Fluffy battle report of a recent 1500 point game I had as part of our ongoing Narrative League. It was my Emperor’s Children Chaos Space Marines against Derek’s Space Wolves. I’ve written this from the point of view of Derek’s Venerable Dreadnought, with particular focus on his Vindicare Assassin that can’t seem to do anything right.
Thunderwolf Calvary about to face off against Chaos Cultists
Ulf was restless. He has fought for the Emperor for centuries as an Astartes of the VI Legion, the Space Wolves. And even in death, he still serves, entombed within a Venerable Dreadnought. After countless battles and innumerable wars, today’s skirmish seemed unremarkable. His assignment in this engagement even less inspiring.
His detachment responded to a distress call from the planet Vogen, which was besieged by Xenos and Heretic invaders. Ulf felt the Space Marines would be best used to strike at the heart of the enemy. Instead his detachment was sent to defend an unremarkable ruin called “SW1”. Reports were that despicable traitors from the Emperor’s Children Legion were advancing on the area. Hardly seemed memorable. Even worse, Ulf was ordered to hold the backfield to prevent flanking. An important tactical role, but he itched for glory and honour.
Ulf watched with a tinge of jealousy as his brothers advanced on Thunderwolves, bikes, and abroad Rhinos. He saw Wolfen advancing on the opposite flank leaving him alone. Well, maybe not as alone as he thought.
His heightened senses alerted him that he was not alone. He couldn’t see it, but he could hear and smell something atop a tall piece of machinery. He was curious why his Battle Leader had not noticed. Or maybe he did.
Ulf shifted cautiously and readied his great axe. He voxed the Battle Leader.
“I am not alone.”
In a terse response, the battle leader merely replied: “It fights for the Emperor too” and terminated the line.
Rather put aback, Ulf focused the oculus sensorium of his suit to discern more about this hidden “ally”. It was well-hidden, but Ulf was experienced enough to recognize an Exitus Rifle, the signature weapon of a Vindicare Assassin.
His younger brethren would consider such a creature to be cowardly. Ulf was more pragmatic, and expected their hidden sniper to contribute.
The din of combat drew Ulf’s attention back to the battle. A Dreadclaw Drop pod descended upon the ruin of a large structure in the centre of the battlefield. Ulf strained to see what was occuring. A unit of Blood Claws, a squad of Incursors, the Chaplain, Wolf Leader, and Librarian all entered the melee. In the midst of the carnage a monstrous figure dominated the melee, laying low the entire squad of Incursors. It was larger than a dreadnought, had a large wingspan, and a terrifying grin. Ulf was sickened by the sight of the Daemon Prince.
Despite its suppressors, Ulf heard the Vindicare Assassin fire at the Daemon. Ulf looked on expectedly, but was disappointed to see a bullet harmlessly impact a ruined wall. He was even more disappointed to see the Daemon Prince dismembering an entire squad of Blood Claws single-handedly.
“I will join the fray!” Ulf voxed to his Battle Leader, preparing to rush towards the fighting.
“Hold position!” Was the brief reply from the Battle Leader. His voice ragged, and the sound of grinding and carnage evident in the background.
Across the battlefield, a fellow dreadnought had taken significant damage from several well-placed meltagun shots. The Daemon Prince emerged from the ruin, and as it flew by, finished the dreadnought with a casual shot from its Warp Bolter. Ulf was incensed.
He looked up unexpectedly at the hidden assassin, willing him to do something, anything.
Another shot was levelled at the Daemon Prince. This one finally striking true, but stopped by the creature’s master-crafted armour. Ulf’s disappointment continued to rise.
He saw the Daemon Prince tear into a squad of Intercessors on the other flank. He wished he was in range to claim vengeance on behalf of his brothers. He would soon have other things to worry about.
In a burst of Warpflame, a unit of Warp Talons tore into reality close to Ulf. He hefted his shield, finally ready to draw heretic blood. To his consternation, the airborne heretics descended upon the hiding place of the Vindicare Assassin. After a brief pause, Ulf charged forward to intervene in the fray.
The sniper was an ineffective fighter, using the butt of his rifle to try to swat away his assailants. Ulf sliced down the Warp Talons, one after another, cleaving his way towards the besieged assassin.
After taking some vicious blows from the enemies lightning claws, the Vindicare Assassin had enough space to draw his Exitus Pistol. If Ulf still had eyes, he would have rolled them because the sniper missed his attackers at point blank range. Moments later, the assassin fell to the swipes of razor-sharp talons.
