1500 Pt. Battle Report (2nd Round of Tournament)

Round 1 - Chaos vs. Chaos
Round 3 - Chaos vs. Tyranids
Army Showcase

Here's the battle report from the second round of last weekend's tournament. Below is also a refresher on my army:

Chaos Space Marines – 1500 Points

HQ 1: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 2: Daemon Prince – Mark of Slaanesh, Wings, Lash of Submission
HQ 3: Greater Daemon
TROOP 1: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 2: 8x Noise Marines – 8x Sonic Blasters
TROOP 3: 10x Lesser Daemons
ELITE 1: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory
ELITE 2: 10x Chosen – 3x Plasma, 1x Melta, 1 Aspiring Champion w/Power Fist, Mark of Chaos Glory

Game 2 – Tau

Mission: Hostage (Score extra points for controlling a hostage marker)
Deployment: Board Edges (12” for attacker (opponent); 18” for defender (me); hostage is 12” from defender’s deployment edge in center of the table)
Battle Point Results: 18 – 3 (my favor)
Opponent’s Army:

Commander w/ 2 Bodyguard – 2x Burst Cannons, 3x Missile Pods, Frag Burst Weapon
Crisis Team (3) – Plasma/Missile Pod
3x Broadsides w/ Shield Drones
2x Piranhas – Fusion Blasters, Decoy Launchers, Seeker Missiles
12x Gue’la (Human Auxilaries) – 2x Pulse Rifles, Marker Light
12x Gue’la (Human Auxilaries) – 2x Pulse Rifles, Marker Light
14x Fire Warrios – Marker Light, Target Lock
3x Stealth Suits – 2 Gun Drones
Sniper Drone Team

According to the scenario, the player with the most points in Fast Attack was the attacker. Since I had 0, and he had two piranhas, that left him with the unsavory task of attacking a mid- to short-range firepower army with better than average CC potential.

I deployed both DP’s and a NM squad on the left flank, behind a forest that was up against the board edge. My other NM squad deployed in a building in the lateral middle of my deployment zone up near the edge. One chosen squad infiltrated in the forest, and the other had to placed in my deployment zone on my right flank.

The Tau player deployed in two ranks across his deployment zone. The rear rank, from my left to right was: Broadsides, Gue’la squad, Sniper Drones, Gue’la squad, Piranhas. The front rank from left to right was Crisis team, Fire Warriors, HQ with bodyguards. The stealth suits infiltrated in my deployment zone in the rear right corner.

I got first turn and moved my units on the left into the forest, and my DP’s across the forest into open ground. My center NM’s held position in the building, and my chosen on the right held position to get shots at full range (24”). These last two units opened up on the crisis suits lined up against them and dropped the drones and a suit. One DP lashed the other crisis team into charge range. The other DP lashed the broadsides into range of the chosen on the left, and also into a position that I hoped would prevent LOS from them to that DP, designed to be blocked by the impending combat between the other DP and the crisis team (I was hoping not to break them that round). The chosen managed to pop one of the broadsides, and the NM’s in the forest took out a couple of fire warriors. The DP, who lashed the crisis suits, charged them and killed the drones and a suit. As expected they held protecting the DP from return fire.

On his turn, the stealth suits popped a couple NM’s, the piranhas moved up a popped 2 chosen. The broadsides used their Slow and Purposeful move to gain LOS to my unengaged DP (which also moved them closer to the fire warriors – you’ll see why that’s important). Most of the Tau then shot at the unengaged DP, who took two wounds leaving him still scoring. In combat, one suit was left with one wound and miraculously held (not part of the plan).

On my turn the lesser daemons showed up. I brought them in off the right chosen squad, and they were able to assault the stealth suits and wipe them out in one round of combat. My right chosen unit moved up to rapid fire into the piranhas but only managed to stun them both. All the NM’s laid fire into the fire warriors taking out several more. The left chosen fired at the Gue’la opposite them and reduced their number some. My unengaged DP had plenty of range to charge the broadsides, but lashed them closer to the fire warriors so I could more easily consolidate into the fire warriors. Everything worked as planned, and the DP wiped out the broadsides and consolidated into the fire warriors. The other DP finished off the crisis suits and consolidated into the woods to try and restrict return fire by limiting range and LOS.

At this point, my opponent told me that unless his next turn went really well, he was willing to concede at the end of it, since otherwise almost all of his units would be in combat the next turn. His turn was pretty uneventful and he conceded the game to me, giving me another 18-point win.

He was a very gracious opponent, and took his loss in stride. In his previous game he wiped a ‘Nid player off the table with few casualties in return. We both recognized that this was a bad match-up for this particular scenario, especially where the Tau have to be the attacker. He did qualify for the next round of the tournament and even won best painted! He had a beautiful army, which was terracotta with some beautiful contrasting purple on some units.

Tomorrow the final battle report against the ‘Nids, and tomorrow I’ll put up army pics (I promise).