More Skulls for the Skull God

I played in a local tournament yesterday - it was 2000 points with double FOC. I'm just going to write one batrep and this is for the second game versus Space Wolves... Sorry but no pictures.


 OBJECTIVES

The mission had two primary objectives:

(1) Three Objective Markers - one placed in the middle of the table and the other two were both placed on the center line 18" apart from the center marker on either side. Note that heavy support units could hold objectives and were also worth one point each towards this objective if destroyed (Big Guns Never Tire).

(2) You gained one point towards this objective for each unit you moved into the enemy deployment zone and they must be there at the end of the game (not destroyed or fleeing).

Each primary objective was independent of the other for adding battle points... For example if in the case of the first primary if you and your opponent both held an equal number of objective markers then whoever destroyed the most enemy heavy support units would win this one. Each primary was worth 10 battle points for a win, 5 battle points for a draw and 0 for a loss. First Blood and Slay the Warlord were each worth one bonus battle point apiece.


DEPLOYMENT ZONES

Dawn of War (12" from the long table edges). Note that total battle points scored over the course of three games were used to determine the overall winner, not your win-loss record.


- ARMY LISTS -

KHORNE

Primary Detachment - Chaos Daemons

Bloodthirster - Unholy Might, Blessing of the Blood God (Warlord)

Skulltaker - Juggernaught
Herald - Juggernaught, Unholy Might, Fury of Khorne, Blessing of the Blood God
3x Blood Crusher - Fury of Khorne

16x Bloodletter

16x Bloodletter

Allied Detachment - Chaos Space Marines

Kharn
6x Berserker - Icon of Wrath
Berserker Champion - Lightning Claw, Power Fist, Melta Bombs
Land Raider - Extra Armor, Dozer Blades, Dirge Caster

Heldrake - Bale Flamer

SPACE WOLVES

Wolf Lord - Thunder Wolf Mount, Runic Armor, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Thunder Hammer, Saga of the Bear, Fenrisian Wolf (Warlord)
Wolf Lord - Thunder Wolf Mount, Runic Armor, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Frost Blade, Saga of the Warrior, Fenrisian Wolf
4x Thunder Wolf Cavalry (TWC) - 4x Storm Shield, Mark of the Wulfen

Rune Priest - Runic Armor, Jaws of the World Wolf, Living Lightning

10x Grey Hunter - 2x Plasma Gun, Power Fist

10x Grey Hunter - Plasma Gun, Melta Gun, Power Fist

8x Grey Hunter - Plasma Gun, Melta Gun, Mark of the Wulfen

5x Long Fang - 3x Missile Launcher, 2x Lascannon

Land Raider Crusader (LRC) - Extra Armor, Multi-Melta

Aegis Defense Line (ADL) - Icarus Lascannon

PRE GAME ANALYSIS

I knew this would be a tough game. I drew a friend of mine here and our games are always quite epic. He loves the Thunder Wolves and I don't blame him as they are bad news every time. It seems like the dice are often very fickle whenever we play which tends to add some stress.

It's always a tough fight and I knew I'd have to play a strong game to win with no mistakes. My strategy was to focus on holding the central objective marker and deny the other two. Maybe by the end of the game I could manage to score some points on the second primary with the Bloodthirster and/or Heldrake.


DEPLOYMENT

I won the roll to choose my deployment zone. There was a huge building in the center of the table (4+ cover) and the rest of the terrain was equally placed for the most part so I chose the side where I was standing. I also won the roll to deploy and chose to go second.

Space Wolves

My opponent placed his ADL in the center of his deployment zone with the Long Fangs manning the Icarus lascannon along with one of the ten man Grey Hunter packs. He placed the eight man pack of Grey Hunters embarked in the LRC along with the Rune Priest over to my right side of the ADL. He placed the other Grey Hunter pack in a building over to my left. The two Wolf Lords were attached to the the TWC and were also setup over to my left.

Khorne

I deployed Kharn attached to the Berserkers embarked in my land raider directly behind the central building for the 4+ cover save and opted not to attempt to seize the initiative.

Note that I split my daemonic units into the following waves:

Primary - Bloodthirster, Bloodletters

Secondary - CrusherStar, Bloodletters

I have learned that it's better for the CrusherStar to arrive later in the game - I can tie up some enemy units and this helps to draw the heat off the CrusherStar. The worst thing is to bring them in the first turn and subject the CrusherStar to heavy torrents of enemy fire power.

1st Turn - Space Wolves

Most of my opponent's units sit still except for the LRC which immobilizes itself on a small piece of terrain directly in front of it (no forward movement). The Rune Priest hops out and joins the Long Fangs. The Long Fangs fire at my land raider along with the Icarus lascannon but fail to inflict any damage.