Ulf finished the last of the intruders. He surveyed the battlefield, overrun with Heretics and unable to spot his brethren. The battle had been lost, but now it was finally time for him to extract some vengeance upon the attackers. He fired up his flamethrower, hefted his axe, and charged at the nearest opponent…
Daemon Prince leads Heretic Space Marines against Space Wolves
Buckle in for a long post! Here’s a battle report for a battle I had last weekend, including both lists, and at the end, a fluffy “narrative” battle report that has too many circus clichés. Also there is a Mathhammer explosion in the middle explaining how I caused 53 wounds from one unit!
Last weekend marked the start of a Warhammer 40,000 Narrative Crusade Campaign League at XPlanet Games, my friendly local game store (FLGS). We are using a campaign where we fight over territories of Vogen Hive. We are split into 3 teams: Imperial, Chaos, and Xenos.
These narrative games will be a little different: We will be playing the Matched Play Missions from the Nachmund book, and pick secondaries as per matched play rules. But we also pick 3 narrative agendas that potentially help our armies gain experience points.
I was testing a 1500 point Death Guard army for several test games, and found I wasn’t really enjoying it. I decided to bring my 2021 Emperor’s Children army off the shelf and re-tool them and optimize their efficiency.
Battle Size [12CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)
Detachment Command Cost
Legion: Emperor’s Children
+ Stratagems +
Gifts of Chaos (1 Relic) [-1CP]
+ No Force Org Slot +
Dark Disciples [1 PL, 10pts]: Mark of Slaanesh
. 2x Dark Disciple: 2x Close combat weapon
+ HQ +
Daemon Prince with Wings [10 PL, 205pts]: 5. Glutton for Punishment, Diabolic Strength, Malefic talon, Malefic talon, Raiment Revulsive, Warlord, Warp bolter, Wings
. Slaanesh: Smite
Dark Apostle [4 PL, 80pts]: Accursed crozius, Blissful Devotion, Bolt pistol, Dark Zealotry, Frag & Krak grenades, Illusory Supplication, Mark of Slaanesh, Remnant of the Maraviglia
Sorcerer [6 PL, 115pts]: Bolt pistol, Delightful Agonies, Force sword, Frag & Krak grenades, Jump pack, Mark of Slaanesh, Prescience, Smite
I spent all 5 requisition points (RP) I was allowed to start the campaign: Gave the Daemon prince the “Glutton for Punishment” warlord trait for -1 damage. Spent two RP to get two relics, the “Raiment Revulsive” and “Remnant of the Maraviglia”. And spent 2 RP to permanently give my Terminator Squad the “Combat Elixirs” upgrade for an additional attack.
Lokhust Heavy Destroyers [9 PL, 165pts] . 3x Lokhust Heavy Destroyer (Gauss Destructor): 3x Gauss Destructor
++ Total: [74 PL, 11CP, 1,500pts]
I’ve gotten ripped apart by Wraiths and Skorpekh destroyers in the past, so I know they are melee threats. I’ve never faced the Novokh dynasty, but I looked them up and it looks like they have a lot of buffs for melee.
Seeing such a melee-heavy list, I was worried my cultists would evaporate really quickly, and thought about changing my strategy. But I decided to run in with the strategy and secondaries I had been thinking about for a few weeks.
Game time!
We played the mission Recover the Relics from the War Zone Nachmund: Grand Tournament Mission Pack. It has 6 objectives with “Hammer and Anvil” deployment (really far from each other).
My secondaries:
Retrieve Nachmund Data
The Long War
Psychic Interrogation
Tyler’s Secondaries:
Engage on All Fronts
Assassination
To The Last
I deployed two squads of cultists and my 3 characters deep in my deployment zone trying to hug some cover. Everything else was in deep strike or strategic reserve.
Pre-Game deployment for Chaos Space Marines, Emperor’s Children
Tyler deployed all of his units, with warriors closely hugging his deployment line to get an early jump on objectives.
After deployment. Necrons on the left.
Tyler got the first turn, which actually worked out well for me. He moved his Warriors up to grab several objectives, and advanced his Wraiths quickly across the field.
Tyler had some very powerful long-range shooting from his Lokhust Heavy Destroyers and Catacomb Command Barge. But, I had very little on the board. He managed to annihilate 5 cultists.
