'Sunday' Smackdown - Kharn Vs. Lucius.

Okay so it is admittedly Monday, but I decided to assemble models and then go to the pub followed by some more model assembly instead of doing a blog post.....

So following on from last weeks heroic confrontation between Typhus and Ahriman. We'll see how the Champion of the God of killing fares against the Champion of the god of fucking pleasure.

Decisions, Decisions.....

So representing Khorne the god of Blood and Skulls we have Kharn the Betrayer.....

Kharn the Betrayer.

WS 7, BS 5, S 5, T 4, W 3, I 5, A 5, Ld. 10, Save 3+/5+ inv.

Armed with Gorechild (a giant Chain axe that hits on 2's and acts as a Power Weapon) and with the 'Furious Charge' special rule Kharn is a killing machine. Fortunately his tendency to kill guys in his own unit when he rolls a 1 to hit won't be a liability in this particular combat either.

Which brings us to the chosen champion of the Lord of Pleasure, Lucius the Eternal.

Lucius the Eternal.

WS 7, BS 5, S 4, T 4, W 3, I 6, A 3, Ld. 10 Save 3+/5+ inv.

Equipped with a Power Sword and the Lash of Torment (which reduces enemies in base contacts attacks by 1 as well as counting as a close combat weapon) and wearing the Armour of Shrieking Souls (which inflicts an armour ignoring S4 hit on his enemies for every save he makes) can Slaanesh's champion defeat the mighty Kharn?

Lets see shall we.

Battle One.
As usual we'll let our combatants take turns in having the Charge and we'll let Lucius have the advantage for the first battle.

With his higher Initiative Lucius is swinging first with his 5 attacks (3 basic, 1 for having 2 close combat weapons and a 5th for charging).

Needing 4's to hit due to their equal weapon Skills, he rolls.....1,4,5,6 and 6 so 4 hits to start, wounding on 4's he rolls 3,3,4 and 6. His power Sword ignores Kharns armor so lets see if he can make any invulnerable saves.....

A 4 and a 5 so only one wound gets through.....

So Kharns stinging a bit but he's still alive and ready to have his go.

So Kharn has 5 attacks and a 6th for having 2 close combat weapons. Unfortunately for him Lucius's Lash of torment has cost him an attack so he's down to an admittedly still impressive 5.

He'd be hitting on 4's if it was simply a matter of comparative Weapon Skill but unfortunately for Lucius Kharn hits on 2's.....

2,2,3,4,6 so they all hit with a base strength of 5 he's wounding on 3's.....

3,4,5,6 and a 6 so they all wound. Lucius needs to make at least 3 Invulnerable saves or he's another skull shaped ornament for Kharn's fireplace.....

1,2,3, 6 and 6.....well Lucius is dead but those 2 saves he makes mean Kharn immediately takes 2 S4 hits from the 'Armour of Shrieking Souls'......a 1 and a 4.....

So Kharn takes a Wound which he promptly fails to stop with his invulnerable save, still having a wound remaining he emerges victorious.

Well we gave Lucius the advantages and he still lost. I can't see it going much better with Kharn getting the Charge but lets give it a go anyway.....

Battle Two.

This time our fighters are going at the same time due to Kharn's 'Furious Charge' making him Initiative 6....

He also has six attacks this time with his extra one for charging.

Hitting on 2's we get 2,3,4,4,5 and 6 so that'll be all of them then.....He's also now wounding on 2's due to the same Furious Charge making him Strength 6

1,1,4,5,5 and a 6. 4 invulnerable saves to make then.....2,3,4 and a 5. We'll that's Lucius dead then. To add insult to injury Kharn Saves the wound inflicted by Lucius's armour with his Invulnerable save.

Being of equal initiative Lucius still gets a go at taking Kharn with him though.

4 attacks, hitting on 4's.....4,5,5 and a 6. Looks like Lucius is making a fight of this at the last minute.

