Thousand Sons, The Revenge

Scott's Thousands Sons return to Macragge to avenge their last loss, and they did so in spades,
The Ultramarines, 3rd company where totally wiped out, while the Chaos forces took minimal losses. We both took notes so this report is from both perspectives " White Dwarf" style


This was a 700 pt game Mission was "Take and Hold", revolving around the wreckage of a crashed Imperial lander Below is the deployment diagram:



Army Lists

Thousand Sons

HQ

Chaos lieutenant Sorcerer - Derg Corra Amnon (156 pts)

· Mark of Tzeentch

· Power Weapon

· CCW

· Bolt of Change

· Familiar

· Wind of Chaos

· Demonic flight

Troops

Thousand Sons Squad 1 (271 pts)

· 8 Rubric Marines + Free Aspiring Champion - Corracol Serrano

· Power Weapon

· Thrall

· Familiar

· Doombolt

· Wind of Chaos

Thousand Sons Squad 2 (271 pts)

· 8 Rubric Marines + Free Aspiring Champion - Rohm Dutt

· Power Weapon

· Thrall

· Familiar

· Doombolt

· Wind of Chaos

Ultramarines (695 pts)


HQ

Captain Brother Septimius

Power Weapon
Plasma Pistol
Iron Halo

Troops

Alpha Squad-
Sgt Brother Tiberius
9 Marines
Plasma Gun
Missile Launcher

Rhino Transport

Beta Squad
Sgt Brother Octavian
9 Marines
Plasma Gun
Missile Launcher

Fast Attack

Assault Squad
Sgt Brother Cato
-Terminator honors
-Power Fist
-Combat Shield
5 marines
Plasma Gun
Flamer


Deployment (Scott)

Take and Hold is absolutely my favorite scenario. Once a unit of Rubrics gets in the center of the board, there is almost no dislodging them.
Since both my Rubric units are basically the same, I deployed one on the left flank and one on the right. I positioned my HQ behind squad #2 on the left.
I knew that John’s Assault Squad was going to cause a lot of problems for me, so I made them target priority #1.

Deployment (John)

I wanted to get my Assault Squad into CC with Scott's 1st ASAP, my eagerness cost me bigtime.
basically the plan was to get the Assault squad engaged, Alpha Squad gets objective while Beta provided range support..nice plan, zero execution.


The Ultramarines won initiative and decided to go 1st.


Turn 1 -Ultramarines (John)

Movement-
Rhino pulls up toward the lander clear its stormbolter clear shots on Scotts second squad.
Alpha Squad with my Commander attached moves up near the transport using it as cover against the open squad
Beta Squad stays put and will fire a Krak missile a scott's second squad.
Assault Marines deployed behind a hill fly over the hill into the open toward scotts 1st squad.
(this was very dumb, I will regret this later and need to learn how to use these guy properly)

Shooting-
Rhino fires at squad two, causing 1 wound which scott saves.
Beta Squad- fires Krak Missle at scotts second squad. it misses

Turn 1 -Thousand Sons- (Scott)

I knew that I’d have to start getting a move on if I was going to get to the center of the board, so I made Slow and Purposeful (S&P) rolls for both units. I wanted to have squad 1 hang back since John’s assault marines where heading toward me on the right flank. I was afraid that I’d be plagued with bad S&P rolls so I figured just move them up. I also moved my Sorcerer from behind unit #2 toward the right flank for support.

In the shooting phase, unit 1 opened up on the assault marines, causing 6 wounds. John saved all but one. I didn’t think that was good enough, so I sacrificed the thrall and shot Doombolt again, taking one more down. A Bolt of Change from my sorcerer claimed one more. This was enough to make the unit fall back. Ha! I wasn’t going to be charged next turn.

KIA - Assault Marines 3
Rhino Transport immobilized

Turn 2 Ultramarines (John)

Movement-
Rhino- immobilized..chooses to fire rather than self repair
Alpha Squad- Holds and Fires into advancing Ksons
Beta Squad Holds and Fires at Scott Second Squad
Assault Squad - Holds stays in cover.

