The Warhammer 40K Social Contract in Action

Hey there Chaos Cultists, great and small! Summer is upon us, which means I'm going to try to get in a ton of Warhammer 40K stuff done- models painted, games played, and even, yes... a campaign. I'll blog about that at another point, but it looks like that I'll be having a campaign with my friend and my brother... a nice 3 force campaign of my own devising. Like I said, I'll get into that in the next posting or two...

The Lord of Skulls prepares for battle

At any rate, I played a game last week at my local store. My opponent was a younger person (younger than me, at any rate). I have played him before at the store- fun opponent, serious player but willing to laugh off mistakes. He is also a good modeller and painter, in my opinion.

This thing is huge! It is inevitable that GW will make plastic Titans sooner or later...

Well, we had decided the week before that we would fight, and yes, we would go with a Lord of War. I was very excited, as I have never gotten to use my Lord of Skulls before. The day of the battle, the guy tells me that he has a Leviathan brand "Knight" (and damn it, that it is a huge model- very nice, although it lacks the finer details of a GW model). I was fine with this (I don't care if it isn't GW). However, he had a special request- could it instead count as a Lord of Skulls as well?

This was an odd combination, and it didn't work that well.

Now, he has Black Templars and Dark Angels. There should be no way that they can have a Lord of Skulls without it being "Come the Apocalypse". AT LEAST. Plus, the model is radically different from a Lord of Skulls. The Leviathan model could pass as a Knight (A big one, to be sure), but I don't know about a Lord of Skulls... However, thinking that I have played this guy before, and the fact that he was very excited about it (he even had a backstory for it)... how could I say no? So I agreed. Then, he asked if we could go up to 3K points. Now, I only brought a few extra things with me... so I ended up with a squad of Spawn, a Dark Apostle, and a Bloodthirster. Again, not what I planned, but hey, its all in fun.

Kill! Maim! Burn! Indeed

Right there is what I think GW is getting at with 7th (unbounded and the like). We talked about it beforehand, and came to an agreement. Plus, he even had a storyline in mind. This is the type of thing that a Tournament would go beszerk over, but in a friendly game, why not? Besides, now we would be evenly matched- no way to complain that taking a LoW was unfair or anything. I now envisioned that this game would be brutal, and it would be anybodies game. I won for placement, and put my LoS on the far side of the board with a Maulerfiend and a Warpsmith in Rhino for support. My opponent placed his LoS opposite mine- he said that he was dying to see them fight, and that the Emperor was blessing him... The guy wanted to play straight up kill points, and that's all, again I agreed. Ultimately, our lists were almost 3K points

Well painted, with subtle conversions and nice winter basing.

The game, as it turns out, did not go as either of us predicted. In my first turn, my LoS did some damage to the nearby Centurions (those are tough bastards). My Helbrute destroyed his pesky thunderfire cannon quickly. I then advanced my rhino and Maulerfiend on with the LoS. On the other side, I drove up my other rhino (containing Kharn) and a squad of Spawn with a Dark Apostle.

The Black Templar Lord of War has its sights set on single combat.

Then, my opponent went. The first thing he did was advance his LoS so that it was literally face to face with mine. He really wanted this up close. So, he charged. When he rolled with his destroyer weapon, he rolled poorly, rolling mostly ones and a 4. I lost 3 hull points. He was not happy. Then I rolled. I rolled a couple of ones myself, but also a 6. Then, on the D table, I rolled a 6 again. I killed his LoS outright. One blow. Gone. Even his cataclysmic explosion did little, though it took a HP from my Maulerfiend. I laughed and said how crazy that was...

I rolled well on the Destroyer table- praise Khorne and the Skull Throne!

Sadly, the guy was upset. Angry. Mad that he lost his LoS so early- and it was on his charge besides. Because he was so pissed, the rest of the game wasn't as fun. I  and some other guys tried to tell him to buck up, as the dice could have easily gone the other way, but it was no use. He was mad and that was that.

The forces of Khorne advance!

The rest of the game was interesting, though not surprising. His Chapter Master and squad tore through the Spawns. My Maulerfiend finished off the Centurions up close. And my LoS began to take out chunks of his army as he moved toward the center of the field.

And they both bite the dust!

That Contemptor is awesome, even if it cleaved me in twain.

