Warhammer30k 3e - Alpha Legion vs Space Wolves

 

Testing Out A Scenario

This vassal game was intended as a test of what it would be like using a Warmachine scenario for a Horus Heresy game.  I randomly rolled on the latest Steamroller Scenario table and got scenario 4 - Pressure Point.

The main points of difference from a normal 30k rulebook scenario are:

1. Asymmetrical deployment zones make it so the player going first has go farther to get to the objectives.
2. "Flag" objectives are set in a terrain piece.  In Warmachine these can be scored by a single solo or two units of other types, so I'm translating this as either a model from the High Command / Command slot or two other units.
3. Scoring in warmachine starts on the defender's second turn.  This is half the game done in 30k terms though, so I'm modifying it to the defender's first turn.  Both players score in the victory sub-phase of each turn.

The other main judgement call I had to make was to decide how far to move the side objectives in due to 30k being on a 6ft wide table compared to Warmachine's 4ft table.  I decided to not adjust the distances, which led to the scenario being pretty spread out.  The flags could have been moved 12 inches closer to the centre if I wanted to completely keep the ratios from the Warmachine scenario, or I could have compromised and pushed them 6 inches in.

In this mission, the central objective is worth 2 victory points and each of the flagged terrain pieces is worth 1.  I kept the generic secondary objectives from the Warhammer 30k rulebook in, leaving them at 3 victory points each.

The Lists

The Space Wolves come from a recent SN Battle Reports video.  They've got 3 nasty terminator units and two big squads of grey slayers backed up by some autocannons and a pair of Casta Ferrum Dreadnoughts.  The two Varagyr Terminator units are in land raiders, and the Saturnine Praetor is deepstriking in alongside his Command Squad.

View the Space Wolves list on New Recruit here.

The Alpha Legion are disguised as Blood Angels today.  Highlights in this list include Dynat infiltrating in Veterans with Multimeltas, a Primus Medicae leading a squad of venom-sphere equipped Ofanim, and an additional scattering of infantry units, anti tank rapiers, and a Falchion.

View the Blood Angels list on New Recruit here.

Space Wolves won the roll to go first, and I did not roll to seize the initiative as that isn't an option in Warmachine scenarios.

Space Wolves Turn 1

The saturnine command squad deep struck on the left flank, hopefully safe from dedicated anti-tank weapons.  With the grey slayers Rushing forward and the Varagyr terminators not disembarking, the Alpha Legion were able to pop up the interdiction cadre without fear of being charged.  

The Particle Shredders from the Saturnine command squad were able to line up a lot of hits, so the Chaplain and Techmarine went down trying to tank them on their 2+ saves.  This meant that the Space Wolves were able to score 3 points for First Strike.

Alpha Legion Turn 1

The Alpha Legion struck back, taking down two of the Varagyr terminators with the might of two Tactical squads, the Veteran squad, and a pair of Rapier Laser Destroyers.  The central grey slayer squad broke due to combined shooting from the Despoilers and the Breachers.  Luckily the graviton gun shots that scattered back onto the despoilers did not pin them!  Finally, on the right flank the precision fire from the Headhunter Kill Team was able to snipe out the Space Wolves Centurion.   On the other hand, this did give the Grey Slayers an opportunity to use the Space Wolves special reaction to move 5 inches further up the board, threatening violence next turn.

With First Blood, and a line 2 unit on the central objective, the Alpha Legion go up to 7 victory points.  The Alpha Legion collect a victory point off the forest in the bottom left because there is a Speaker of the Dead sitting with the Heavy Support squad.

Space Wolves Turn 2

This was a big turn for space wolves to charge in, but they only obtained mixed success.  The central unit of Varagyr terminators didn't roll that well and weren't able to break the despoiler squad.  The unit on the right also didn't fare particularely well, with their Thegn losing a challenge to an Ofanim and the unit being brought down to only two survivors.  Both of those combats continued.  The units at the top of the board fared better, with the Saturnines wiping out a tactical squad and the Grey Slayers breaking and then pursuing the Headhunters.

The Autocannons and melta-dreads whittled down the veteran squad with damage 2 shooting, with a couple of the autocannon marines dying to return fire.  The central land raider also rolled pretty well and took out the two rapiers on the right hand side.

With this, the space wolves were able to capture both flags on the left side of the board and prevent the Alpha Legion from scoring in the centre, taking themselves up to 6 victory points.

Alpha Legion Turn 2

Reaction movements kept the Saturnines alive this turn, as they were able to flee the rapiers and tactical squad above them.  They did however get panicked by Dynat's Phosphex bombs and were prevented from scoring.

In the centre of the table, the Breachers pushed out and got some graviton gun fire on a dreadnought to whittle a couple of wounds off it.  They were also able to have a model toe in to scoring range on the objective.  Somehow the Despoilers held on in combat against the Varagyr, rolling the 3 they needed on their morale check.  