Shooting-
Rhino- Fires stormbolter- misses
Alpha Squad- 8 shots, including Krak Missile and Plasma Gun land 4 wounds on scotts 1st squad
he makes all his saves.
Beta Squad- fires a Krak and second squad- misses.

Turn 2 Thousand Sons- (Scott)

This turn’s moves were basically me moving all my units forward. Unit #2 got a crappy 2” for their S&P roll. That was still not enough for me to target John’s unit hanging back on his right flank.

Shooting wasn’t as impressive as the last turn. I managed to cause only one casualty on the unit containing John’s leader. Unit #2 Stunned the rhino but kept it’s eyes on that unit far off in the wastes.

KIA- Marines Beta squad 1 marine

Turn 3 Ultramarines (John)

Movement-
Rhino- immobilized..chooses to fire rather than self repair
Alpha Squad- Holds and Fires into advancing Ksons
Beta Squad Holds and Fires at Scott Second Squad
Assault Squads- flies towards scotts advancing squad

Shooting-
Rhino- misses
Assault Squad- fires pistols miss and flamer causes 1 wound.
Alpha Squad- lands 5 wounds, plasma gun kills one wounded Chaos Marine, scott saves the rest
Beta Squad- another Krak missile misses, I did not land one the whole game.

Assault-
Critical error...my distance to charge is short by 1 inch!!!. my guys are now sitting ducks, lesson learned here.


Turn 3- Thousand Sons (Scott)

Wow, my sorcerers must have cast some kind of hex on John’s Plasma and krak missiles. I truly am blessed of Tzeentch.

Anyway, More slow moving. I position my Sorcerer HQ right in front of John’s unit w/ his HQ and let rip with Wind of Chaos. Four marines were consumed by the dread fire of Tzeentch!

Unit one eliminated the last remnants of John’s assault unit and I breath a sigh of relief.

My HQ then charged the recently decimated unit of Ultramarines and cut down three more!

KIA- Casualites- Scott crushes me..wipes out my assault squad...his uber sorceror lord advances on me casting winds of change killing 5 marines in Alpha squad, then he assaults landing 3 power weapon blows in Close Combat Beta squad also takes a casualtie- I lose 11 men of my 27 men this turn - Brutal

Turn 4 Ultramarines (John)

Movement-
Rhino- immobilized..chooses to fire rather than self repair
HQ/ Squad 1- in close combat
Beta Squad- holds and fires

Shooting-
Rhino- fires misses
Beta Squad- entire squads blasts Scotts second squad with rapid fire bolters, plasma gun and krak missile
I roll a 13 attacks, Scott's Ksons scoff- my plasma comes up 1 with a gets hot, I fail the save and die, my Krak misses again and all the bolter shots on come out to 1 wound on one soldier after saves.
Assault

HQ/ Alpha Squad Close Combat- land 1 wound on his sorceror lord

Turn 4 Thousand Sons (Scott)
(Scotts notes stop here, these are from mine)

His Sorceror lord is a close combat machine, as he and my HQ were simaltaneous, both commanders kill each other. I move my remaining 3 marines in Alpha Squad up to assault the advance 1st Kson squad who out number me more than 3-1, another glacing hit stuns the Rhino crew, losing them their next turn

Turn 5 Ultramarines (John)

Movement
Rhino- immobilized/ Crew Stunned
Alpha Squad- Shoots then Assaults
Beta Sqaud- advances and fires

Shooting/ Assault-
Alpha -I can't make out my notes here but either my Sgt's pistol or the assault lands some wounds
I kill one Chaos Marine here.

Beta Squad- Bolters fire, I cause a wound here to the other squad maybe

Turn 5- Thousand Sons (Scott)
(again my notes)
Rhino, unstuns shoots misses. Alpha Squad wiped out
Beta takes casualties, there are only 3 marines left total.

Turn 6- Ultramarines (John)

Pathetically my last three fire into the brick wall of scotts units, no wounds.
My last three guys flee for the drop ship- ( we call it a game)

Wow, some my worst dice to date, I could barely do a thing and failed alot of saves.
The highlight of game for me was the commanders taking each other out in a brutal close combat.I personally cant wait for the new Chaos Codex, while AP3 bolters sounds like hell, facing troops with only 1 wound will be nice change in dynamic, great game Scott...your revenge was served warm and cold and with a shovel!. Quote of the day, from Scott after my 6th miss with a Krak missile- "Stop calling it a missile, call it a rocket as missile has the word MISS in it". so true my friend. Next time- the Ultramarines counter attack.

