike on turn one where I wanted it, in the middle of the carnage. Moros, having reserved his hard hitting units, left all his armor and troops out 'unprotected.' and the DAs feasted. I took out both defilers on turn one, half his chosen squad, and stunned 2 rhinos. But my terms were on the board, and could not even deploy his uber units at least another turn. It was highly highly effective.

    The turn of the tide was the prince. I did not field anything to stand up to him in melee and Moros did such an excellent job of keeping him in melee, so as to not received any predator fire from range. Its a hard mix, since he was running both warp time and wind of chaos, that is a NASTY ranged attack the prince has in his own right, I can't let him have any room to line up that shot. (as I found out - getting my command squad wiped in one move - which is horseshit and that needs a huge nerf, thanks GW) so its an interesting discussion... try to shoot at range allowing him to ravage entire squads with uber spell of destruction, then hoping to pop him with some pred fire, or.. try to wolfpack him with inferior melee units, also getting my squads wiped, hopefully pulling off a wound or two.

    all in all it was a good match, my alpha strike worked great, but in the end. The monsters of Tzeetch, just ate my face. I need to work on some strats to stop anvil units, as I really have nothing that can stand toe to toe with them.

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