War of the Relics; Chaos still (doesn't) Rock

The Space Wolf Terminators and the Deathwing Terminators resumed their long-range, low-intensity firefight after a round of fire by the Space Wolves took down the Dark Angel Dreadnought, glancing it to death. As one Cyclone Missile launcher crashed to the ground, Luce recalled the others into the shelter of the ruins.

Meanwhile, the Grey Hunters looked at the on-rushing Chaos Warp Talons and retreated to take advantage of the rough terrain nearby to make the inevitable charge less deadly.

Njal took a wound from Batbayor and would have taken more had he not worn Terminator armor, but the armor proved the difference as he fended off blow after blow, finally dealing two of his own that penetrated his enemies armor, killing the Chaos Lord.

 He moved back under cover of the nearby Hammerhead, mindful of the oncoming Fire Warriors.

Logan continued picking off the Fire Warriors but took a wound himself. The Fire Warriors made it into a running battle, firing at him as they moved across the field toward their objective.

The Warp Talons, their numbers diminished by the fire they had taken, did manage to crash into the Grey Hunters, losing one of their own number but taking down 4 Grey Hunters, causing the remaining two to flee. They tried to chase but were eluded.

Meanwhile, an Ultramarine Dreadnought arrived in the ruins, determined to contest Objective 3 with the Deathwing Terminators there.

I ended up playing two consecutive turns and did not take notes. At this point I am thinking of things to somewhat speed up the end. I enjoy this but the piece-meal entry has given one army too much of an advantage to overcome. The rules are coming much easier to me...rending took out a Terminator as he had to save on a 5+ not a 2+.

Lightning Claws are great against power armor...power fists are great against Terminators. I am definitely learning things like that. Weight of fire matters, too. Just putting out 8 or 10 shots from a unit simply does not do enough damage, and you REALLY have to have stuff capable of taking out stuff like Armor Value 12 Dreadnoughts or AV14 Land raiders or even though they only put out a certain volume of fire, they are impervious to entire units.

au 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 
Space Wolves 40 First Blood, kill points x8, objectives x29, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 10 Kill Point x2, Objective x 8
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics: Njal v Batbayor

Gunvor gestured toward the Dark Angel Dreadnought. "Take it down!" He ordered. His storm bolter joined the Assault Cannon in hammering away at the dreadnought, weakening its armor.

The Dreadnought's front armor of 12 means only the Assault Cannon can hurt it, and then only with a glance.  So long as the Dreadnought does not come in range of the Power Fists, it is in little danger from the Terminators, the 1 glance notwithstanding.

Luce's men again fired Krak missiles at the Space Wolf Terminators, but their armor was proof against the missiles. Luce began considering charging his men at them to protect the dreadnought.

Njal tried to devastate the approaching Chaos Lord with his psychic abilities but could not damage him. The Staff of the Stormcaller proved more effective, wounding his enemy once.

Marius looked back and forth from the Terminators to the Dreadnought. Pure weight of fire might eventually bring down the Terminators, but only two of his weapons, the missile launcher and Plasma Gun could hurt the Dreadnought. Still, the Dreadnought was the bigger threat to his own Terminator brethren. He gestured toward it and the entire unit fired at the dreadnought. The Krak missile appeared to do some damage.

Batbayor shrugged off the incoming fire from Njal's staff and closed to hand-to-hand with him, swinging the Lightning claws with fury.  Neither could wound the other, however.


Logan continued running towards his objective, making excellent time across the field.

Estienne advanced towards the Terminators, firing as he went. His lascannon shot struck a terminator full-on, but somehow the armor shrugged it off.

Guo led his firewarrior team through the long-abandoned bunkers. He gazed at the field ahead of him. Straight ahead a Space Wolf Psyker was involved in single combat with a Chaos Lord. In the center of the field Space Wolf Terminators and Grey Hunters were involved in a fire fight with Dark Angel deathwing terminators and a Dark Angel Dreadnought. Off to his right a monstrous Space Wolf was running across the field.

With him were his 9 Fire Warriors tasked with the mission of crossing the maelstrom of destruction to recover a valuable dataslate buried in the ground. 