Photos
The Ultramarine's pre- deployment


Thousand Sons Squad 1 Ready for battle


Ultramarines- deployment


Thousand Sons, Squad 2, Deployment


Turn 3, where my assault marines misjudged the
charge distance


Turn 4, Commander Showdown

Alpha Squads last stand.

City Fight!!

My Ultramarines took two serious losses this weekend, two great games on an awesome looking table. While I misplaced my notes on the blow by blow-the photos tells tale. Games where 500 points and had primary and secondary objectives. My Ultramarines force consisted of two tactical squads, a rhino transport and an assault squad.

Game 1- VS Brian playing Tyranids / ( HQ- 3 Tyranid Warriors, Troop- 3 squads of 8 Genestealers )

My 1st time playing Tyranids, with exception of the Battle of Macragge missions, Brian was obviously a skilled player who knew how to use them on this table. Brian deployed his forces inside nearby buildings in order to initiate capture points on his 1st turn. I didn't deploy as wiselyand deployed as far back a possible in order to try to get postion for some ranged fire before I got swarmed. I also made the dumb move of thinking I would deep strike my assault marines on this crowded terrain. (Art's Grey Knights mojo from Memorial day weekend came back to haunt me, I didn't get them on the table until turn 5, too little too late.) I then second guessed myself and had a few difficult terrain rolls trying to capture a few buildings in the early turns, low rolls slowed me down, while Brian advanced like a wildfire. I did manage to get a good round of fire off and kill 4 genestealers from one squad in round 2. by the end of Round 2, one squad was swarmed by the Warriors and remaining Stealers while the others advanced on my Rhino, My second squad had no range or LoS and was screwing around in a building while my Assault Marines played cards on the Thunderhawk. By turn 4 my Rhino was popped like a tincan and my second squad had the Tyranid Warriors on them as well..dead soon after.
I actually spent the top of round 5 with No units on the table as everyone was dead and Assault Marines were still late to the party. Finally on the table , it was way too late. In end I manage to kill 8 genestealers totals and the cost of my whole force. I did hit the Warriors a few times but the saved all their wounds. Great game Brian, it taught me alot.


Turn 1, inital deployment, I went 2nd and see those slimy buggers on the move.

This squad managed to capture that building on the right, get position and take down 1/2 a squad of oncoming Genestealers. Their glory was shortlived.

Brian's Tyranids on the move looking to eat some Ultramarines, note the awesome water effect on this table.

Boom!!! Tyranid warriors thru the wall, into the building and into my squad this got ugly fast.

Genestealers add to the mix, these guys never knew what hit them.
After these guys were wiped out both units consoldiated and moved toward
my other squad, while more Genestealers popped my Rhino


My second squad meets it maker, ouch. My assault marines show up after this only to die in a similar manner although they managed killed a few Genestealers. This was total blow out for Brian he captured 6 buildings meeting the primary objective and only lost 8 units, I lost everybody 25 Marines, 1 Vehicle and Crew.


Game 2 Vs Dan playing Chaos Space Marines- (Troop- 3 Squads of Chaos Space Marines
Heavy- Chaos Havoc Squad (5))

A much better game for me that was neck and neck until turn 5 or so. The objective was to end game with a unit touching the Astropath figure (below photo center right) who was running around the board while we battled, the bummer for me was we kept rolling it running directly into Dan's troops. My secondary objective was to hold a table quarter which I had until I started rolling "1's like crazy the last two turns.

Deployment, my set up was fine, note Dans Havocs at the other end of the alley, I figured I could shoot missles at the havoc squad while only drawing fire on part of the squad, trying to occupy the Havocs while my other two squads went to work..good plan that work pretty well. I had Havocs down to 2 guys all from Missile fire. however Dan made all his morale checks so I couldn't get rid of them. Note my assault marines on the right and the Astropath on the otherside of the building..the Assault Marines went up and over, only to run smack into two of Dans Squads, my guys held and retreated but only off pot shots later getting pinned down in that building while the Astropath chased Dan around.

