THERE IS ONLY WAR.

Hello gamers, Ciaran here and this week I share with you all my first battle report here on Games Knight 40k style. My Imperial Fists went toe to toe with the forces of Chaos, who would prove victorious? Read on to find out.

The Fists of Dorn.

I listed my army for this game last week here on Games Knight but here is a quick recap. HQ choice was Captain Lysander and also nominated Warlord.  He was attached to my Elite slot of a 5 man Terminator squad and started the game in reserve.  Two tactical squads took up both my compulsory troop choices slots; both were equipped with teleport homers.  Last but not least my Vindicator tank took up a Heavy Support slot.  940 points in total.

The Black Legion.

My opponent was none other than my arch nemesis (and good friend) M. Dan Price who you will see from time to time in the coming months here on Games Knight.  His HQ choice was a Sorcerer and also his nominated Warlord, his powers included Endurance and Wind of Chaos.  His Elite choice was a ten man Terminator squad and his Sorcerer started the game attached to this squad.  Dan’s troop choices were 2 ten man Chaos Space Marine squads, one mounted in a Rhino.  And finally he took a unit of 2 Spawn as a Fast Attack option.  996 points in total.

Set up & deployment.

THE IMPERIAL FISTS DEPLOY.

The game was played on a 6x4 citadel realm of battle board and was given a hive complex courtesy of my old Necromunda terrain.  Mission was ‘The Emperor’s Will’ which saw both me and Dan place 1 primary objective, worth 3 victory points each,  in our own table half.  The aim of the game was to capture you opponent’s primary objective whilst successfully defending your own.  Secondary objectives for the game were Slay the Warlord, First Blood & Linebreaker and all worth 1 victory point each.  Due to the game being played on the evening and the need for quickness me and Dan agreed to forgo the Night Fighting and Mysterious Objectives rules for this game.  After rolling on the deployment map on a D3, we deployed using the Dawn of War map seeing each player using the long board edge as his deployment zone.  We then rolled for our Warlord traits.  I chose to roll on the command traits table and promptly rolled a 1 (was this a sign of things to come?) giving Lysander the Inspiring presence trait.  This allowed for any friendly units within 12’’ of Lysander to use his Leadership value rather than their own.  Dan then used the new Chaos codex to determine his Warlord trait giving him the ability to make 3 of his scoring unit’s infiltrators.  Dan won the roll of the dice to deploy first and have the first turn, I attempted to seize the initiative but failed to roll a 6. So with the armies deployed the battle commenced!

A WAR BAND OF CHAOS SPACE MARINES GUARD THEIR OBJECTIVE.

TACTICAL SQUAD ATHESIS TAKE UP DEFENSIVE POSITIONS.

  Turn 1.

Dan made his intentions quite clear in his opening turn as his ten man Terminator squad cut in from his right flank towards my objective being held by one of my tactical squads.  In addition to this his Rhino APC advanced towards my objective also whilst his Spawn stalked through the hive complex hugging cover.  The shooting phase saw Dan pick off 3 of my tactical marines defending my objective, reducing the squad from ten marines to seven.  In my first turn I immediately went on the offence in an effort to whittle Dan’s numbers down.  The under fire tactical squad defending my objective released a salvo onto the approaching Chaos Terminators but saw all successful rolls to wound saved and a 5+ invulnerable made from my Sgt’s plasma pistol! I quickly headed my 2^nd tactical squad in the direction of Dan’s objective and released a long range salvo against them resulting in one Chaos Space Marine being felled.  My Vindicator then also targeted the squad of Chaos Space Marines as I purposefully attempted to shift the opposing unit off the objective with barrage fire.  The shot from the Vindicators Demolisher cannon scattered 8 ‘’ from the intended target but once reduced by the ballistic skill of 4 managed to pick off 1 more Chaos Space Marine. End of the opening turn and the game stood at 1-1.

THE VETERANS OF THE LONG WAR ADVANCE.

Turn 2.