On the right hand side the Ofanim and Primus Medicae finished off the other Varagyr unit while the Falchion took out the land raider.  The Grey Slayers opted not to pursue the fleeing Headhunters any further, instead consolidating back to prepare to finish off the wounded Ofanim unit.

With all this, the Alpha Legion were able to take 3 victory points in the centre of the table while the Space Wolves continued scoring 1 on their corner forest.

Space Wolves Turn 3

On the left flank, the Autocannons were able to finish off the Veteran squad while the dreadnoughts continued to push up and fire their guns.  The Grey Slayers charged back into the fight and were finally able to rout the Despoilers, with the Grey Slayers pursuing to continue the combat.  The Grey Slayers on the right charged into the Ofanim but only managed to kill one of them.  The Saturnine command squad did successfully regroup!

Scoring was the same as last turn, with the Alpha Legion getting 2 points in the centre and the Space Wolves getting 1 point from their forest.

Alpha Legion Turn 3

The Saturnine once again used a reaction move to great effect, getting back in the forest ready to score more points.  Dynat missed with his Phosphex bomb and the mighty terminators easily shrugged off the incoming bolter fire.  The Falchion was able to wheel around and take out a Dreadnought, and the Rapiers blew up the Land Raider.

The Breachers had a great turn, shooting down the remaining Varagyr terminators and then charging in to defend the central objective.  The lone surviving Despoiler was not able to regroup.  The Ofanim broke and then pursued the Grey Slayers they were engaged with.

Scoring was a little funky here.  The forest on the top of the board was technically contested by 3 models due to line 2 on the tactical marines.  This meant that they controlled the objective, but weren't eligible to score it due to the scenario rules.  This meant that the only scoring on this turn was done by the Autocannon squad, bringing the Space Wolves up to 9 victory points.

Space Wolves Turn 4

This turn everything came together for the space wolves.  The autocannons were able to finish of Dynat while the Saturnines wiped out the tactical squad.  With the help of the last surviving dreadnought the combat in the centre also went the way of the Space Wolves, allowing them to consolidate towards the objective.  The Ofanim did break the Grey Slayers on the right.

With 3 points for Slay the Warlord and 6 points for objectives, the Space Wolves doubled their score to 18 and took the lead.

Alpha Legion Turn 4

On the final turn of the game the Alpha Legion were not able to turn things around.  The Saturnines were able to make a reaction move to safely get away from the Rapiers but this brought them into the line of sight of the Falchion.  Luckily the last Saturnine Retinue member made three 4+ invulnerable saves before dying, so the Praetor only took one damage 3 wound from the Lascannon array and survived to score again.  The Ofanim also were not able to break the Grey Slayers and score the central objective.

This meant that the Alpha Legion got 1 point for the crate objective on the right hand side and 3 points for Last Man Standing, but this wasn't enough to beat the space wolves even without taking into account the 4 additional points they got for holding the two flags on the left and the central objective with their Dreadnought.

So What Did I Learn?

The Scenario itself worked pretty well!  This is one of the more simple scenarios in the Steamroller 2026 package, but it seemed fine.  I don't know if it actually made that much of a difference compared to the default 30k scenarios, but it played well enough.

The army lists were both pretty cool!  That extra charge distance on the space wolves makes them a nasty threat, and all three of the terminator units definitely hit hard.  On the flip side, the Alpha Legion were really able to weather those charges!  The Despoilers got a bit lucky against the Varagyr, but the Ofanim really held their own and got to show off their Challenge prowess.

I was also worried this might be too much terrain for the Falchion, but it was able to take out a Land Raider and a Dreadnought and then almost turn the game by shooting down the Saturnine Command Squad.

Warhammer 30k 3e - Iron Warriors vs Blood Angels

 

The Lists

The newest incarnation of my Iron Warriors army list features the inductii as a much more reasonably priced way for me to get a squad of shotguns on the table.  Aside from that, the other main difference from the list featured previously is that I'm up to 4 rhinos and one of the tactical squads was replaced with a small melta support squad.

Pitted against the Iron Warriors today is my 'war crimes from the skies' Blood Angels list.  These guys take advantage of the master of descent's ability to guarantee a first turn deep strike, letting the inferno pistol squads get in reliably on the back armour of vehicles.

Deployment

This battle is my first time trying the Take and Hold mission.  This mission features two objectives that start the game worth 3 points each, but their value goes down each time they are scored.  Placing these objectives in the center of the board seemed necessary to keep the game from being super swingy with the Hammer and Anvil deployment zones.  Iron Warriors lost the roll, so they deployed first and will be taking the first turn.  Blood Angels have the following units in reserves:

- Veteran Assault Squad with Master of Descent

- Veteran Assault Squad #2

- Veteran Heavy Support Squad in Drop Pod

- Xiphon Interceptor

Blood Angels have deployed their larger tactical squad and the big assault squad with the praetor to go for the top objective.  In the center they have the vindicators, the rapier squads, and the leviathan.  The bottom of the board has the smaller tactical squad in a rhino alongside the veteran tactical squad.  