1st Turn - Khorne

My primary wave of daemons arrive. I deep strike the Bloodthirster (minimal scatter) in front of the building over to my left housing a 10 man pack of Grey Hunters and he runs forward several inches. I deep strike the first brood of Bloodletters over inside a building in my deployment zone over to my right and they scatter straight forward 10" in front... I use their Run to spread them out and a few can hop back into the building. My land raider moves forward 6" and fires its lascannons at the enemy LRC glancing it once.

Primary Objective:     SW 0, Khorne 0
Secondary Objective: SW 0, Khorne 0


2nd Turn - Space Wolves

The Thunder Wolves immediately head over towards my Bloodthirster while everything else sits still and shoots it if in range. The Greater Daemon finally fails a grounding check but takes no wounds. The Rune Priest attempts to cast Living Lightning and Perils flubbing it. My opponent needs a high roll to charge the Bloodthirster with his TWC and promptly rolls an 11 barreling straight in. My Greater Daemon issues a challenge which is accepted by the Wolf Lord with Saga of the Warrior and both whiff hard.

2nd Turn - Khorne

My Heldrake arrives from reserve along with the CrusherStar and second brood of Bloodletters. The Bloodletters mishap into my land raider and go right back into Ongoing Reserves. The CrusherStar comes in with no scatter beside the land raider which moves up a bit to shield them from the Rune Priest and Long Fangs. The other brood of Bloodletters move back inside the building for the 4+ cover. My land raider targets the enemy LRC but fails to inflict any damage this turn. My Heldrake then fires its bale flamer into the Rune Priest and Long Fangs covering them all with the template. The Rune Priest then makes each save on his runic armor except for the last one and snuffs it. The Bear Lord then uses Heroic Intervention to swap places with the other Lord... Again both the Greater Daemon and Wolf Lord both completely whiff in melee.

Primary Objective:     SW 0, Khorne 0
Secondary Objective: SW 0, Khorne 0


3rd Turn - Space Wolves

It's quite interesting now... My opponent has committed his TWC versus the Bloodthirster over to my left and his LRC is immobilized - he's going to have to work hard to claim either the primary central objective marker or the one to my right since I've got Kharn and Friends sitting right behind it along with a big brood of Bloodletters ready to jump out and hold the objective marker to my right. I felt that even though my Greater Daemon was fighting a losing battle versus the TWC, my opponent didn't have enough fire power to significantly threaten most of my other units and I could punch his lights out in overall melee. Sure TWC with a pair of mounted Wolf Lords is no joke but I had plenty of Khorne's best heavy hitters itching to fight.

The Grey Hunters in the building move up towards the fight between the Greater Daemon and TWC. The Grey Hunters inside the LRC dismount. Everything else sits still to shoot at my Heldrake and misses except for one shot from a plasma gun... My opponent then rolls a 6 to penetrate - I fail my 5++ invulnerable save - then he rolls another 6 on the armor penetration table. Well that hurt as the Heldrake could have scorched the Grey Hunters over in the building beside the big scrum but oh well you just have to play on. This turn my Bloodthirster completely whiffs again in melee and suffers its first wound... At least he will hold them up for another turn - so that's something.

3rd Turn - Khorne

This turn my last brood of Bloodletters come in safely and form a shield wall over to my right between my units behind the building and the TWC... They are out of LOS from the Long Fangs. My land raider targets the LRC again and strips off another hull point (down to two now). The Bloodthirster loses two more wounds (down to his last wound) and again fails to inflict any damage in return... Pathetic.

Primary Objective:     SW 0, Khorne 0
Secondary Objective: SW 0, Khorne 0

4th Turn - Space Wolves

The Grey Hunters in the building move up so they will be able to charge the Bloodthirster in melee with the TWC. The other pack of Grey Hunters hop over the ADL to join up with their Long Fang buddies. Combined shooting from the Long Fangs and Icarus lascannon drop one hull point on my land raider. I shoot the LRC again with my land raider but fail to inflict any damage. The Bloodthirster is then finally slain in combat and the TWC consolidate towards the center of the table. While the Bloodthirster failed to inflict any damage he did tie up the TWC for half the game which I think was very pivotal in the final outcome, unlike the Heldrake which only managed to snuff the Rune Priest.

4th Turn - Khorne

It's time to go to work now... The TWC will surely hit my lines the next turn so I have to force my opponent to make some hard decisions... I move up the Bloodletters on my left to block off entrance from the TWC to most of the central building on that side. My land raider pulls into the building with the CrusherStar coming in behind and to my left. My Bloodletters over to the right move a few models out from the building to start making their run towards the right objective marker... I'm putting the pressure on now and finally starting to shift from defense to offense. My land raider fires everything into the TWC and snuffs both of the Fenrisian wolves.