The Chaos Terminator squad pressed its advantage from Dan’s right flank and delivered another punishing salvo of fire power into the tactical squad defending my objective.  Despite some impressive saves another Space Marine fell taking the squad down to 6 Space Marines including the Sgt.  The Rhino APC continued to make inroads towards my objective but had an unsuccessful shooting phase much to my relief!  The Spawn unit cut into the middle of the hive complex heading them toward my right flank.  I chose to ignore the Spawn and concentrated my tactical squad’s fire on the Chaos Space Marines defending Dan’s objective which saw me inflict 2 casualties.  The Vindicator again fired at the Chaos Space Marines occupying Dan’s objective but scattered well wide of the target.  My reserves failed to arrive this turn leaving me very outnumbered.  At the end of turn 2 it still stood at 1-1 but the momentum was very much with the forces of Chaos.

SPAWN EMERGE FROM THE SHADOWS TO LAUNCH A DEVASTATING AMBUSH.

Turn 3.

Dan strengthened his hold on his right flank and moved his Terminators, still yet to suffer a single casualty, within spitting distance of my objective.  In addition the Rhino APC piled in and the Squad of Chaos Space Marines inside disembarked and inflicted more casualties on to my objective defending squad.  In a move I didn’t see coming, Dan charged my other tactical squad with his Spawn and thus tied them up in Combat halting there advance towards his objective.  I was now in serious trouble, my reserves again failed to arrive and numbers were dwindling.  My only hope of winning the game now was to ensure my Vindicator blasted the Squad of Chaos Marines off Dan’s objective and hope I could defend mine for at least another 2 turns.  It was going to be tight! End of turn 3 games still tied at 1-1.     

SWARMING FROM THE RHINO APC, A CHAOS WARBAND STRIKES AT THE IMPERIAL FISTS OBJECTIVE.

Turn 4.

An imperial Fist come back beckoned as my reserves finally arrived in the shape of Lysander attached to a 5 man Terminator squad.  With the squad of tactical marines now down to only 2 survivors, I opened up on his Space Marine squad now swarming my objective.  But alas! Despite a good number of successful to wound rolls Dan managed to save against everyone!  The Spawn continued to tie up my other tactical squad in close and inflict casualties, but the squad held its own and inflicted a few wounds of its own.  My Vindicator finally got a big hit on the Squad of Chaos Space Marines holding Dan’s objective and took 4 of them out of the game.  End of turn 4 and heading into the last turn still tied at 1-1.

THE FORCES OF CHAOS OVERWHELM THE FISTS DEFENSIVE POSTION.

Turn 5 and the laughter of dark gods.

Dan finally dislodged the remaining 2 Space Marines holding my objective and captured it for himself.  In retaliation I proceeded to wipe out the entire of Dan’s Chaos Space Marines that had disembarked from the Rhino with one close combat phase from Lysander and his Terminator squad. This gave me the First Blood secondary objective but it was not enough.  Despite my vindicator picking off another Chaos Space Marine off Dan’s objective it was still well under Dan’s control.  We rolled to see if the game would go into a 6^th turn but the roll was under a 4+ so the game ended. Final victory points count was 4 – 1 to Dan and his Chaos Space Marines.

DEEP STRIKING INTO THE MELEE, IMPERIAL FISTS TERMINATORS VANQUISH THEIR FOES.

Final word.

First of all, thank you and congratulations to Mr Dan Price for his participation and victory.  Although aided by some very lucky armour saves throughout the course of the game I cannot deny Dan was the worthy winner.  For 996 points Dan picked a very good army list and I thought he used each element to their maximum effectiveness.  The turning point in the game for me was when Dan tied up my tactical squad with his Spawn in close combat.  This prevented my only advancing scoring unit to challenge Dan’s objective and totally robbed me of my game plan.  From there on in I was playing for a draw and one that would have required a small miracle!  So I have to lick my wounds on this occasion, but never fear my Imperial Fists will feature again here on Games Knight sometime in the future.  Thank you for reading this battle report, if you have any comments or suggestions please post them and get involved.  Till next time.