Iron Warriors have their sniper recon squad deployed in front of the inductii rhino.  Dreads, vindicators, and the retinue in the landraider hold the center of the board, with the melta squad and a tactical squad with a centurion in rhinos behind them.  The whirlwind is sitting at the back of the board.  The bottom ruins have the augur command and control squad joined by the vigilator, with the other tactical squad and librarian in a rhino behind them.

Blood Angels fail to seize the initiative, so Iron Warriors start turn 1.

Iron Warriors Turn 1

This was a fairly ineffectual first turn.  The smoke launchers on the vindicator and leviathan worked very well and kept either of them from taking any damage.  The large tactical squad did get pinned, and two of the heavy bolter rapiers were killed a scattering demolisher cannon shell, stunning the rest of the unit.  The other demolisher shell scattered off to the rhino, taking 3 hull points off it.

The Iron Warriors did manage to score both objectives, getting a cool 9 points to start the game.

Blood Angels Turn 1

The Blood Angels strike back hard!  The big assault squad chased the inductii back into their rhino and then charged it and blew it up.  I didn't catch this until after I took the screenshot, but the pinned tactical squad were able to use their vox to shake the pinned status and rush onto that objective.

The Vindicators were able to kill the land raider and pin the warsmith's retinue.  Statuses from the rapiers and leviathan made it so they iron warriors couldn't contest the bottom objective, letting the tactical squad score on it. 

The reserve units were not that effective.  The xiphon did a single wound to the deredeo, and the first deep striking veteran squad managed a penetrating hit, a stun, and a pin on the whirlwind.  Luckily, both were able to deploy in such a way that the deredeo couldn't shoot them on arrival. 

With two 4 point objectives and the two points from First Strike, the Blood Angels take the lead with 10 points.  (This is marked as 12 points on the scoreboard below because I gave some extra points before catching this later.)

Iron Warriors Turn 2

Things got a bit scrappy on this turn.  At the top of the board, the inductii swung around to shoot and charge the tactical squad.  The Blood Angels tacticals did have an opportunity to exchange fire with the recon snipers, wiping them out before getting pinned and stunned by all the incoming fire.  The Blood Angels didn't do as well in combat, with no models dying and both squads getting locked in combat.  Also luckily, the vigilator made an across-the-table sniper shot to pin the large assault squad.

In the backline, the melta squad disembarked and shot down all of the inferno pistol veterans, leaving the master of descent alive.  In front of them, the vindicators were able to take out the quad-mortar rapiers and one of the heavy bolter rapiers.  

At the bottom of the table, the librarian's telepathy abilities pushed the enemy tactical squad off the objective.  The rest of the units split fire between the tacticals and the veterans.  The contemptor's gravis plasma cannon shot clipped the rhino, finishing it off.  

The tactical squad with the librarian were not able to shake their status at the end of the turn, so the Iron Warriors only got a single victory point there due to the dreadnought.  This ties the game up at 10 points a piece.

Blood Angels Turn 2

With the large assault squad pinned at the top of the table, there was only the one combat left to resolve up there.  The inductii won the battle, which surprisingly caused the tactical squad to fall back all the way off the table.

In the centre of the board, the Blood Angels vindicators managed to take out one of the Iron Warriors vindicators but the other was saved by smoke launchers.  The leviathan and heavy bolter rapier both pushed up, getting some more damage on the enemy infantry.  This ended up stunning pinning one tactical squad and causing the other to route off the objective.  

The tactical squad regrouped with their vox and charged the enemy rhino, pinning it with a glancing it.  The veteran tactical squad have also continued to shoot, but their disintegrator rifles haven't really done much worth writing about.  Since it couldn't move, the rhino died to the Blood Angels tactical squad in the second round of combat.

Behind enemy lines, the xiphon came in but was shot down by the deredeo.  The second veteran squad came on automatically because the master of descent was still alive, but their shooting really didn't do much to the terminator squad.  The master of descent looped around the whirlwind before charging it, but his krak grenade didn't get the job done.

The assault squad managed to shake their pinned status, scoring the final objective point of the game.  The Blood Angels now have a one point lead with their 11 victory points.

Iron Warriors Turn 3

At this point of the game the priority has fully shifted to winning the secondary objectives.  The warsmith's unit is finally able to move, and when they pushed up the center of the table the large assault squad reacted to move away.  A decent amount of fire was focused into that assault squad, killing nearly half of them.  The surviving vindicator swung back to try to take out the veteran assault squad but missed his shot.  The melta squad had some bad rolls and only killed one of them.  Then the tactical squad behind the deredeo shot them, triggering the Blood Angels advanced reaction.  This let the still mostly unharmed unit fly down towards the bottom of the board, threating some nasty repercussions for the next turn.

In the centre of the board, the warsmith's unit attempted a charge on the leviathan that did not go very well.  Three terminators were killed between the volley fire and the close combat damage, and only two wounds were dealt to the leviathan.  Luckily the warsmith passed his leadership check so that combat will continue next turn.