Emperor’s Children Daemon Prince “The Ringleader” slowly advances with an entourage of cultist I call the “Murder Mimes”. Thank you Chris Brody for the photo
Tyler had moved up his units enough that he opened a gap on the back of the board. Enough room for my Dreadclaw drop pod to drop in 9” away from a couple of his units. My plan was to drop mid-field and advance one of his warrior squads. The deployed squad would be close enough to my psykers to get buffs. I wasn’t to come into his backfield, but it was an opportunity. I deployed my Melee Noise Marines immediately from the Dread Claw, and took some pot shots at the LMD’s nearby.
Deep Striking then charging in the Necron Deployment Zone
With my deep striking unit so far away, I kept my characters hidden and just crept my cultists forward enough to grab another objective. One cultists squad performed the action to complete Retrieve in one quarter.
My “Mobile Circus Tent” Dread Claw Drop Pod brings the circus to the Necron Deployment Zone. The Squad of Melee Noise Marines “The Murder Clowns” made their charge (right) and engaged the LMD’s. Thanks again to Chris Brody for the photo.
My Dark Apostle failed his prayer roll. And I was trying to cast Delightful Agonies on my Daemon Price, but somehow my sorcerer rolled Perils, so I had to burn a Command point for nothing.
My noise marines made the 9” charge against his LMD’s, losing one model to overwatch. The Marines weren’t super, and if I hadn’t used Excess of Violence I wouldn’t have had enough wounds to kill off his squad. But, playing The Long War secondary encourages me to aggressively “take” objectives, so I went with it.
“The Murder Clowns” a unit of melee Noise Marines attacking Necron LMD’s. Thanks again to Chris Brody for the photo.
I should have summoned a Herald of Slaanesh to be able to perform Psychic Interrogation on turn one, but moved all my characters unnecessarily. Something to do better next time.
End of turn 1: Necrons 0 – Chaos 4
In the top of the 2nd Tyler made some big moves. His Scarabs grabbed an objective, and his Wraiths chopped up 18 of 20 cultists in one squad. Tyler’s warriors destroyed my Noise Marines, which was as an expected trade
Tyler’s Necron Wraiths about to butcher some “Zombie Daemon Clowns” (counts as cultists)
Middle of turn 2: Necrons 12 – Chaos 4
On the bottom of turn 2 I made a lot of big moves too.
Emperor’s Children make an dramatic entrance in the middle of the fray
I didn’t want to have to fight his Wraiths. I would have rather jumped one of his Warrior squads. But, it was one of his To The Last units, and I wanted to deny him those points. So against my better judgment, I let the secondaries dictate my actions.
Send in the Clowns! Terminators make the charge!
I dropped my terminators essentially in my deployment zone. I planned to bring them in turn 3, but I had an opportunity to shoot his Command Barge and Scarabs before charging the wraiths. I tried to cast Death Hex on the Scarabs to remove their 4++ invulnerable save, but my psyker whiffed on it. At least he got off Prescience on my Terminators, which would prove to be very useful. I used “The Remnant of the Maraviglia” to buff their shooting. They shot a few melta guns at his Warlord, killed quite a few scarabs, then used Endless Cacophony to shoot twice. Then they charged the Wraiths. What happened next was something I had been Math Hammering in my head, but worked out just as planned.
Here’s my story of death by a thousand cuts! It’s a Mathhammer nightmare:
I charged 10 Terminators with lightning claws and an Icon of Excess into 6 Necron Wraiths. Used Combat Elixirs on the Terminators for extra attack. Death Hex power failed to cast, but Prescience did.
51 attacks hitting on 2’s, re-roll 1’s from nearby Daemon Prince. Death to the False Emperor (DTTFE) triggered extra hits on 4’s!
Wind up with 74 hits.
Then, strength 4 vs toughness 5 means normally wounding on 5’s. Used Veterans of the Long War Strat, so wounding on 4’s, re-rolling everything because of Lightning Claws.
Results in 53 wounds at AP-2!
Opponent failed enough 4++ invulnerable saves and the squad wiped!
I needed A LOT of dice! I’m thinking of getting a dice tower. Or a bucket.
Here’s why DTTFE triggered on 4’s:
Normally 6+. Icon of Excess makes it trigger on 5+. Prescience adds 1 to hit roll, so effectively 4+
All 53 of these were successful wounds caused by one squad of terminators. Tyler had to make 53 saves at AP-2
To my chagrin, I still hadn’t performed the Psychic Interrogation action.