He hoped assistance would arrive because his team had little chance of accomplishing their mission unaided.



Tau 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 
Space Wolves 35 First Blood, kill points x7, objectives x25, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 8 Kill Point x2, Objective x 6
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; Is this the end for Stumpy?

Gunvor gestured to the Chaos Chosen. "With no Storm Shield to protect us, we cannot take the Land raider. Lets kill some chosen." Assault cannons and Storm Bolters opened up, killing a couple Chosen.

Stumpy thought momentarily he had destroyed the land raider but then he noticed he had not even damaged it.

 the return fire was a bit more impressive as the Bolters tore through his partner and the lascannon tore him in two.

Well, I guess that answers that question...the land raider outshot the Long Fangs. It took quite some time, 1 penetrating hit and one glance on the Land raider, but it took out all 5 long Fangs. Even more impressive, using the Power of the Machine Spirit rule, it also shot down the Wolf pack leader from the Grey hunters.

"Fire!" commanded Luce. Once more Frag Grenades streaked forth, killing 4 of the Chosen, leaving just one who finally had enough and took off through the nearby brush.

Marius gestured to his missile launcher wielding troop. "Hit the land raider! the missile streaked out but missed wildly.

The Land Raider is a real problem. With armor of 14 the Power Fists of the terminators and the Krak Grenade all need a 6 just to glance, no other weapon is a threat to it at all. It is threatening to run amok on this game right about now...

Zhi ignited his jump pack, landing squarely in front of the Deathwing terminators. The fusion blaster took one out, but they proved tough enough to withstand the other hail of fire from his team. Very aware of the power the Terminators could bring to bear, he led his men in jumping back to safety.

Gaanbatar saw the Deathwing and knew if they saw him he would be slain. He needed to get all the way across the field. Choosing stealth as the better part of valor, he began working his way through the ruins hoping to avoid notice.

Tau 3 objective x 3, Overwhelming Firepower 1 (pending)
Space Wolves 26 First Blood, kill points x5, objectives x18, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 6 Kill Point x2, Objective x 4
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics: Chaos in the Middle

Gunvor motioned his Storm-shield bearing warrior to the front. They would advance under cover of the shield to come to grips with the Land Raider and destroy it before it could harm their brethren.

Stumpy punched his brother. "We are not running. Lets take that thing down." Suiting actions to words, he fired his Lascannon 1-handed at the Land Raider, taking away slabs of armor and noticeably weakening the mighty warmachine.

I have been keeping the dice separate for the 2 lascannons. The properly built model has proven incompetent, either missing entirely or failing to glance/penetrate. Stumpy has been devastating in this battle. A story behind the model with the stump..

His prey all but out of sight, Ovidius pointed towards the nearby Terminators. Instantly one was vaporized under the fire of his lascannons. The other lascannon missed and the bolter saw its efforts deflected by armor, but he was making progress.

Trebuchet saw the Chaos Chosen moving by. Instantly he redeployed his  men to restrict entrance into the ruins and give the Cyclone Missile Launchers clear shots, but their missiles could do no damage.

Njal wandered forward considering charging into the battle but choosing instead to keep himself shrouded.

Marius looked at the oncoming Chaos Chosen and redeployed his men. They would hold their objective while taking down the minions of Chaos. Unfortunately the armor of the Chosen proved every bit as stout as that of his own unit.

Batbayor gestured to the hated Space Wolves. "Lets go do some killing, boys." His men unleashed a hail of fire, killing one as they advanced. 

The unmistakable hiss of jetpacks signaled the arrival of Zhi and his crisis suits. They unleashed a hail of fire on the back of the Chaos Chosen. Missiles, Fusion blasters, Plasma rifles and Burst cannons unleashed, slaying three of the blue-clad Chosen.


The Chaos units that have come on just cannot catch a break...though to be fair, the left side of the board has pretty well failed up as almost everyone either enters on that side or has an objective on that side. 