Then, his Chapter Master gets to Kharn, and they duel. Interestingly, both died simultaneously- the legend of my Kharn continues, as this is how he has met his end in several games recently. His  Contemptor Dred tore my Helbrute apart in spectacular fashion. Then, my 2 Heldrakes came on the board, and began to incinerate things (I only take 2 Heldrakes IF I know my opponent is fielding lots of flyers or if it is well over 2K points), and the Templar/Bezerker battle ended with but a handful of Templars left. The Maulerfiend was destroyed by shots from his Devastator squad.

A major moment in the game in  my view...

The Templars did have a Stormtalon, and it zeroed in on one Heldrake. I took Jink, but it wasn't needed as he failed to hit. Yikes- bad rolls. My other Heldrake would later vector strike him and actually destroy it (my rolls were dead on for most of the game when it counted). That meant my Heldrakes were the masters of the sky. My Lord of Skulls was now nearing the center, killing off what was left (including those Devastators). Finally, my Bloodthirster appeared. He shot at him and grounded him, then he had the Contemptor and Terminators charge him. The Contemptor rolled poorly, and again the guy was pissed. My Bloodthirster then killed some terminators.

... since it meant that I could do this in later turns.

At this point, my opponent decided to concede. With the Lord of Skulls dominating, he couldn't win. He killed several of my units, but I had killed more, and that killing would continue unabated, while he had less and less to kill my units. Ultimately, I had 2 Heldrakes, the Lord of Skulls, a Warpsmith and 9 Bezerkers, and a Rhino. He had his Land Raider, and the terminators and conemptor locked with the Bloodthirster. Even IF he had killed the Daemon, the Lord of Skulls was ready to smash that Contemptor to pieces and shoot the terminators.

He made some mistakes. Once his LoS was dead, he decided to pretty much ignore mine. His Centurions were killed before they could act, true, but he had a Landraider, Storm Talon, and Devastators. They should have shot all they had at the thing. But he didn't. Thus, my Lord of Skulls could strike with impunity.

The Heldrake's point of view

His anger had gotten the better of him. Once the game was done he said that Lords of War were stupid and that his army sucks. I told him a single die roll of 6 was what changed everything. I said that I play Khorne Bezerkers- everyone says they suck due to the difficulty of CC armies in 7th- and yet I won. There are many factors, and that next time or the time after he would win. It was to no avail. He was upset and that was it.

Look, it happens sometimes- every player loses their cool at one point or another. In my younger days I would get pissed (Red Terror, Pete?). I understand. But even in my worst moments, I was still sportsmanlike. Shake hands. Have a laugh. Swear revenge.

I felt bad for him, but at the same time... if HE rolled that 6 on the Destroyer table- would he have felt bad for me? And besides, I agreed to every request he made- can it be a Lord of Skulls? Can we just play kill points? Can you increase your list to 3K? As far as I'm concerned, I lived up to my end of the social contract. I hope that he will put this loss in perspective and laugh it off at some point.

Other than that, I have a 2K point game tomorrow against Ultramarines, and I will be looking forward to starting the campaign soon. And I finished some models that I plan on showing soon. And I have mini- movie reviews. And... wow... when did it get so busy here at the Chaos Corner?

Until next time...

Battle Report: Black Legion vs. Khorne Bezerkers

Hey there Chaos lunatics. It is indeed exciting times for us Chaos players in 40K. We had the release of the Chaos Space Marine Codex a few months back, along with some great models (now that they are painted, I love the Maulerfiend and the Heldrake. The Obliterator ripoffs- not so much). In a few days, Chaos Daemons will also be getting a new Codex and some new models (Love the Plague Drones and the Heralds. I have to get a better look at the chariots before I pass judgement). Rumor has it that there will be a second Daemon wave in the summer- complete with new Greater Daemons to boot! Oh yeah, color me excited!

At any rate, I have been painting a ton- I just finished a Khorne Land Raider and a squad of 10 Warp Talons. I am now working on a squad of possessed, and I have some Havocs in the pipeline. Whew! However, I have had a problem lately. I recognize that I haven't played all that much recently. As a matter of fact, I have only a handful of games under my belt with the 6th edition rules. I know that I must rectify this, but it is tough. I have a lot going on at work, and I am still recovering from my surgery (yes, it will take me a year to be 100%, if all goes well). I feel almost embarrassed about going into a local store looking for a battle if I still don't know all the intricacies of 6th edition, let alone the Chaos Marines and Chaos Daemons books! I don't want to be "that guy" who doesn't know all the rules. Not that I want to win, I just don't want to look like a complete fool (Not a complete fool? Which part of me is missing? Nyuk Nyuk).

