Emperors Children vs Squat Brotherhood (02-28-2016)
After the last fight with the Emperors children and lessons learned from that battle, I reconfigured my list to add some needed punch and bigger formations of Chaos Space marines. This list not a drop list and not a purely Noise Marine/Slaanesh list. Noise Marines are expensive so I added a few to a formation and included the scourge knights.
CSM Retinue (8), Icon Bearer, 4 Rhinos, Warlord, Stalker
CSM Retinue (8, Icon Bearer, 4 Rhinos,
CSM Retinue (6), 2 Noise Marines
CSM Retinue (8), Icon Bearer, Demonic Pact
Armoured Company, 3 Land Raiders, 2 Predators
Chosen (4), 2 Rhinos, Demonic Pact
EC Terminators (5)
Knight Pack 4 Hell Scourge
Hell Talons (2)
Chaos Thunderhawk
6 in the lesser demon pool (plus two from the demonic pact, total
.
Squats:
Brotherhood in Leviathan
6 Berzerkers, 3 Rhinos
6 Berzerkers, 3 Rhinos
Colossus
Overlord Airship
Thudd Gun
Flak weapon with squat stands
3 Iron eagles, 1 Iron hawk
6 bikes, 1 trike
Setup:
I garrisoned the chosen in the center of the battlefield in bunker. From left to right I had CSM with noise marines, Armoured Company, CSM 8 and 4 rhinos, CSM 8 and 4 Rhinos, Scourge Knights, CSM 8 with demonic pact. I kept terminators off board for teleport. No unit was transported in the thunderhawk. 6 Demons in the pool
Opposite from my left to right
Leviathan, thud gun, flak weapon, Berzerker, Colossus, Berzerker, Airship, Iron Eagles, Bikes.
Objective: my plan was to take blitz with the terminators after I saw his setup. Also None Shall Pass since squats are pretty slow and three objectives on my half.
Turn One
I won the roll and went first. First turn I fired the chosen at the airship, landing a blast markers. Later in the turn sent in my hell talons to take out the bike unit and the thunderhawk to cause some more damage to the bike unit. This broke the bikes. His gyro copters came out and layed a blast marker on the chosen in cover. He sent in a berserker unit to take the center objective which was next to the chosen. I sent my knights doubling to get within range of the overlord airship and layed some more more last markers to break it and cause 1 wound. This kept the airship out for a turn and allowed my Talons and Thunderhawk escape without taking AA fire on the way out. The marines in Rhinos moved up as did the CSM on the left and the Armoured Company.
Turn Two:
I won the initiative and had the Chosen summon 4 demons and assaulted the berserker unit, the Steeds of Slaanesh had first strike and took out two berzerkers, I opted for firefight and killed two more, in return I lost one. I won the roll off and the squats lost two more guys and broke. He sent the other berserker unit next to the objective on the right which was near the knights. The rallied airship laid fire to the knights but fabulous save, RA and Invulnerables kept them safe taking only a blast marker. I sent my Hell Talons in to take out a berserker unit that moved up next to the far right objective after a barrage and some shooting they broke. I sent the thunderhawk after the broken bike unit and destroyed them all. The gyrocopters shot at the knights causing one wound. My CSM in rhinos moved up and fired at the broke berserker unit in the center and caused enough casualties to destroy them. The Colossus shot at the knights but made all the saves (bad colossus shooting). On the left the Leviathon moved up and shot up the land raider unit causing one LR casualty. The land raiders moved up and fired at the squat troops and leviathan causing three casualties to the squats. I then moved the far left CSM unit with noise marines up a little to fire at the squats causing two more casualties. His thud guns did nothing. I moved my flyers straight off my opponents board edge to avoid AA fire.
At this point I saw the board and realized I could get blitz next turn and hopefully TSNP and possibly objectives.
Turn Three:
I summoned the Terminators on his back line near his flak and thud guns. They then assaulted the flak unit and the thud guns offered supporting fire. Terminators won easily wiping out the flak unit and causing a blast marker on the thud guns. The Hell talon came in and laid 3 more blast markers. Not quite broken. The leviathan failed to activate and rerolled and failed again. The CSM on the left advance to the objective in front of them firing some shots at the leviathan brotherhood taking a few more down. On the right the knights assaulted the iron eagles in a firefight, poor rolling and good saves had the knights lose, however the iron eagles also broke due to casualties, which was good. I then assaulted the Overlord airship with more summoned units from the chosen the airship lost and was destroyed. I consolidated the chosen back to the safe confines of their bunker. The leviathan laid waste to my CSM unit with rhinos on the right breaking them. The Thunderhawk failed to activate meaning the thud guns contested the blitz. (otherwise the Thunderhawk had free reign to break them). With objectives hard to come by, i marched my far right marines upto the far right objective and marched the other CSM with rhinos on the left to my blitz on my far right.
After all said and done I had two objectives TSNP and controlling all three objectives on my half of the table. If my thunderhawk passed I would have broken the thud guns and gotten blitz and two objectives in my opponents half.
What I learned:
This list plays more to my style of large formations prodding along. The large formations of CSM with Rhinos is tough and I can get them to cover rather quickly and still be able to fire. I love the hell talons with their barrage, I could take another formation of them and drop the thunderhawk, not sure how to use it. Nice model though. The knights absorbed fire from leviathan, colossus and iron eagles and survived till the last turn. They definitely have their uses and I see an aggressive style of play with them. The chosen have done well in all games I played with the demonic pact they are able to summon demons and this helped in two combats. Plus for a cheap unit they are tough if in the right cover. The summoning part I am enjoying and gives greater tactical flexibility to the units using them. Terminators are terminators no explanation needed for them. They do their job and do it great. The only issue I am finding is the CSM 5/6 shooting to hit. Even though they have the range 5/6 just does not cut it for elite marines. Even havocs have the same but two attacks. I would love to see noise marines a little cheaper so they get used more say 6 at 250. Their blastmasters are short range plus only 5/6, even though they have disrupt. Plus 35 for each extra is fine but the 6/300 is too much. Until next time. I will try to get some photos loaded.
Thanks Kal
