Cry "Havoc" and unleash the Dogs of War!
I needed some reason to put the Khorne Dawgs on the tabletop...
SCENARIO
A relic of great value is stored in an Imperial Inquisition Stasis Crate atop a hill guarded by a pack of Flesh Hounds, along with Karanak, the Hound of Vengeance. None of them are happy to have been summoned to this world which REEKS of Slaanesh!
The Relic - the relic is stored in an Imperial Inquisition Stasis Crate atop a hill in the centre of the table and counts as an Objective Marker. The relic can be carried if a unit successfully completes the Carry Relic action (see below). If a unit carrying the Relic is destroyed, leave the crate on the table as close as possible to where the centre of the unit was before it was removed.
Carry Relic (Action):One INFANTRY unit from an army can start to perform this action at the end of their Movement Phase if it is within 1" of the Relic. The action is completed at the end of their turn so long as the unit performing it is still within 1" of the relic and there are no enemy units in engagement range of it (including Flesh Hounds or Karanak!). If this action is successfully completed move the crate to the approximate centre of the unit carrying it. It may be moved along with the unit if the unit moves. The crate is dropped if the unit is destroyed.
Demonic Dog Pack - Karanak and the Flesh Hounds guarding the Relic will act on a turn of their own after all of the other players have gone. They are considered enemy units to all of the Players forces.
Khorne Dawgs - the Flesh Hounds atop the hill will move towards and charge at units in the following order; 1) the closest unit, without the Khorne keyword, with in 18", 2) the unit that most recently shot at it. They will attempt to Deny The first psychic powers directed at it each Psychic Phase.
Mission Objectives
Relic Secured (Progressive): At the end of each playersCommand Phase, the player whose turn it is scored 10 Victory Points if unit from their army is carrying the Relic, or if they control the Relic.
Relic Recovered (End Game): At the end of the battle, if a unit from a player's army is carrying the Relic, that player scores 60 Victory Points. If the Relic is not being carried, the player with the model closest to the Relic scores 30 Victory Points. If more than one player has models equally close to the relic, then they all score 10 Victory Points, each.
Victor Bonus
After the battle, the victor selects one CHARACTER from their army that took part in the battle and gives that CHARACTER one Crusade Relic (all the normal rules and restrictions apply). Make not on the character's Crusade Card and increase its Crusade Points accordingly.
Other Rules
Daemon World Battlefield Twist:
Field of War: The essence of Khorne has infected this place – through all of it rolls the endless bellow of the wrathful War God, filling all who hear it with maddened might. Add 1 to the Strength characteristic of all models.
FORCES
Four Chaos Warlords and their Retinued took part in this battle. Details can be found on:
(I've tried to keep this page current - so if you are reading this much after the game report was posted you are likely seeing the force as it was AFTER the game - or at the end of the campaign, if you are reading weeks, months, or YEARS later!? Regardless, it should give you some idea of the forces involved...)
THE GAME
All set up stuff and ready to go! The Tzaangors were set up in the Warp... or Webway... or someone might have mentioned a raccoon's butt...? Teenagers. I don't even want to know - they just weren't on the table.
Lots of Flesh Hounds protecting that box on top of the hill... Rolling for Karanak's target... it was the Thousand Son's Exalted Sorcerer! Woo!
ROUND ONE
The Death Guard went first and mostly advanced. One unit might have just moved and fired off some bolters in the general direction of the Thousand Sons.
The World Eaters moved up and started shooting... instead of just advancing towards the objective - which, by the end of the turn, would have been clear of Flesh Hounds.
Honestly, this probably lost him the game right there... I'd been planning to blast away at Flesh Hounds, but since he killed two of my brand new Chaos Space Marine Rhythm section - the Cadentiae Morbo - and FOUR of the Soroibus Tortus Noise Marines... well... I couldn't just let THAT go!?
The Thousand Sons moved up, slightly and unleashed hell on the Death Guard and World Bearers. The Cultists were wiped out in the Psychic Phase.. The Death Guard lost a few to the Rubric Marines fire.
I retired just enough to ensure the Thousand Sons were the closest non-Khorne units to the Flesh Hounds and then fired EVERYTHING at the World Bearers... out of 30+ assorted Bolter and Sonic weapon shots... I took out three of the Blood Bolters Squad!?
And then the Hounds of WAR were unleashed...
Nine wounds on the Exalted Sorcerer at -1AP... Nope...
The Attacks not he Rubric Marines were equally ineffective!
ROUND TWO
The Death Guard very carefully and quietly moved towards the mound in the middle while Karanak, Hound of Vengeance, loped by on it's way to seek out its prey!
Advancing, finally, the World Bearers made it to the top of the mound and within range of the Chest... having Advanced, however, they could not pick it up. The Helbrute continued splitting its fire between the Emperor's Children and the Thousand Sons.
The Thousand Sons pretty much spent the turn fighting Karanak and the Flesh Hounds. The Rubric Marines finished off the Flesh Hounds attacking them, and the Exalted Sorcerer continued holding off the Flesh Hounds he was fighting AND somehow survived Karanak's charge (I kind of forgot the bonus to hit and wound against the Target of Karanak's wrath... whoopsie...).
The Emperor's Children just sat back and unleashed volley after volley of fire... and did... NOTHING!
Wow.