The exceptions to missions are the land raider and Crisis suit teams with Overwhelming Firepower and the Chosen trying to destroy something in close combat...so it makes sense to leave the other side of the field lightly inhabited.

VP
Tau 3 objective x 3
Space Wolves 23 First Blood, kill points x5, objectives x15, Overwhelming Firepower x2
Ultramarines 8;  kill points x2, objective x6
Dark Angels: 5 Kill Point x1, Objective x 4
Chaos Space Marines: 0

War of the Relics; Terminators Everywhere

Though there was but one Berzerker remaining Decimus did not take him lightly. Even had he such a notion, the armor of the Berzerker proving up to the task of deflecting his blows would have disabused him of that notion, even as the armor of his squad-make sparked in defiance of the Berzerker's attacks.

The power armor did, however, melt under the hammering, crushing blows of the power fist blows dealt by the Ultramarine terminators. As the last Chaos Space Marine crumpled to the ground, Decimus was already leading his men towards their nearby objective.

I considered moving them towards the Space Wolf Terminators but A) 3 Termies v. 10 seems heavily weighted in the favor of the 10 and B) three Terminators in cover could prove a tough nut to crack. Plus, sliding into the terrain having garnered a kill point and now seizing their objective, the Ultramarines added two VP to their total.

VP
Tau: 3 (Objective)
Space Wolves: 3  First Blood, Kill point (HQ), Objective
Ultramarines: 3 (kill point (Hammerhead), kill Point (Berzerkers), objective


Gunvor watched the demolition of the red-clad chaos space marines with interest. Here was a worthy foe. Yet he could not leave his post. Hastily barked orders saw his men string out towards the Ultramarines while still maintaining contact with their objective. 

The Assault Cannons chattered death, sending two Ultramarine Terminators spinning down in defeat. The Storm Bolters hit often, but the remaining Terminator stood firm and unharmed.

I was considering charging them into combat, but the stratagem of the Ultramarines to get into cover meant the charge was unlikely to reach. Better to maintain the VP for controlling the objective. Ironically, the felling of two terminators to Assault Cannons probably save the third one's life after he made 7 saves against Storm Bolter wounds as it was just too far to reach him.

Nergui cursed as he saw his landing position. With the failure of the incompetent Ganzorig, Nergui* had been sent to this planet to recover the instructions to a particularly effective bomb. The equally incompetent minion running the teleporter had missed their target. Now in front of him stood a full unit of the hated Space Wolf Terminators. Worse, they were between him and his objective...

He considered having his men charge in and tear the Wolves apart in close combat but the sight of several Storm Shield and Thunder hammer wielding Terminators dissuaded him from such an aggressive choice. Instead he ordered his men to open fire. 

With a furious roar they unleashed a firestorm upon their enemies. Sparks flew as Reaper Autocannons, Combi-bolters and flamers roared their vicious song of death and destruction on the Space Wolves. 

With dismay Nergui saw not one Wolf fall...

The Chaos Space Marines drew objective 5. I almost dropped them in any other part of the field, but this scenario is not set up to be "balanced" per se, it is set up to see how the rules work such as Deep Strike, and also to measure the various weapons against the various armors. So I followed my admittedly artificial yet highly entertaining self-made scenario rule and tried to Deep Strike on top of the objective the wolves were holding. 

Unfortunately they scattered a mighty 11" and then, while their accuracy was phenomenal, only missing 2 or 3 shots, between rolling low on the wound attempts and high on the armor saves, they could not put a single Wolf out of commision. On the bright side, this means the pressure is off of Decimus, the lonely Ultramarine terminator guarding objective 6...

*Nergui means "no name" in Mongolian. The joke will soon be evident...

War of the Relics; Combat is Joined

Captain Aelius wiped his hand across the lenses of his helmet. He recognized those unit markings. They belonged to Sergeant Decimus, but he had been pulled away from the chapter for a secret mission. What was he doing here?

No matter, it cheered Aelius to have the assistance of his compatriots. He advanced towards the Berzerkers, firing his Storm Bolter.

Commander Bau looked on in astonishment. His science officer was outside the Hammerhead searching for whatever had brought them here so he was unable to leave his post. However, he was tempted to by the sudden arrival of Terminators. 