Looking down the Barrel of 2 Heavy Bolters and 2 Plasma Guns, not good.

Dan's guys advancing, notice the Astropath ( primary objective)
has already delivered himself to dan, this is the top of turn 3, I believe.

All I had to do was take these guys down in close combat and I could have secured my quarter for the secondary objective...I outnumbered him two to one here the problem was I started throwing "1's" here like crazy here. ( 4 at once for close combat wounds, OUCH) this forced my other squad to stay put firing Missle's ( missing) instead of blocking on of Dan other Squads advancing into this quarter from the right. My Rhino got popped by a plasma gun but became a wreck blocking LoS in key spot for me. My squad then got compromised, lost combat and I then failed my leadership and they ran 10" which was off the table! ouch. Despite the trainwreck outcome this was actually a really close game, Dan only had one scoring unit left on the table at the end of turn 6 but he completed the objective without issue. I again lost everyone. GG to Dan he played it smart.

These games were part of 3 round campaign, my campaign partner, Aaron was playing Imperial Guard in other room and had similiar luck. He was using alot of plasma guns and was rolling freakish numbers of "gets hot" failures, and blowing himself up. Unfortunately we never played the third round as several of us were prevented from returning the next day. Big thanks to Mike for hosting these games and Jason for designing the missions. look forward to playing on that table again.

Battle Report

Here's the battle report from todays game between Scott and myself we both used 493 points in a 500 point game

Army Lists

John -Ultramarines

Squad A

Captain ( Power Weapon/ Plasma Pistol/ Iron Halo)
Sgt - Bolt Pistol/ Chainsword
8 Marines- 6 w/bolters / 1 Plasma Gun / 1 Missile Launcher

Squad B
Sgt- Bolt Pistol/ Chainsword
9 Marines 7 w/ Bolters /1 Plasma Gun /1 Missile Launcher
Rhino APC w/ smoke launchers

Scott- Thousand Sons

Squad 1

8- Chaos Marines
1- Aspiring Champion
2- Wizard/ Thrall

Squad 2

Summoned 9 Tzeentch Flamers


Chosen mission was "Cleanse" , so we seperated the board in 4 quarters. Scott won the die roll and choose the Northwest Corner of the board, I deployed 1st and set up in the Southeast corner. I choose to set up Squad B near the center edge of my quadrant with Squad B deployed outside and behind their Rhino Squad A was in the rear to the left behind some cover. since I was setup close to the center, scott had to deploy 18 inches back putting his Son in the rear of his quadrant

(Deployment)

Turn 1- We had both moved into position, both of us getting cover from the center terrain a shot or two was exchanged between the few unit the had range and L.O.S but there were with no losses
(Turn 1)


Turn 2- Scott summons his 9 Flamers his scatter die was 9 inches to his left of his marines, putting them in more of a position to advance my second squad who sits waiting to fire as they approach. The Thousand Sons move toward my Rhino and squad B - after rolling on a two on his "slow and purposeful" move only one of his Sons has a clear shot at only one of my Ultramarines and kills him. On my turn several of my Marines move and shoot and well as the Rhino's storm bolter, I end up with 7 hits then 3 wounds but the Thousand Sons save them all. Squad A and the summoned demons are now moving into range of one another
(turn 2)


Turn 3- I have six marines of Squad B exposed and just past the nose of my rhino, Scott unloads a hail of Bolter fire and his Champs doom bolt I take alot of hits, not sure how many but it turned into enough wounds that I failed 6 saves and all Six marines are wasted, squad B is down to three men, I make my leadership test so they hold . The Flamers moves toward my second squad but only two have range, 6 heavy bolter shots later my standard bearer on point is dead. Squad A is now down 1 man. Great turn for scott I now have 8 losses to his zero. On my turn, I pull back my rhino giving my stationary covered, Missile Launcher, Sgt and last Marine L.O.S on all his Sons. The missile launcher sends a Krak missile in killing a Kson instantly. The remaining Bolter fire ( including the Rhino) manages to hit and cause two more wounds killing a Second Kson. Squad A opens up with everything they got including a frag missile at the oncoming Flamers and kill two of them as well.
(Turn 3)