ROUND THREE
The Death Guard advanced to the top of the mound as well, denying the World Eaters the opportunity to grab the crate on their turn - or claim CONTROL of it for Victory Points!
So the World Eaters CHARGED and tried to shove them off the mound!
The Tzaangors finally remembered there was a battle going on and decided to show up. They charged the Helbrute and didn't do too badly against it this time!
The Thousand Sons finished off Karanak and the Flesh Hounds this turn.
The Emperor's Children moved back up and started blasting away at everyone... well... wveryone of the World Eaters they could. The Flamer in the Cadentiae Morbo Chaos Space Marine squad took out the Helbrute!! The Helbrute exploded and took three Tzangors with it - who then failed morale and another two left!
The Sabbatum Nigreos Noise Marines Blasted away at the World Eaters Chaos Space marines and finished them off... Leaving only a few Death Guard and the Warpsmith still engaged on the top of the Mound.
ROUND FOUR
The Death Guard claimed 10 Victory Points for controlling the Crate at the end of their Command Phase!
Lord Slugbottom joined his Death Guard up on the Mound - but had to advance to get there, so he didn't do much else this turn. The remaining Death Guard fought the Warpsmith - and the Warpsmith killed three of them.
The Thousand Sons Sorcerer finished off the Warpsmith with some sort of Psychic attack and then the Rubring Marines blew away the rest of the Death Guard Plague Marines on top of the mound.
The Emperor's children charged the Tzangors and Lord Slugbottom. The Tzangors were wiped out, and Xoilaz Gafar - The Emperor's Children Sorceress - did three wounds to Lord Slugbottom... but he soldiered on.
ROUND FIVE
The last of the Bubonix Boyz joined Lord Slugbottom on top of the Mound - they charged into the melee and finished off Xoilaz Gafar. The Noise Marines finished off the Plague Marines... the Lord Slugbottom took out the last of the Noise Marines. The Thousand Sons Exalted Sorcerer then climbed the Mound and blasted Lord Slugbottom off with his awful, awful psychic assault...
Then Lord Felzik shredded the Sorcerer with his Fatal Sonancy and that was the end of the game...
END GAME
Lord Felzik, being the closest to the crate - by, like, half an inch (The others called it, I was willing to say it was pretty much close enough to call it equal...) So the Emperor's Children scored 30 Victory Points and won the game - as the only other side to score was the Death Guard that claimed 10 Victory Points on Round Four!?
Only the World Eaters Cultists failed their Out of Action Test... but then used a requisition point to immediately rest and Recuperate - since we aren't really using them for anything else in this campaign!? (Though I've thought about adding in some other units to the roster that I could swap in for a game for giggles - but the only one that would make much difference is the Raptors, and they're not finished yet... or the Venomcrawler, but I don't have ENOUGH Requisition Points for that... Maybe a Greater Possessed...?)
Both of my Noise Marine units made it to 6 Experience Points and are now Blooded and I still need to pick a Battle Honour or Weapon Enhancement for them. The Chaos Space Marines that just joined us for this game made a good showing of themselves and picked up 4 XP - well on their way to levelling up. Lord Felzik is STILL only at 5XP!? If he'd taken out the Tzangors instead of letting the Chaos Space Marines at them, he'd have had one more and could be Blooded - just like everyone else!
Lord Slugbottom gained another 4XP bringing him to 18! That makes him the first in our campaign to make it to Level Three- Battle Hardened - he took a weapon enhancement and now has a FINELY BALANCED Power Fist - hitting on 2+!? The rest of his crew still languishes far behind - though the Leprosy Lad Plague Marines gained their 6th XP and ended up Blooded and also picked a weapon enhancement - though they took RANGED Weapon Enhancements - Bother Boecher - the Squad's Champion - took an Armour-Piercing Bolt Gun, and Bother Logg took a Master-Worked Plasma Gun!
The Thousand Sons Rubric Marines gained 4XP brining their total to 8 and gained a level. They took the "Battle-Tested" Battle Honour. The Tzangors earned their very first Experience Point by NOT dying and NOT failing an Out of Action test!
The World Eaters Chaos Space Marines and Cultists both gained a level. The Blog Bolters squad took the Veteran Warriors Battle Honour and the Cultists... I'm not sure... they'll have to pick one before our game tomorrow!
Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:
ANOTHER GAME TOMORROW!!!
Pictures aren't great, but the colours of the mat and scenery are very Slaanesh
ReplyDeleteThe Cub and I are playing Crusade as well, although without the chaotic shenanigans of multi-player. Sounds like you all had a blast ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to try out a campaign with just some regular one-on-one games!
DeleteOriginally that's what I'd intended for this campaign - a series of one on one games - each of us would play each other three time (so still a total of six games) but I couldn't wrap my head around which way yo do things have games going simultaneously (which would be a pain - because there are ALWAYS questions coming up and whichever two I wasn't playing would always be interrupting to ask for clarifications or I'd have to listen to endless complaints about one or the other having done something "wrong" throughout the game afterwards...) or have only one game going at a time, so I could adjudicate the ones I wasn't playing in, but then have to ask teens with very short attention spans to sit out and wait while others played a game... in the end decided "hey, why don't we just all play together"... which, of course, has it's own set of issues! The biggest being someone ALWAYS ends up feeling like they're being "picked on".
Troubles and aside, it has been more fun than not!