At the bottom of the board, concentrated fire and a contemptor charge finished off the veteran squad.  The Blood Angels tactical squad was pinned by shrapnel cannon fire.  The librarian and tactical squad sergeant did manage to regroup at the end of the turn.

No points were scored this turn.

Blood Angels Turn 3

The final reserves unit automatically came in due to the master of descent still being alive.  The heavy flamer squad reduced the inductii to 3 men, causing them to route.  In the backline, the master of descent continued to ineffectually try to beat up tanks with his faulty krak grenades.  The surviving veteran assault squad attempted a charge on the tactical squad but lost the combat and were routed.

Back to the center of the board, the vindicators took out the deredeo and have now established complete dominance.  The rapier heavy bolter fired at the augury c&c squad, but the return fire from the vigilator sniped the big gun.  The other rapier crew has hidden behind the ruins to try to preserve units for Last Man Standing.  The Assault Squad charged in to help the leviathan out, but that combat didn't go very well for the Blood Angels.  The praetor lost the challenge to the warsmith, and not much else died.  The leviathan broke and routed, but the assault squad stayed to fight.

No points were scored this turn.

Iron Warriors Turn 4

At the top of the board, the vindicator turned his gun on the veteran heavy support squad and killed three of them.  The inductii fell back and regrouped at the end of the turn.  The melta squad and rhino weren't able to kill the master of descent.  The Whirlwind tried to lob a shot at the enemy vindicator, but missed.  

The warsmith's unit routed the assault squad in the middle of the table, pursuing them to continue the combat.

At the bottom of the board, the Iron Warriors tried to finish off the blood angels tactical squad but one of them survived.

No points were scored this turn.

Blood Angels Turn 4

The Blood Angels needed to get Last Man Standing to win the game, but weren't able to get there.  The heavy flamer veteran wasn't quite able to finish off the inductii.  The master of descent got a charge off against the melta squad and caused them to route.  The assault squad lost another round of combat and continued routing, but were able to regroup at the end of the turn.  The vindicators and the large rapier crew focused fire on the augur c&c squad, killing them all and routing the vigilator.  Finally, at the bottom of the board the leviathan charged the contemptor.  It wasn't able to prevent the death of the final tactical marine, and didn't quite manage to finish off the enemy dreadnought.

With that, Iron Warriors are able to get the bonus points for Last Man Standing, with 13 units to the Blood Angels' 9.  Iron Warriors then win the game with 16 victory points!

Conclusions

This was another dramatic and fun game.  I quite liked the mission, having the objectives in the center of the board gave a great reason for the armies to push towards each other and it was cool how the game changed once the objectives went away.  I do worry that if the objectives were placed back in the deployment zones it would make for a much more static battle.

The Blood Angels list mostly worked ok, but there were a couple of units that were underwhelming.  The disintegrator rifles were fairly useless, and I think that veteran squad would have been much more effective as a different unit.  The inferno pistols being damage 1 was also fairly limiting.  Having small squads meant they were able to drop in behind terrain and avoid reaction fire, but it did limit their effectiveness quite a bit.  They might be better as a single 10 man unit instead of two 5 man units.  On the plus side, the leviathan with assault cannons was very nasty.  It's shooting was very effective, and the extra toughness and wounds over a contemptor made it very survivable.  The rapiers and vindicators were also a very effective fire base.

I think the Blood Angels had a real shot at winning this game if their rolls had went slightly better in turn 3.  The warsmith was a single invulnerable save away from death in the challenge against the praetor, and the veteran assault squad losing combat to a tactical squad (with a centurion) was fairly unlucky.  

One thing that surprised me about the Iron Warriors list is how nice it is to have the techmarines tanking wounds with their 2+ armour saves.  I didn't point it out much in the report above, but having techmarines or characters in three of my squads meant that they were surprisingly resilient to shooting.

Overall, this was a great game.  With this, I've now done solo runs of each of the three missions from the main rule book, each with a different deployment style.  I'm now quite convinced that the terrain and objectives should be set up to match the deployment zones, but aside from that I think the missions are very good.  Four turns continues to feel like a very good spot for mission length.

Warhammer 30k 3e - Sons of Horus vs Iron Warriors

With the dawn of a new edition it's time for some more practice games on Vassal!  Today's matchup is actually the second practice game after a one sided stomp with these same deployment and mission but a slightly different list for the Iron Warriors.

The Lists

The Sons of Horus army list was taken from this Bearfoot Miniatures battle report - (Link to Video)

The Iron Warriors list is my 2nd attempt to figure out how to convert my army to third edition.  This battle is my first time trying the Deredeo Dreadnought and I was excited to see how it would fare against the Fire Raptor Gunship.

Deployment

I did want to run back the previous test battle I did but with more terrain this time, so the map was set up already knowing that it would be Dawn of War deployment and the Crucible of War mission with 4 objectives.  Iron warriors won the roll and placed the first objective, so Sons of Horus got to make a cluster of objectives on the left hand side that their massive combat units would hopefully be able to control.

