Sunday, March 16, 2014

Chaos Battle and Crimson Slaughter Review





I got a game of 40k in yesterday, in the first time in over a month! I played my Chaos Space Marines as my primary detachment (which I hadn't done in many more months!) and I played versus my friend's Ultramarines. It was a fun battle with a narrative flare and I was surprised how fun the Chaos codex was again.




I didn't get a chance to run the new Crimson Slaughter rules, but I wanted to jump back into the Chaos codex proper so I could have a better frame of reference for the new supplement. I finally read through the whole thing and have written a full review. Check it out below and then stick around for some thoughts on my battle.

So the battle . . . first, I won. We played the Relic mission up to the end of Turn 4 and my cultists were in possession of the relic and my opponent had no troops left with the positioning to take it, and he had diminished firepower to kill my remaining troops.

However, it was a close battle up until the end. We played 1,500 points. My list:
  • Chaos Sorcerer w/ Biomancy
  • 5 man Noise Marines with Blastmaster
  • 2 x CSM units with lascannon/flamer and missile launcher/plasma
  • 2 x cultists
  • 3 x Obliterators w/ Nurgle
  • Heldrake w/ bale flamer
  • Herald of Nurgle with Biomance and Nurgle spell
  • 10 x Plaguebearers.
  • 1 beast of nurgle
My opponent's list composed of basically this:
  • Chapter Master
  • Librarian
  • 2 Tac squads
  • Razorback
  • Predator
  • Thunderfire Cannon
  • Scouts
  • 2 Dreadnaughts (1 drop pod)
  • Stormtalon
A couple of key points. First, I kept almost everything stationary the first turn to fire every heavy weapon I had. I did charge forward with the cultists and the beast of nurgle. The plaguebearers were kept in reserve.

By pushing my cultists forward early, my opponent went to eliminate them before they could take possession of the relic. This saved my better units from early damage. Also, even firing one heavy here and there, I was able to destroy his first dreadnaught and claim First Blood.

He surged forward with everything, putting early pressure on me, but I resisted the urge to press forward.

On turn 2, my Daemons came in, right in front of one of his flanks and ended up in a large crater with a 5+ cover save... which was improved to a 3+ shrouded. This stopped his advance on one flank because he was not equipped for close assault. He elected to stand and shoot my nurgles, which they are highly resistant to! Also, I got a turn 2 assault on this thunderfire cannon with my Beast of Nurgle, which had moved 24" plus assaulting by turn 2. Love those things! It did die on turn 4, but tied up his cannon for 2 turns!

With his push bogged down by daemons, I then sent my chaos marines forward on Turn 3. My plaguebearers killed his predator in assault. My chaos marines killed his razorback in assault, and my Heldrake came in to torch marines. It started to turn into a route.

By the end of Turn 4 my opponent had 1 dreadnought left, a drop pod, chapter master, a librarian, Chronos without his tank, a lone techmarine, his stormtalon (with 1 HP) and a small scout squad hiding in a building.

I still had my Oblits, my Noise Marines, a half squad of cultists (in possession of the relic), my sorcerer, two half squads of chaos marines, my heldrake, my herald of nurgle and 5 plaguebearers. It was a bloody battle, but I had more operating squads, the relic, and lots of heavy weapons left on the table. We called it and shook hands.

A couple of things: it was nice to play with two fully painted armies. My Chaos army is all painted, but not everything is detailed. My opponent, however, has every marine and vehicle detailed out. This hobby is so much more fun when you can play with two nearly completed armies! Also, I still saw that thunderfire cannons are tough! It was the only thing really killing my army!

Also, 40k is a mix of many things . . . but you need troops and you need heavy weapons! I don't think two full tac squads was enough for my opponent to really press me, as they just couldn't concentrate their firepower to kill my models fast enough.

Cultists are still great . . . as they are cheap, take up space, and make your opponent kill them. The Heldrake is still the champ, as it killed 10 marines (half of his tactical squads) over 2 turns, with the addition of wounding the librarian and taking a hull point off the Storm Talon. Also, Plaguebearers are worth their cheap points, especially with a herald to buff them with feel no pain and some psychic powers. Miasma spell from Nurgle list was great!

That's about it. I really enjoyed playing my chaos again . . . I just wish I could use my new Knights with them! Again, here's the link to my Crimson Slaughter review. Thanks for reading!

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