Luckily, my brother obliged me by playing a game with me last week. Not only that, but he decided to use his Black Legion army! Holy Cow! I haven't seen them in years (as he has played Guard and Grey Knights). We decided to go really crazy with this scenario:

"On the planet, Chaos reigned, literally. Abaddon The Despoiler had rallied many traitors to his cause, including warbands of Khorne Bezerkers. Thus, with such overwhelming strength, the forces of Chaos had laid waste to the planet, killing all in their path. The fires of battle turned the once peaceful world into a desert wasteland, foul shrines to the Dark Gods were built on the ashes of Imperial cities, and blasphemies were carried out on the last remaining innocents. At the moment of triumph, the unexpected happened. The Khornate warband called The Scions of Gorechild had just finished their slaughter of the last remaining vestiges of the planet's defenders at the behest of Abaddon. Out of the smoke, a warrior appeared- it was Kharn. The Betrayer was worshiped by the Scions of Gorechild and his appearance here was a sign from Khorne himself. Kharn looked at these warriors (many he had known since the Great Crusade) and shouted "Khorne demands blood"!! With that he pointed his axe down the hillside, and the "Scions of Gorechild" followed the sweep- they could see plainly that Kharn was pointing at Abaddon himself, who was advancing toward their position. The Scions of Gorechild knew just what Kharn wanted and what Khorne demanded- blood!  With howls of approval, the Scions of Gorechild raced down the hill- the blood of the Black Legion would spill this day, or perhaps the blood of the Scions of Gorechild would fill the valley. They ran after Kharn, not caring from whence the blood flowed. So long as it flowed".

Pretty good introduction, huh? I expanded it a bit for the blog here, but this was basically the scenario, or hook, that we used to set up the battle between 2 forces of Chaos. Just the idea of this was both a bit amusing and totally in keeping with the character of both armies. A 2100 point battle pitting Kharn against Abaddon. This would be an epic battle, that is for sure.

We put some final Imperial defenses on the table, as well as the big Chaos Shrine and a huge skull (bought during Halloween on the cheap). We didn't want too much terrain, as this was a wasteland after a much bigger conflict. With the terrain set, we rolled for mission and got The Scouring, and Hammer and Anvil for deployment. That meant my Bezerkers would have to run a huge up-field distance, while being hit with Havoc and Obliterator fire.

 We placed the objectives before rolling for deployment, thus we didn't know who would get which side- as a result, the objectives were placed quite fairly. We rolled, and I got the pick. Now, I could have had the Bastion (it was put on as terrain, my bro didn't "buy it"). I could have taken it (and the Quad Gun on the roof) but I decided against it. The Scions of Gorechild were going to take the fight to their enemies- not sit on that Bastion (especially since no objective was placed there). Thus, I picked the other side. My brother did put his Black Legion squad on the roof though- I liked this, as it meant that the unit would be of little threat to most of my troops (though they would be able to get my Heldrake if I wasn't careful). After deployment, we determined the point values for each objective. I was sitting on 4 and 2 already. The Black Legion had a 1 and a 3. The other 3 was in a bunker on the side, and the 2 dab in the middle (one on the Shrine itself).

The game began, and in the first turn, I raced most of my units straight up the table. I kept my Cultists to babysit the one objective, and one unit of Khorne Bezerkers to safeguard the other and back up the Cultists if need be. I also kept my Warp Talons back. I did not deepstrike them, as I feel that is too unpredictable. I originally intended to throw them right into the thick of it- but since the mission was Scouring, this meant that they were a scoring unit. I did not want them to be shot or wasted in close combat now- their speed made them a crucial factor- I could swoop in and kill quickly to claim an objective at the last minute if need be. Thus, I kept them close to cover.

My erstwhile opponent moved forwards also, and opened fire with his Oblits and Havocs. The Havocs got a glance on the Maulerfiend, draining 1 HP. The Oblits did likewise with the Land Raider. His Raptors and 3rd Legion squad moved toward the bunker objective. His 1st squad claimed the 1 objective in the ruin.