The Sons of Horus set up wide firing lines with their Laser Destroyer Vindicators, but the Iron Warriors were able to deploy fairly safely and minimize the amount of exposure.  
In case it isn't clear, the Demon Prince is subbing in for Horus Luprecal here, the inflitrated squad on the right hand side is a squad of recon marines with shotguns and a melta bomb, and any iron warriors with autocannons actually have sniper rifles.
The Sons of Horus Centurion is with a tactical squad in their Rhino on the left side, and the Optae is with an identical tactical squad in the Rhino on the right of the Javelins.

The Iron Warriors Librarian is in the Rhino at the bottom left with the a tactical squad, the Praetor is in the Land Raider with the retinue, the Vigilator is with the Augur CNC squad, and the Centurion is in the Rhino on the right hand side with the prime tactical squad.  The central Rhino contains the melta Support squad.

The Iron Warriors failed to Seize the Initiative, so it's on to Turn 1.

Sons of Horus Turn 1

With Reserves now coming in on a 3+ on Turn 1, the Fire Raptor (represented here by a Helldrake) is able to join in right away!  The Deredeo's got a free intercept reaction from the Augury CNC squad but failed to stop the plane, so it was able to suppress and kill some tactical marines with its Avenger Boltgun battery.  The rest of the marines advanced forward, taking advantage of the extra 1" of movement given by Horus on the first turn of the game.  The Land Raider popped smoke and was ok getting shot by the left-flank laser destroyer, and the central laser destroyer managed to take 3 wounds off the Deredeo.  On the right hand side the tactical marines and Javelins wiped out the infiltrated Expendable recon squad.  The laser destroyer on the right hand side didn't move, as it seemed better to keep it back as a counter punch once the transports moved up.

The Sons of Horus were able to claim 3 objectives, getting four points from each of them thanks to the tactical squads having Line(2).  They also achieved First Strike by killing the recon squad, but that was reduced to 3 victory points due to The Unfavoured giving the recon marines Expendable(1).

As per the new flier rules, the Fire Raptor gunship flew away as the turn ended.

Iron Warriors Turn 1

The Iron Warriors struck back with a vengeance!  The first order of business was to shake of the Suppressed status on the tactical squad using their vox.  In the movement phase all four transports were able to unload their cargo, with the Javelins spending a reaction to back away and avoid the melta squad.  Shooting went fairly well, getting the left-most tactical squad down to two models, pinning the central squad (via Vigilator sniping), and stunning the rightmost squad (due to the Centurion's shotgun).  In another bit of luck, the Fear from the Librarian meant that the Vindicator was able to stun the Leviathan.  Finally, the Land Raider getting to split fire worked out fairly nicely, stunning a rhino with its left lascannons and taking a wound off a Javelin with its right ones.

In combat the Praetor handily destroyed the Leviathan with his Graviton Crusher.  The resulting explosion killed the last two tactical marines, which meant the squad was able to consolidate forward and claim the objective.  The tactical marines on the right made a disordered charge after disembarking from their landraider. Their Centurion easily defeated the Optae in a duel, but the half of the Sons of Horus tactical squad survived and were able to safely withdraw from combat.  

Withdraw seems like a very powerful option now.  The tactical squad couldn't really pursue as it would risk giving up the objective, but that left them open to be shot at next turn.

The Iron Warriors able to claim three objectives, and two of those were claimed with line units.  They also got the full 4 points for First Strike.  I had initially only counted 1 victory point for the Retinue claiming their objective, but they don't have Vanguard so they get the full allotment of 2 points.

Sons of Horus Turn 2

The right hand tactical squad shook off the Stun status with their vox.  The difficulty of the Flier's reserves roll goes up by one every turn that it tries to come back, but this time it was successful and came in outside of the Deredeo's range.  I had it do a Strafing mission instead of a Strike mission, and the autocannon sponsons each managed to damage and pin a separate Rhino while the Avenger battery shot up the tactical squad.  With the whole flank collapsing on them, the tactical squad was eventually killed giving the Sons of Horus another objective with a Line squadron. 

Horus split off from his slow moving retinue to try to secure the left flank, gunning down several of the tactical marines that were behind the Land raider.  The Iron Warriors Retinue used a movement reaction to run away from the Primarch.  The Laser Destroyers also had an effective turn, weakening the Land Raider and taking out the central Vindicator.  The finishing blow to the Land Raider was actually done by the multi-melta rhino, which tried to run over some terminators and then succesfully landed a snapshot to take off 6 hull points.

The Sons of Horus were able to claim 3 objectives, getting four points for the side objectives but only one point for the central objective since their tactical squad was pinned and the Justaerins are a Vanguard unit.  That tactical squad then passed its leadership test to fix its pinned Status, and the Rhino passed its repair roll to remove its Suppressed status.