Primary Objective:     SW 0, Khorne 0
Secondary Objective: SW 0, Khorne 0
Bonus - SW: FB & StWL


5th Turn - Space Wolves

This could be the final turn of the game and at this point my opponent has First Blood and Slay the Warlord... No one controls either of the primary objectives. The TWC are in position to easily charge the Bloodletters on my left but are out of position to charge either my land raider or the CrusherStar. He fires into the land raider with all his guns but inflicts no damage. He then attempts to charge the land raider with the TWC and falls short. w00t !!!

5th Turn - Khorne

My land raider pulls up further into the building to ensure a charge for Kharn and his merry band of Berserkers into the TWC. The Bloodletters back away and the CrusherStar also enters the building but will not charge. The Bloodletters to my right come out some more towards the right objective marker. The land raider fires everything into the TWC and drops one wound on a Thunder Wolf. Kharn fires his plasma pistol and scores another wound. The Betrayer then orders the charge and I roll a 10... They all make it into combat. My Berserker Champion then issues a challenge which is accepted by the Bear Lord and they then proceed to suicide each other. The other Wolf Lord rolls poorly and only manages to kill a couple of Berserkers while the combined attacks of Kharn and the remaining Berserkers finish off the rest of the TWC. The lone Lord breaks but is caught. At this point it's still the same regarding battle points.

Primary Objective:     SW 0, Khorne 0
Secondary Objective: SW 0, Khorne 0
Bonus - SW: FB & StWL, Khorne: StWL


So we roll to see if there will be a sixth turn and by the will of Khorne it is on !!


6th Turn - Space Wolves

Suddenly the momentum has drastically turned in the favor of Chaos... One lone Wolf Lord versus Kharn and a lot of his angry followers. The Grey Hunter pack to my left moves and runs towards the left objective marker while the other pack does the same towards the right objective marker. The Space Wolves finally start to shoot my Bloodletters on the right side and kill one half dozen. Kharn then issues a challenge to the Wolf Lord and slays him as well while suffering two wounds. Kharn and his remaining Berserkers advance toward the Long Fangs.

6th Turn - Khorne

The CrusherStar explodes out of the central building in position to charge the Grey Hunters to my right. Kharn and his crew hop over the ADL to charge both the Long Fangs and Grey Hunters hiding behind it. My land raider also leaves the building to hold the right objective marker while the Bloodletters to my left enter the central building to hold the center objective marker. The Bloodletters to my right move up to provide a 5++ cover save for my land raider. The land raider fires into the LRC and strips another hull point... It's down to its last one. Kharn detaches from the Berserkers to charge the Long Fangs and the Berserkers charge the Grey Hunters. The CrusherStar charges the Grey Hunters to my right. One lascannon  manages a snapshot on Overwatch but Kharn passes his 5++ invulnerable save and kills them all the dead. The Berserkers then trade blows with the Grey Hunters... The Berserkers die but one Grey Hunter manages to survive the blood bath. The CrusherStar then rolls poorly and only manage to kill four Grey Hunters and lose two Blood Crushers. Note that presently Kharn is scoring the second primary objective.

Primary Objective:     SW 0, Khorne 1
Secondary Objective: SW 0, Khorne 1
Bonus - SW: FB & StWL, Khorne: StWL


So at this point if the game ends then it's all wrapped up for the evil powers of Chaos... We roll the dice and it goes to the 7th final turn !!


7th Turn - Space Wolves

Not much left for the Space Wolves to do at this point... The Grey Hunter squad to my left move into my deployment zone and string out to hold the left objective marker so we are now tied on both primary objectives. The lone Grey Hunter beside Kharn rapid fires his bolter and lays the Betrayer low... So I'm now losing on the second primary objective. In combat my CrusherStar is only able to slay two Grey Hunters and they pass their break check so we are still tied on the first primary objective since those last couple Grey Hunters are contesting the right objective marker... Surely the CrusherStar will lay them low my turn though...

7th Turn - Khorne

All I've got to do is kill two Grey Hunters... Skulltaker, a Herald and a Crusher should be able to do that without even breaking a sweat - right? Unbelievably they only manage to kill one - 12 attacks all hitting on 3s and wounding on 2s or 3s... Unbelievable! The game ends... How could fate be so cruel ??

I then remember that destroying heavy support units score points towards the first primary objective... Even in death Kharn has prevented the loss by single handedly slaying the Long Fangs while taking a lascannon shot in the face at point blank range !! Khorne is proud and never forgets - it is a moment that will always be remembered...

More skulls for the Skull God !!