He had seen them tear hammerheads to bits with those blasted Power Fists they packed. He was not going to allow that to happen to his tank. He fired his rail gun and both gun drones shot at the Terminators. 

A curse escaped his lips as every shot whistled harmlessly past their intended targets. Could his men do nothing right?

So far the Rail Gun has fired twice, scoring a 1 each time, and the twin linked gun drones effectively fired 4 times and have yet to exceed a 3. No need to beware the Tau if they are going to shoot like that...

Ganzoric looked longingly at the lone Marine coming off the hill ahead of him. He would like almost nothing better than to tear him

apart in hand to hand combat, reaping glory for himself.

Fortunately, one of the few things he would enjoy more had arrived, and that was a solid target for hand to hand. Waving his men to follow him, he led them towards the Terminators, firing his bolt pistol as he went. He was not surprised to see the bullets plink harmlessly off the tough armor of the terminators but he did not care, he wanted to tear them apart with his bare hands.

With gleeful screams his men charged the Terminators who snapped off a volley of shots, all but one missing. Ganzoric saw one of his men stumble and fall under the hail of bolts, never to rise again but it mattered not. He raised his sword and began hacking at the Terminator in front of him.

His men demonstrated the fury they were famed for, unleashing a massive hail of attacks against the Terminators. Unfortunately, they were just a bit slower than normal having had to fight through the terrain they had charged out of and only one Terminator fell under the initial flurry of blows, while 6 of his own men fell under the pounding of the massive Power fists wielded by the Terminators. 

The terminators demonstrated the power of a 2+ save, making 10 of 11 saves. The berzerkers were massively helped by the Furious Charge rule giving them 3 attacks apiece on the charge and needing a 3 to hit, but the armor save was too much to overcome. They are down to half their original unit size, while the terminators have lost 25%. 

sadly, they out-point the Terminators nearly 2-1 and do not look to have much chance against them in this combat...although, to be fair, this round the Berzerkers fought at Initiative step one because they charged out of the difficult terrain. That meant they struck at the same time as the Terminators. Next round they strike first.

Decimus found himself surrounded by two enemies. His power sword glowed as he tried to keep them at bay, yet they penetrated his defenses three times. They could not penetrate his armor, fortunately.

Meanwhile the three men he had remaining withstood another flurry of attacks by their enemies. Decimus had to admit he was impressed by their skill with weapons. He was more impressed at the power of the fist as his men bludgeoned three more of the Berzerkers into the ground, bringing their numbers down to a manageable level.

War of the Relics; Hour of the Terminators

Captain Aelius stared in amazement. Where had they come from? Directly where he was headed had suddenly appeared the hated yet dangerous red armor of the accursed Berzerkers of khorne. He raised his storm bolter but realized they were out of range. He knew he should return to his craft and mobilize an army but he was in shock. Not only were the Tau suddenly on this long-forgotten planet, now his deadly enemies were here too!

Commander Bau smiled inwardly. it would never do to allow the crew to see his satisfaction but they had reached their target and done so in record time. 

He consulted his instruments again to confirm his supposition and unsurprisingly found that he had been his usual efficient self. From the moment they dropped on-planet until now had been but a few ticks of the clock and already they had arrived at their objective.

Suddenly his self-satisfied interior smile melted away as what appeared to be a full unit of the deadly close-combat specialist troops of one of the multitudinous Space Marine chapters appeared. 

He could not recall which chapter off the top of his head but it did not matter. He had a job to do and he would do it despite any interference. 

One quick command and the railgun rotated, taking aim at the enemy. He watched in disappointment as the munitions shredded foliage but did not so much as scratch the armor of a single Berzerker.

The skimmer ability to move 12" and avoid terrain means it was a trivial thing to land on the objective on his third turn. 

Tau VP 1

Ganzorig stared in amazement. This planet which the unit historians assured him had been deserted so long ago nobody even remembered its name was occupied by not one but two enemies. To his right a Tau tank unleashed in impotent shot at his unit, missing by a wide margin. But straight ahead was his real target...a single Space Marine captain.