Iron Warriors Turn 2

On the left flank, the Praetor left his retinue to go deal with a Vindicator, killing it in combat and consolidating back over.  Shooting got the Sons of Horus squad on the left objective to break and flee, and the Retinue was able to charge them and finish them off.  The Contemptor avenged the land raider by crushing the Rhino with its fist.  The central Sons of Horus tactical squad was also very weakened by the Iron Warriors' gunfire, getting pinned and breaking.  Note that units fleeing due to shooting actually only move in their own movement phase, so he's still sitting on the objective there.  Finally, the melta guns and Rhinos were able to finish off the tactical squad on the right flank, and the Deredeo took the first wound off of Horus.

The Iron Warriors the bottom objective with a lone Tactical marine and the top objective with the Retinue for an additional 6 victory points this turn.  Once again I had forgot to give the Retinue their full score, but this is corrected in the screenshot above.

Sons of Horus Turn 3

The Gunship now needs a 5+ to come in from Aerial Reserves and isn't able to make it in for the rest of the game.  Horus needs to stop the Iron Warriors from scoring, so he advances down the left flank and guns down the lone tactical marine before charging into the 10 man tactical squad.  He destroys the Librarian in a gruesome duel, but stays a bit more central rather than fully perusing the squad.  The surviving tank hunters get the Augury CNC squad and the Whirlwind to pop smoke but are unable to kill them.  The Justaerin however were able to destroy the melta gunners and fully win the right flank for the Sons of Horus.  Finally, the lone central tactical marine passed his test to rally but failed to shake his Pinned status.

The Justaerin were the only unit to score this turn, bringing the Sons of Horus up to 25VP.

Iron Warriors Turn 3

This turn all of the effort goes into killing Horus.  Shooting brings him down to one wound, but disaster strikes and the Contemptor gets a double 1 on his charge distance.  Horus is able to kill the Praetor and most of the Retinue after using the Sons of Horus reaction to reject an opportunity to duel a lesser opponent.  The retinue broke but Horus was able to pursue them.  On the bright side, the fleeing tactical marines were able to rally at the end of the turn.

Oh, also the Scorpius nuked the last surviving Sons of Horus tactical marine.

The Iron Warriors weren't able to score any points here, but the Sons of Horus get 2 for Slaying the Warlord.  (I originally had this as 4 points, so now both scorecards in the screenshot have corrected values).

Sons of Horus Turn 4

In their final turn the Sons of Horus were not able to finish off the tactical squad.  Horus did kill the last retinue model and stay on the objective, so the Sons of Horus scored three more points.

Iron Warriors Turn 4

In a hilarious turn of events, the Rhino on the left flank ran Horus over and hilled him.  This meant the last surviving tactical marine could rush on to the objective, and the Contemptor could rush up the claim one as well.  So with 6 points from objectives, 2 points from Giant Killer, and 2 from Last Man Standing the Iron Warriors are able to tie the game.

Conclusions

That was a really fun game!  Horus was really scary, but the fact that the tactical squad was pinned on turn two meant his MV6 Heavy Justaerin bodyguard couldn't follow him and were relegated to being a fairly over-costed unit to sit on that objective.  The Deredeo's autocannons also seemed quite strong and presented a real threat to the Fire Raptor Gunship.  

Having enough terrain and a good plan to exploit the 36" range of the laser destroyers was also key, as their impact on the first turn was quite minimal in this game.  

Calculating the Victory Points was a surprisingly error prone-process.  It might just be because it's new, but the fact that there are so many modifiers definitely caught me off guard.  I didn't realize the game was a tie until I finished writing this battle report and recalculated everything on a turn by turn basis.

Finally, the widespread access to statuses really made a difference for the Iron Warriors even though the Sons of Horus had boosted leadership across the board due to Horus giving all the tactical marines Prime and taking the Combat Veterans advantage.  Having snipers to remove Vox Operators seems like a solid plan for armies attempting to play the Status game.

Warhammer 30k Test Game #4 - LH Emperor's Children vs Death Guard

 Time for another practice game as I inch my way towards an actual in person game of warhammer sometime in the next two weeks!

The Lists

Evil Emperor’s Children 2k 

Legio Hereticus Emperor’s Children 2000pts

HQ: 3/3 (370 pts)

Legion Esoterist with chainsword, force staff = 60+35 = 95

(WL) Legion Champion with bolt pistol, paragon blade, jump pack, warp scream

     = 60+35+20+15 = 130

    Warlord Trait: The Broken Mirror. (Anyone in a unit with more than 1 remaining model within 12” can take 1 wound instead of failing a morale check.  +1 reaction in shooting phase)

Legion Chaplain with bolt pistol, MC power axe, jump pack, Abhorrent Sensoria

    = 60+35+15+20+15 = 145

Elites: 1/4 (250 pts)

Palatine Blades (5)

    5 phoenix sabres

    Sublingual Glands on unit

    =165+25+25 = 215

Drop Pod 35

Troops: 5/6 (795 pts)

Tactical Squad (15)

    5 extra guys, 14 chainswords

    Legion Vexilla, Nuncio Vox

    Artificer Armour and Phoenix Power Spear on sergeant

    = 100+50+70+10+10+(10+10) = 260

Assault Squad (10)