 In the second turn, I immediately got the Terminators and Kharn out of the Land Raider and marched them toward the ruins. As the LR has the assault vehicle rule, that meant that the squad could charge. Further, my Maulerfiend was in range to charge a 5 man Raptor squad. Lastly, my Heldrake arrived that turn (thankfully). My Vindicator shot at the third 10 man squad, but it drifted wide. In assault, Kharn needed to roll a 7 charge, and he rolled a 10! The Maulerfiend did likewise. Kharn and the Termies cleaved through the Black Legion marines, killing 7. They had the Icon of Vengeance, so they stuck (but would not live for long). The Maulerfiend killed 3 Raptors (am I using this guy right or what?).

In his turn, my brother advanced his Land Raider and fired at mine, causing me to lose yet another HP. His sorcerer moved forward on his disc, and tried to use a spell on my Daemon Prince. He failed his Ld test amazingly! His Oblits also fired at it, to no avail (armor saves worked this time). In combat, his Raptors got killed, and Kharn and the terminators finished off the remaining Black Legionaries (though 2 of my termies died in the process). Thus, I scored First Blood.

In turn 3, Kharn moved toward the enemy Land Raider, as did the Daemon Prince. The Maulerfiend moved toward Abaddon, with Bezerkers right behind him. Further, I moved the Warp Talons closer to the Shrine to seize the 2 points (I kept them behind it, as I knew that if I put them on top of it they would be shot from all sides. So they waited, ready to move at a moments notice. My Heldreake flew in and used its Baleflamer, killing half of the the third squad.

In his turn, his Heldrake arrived (too late perhaps?). Further, my opponent focused all fire at Kharn. The Quad Gun, the Oblits, the Land Raider, and his 4 Terminators who got out- thus both of my Terminators got killed, and Kharn lost a wound. His sorcerer used his powers on Kharn, but his 2+ Deny The Witch roll saved him (and pissed off my brother to no end). He then charged with the Terminators- and Kharn killed them all! My brother failed all invulnerable saves. Yikes!

In Turn 4, Khran was a sitting duck, but what else could I do- my brother had wisely kept everything else at arms length. Believing that this was the moment (and maybe take some heat off Kharn, I moved the Talons to the 3 point objective on the Shrine. My Land Raider shot at the Oblits, but only caused 1 wound. My Maulerfiend charged Abaddon, and my Heldrake tried to burn out the guys on the Bastion, killing 2 (due to their cover save). My Vindicator fired at the 3rd squad, killing the rest in a dead on hit. My Daemon Prince charged the Sorcerer. Sadly, Abaddon destroyed the Maulerfiend with a 6 (ugh), and my Daemon Prince took a wound from the sorcerer. In his half of turn 4, my brother again focused all fire on Kharn. It was too much, and the Obliterators killed him. Score a point for Killing the Warlord. He fired the Quad Gun at the Heldrake, but to no avail. My Daemon Prince killed his Sorcerer, and was now ready to put the hurt on the Oblits in turn 5. Abaddon was now menacing my Bezerker squad, though he refused to actually commit him to combat. His Heldrake attacked mine via the Meteoric Descent, and cost me a HP.

At this point, my brother looked and said there was no way that he could win. His two troops were vanquished, and his last unit in the Bastion would not last long against the Heldrake. Thus, adding it up, he had 1 for Slay the Warlord. I had 4 plus 2 plus 2, as well as 1 for First Blood and 1 for Linebreaker (my Heldrake was IN his deployment zone). Thus, it was 1 to 10

In Khornate tradition, this match was a slaughter. The blood indeed flowed. My brother had some truly awful rolls, while it seemed that Kharn couldn't miss. Now, my brother can be a tough, tenacious, and oft lucky opponent (most of the time, he can roll 6s just when he needs to, miraculously at times). This day was just not his day. Next time, he'll put me down in 2 turns. That's the way it goes sometimes.

"The Scions of Gorechild witnessed their hero shot down into the dust, and thus fought all the harder to avenge their fallen comrade. Abaddon realized it was over, and retreated from the field.After all, he had ruined this Imperial world, this fight was only an annoyance and unnecessary. He would never bring the Scions of Gorechild into his service again  (unless he really needed them; they would ally with him again IF he promised them blood, naturally). The Scions of Gorechild got the blood that they wanted this day. When the battle was over, the blood stained the ground and the dust settled, the Scions went to recover the body of Kharn. However, when they arrived, his body was gone. Once again, Khorne had shown why Kharn was so favored. The Scions of Gorechild bellowed in rage and  joy, and thus set off for more bloody adventure..."

Hope you liked this one. Until next time...