I also got cheeky and used Tide of Traitors to “re-spawn” the 20 model cultist squad to his backfield and grabbed another Retrieve.
End of turn 2: Necrons 12 – Chaos 16 (including 4 for retrieve)
Tyler had a really strong turn 3: He used “veil” to bring his Skorpehk Destroyers into the fray by the “green objective” that my Terminators just took from his Wraiths. He successfully charged with the Skorpehk’s and annihilated my Terminators. He also destroyed my Dread Claw Drop Pod that was loitering in his deployment zone.
Middle of Turn 3: Necrons 24 – Chaos 16
The back and forth continued. I brought in my Warp Talons near his Skorpehk’s. I had no command points left, but thankfully they made their 9” charge out of deep strike. By this time Tyler had gotten wise to me stacking on DTTFE and used a strat to make me -1 to hit him in melee. My Warp Talons managed to finish off all of the Skorpekh’s. My Deamon prince wounded his commander, but surprisingly, my Dark Apostle finished his commander off.
I don’t have a good “in-game” photo of my Warp Talons. But here are 5 of them. I feel they have a “Mary Poppins” kind of appeal floating with their balloons.
I brought in a squad of cultists from reserve also into Tyler’s backfrield and grabbed another Retrieve.
I finally summoned a Herald of Slaanesh, and she completed the Psychic Interrogation action on the Necron overlord before it perished.
End of turn 3: Necrons 24 – Chaos 32 (including 8 for Retrieve)
Top of the 4th, Tyler got the full 12 points for primary but wasn’t able to do much else. He took some potshots at my loitering cultists, and took a lot of bodies.
Middle of turn 4: Necrons 36 – Chaos 32
Here is where I got to have some more fun. My Warp Talons and Daemon Prince flew onto Tyler’s side of the table. It’s really satisfying to fly 12” ignoring terrain. I did a Psychic Interrogation on a Technomancer before my Warp Talons destroyed it and a unit of Warriors.
End of turn 4: Necrons 36 – Chaos 46
Turn 5 Tyler’s big Warrior squad blasted my Warp Talon’s off the board. They are rather “glass cannon” being able to dish out a lot of hits, but not take much abuse.
Middle of turn 5: Necrons 56 – Chaos 46
I had so few models left by turn 5. All I could really do was use my Daemon Prince to interrogate his last Technomancer than slay him. My last cultist squad crept over to the last quarter and completed the fourth Retrieve action.
One of Tyler’s “To The Last” units survived, so he got 5 points for that.
Necrons: 61 – Chaos 65.
Wonderfully close game, very back and forth.
I loved my list. It was fun to play, fast, and I was always in it. I think I will tweak my psychic powers a bit, but I’m very happy. It’s fun, fast and brutal. I had been coached by Skari to make smart trades, and I think I accomplished that.
Now, here’s the story again, but from a narrative, fluffy perspective. I’m going to try to use as many cliché circus lines as I can in this narrative report:
The quiet before the show always made The Ringleader nervous. Blessed by Slaanesh to spread an excessive and sensational performance to many world’s, the Daemon Prince shifted impatiently. Huddled behind a hab building surrounded by adoring cultists, the large, winged creature strained to peek at the approaching “audience”.
The circus was in town, but not in the way you might imagine. The Ringleader led his warband of Emperor’s Children Heretic Space Marines dubbed “The Circus of sLAUGHTER.” In this case, joining an allied Chaos campaign invading . The Warmaster had sent the warband to invade this drab hab block. Or was it to defend it? Didn’t really matter. After a seemingly unbearable amount of time, The Ringleader was finally going to have some fun.
Several buildings away, a large force of Novokh Necrons silently marched up the field. The Ringleader didn’t like this. Too quiet. Too far away. He shifted, ready to fly towards the oncoming foe.
Sorcerer Ralph Bohner turned and gave The Ringleader a calming gesture.
“Patience boss. We must wait backstage to make an appropriate entrance.”
The massive Deamon Prince slouched slightly, and used his large malefic talons to adjust his top hat and bow tie.
As the Necron horde advanced, they fired powerful weaponry at entrenched Heretics. Several cultists were disemboweled by the bombardment. The Ringleader glared impatiently at the nearby Sorcerer.