    2 power axes

    Artificer Armour, Warp Scream and Phoenix Spear on sergeant

    = 145+10+(10+15+10) = 190

Assault Squad (10)

    2 power axes

    Abhorent Sensoria, artificer armour, and lightning claws on sergeant

    = 145+10+10+(15+10+15) = 195

Scout Squad (10)

    5 extra guys

    1 shotgun, the rest have bolt pistol + chainsword

    Phoenix Power Spear and Sublingual Glands on sergeant

    =65+40+10+15 = 130

Lesser Daemon Squad (20)

    10 extra guys, Formless Distortion

    = 120+100 = 220

Fast Attack: 1/3 (160 pts)

Legion Skyhunter Squad (3)

   3 multimeltas

   Artificer armour on sergeant

   = 105+45+10 = 160

Heavy Support: 1/3 (225 pts)

Deredeo Dreadnought with plasma cannonade, aiolos missiles = 205+15+5 = 225

Death Guard + Iron Hands 2k 

++ 1. Crusade Force Organisation Chart (LA - XIV: Death Guard) [1,460Pts] ++ + Allegiance: + Allegiance: Traitor XIV: Death Guard + Rite of War: + Rite of War: Creeping Death (DG) + HQ: + Calas Typhon [610Pts]: Warlord . Calas Typhon: Psychic Powers . Command Squad, Cataphractii . . 3x Cataphractii Chosen w/Lightning Claws: 3x Pair of Lightning Claws . . Cataphractii Standard Bearer w/Melee Weapon . . . Power Weapon: Power Sword . . Land Raider Proteus Carrier: Twin-linked Heavy Bolter Centurion, Cataphractii [155Pts] . Siege Breaker: Cataphractii Terminator Armour, Combi-Bolter, Thunder Hammer, Toxin Bombs . Siege Breaker

+ Troops: + Tactical Squad [125Pts] . Legion Tactical Sergeant: Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Power Armour, Power Fist, Toxin Bombs . 9x Legionaries (collective): 9x Bolt Pistol, 9x Bolter Tactical Squad [125Pts] . Legion Tactical Sergeant: Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Power Armour, Power Fist, Toxin Bombs . 9x Legionaries (collective): 9x Bolt Pistol, 9x Bolter Tactical Squad [125Pts] . Legion Tactical Sergeant: Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Power Armour, Power Fist, Toxin Bombs . 9x Legionaries (collective): 9x Bolt Pistol, 9x Bolter

+ Heavy Support: + Heavy Support Squad [160Pts]: Lascannon . Legion Support Sergeant: Bolt Pistol, Power Armour, Toxin Bombs . 4x Legionaries (collective): 4x Bolt Pistol Heavy Support Squad [160Pts]: Lascannon . Legion Support Sergeant: Bolt Pistol, Power Armour, Toxin Bombs . 4x Legionaries (collective): 4x Bolt Pistol

++ 3. Allied Detachment (LA - X: Iron Hands) [540Pts] ++ + Allegiance: + Allegiance: Traitor X: Iron Hands + Rite of War: + Rite of War + HQ: + Centurion [165Pts] . Moritat: Artificer Armour, Cyber-Familiar, Graviton Pistol, Warhawk Jump Pack . . Chainsword: Chainsword . . Graviton Pistol . Moritat + Elites: + Contemptor Dreadnought Talon [210Pts] . Contemptor Dreadnought: Gravis Lascannon, Gravis Power Fist with in-built ranged weapon, Graviton Gun + Troops: + Tactical Squad [165Pts] . Legion Tactical Sergeant: Artificer Armour, Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Power Fist . 9x Legionaries (collective): 9x Bolt Pistol, 9x Bolter . Rhino Transport: Searchlights + Allied Detachment + Allied Detachment ++ Total: [2,000Pts] ++

Setup

Once again this game is taking place on Vassal.  Rolling randomly it ended up with a Dawn of War deployment for the Take and Hold mission.  Emperor's Children won the roll to go first and declined the use of night fight, and the board ended up looking like this:

Important notes to make sense of this picture:

1. The Death Guard / Nurgle units in Vassal are entirely too chaotic / mutated to use here, so I've opted to have everyone but Typhon be represented by Salamanders since they have the right weapon selection and green is at least vaguely the right colour.

2. The Emperor's Children chaplain is in the assault squad on the left, and the champion is in the unit on the right.

3. Two obvious mistakes in hindsight are that the lone Iron Hands Moritat should have been hidden away somewhere safer and the Emperor's Children Esoterist should have been at the front of the unit.  The scouts also should have inched 3 inches closer with their scout move instead of staying 12 away due to infiltrate.