Wounding on 4's......2,3,5 and 6 so 2 wounds. Kharn rolls snake eyes for his Invulnerable saves but still wins combat as.....well he's not dead and Lucius is.....

Round-Up.
So their were a few odd dice rolls in there but the result was the same as 'Mathshammer' would have given us.

Kharn wins 2-0

Of course, anyone who defeats Lucius and takes a moment of triumph gradually turns into him over the next few weeks which could be interesting.....

Any suggestions for next 'Sundays' Smackdown will be given due consideration....

Sunday Smackdown - Tzeentch Vs. Nurgle

So for the 2nd Smackdown were going to pit the most notable representatives of each of the Chaos powers against each other to find out once and for all who is the mightiest. As such a monumental battle should be squeezed for as much material as possible we'll be splitting it into 2 parts*

*Hey, If it works for Harry Potter films then I should be allowed to do it as well...

The parameters for the battles are contained at the beginning of this post with the addition that I'll actually be rolling dice rather than taking a mathematical average.

So onto the first pair of contestants.

Ahriman.

WS 5, BS 5, S 4, T 4, W 3, I 5, A 3/4, Ld 10, Save 3+/4+

Armed with the Black staff of Ahriman and the ability to use 3 psychic powers a turn he should be a formidable opponent.

Typhus.

WS 5, BS 5, S 4, T 4/5, W 4, I 5, A 3/4, Ld 10, Save 2+/5+

Also a psyker and armed with a Daemonic Force Weapon and Terminator Armour he should put up a pretty good fight.

We'll let Ahriman charge first as Tzeentch would undoubtedly have known this battle was coming and planned accordingly ;-)

We'll let Ahriman roll for Warptime first as I've a feeling he's going to need it....

He passes with a roll of 9, Tzeentch is obviously on his side.....for now......

Both having the same initiative means regardless of what happens both contestants are going to get the chance to attack. But we'll see how Ahriman does first.

5 attacks on the charge less 1 because of Typhus's Blight Grenades, hitting on 4's he rolls and gets...2,4,5 and 6 so 3 hits then. Using his re-roll from Warptime he gets a 6 making a grand total of 4 hits He now needs 5's to wound due to the extra point of Toughness gifted to Typhus by Nurgle.

He rolls.....2, 3,5 and 6. Tzeentch is obviously helping out as he seems to be rolling well above average. Warptime's re-roll to wound gives us a 5 and a 6 making a grand total of 4 wounds. Leaving Typhus needing to make some Invulnerable saves.....

Typhus rolls 1,3,5 and a 6 so he's now on a two wounds. Unfortunately for Typhus Ahriman hasn't used all 3 of his psychic attacks so readies himself to incinerate the Herald of Nurgles squishy puss-filled head with his Force Weapon. A passed leadership test is all Ahriman needs.....

Resulting in a 3 and a 2 so he passes easily and Typhus dies quite spectacularly.

Of course there's a chance Typhus can take Ahriman with him.

Typhus has 3 attacks base and rolls a 5 for his Daemon weapon giving an impressive 8 attacks.

He rolls.....1,1,2,2,4,4,4 and a 6 giving an exactly average 4 hits.

An unexpected problem.
Here I came across a bit of a problem however. The entry for 'Manreaper' (Typhus's Force weapon) says that its treated as both a Daemon Weapon and a Force Weapon. The problem comes with the next bit though, which states 'Treat the Manreaper as a normal Daemon Weapon'. Now a normal (by which I mean non mark specific) Daemon weapon adds +1 to strength. A Nurgle Daemon Weapon however wounds on 4's due to being poisoned and as Typhus will be wounding on 4's anyway he'll get a re-roll to wound due to how the Poison rule works in 5th ed.
We'll air on the sensible side and presume that its a normal Nurgle Daemon weapon...

So our 4 dice to wound gives Typhus 2,3,5 and 5 and a re-roll on those 2 failed rolls result in.....another 2 and a 3.