“They’re too far away. Time for an opening act! If they won’t come to the Circus, THE CIRCUS WILL COME FOR THEM!
SEND IN THE CLOWNS!!”
A Dread Claw Drop pod deftly landed behind the advancing Necrons. Quickly, a squad of Noise Marines with loud whirling weapons emerged and charged towards the nearest unit, which happened to be a trio of Lokhurt Heavy Destroyers. The Marines gleefully took Chainsword to xenos metal, many blows futilely grinding without purchase, but creating a din of sparks and shrieking noise. They let fly enough blows that some hit soft points and joints, and they revelled over the dismantled constructs
A large unit of Necron Warriors paused their silent march, turned around and leveled a flurry of shots at the newly arrived Marines. After there was little left of the Marines, the Warriors resumed their trudge into the district.
“Tough crowd,” chortled a Dark Apostle across the way. “No appreciation for rhythm and percussion.”
The Ringleader was about to respond, when a cultist near him unceremoniously exploded, draping the Daemon Prince in gore. The Ringleader smiled at the carnage, as he saw a squad of Canoptek Wraiths disenbowl a dozen cultists around him. The Necron leader loomed nearby in a Catacomb Command Barge.
“IT’S TIME TO RAISE THE CURTAIN! IT’S TIME TO LIGHT THE LIGHTS! TIME GET THINGS STARTED!” Cackled the Daemon Prince.
With a flourishing entrance, a squad of Chaos Space Marine Terminators teleported into the battlefield. Their armour is bulky, heavy, and oppressive. One even carelessness stomped on an awestruck Cultists as the Terminators made their grand entrance.
The Dark Apostle thought this would be an appropriate time to add some background music to the fray. Signalling his nearby Dark Disciples, he activated the vox-casters in his armour and broadcast a Remnant of the Maraviglia, the famous (or infamous) musical composition that signaled the Emperor’s Children’s official descent into demonic insanity.
The Ringleader signaled the Sorcerer to cast a Death Hex upon the Wraiths. Ralph Bohner tried to manifest the spell, but the witchfire seeming emitting from him sputtered or stopped.
“Performance Issues? Stage fright” mocked the Dark Apostle. The Sorcerer merely glared.
The newly arrived Terminators were invigorated and seeked to add noise to the battlefield with a seemingly endless cacophony of shots from the combi-meltas before crashing into the nearby Wraiths. With dozens of blows, the Terminators dismantled the tenacious Wraiths. However, they were so effective they left none for The Ringleader to participate.
As quickly as the Terminators fell the Wraiths, a wave of Skorpekh Destroyers fell upon the Terminators and stuck them down.
“AH! AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION! LOVELY!” The Ringleader barked.
“NOW, FOR OUR NEXT ACT…!”
As if on cue, a squad of Warp Talons arrived nearby, wreathed by esoteric energy as they burst from the Warp with a Warpflame Strike.
“NOW THAT’S AN ENTRANCE!” Extorted the Daemon Prince.
As the Warp Talons pounced on the Destroyers, the Ringleader turned his sights to the nearby Command Barge. It was already badly damaged by gunfire from the Terminators.
“LET ME SHOW YOU A MAGIC TRICK!” The Ringleader sneered as he cast a bolt of arcane energy at the Barge before slamming it to the ground with his talons. But, before he could finish the kill, the Dark Apostle stepped in and beheaded the Necron Commander with his Accursed Crozius.
“Look at that! I made his head disappear.” The Dark Apostle gloated as he smiled.
The Ringleader was frustrated that the kill had been stolen from him. He spied a Technomancer retreating from the carnage.
“LEAVING SO SOON!?” The Daemon Prince bellowed?
“LET’S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!”
Flanked by the Warp Talons, the Daemon Prince took flight, bounding across the battlefield.
“I NEED A VOLUNTEER FROM THE AUDIENCE” he bellowed as he pounced on the retreating character.
“HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SHOW!”
Barked The Ringleader, as he tore apart the Technomancer with a satisfying snap.
A time later, the Dark Apostle surveyed the battlefield. It was covered in debris of wrecked vehicles, machines, robots, rubble, bodies, and blood. Smouldering fires kicked up a hazy mist. He spied an ornate case in a ruined building. Curiously, he opened it. He closed the case and passed the artifact to his Dark Disciples. He instructed them to incorporate this new Relic into his armour. He felt he deserves the upgrade.
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