Old Rivals

  So I got to play my second game of 40K last night. Yay!

  I did not have time to rethink my list but I can give you my opponents as he sent it to me after the game. He uses a site called army builder to build his lists ( http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=army_builder ) and I sure will be checking it out. He played Tzeentch Chaos Space Marines and so this was a battle of old rivalries ;) Aspiration and Change Versus Disease and Stagnation (*cue drum roll*).

CB's army list:


Sorcerer (HQ) - Psyker (Mastery Level 2) -  Sigil of Corruption, Gift of Mutation, Power Armour, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Warlord

7 Chaos Space Marines (Troops) 
Power Armour, Bolt Pistol (x7), Bolter (x6), Meltagun, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades,
Aspiring Champion - Power Armour, Bolt Pistol, CCW, Bolter, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Gift of Mutation

7 Thousand Sons (Troops)
Power Armour, Mark of Tzeentch, Bolter w/ Inferno Bolts (x7); Aura of Dark Glory
Aspiring Sorcerer - Psyker (Mastery Level 1); Power Armour, Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon, Gift of Mutation

The mission was 'Crusade' and we concluded the battle as a draw as at the end I held two objectives (number two held by my reliable cultists) and he held one and had been the first to slay a unit outright (my bikers being substandard again!). Reading it now that scoring confuses me as a primary objective is three points and a secondary is one? Anyways it doesn't matter as it was just a fun game to learn the rules...

What I learnt from this battle was that rushing at your enemy is fine if your enemy is Tau and you are on a tiny table but is not when you are on a standard size table and your opponent has a unit of Thousands Sons. They are double 'ard b*****s. My poor bikers rushed them and got wiped out in two turns - rapid fire and inferno bolts with AP3 made Tzeentch happy! Sure they were not a fast unit but they really didn't need to be as they happily sat back and riddled my guys with armour bypassing bolter fire. Apparently a terminator squad or obliterator or two is a good unit to take to counter these guys (I guess a plus point being they actually still get an armour save against them).

  I also learnt that on a bigger table being deployed so that your Havocs are close enough to hit the enemy is important - they spent most of the game huffing and puffing lugging their equipment around and in the end only took out one chaos space marine in one of the final turns.

  My sorcerer warlord again did not use his power. He rolled and got Weapon Virus but instead I took Nurgle's Rot again (which was silly of me, Nurgle must be rotting my brain). He was attached to the chaos space marine squad. The guys spent their time trudging across the battlefield, one of their number being felled until a spectator suggested I detour into the courtyard to sit on the objective there. They were pretty safe at that point but it did mean Nurgle's Rot could not be used as he did not get into close combat while Weapon Virus could have been used in this scenario.

All in all, great fun. Next stop -  hopefully a session with the Games Workshop Sydney store manager to reinforce my rules knowledge. 

  Til next time!