Ahriman needs to save both of these or he may be getting his own head exploded if Typhus gets a chance to use his Force weapons abilities....

A 2 and a 5. That's 1 wound that gets through lets see what Typhus rolls for his Leadership

A 4 and a 6 making a grand total of 10.....

We'll they managed to kill each other.....How tedious.

Hopefully it will fair differently 2nd time around with Typhus getting the charge.
4 Attacks plus 5 from his Daemon weapon gives us an impressive 9 attacks. 1,2,2,3,4,5,5,5 and 6 gives us 5 hits and 3,3,3,4 and a 5 to wound. Our 3 re-rolls give us 3,5 and 5 making 4 wounds in total.

Can Ahriman save this lot or has Tzeentch got bored of him 1,4,4 and a 4 so just the one gets through. Can Typhus toast Ahrimans Egyptian looking head?

Double 6. That'll be a 'No' then. Typhus also fails his  invulnerable saves from Perils of the Warp so takes a wound.

A stroke of luck there for Ahriman.....Or is his patron looking out for him?

Ahriman's go. He passes his test for Warptime with an 8 so he's got his re'rolls to hit with his 4 attacks.

1,2,6 and 6 with a 3 and a 4 for his re-rolls to hit. 3 attacks it is then needing 5's to wound he rolls.....

Triple 4. Thank goodness for re-rolls.....3,3 and a 4....Oh dear.

1 wound each. So its a draw and onto round 2. Amusingly enough this gives us the opportunity to use a few more of Ahrimans various abilities.

Ahriman uses Warptime which he passes on a roll of 7. He also attempts to use 'Gift of Chaos' to turn Typhus into a Chaos Spawn.

He passes his Psychic test but unfortunately for him Typhus passes his Toughness test with a roll of 3.

Dammit, that would have been funny. Never mind...

Ahriman hits with all 4 attacks due to his re-rolls and after re-rolls to wound leaves Typhus needing to make at least 1 save to avoid a slightly annoying death.....1,4 and a 5. Fortunately for him he passes 1 of them but Ahriman still has a psychic test in reserve.....

A 2 and a 6.....Bye, Bye Typhus.

Typhus could still make this a draw as long as he doesn't do something lame like roll a 1 for his Daemon Weapon.

He rolls a 2. Which could have turned out a lot worse I suppose.

5 attacks resulting in 2,3,3,3 and a 4. Just the one then, maybe he's getting tired as that Giant Scythe must be pretty fucking heavy.

He gets a 2 to wound.....he really need's that re-roll.....he gets a .....3

A slightly unexpected win for Ahriman there. Apparently he's not as rubbish as I previously thought.

Well that was a lot more fun rolling dice than using Mathshammer. Not to mention the fact that if I used Mathshammer for this battle it would be a draw every time....

Next week Kharn the Betrayer Vs. Lucius the Eternal.

Thoughts, and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Sunday Smackdown

Since my blog views drop to next to nothing of a Sunday I figured I'd drop something in just for fun as nobody will be looking at it anyway.

So every Sunday I'm going to post a Mathshammer battle between 2 special characters.

The Rules.

1) There will be 2 fights with each competitor getting a chance to charge.

2) Mathshammer will decide the results of each round with wounds rounded to the nearest whole number at the end of each round.

3) In the event of a draw there will be a 3rd round where both competitors will count as having charged.

4) If there's still no clear winner then whoever cost the least points wins.

5) Any abilities with random values will count as having the mathematical average rounding to the nearest whole number.

The Competitors.

I thought I'd start with a 'Grudge Match' between the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines Marneus Calgar and the Tyranid that almost killed him The Swarmlord.

So Introducing Mr Calgar or 'Marny' to his friends...

WS 6, BS 5, S 4, T 4, W 4, I 5, A 4, Ld 10, Save 2+/4+ inv.

Armed with his pair of Power Fists* and the ability to re-roll to wound he's a formidable opponent. He's also got his arse down to the armoury and fetched his Terminator Armour for this monumental battle.