Turn 4- Scott moves up with slow and purposeful getting within two inches of my last three marines in Squad, he then casts a spell that I forget the name of - but it was essentially a auto-kill flame template. He kills two of my last three marines, the remaining hail of fire from the Kson blows my last marine out of existence. Squad B is totally wiped out. except for the rhino that fires and misses.( Scott somewhere in there sacrificed his thrall for extra doom bolts from the champ, I dont recall if they extra fire hit anything or not, sacrifices the second later for the same) Again not all his demons have range so the ones that can shoot either miss or I save, Squad A takes no losses

Squad A more worried about the demons heavy bolters so again they hold and fire a frag missile and rapid fire bolters. Another Demon goes down and another takes 1 wound.

Turn 5 - Scott has the clear upper hand here but this is where its turns around for me. The Ksons dont have enough move to get around the Rhino and fire at my other squad, so they assault the Rhino battering away at it but do no damage. Scotts remaining 6 demons are now all in range and give me the full 18 shots with there heavy bolters, I take a punishing 7 wounds but amazingly save 6, only losing one man. On my turn I pull the Rhino back swinging it around horizontally so its screening my other squad entirely from the advancing Ksons to the north. The Rhinos storm bolter fires and Scott again makes his armor saves. My Ultramarines advance and charge the 6 Flamers, killing four of them- My remaining marines pile in. Scotts demons make their morale check. (Demonic Stability)


Turn 6 - Scott seeing his demons are done for, and cant fire into close combat pulls his remaining Ksons back into his quadrant so he can get scoring points. The demons do nothing in close combat and the Ultramarines kill them easily. The marines consolidate moving up and are thankfully within 12" of the falling back Thousand Sons. On my turn I unload everything I got- 3 plasma shots, 10 bolter shots ( including Rhino) and a Krak Missile into scotts guys..The Krak missed but I scored 3 plasma wounds and 2 wounds from Bolters. scott took the three plasma wounds losing 1 man and and giving 1 wound to another...scott needs to make the 2 bolter saves but rolls snake eyes...ouch!! -the 2nd Kson dies and a 3rd takes the last wound. His Squad is now less than 50% with 4 casualties and both Thralls sacrificed and is now a non scoring unit. Ultramarines hold the quadrant and prevail!
(Turn 6)


Scotts Chaos army is super tough...the Flamers where alot easier to deal with this time having Missile Launchers and being able to get them in to close combat ( last time at Art's place they wiped out my whole squad who where holed up in the second story of a building exchanging fire) If I wasnt able to block the Ksons L.O.S with the Rhino in round 5- I would have been in big trouble. Getting screening protection was a key as was getting the Ultramarines into close combat. As it stood if Scott had made just one of those last saves It would have been a draw. GG scott, I'm sure Chaos will seek revenge soon.

Ultramarines VS Thousand Sons, round 2

Scott from CNHC is dropping by tomorrow for some more Marines VS Chaos action. We are going 500 pts, as that's a good practice number for his campaign he's involved in and coincidentally is what I've got built and painted. I'll be running 2- 10 man squads (including a Captain) with plasma Guns and Missile launchers and 1 Rhino. I expect to see Chaos Marines, Aspiring Champs and of course- demons. I think we'll record the blow by blow with photo's just for laughs. spruced up the table a bit, some new pics.

Ultramarines VS Thousand Sons

Here is a bunch of shots of two of my finished Ultramarines from the second tactical squad. Both these fellows had their tabletop baptism against some Chaos- Thousand Sons this past weekend. Playing a couple games against Scott over from the Citizen Nick Hobby Center.
While my three tacts squads held their own in our small 300 pt skirmish (It was at least a close match as we ended up with the same number of wounds left on the table) The second game was a complete blow out for Scott's Chaos horde. I sure could have used that 3rd Plasma Gun!. Thanks to Scott and Art for hosting. You can read all about it over at Scotts blog- Here.