Battle Report: Chaos Space Marines vs. Grey Knights (Part 1)

Hey everybody! How's it going for you this week? Getting into any trouble? Well, we here at Chaos Corner certainly hope you ARE getting into trouble... just not TOO much trouble! Hehehe! Anyways, I'm here to give you guys a look at my most recent battle against the Grey Knights. However, I decided to use my Chaos Marines rather than my Dark Eldar. Truly, I haven't played with Chaos for nearly a year; I love the Dark Eldar, but I just wanted a break and go back to my Chaotic roots. My opponent and I also decided to try something different in our game. So without further ado, lets delve into this latest battle report...

My Plague Marines are in position... do the Grey Knights suspect?

So, my bother and I decided to have a match up this week. He's been enjoying his Grey Knights, and he decided to use them again. I decided to go with a Chaos force- not all Plague Marines, though. I have a lot of Chaos stuff, so I decided to go that route, though the forces of Nurgle would be a mainstay in whatever force I made.

However, something has been bugging me about 40K lately. The main book missions are all pretty much the same. Its always "capture these objectives". I really wanted to do something completely different. A different type of game altogether. So, I did a bit of research in all the rulebooks. I was reading Cityfight, and I came across a mission called "Assassination". Now, that was something different! A fun match-up with a different objective AND a different force organization chart. This would spice it up quite a bit!

 But then I wondered- who would be the attacker, and who would be the defender/the target of assassination? I continued to flip through my books and I found in Battle Missions rules for Kill Team. I said "Hey- this will work"! We would start our battle with a Kill Team scenario- whoever got below half strength and lost a Leadership Test first would lose. The loser would then be the target of assassination! It sounded like fun to me- so my brother and I decided to go for it...

The Grey Knights advance under withering fire... but the Emperor Protects!

We set up a Cityfight table- complete with GW ruins, factory pieces, and a bunch of the old Armorcast brick building ruins. I also decided to use an overpass set that I had custom built for me. With the terrain set up, we decided we'd have the Kill Team match on only one part of the table. Once we selected the one end, we made up our lists- which was set at 200 points. I picked a squad of (you guessed it) 5 Plague Marines, one with a Meltagun. For the remainder, I picked 3 Khorne Bezerkers (with one Plasma pistol). I thought it was a good set up at 203 points. Then my brother told me what he would be fielding- 5 Grey Knight Terminators. It just got interesting....

My Plague Marine is shot and killed by Storm Bolters

 In a terrible battle of the capital, a squad of Chaos Marines were doing a sweep- their mission was to locate the Grey Knights commander. As they made their sweep, they encountered 5 Terminators. If the Chaos Marines were to succeed, they would have to kill the Terminiators. If they failed, the Terminators might be able to trace them back- thus setting up the Chaos Lord for assassination. Pretty dramatic, huh?

The Kill Team mission was a lot of fun. With each man acting on his own, it made for some thrilling shoot outs and dramatic close combat moments. I moved some of  my Plague Marines onto the actory ruins, so they could be shooting at the approaching Grey Knights. Meanwhile, I sent two Khorne Bezerkers forward, and I sent 2 other Plague Marines with the third Khorne Bezerker around the side in an attempt to flank.

Desperate one on one combat

It was great- we traded shots as his Grey Knights advanced. However, their terminator armor was generally proof against my shooting. I had downed one, but he killed 2 Plague Marines and a Khorne Bezerker in his shooting. Finally, my flanking moved into cover, just as his Grey Knights got there. The one Khorne Bezerker charged in, but was sliced in half by the Terminator. My Plague Marine got to the upper level and fired- but still did not kill the Grey Knight.

Blood for the blood god!!

On the other side, the Plague Marines kept firing, but it was the lone Khorne Bezerker that fired his Plasma pistol, killing one Terminator. In the next volley, my Plague Marines and Khorne Bezerker survived the shots, and they shot back. Again, the Bezerker's Plasma pistol felled another Grey Knight, as did a Plague Marine's bolter. With a failed leadership roll, my brother was forced to concede. Chaos was victorious, and we "set up the field", ready to ambush and assassinate the Grey Knight commander.

So, we decided to make a list at 1600 points. Now, the force organization chart for Assassination is called "Hit and Fade". For the attacker, I can only use (at maximum) 2 HQs, 6 Elites, 2 Troops, and 3 Fast Attack. Not quite the list I was used to making, which is why I wanted to play this mission. So, what did I pick? A Khornate Daemon Prince and a Plague Terminator Lord (as HQs). I had  full squads of Plague Marines and Khorne Bezerkers. I also had a Plague Dreadnought as my only heavy firepower. For my other Elite choices, I ahd two Terminator squads- one set of Plague Terminators, and the other a set of Black Legion terminators. Finally, I had a squad of Raptors with the Mark of Nurgle. Ultimately, I was at 1593.

His attitude was "Come and get me!"

What I was not prepared for, was my brother's strategy. Rather than place his commander in a building or near cover, he placed him in the near-center of the Overpass. Yep- balls out right there, out in the open. He then surrounded him with 2 squads of Grey Knight terminators and another full squad of Grey Knight marines. That would be a lot to cut through. Would my brother's plan be brave and bold, or just foolhardy? Find out in our next posting!