* Yes I know he also has a Power Sword but being as the Swarmlord has a higher initiative than him and Calgar gets the same number of attacks regardless of what weapon he uses I'm reasonably sure he's smart enough to go with the 'Wounding on 2's option' rather than 'Wounding on 6's' option.

His opponent is the guy the Tyranids call upon when the 'Throw Termagants at them till they run out of bullets' plan isn't working...The Swarmlord.

WS 9, BS 3, S 6, T 6, W 5, I 6, A 4, Ld 10, Save 3+/4+ inv. (in assault only)

His Tyrant Guard have stepped to the sidelines for this one but he's still got his Bonesabres and his special abilities to draw upon.

The Battle...

As the Tyranids don't use money and the Ultramarines had spent all their cash on gold trim for Veterans Power Armour nobody had a coin to toss for who went first. So, in a typically pretentious show of 'honour and goodness' Calgar agreed to let the Swarmlord get the charge for the first battle...

Battle 1.

Round 1.

The Swarmlord charges in and has given himself 'Preferred Enemy' with his 'Swarm Leader' ability.

5 Attacks (hitting on 3's)

3.33 hit, with another 1.11 from rerolls so 4.44 hit, 3.7 wound, 1.85 are saved... unfortunately for 'Marny' those successful ones need to be re-rolled due to the Bonesabres so another 0.925 get through making a grand total of 2.78 rounding up that makes 3 wounds caused.

Marny's got a few new sabre shaped slices in his armour but he's still hanging on with a single wound.

Time-Out?!?!?!?!?

The Swarmlord then has a bit of a strop now insisting that 'Marny' should be dead due to his Bonesabres causing 'Instant Death' regardless of toughness value. The 4th referee manages to explain the concept of 'Eternal Warrior' to him which is an impressive feat of bravery considering what the Swarmlord had done to referee's 1, 2 and 3...

Marny gets ready to get his own back...hopefully

5 attacks (hitting on 4's)

2.5 hit, 2.08 wound but with his re-rolls to wound from 'Titanic Might' that goes up to 2.43. The Swarmlords whirling sabres block 1.22 of them leaving one wound that gets through.

So 'Swarmy' has a fist shaped dent in his carapace but still has a formidable 4 Wounds left.

Since an average dice roll will result in Marny passing his morale test we'll presume he does ;-)

Round 2.

'Swarmy' now only has 4 attacks and is going to have to do without preferred enemy for a turn.

2.67 hit, 2.23 wound, even without re-rolls taken into account at least 1 attack is going to get through...

1-0 to The Swarmlord.

'Marny' gets his armour patched up while 'Swarmy' has some biomass added to fill in the 'Power Fist' shaped dent.

After several unfortunate (and brutal) decapitations somebody finally manages to explain the concept of 'Taking Turns' to the Tyranids leader and they let 'Marny' charge this time.

Battle 2.

Round 1.

Swarmlord is still going first...

4 attacks, 2.67 hit, 2.23 wound after re-rolling invulnerables 1.68 get through so that's 2 wounds total rounded up...Not so many holes this time

'Marny' gets an impressive 6 attacks on the charge...

6 attacks, 3 hit, 2.92 wound (due to 'Titanic Might'), after invulnerable saves 1.46 get through...unfortunately as we're rounding to the nearest whole number that's still only 1 wound caused.

Round 2.

Predictably the Swarmlord is going first and as it's 'his' turn he's giving himself preferred enemy again.

4 attacks, 3.56 hit after rerolls, 2.97 wound...unfortunately after re-rolling his invulnerables we find 'Marny' has taken 2.24 wounds and is defeated (again).

2-0 to The Swarmlord.

I'm not sure if it's possible for a Tyranid to look smug but even if it isn't then Tyranids seem to have evolved a very close approximation...

Well I enjoyed that even if any of you who play Ultramarines didn't ;-)

Any suggestions for next Sundays 'Smackdown' will be gratefully received.