Ganzorig knew when battle was joined he would lose himself in the bloodlust, unleashing a mighty wave of violence that would overcome his good sense. Yet he was not stupid. There was not one weapon in his unit that could hurt the tank. That marine, however, was a tasty target. Waving his arm, he led his men forward towards the hapless marine, keeping the trees between himself and the tank as much as possible.

Lightning split the skies and suddenly Decimus and his men flashed into view, planting their feet firmly on the firm surface of land once more. A feral grin split the face of the Terminator Captain as he saw the unit of Berzerkers guarding his objective.

"Thanks, Cap" he spouted into his communicator, acknowledging the opportunity he had been presented with. Ostensibly they were hear to recover a journal or some such nonsense that had recently been discovered to have been left on this planet when some long-forgotten engagement had occurred.

Decimus had wondered why he and his unit were being sent on such a mundane mission, but seeing the Berzerkers in front of him, all became clear. There was probably nothing here to recover but someone from the Inquisition was moving pieces around, giving him an opportunity to take out a few of the evil Berzerkers.

Without hesitation his fellow terminators followed his lead, bringing their storm bolters into action with a deadly efficiency that saw three Berzerkers fall. Simultaneously, their voices rose in the unit call, "Death to all who oppose our mission!"

Sometimes random rolls provide awesome "narrative gaming" opportunities, for want of a better term. The Space Marines now have a second unit, and as luck would have it, they are Deep Strike Terminators seeking...drumroll please...Objective 6. The forlorn hopes of Captain Aelius to stay alive for a couple more turns just got a much-needed boost. Now to decide what to do with the berzerkers...

It was kind of cool looking up the rules for Deep Striking, working my way through it slowly, considering the options and risks without feeling like I was unfairly taking the time of an opponent to learn the game. This scenario is proving useful already. And it provided an event I will remember for a while because, in Games Workshop terms, it was so cinematical...the Berzerkers rushing forward to kill the Chapter Captain, only to have a tough unit appear out of nowhere to help him out...

War of the Relics; Going berzerk

Commander Bau moved forward confidently. He gave brief consideration to scanning that life form he had registered but dismissed the idea. His task was to locate the signal and find out what it was. Any life here was too small and insignificant to matter. He advanced steadily, ignoring whatever it was moving slowly behind him.

Captain Aelius crested the hill and stared off to the left. He had been right. There was a Tau Hammerhead with its' massive, destructive Railgun slowly tracking back and forth in front of it. 

He breathed a sigh of relief. What he was feeling could not truly be called fear but neither was he a stupid man. He was a very capable warrior, but taking on a mainline tau battletank single-handedly was nothing he wanted to attempt.

He paused to consider whether he should return to his craft and call in his chapter to deal with the tank. Ahead of him however, almost within reach, was his goal. If he did return and call down the Ultramarines, the Tau would doubtless respond in kind and in the battle that would rage over this planet, he might lose for all time whatever it was his father wanted him to find. Grimly he pressed on towards his goal.



Ganzorig rolled his shoulders and gestured his men forward. It was an unfortunate path they had landed on, but that mattered little. Ahead of him was the siren song of a fallen warrior whose spirit was rumored to inhabit this planet.

Ganzorig could not recall the name of the fallen hero, but stories told of his stand in battle had called his acts and example of "steel courage". Since that was the meaning of Ganzorig's name he had decided to lead his band of Berzerkers in search of the final resting place of this fallen hero in order to see if he could enhance his own power in battle.

Backed by another 19 Berzerkers of his platoon, he worked his way through the rather difficult terrain, heading towards where he believed the fallen hero to be.


Army three was Chaos Space Marines, Elites, Berzerkers. They rolled objective 4 which was a foot or so behind Captain Aelius and came in on edge 6. An interesting situation is developing that sees 20 khornic Berzerkers advancing towards a single Chapter Captain of the Ultramarines while the Tau Hammerhead sits unchallenged since as yet nothing is on the battlefield that can touch the Hammerhead...