4. The Death Guard failed to seize the initiative

Turn 1

Emperor's Children

The Assault Squads advanced their full 12 inches (without running), not really feeling like they could get the charge but also not wanting to just sit back and let the enemy score.  The Scouts were pretty lucky, with bolt pistol fire claiming two of the Heavy Support squad near by.  The sublingual gland upgrade succeeded in blinding the unit, but even better was the fact that they failed their morale check and ran off the board.  The jetbikes capitalized on the poorly deployed Moritat, who did not survive even with the combination of the Iron Hands rule and a Shrouded reaction giving him a decent chance.  The one bright light for the Death Guard side was the Deredeo failing to do anything to the Iron Hands Contemptor.  At the end of the turn the board looked like this:

Score: EC:2 | DG:0

Death Guard

The Contemptor being slowed down by the Rite of War's difficult terrain was a bit rough, but luckily neither surviving iron hands unit took damage from the dangerous terrain. 30 tactical marines managed to work together fairly well at chipping down the left side assault squad even through the Emperor's Children special reaction.  The remaining Heavy Support squad took some return fire as they shot down a bike, and the Land raider picked off another one.  The bikes actually failed their leadership roll, but the Warlord Trait meant that the sergeant just lost a wound and stuck around. 

The Dreadnought handily made its change and knocked the assault squad down to just the Chaplain and Sergeant, but stubborn LD10 kept them around.  Typhon and his unit were not able to reach the other assault squad, but they did kill a couple with Typhon's psychic shooting.  At the end of the turn the board ended up looking like this:

(Note - the scared face token signifies a Stupefied unit)

Score: EC:2 | DG:1

Turn 2

Emperor's Children

The reserves roll for the Palatine Blades is failed!  Undaunted, the Emperor's Children surged in for further combat.  Typhon's movement phase reactions were used to move the two tactical squads away from the Champion and his Assault Marines, but both they and the Deamons made it into combat mostly intact.  The Deredeo was able to chunk down some of the objective-holding Tactical squads with plasma and bolter shots, as well as clipping one of the lascannons.  The lone surviving jetbike only got a glancing hit on the land raider, and the tactical squad managed one wound on Typhon's Siege Breaker.
Combat went quite well all around for the Emperor's Children.  The Contemptor only got 1 hit, finishing off the assault squad but leaving the stubborn chaplain alive.  The Daemons and Assault squad together broke two tactical squads, failing to catch them in the pursuit but leaving the Death Guard squad on a single model.

Score: EC:3 | DG:1

Death Guard

If the Death Guard can stop the momentum of the forward units they should be in a good spot.  Unfortunately, the Iron Hands tactical squad and the lone survivor of the fleeing Death Guard tactical squad both fail to regroup.  The Iron Hands lose 2 to the dangerous terrain from the Rite of War, and the Death Guard legs it off the table.

Looking to inspire its fellows, the rhino does a mighty ram into the Daemons and kills 3 of them.  Other units mostly shuffle around to get better positions, with the Land Raider and Typhon's unit working together to pinch the Scouts and prevent them from blocking a crucial turn of scoring.

Shooting was fairly successful, with the Daemons reduced to a single survivor and the assault squad wiped off the board thanks to the fury of the legion and a couple gravis lascannons.  Tragically, Typhon's psychic shooting scattered on to the tactical squad and killed two of them.  The lascannon heavy support squad once again traded fire with the jetbikes, taking out the last survivor and leaving one lascannon standing triumphant.

The Contemptor was able to finish off the Chaplain and start in towards the enemy objective.

Score: EC:3 | DG:3

Turn 3

Emperor's Children

A second roll of a 2 means that the Palatine Blades once again fail to arrive.  The Emperor's Children tried to make the best of it, sending the lone Daemon to chase the fleeing iron hands and sending the scouts the long way around the land raider.  The Esoterist broke off from the Tactical Squad in an attempt to block movement a bit for the Contemptor, and the squad moved back to their objective.  The lone bright spot was the Deredeo completely wiping out the tactical squad even through the Death Guard advanced reaction.  
The lone Daemon did roll high enough to charge the Iron Hands, but they regrouped and gunned it down.

Score: EC:4 | DG:3

Death Guard

It was finally time to address the Scouts!  The Contemptor worked his way around the Esoterist and gunned down 1 tactical marine with his lascannon.  The lone surviving Heavy Support marine fired at the Esoterist but faild to penetrate his invulnerable save.  The Scouts were also dealt with, but at great cost.  The Iron Hands lost two more marines to dangerous terrain, panicked, and fled off the board.  Typhon's psychic gun once again did well, taking out six scouts by himself.  The Tactical Marines finished off the survivors, but were blinded and lost a model in the return fire.

The Land Raider took a shot at the Deredeo but didn't wound.  The Rhino immobilized itself trying to drive through the dangerous deployment zone.

Unfortunately, the bad luck didn't stop there.  The Contemptor came up 1" short on his charge, leaving the tactical squad free to score their point on the objective.

Score: EC:4 | DG:4

Turn 4

Emperor's Children

The timely arrival of the Palatine Blades was marred by an 8" scatter, but at least drop pods are not allowed to go off the board.  They advanced towards the enemy tactical squad on the objective, who fell back using Typhon's extra reaction.  The Palatine Blades lost one model to dangerous terrain, and were not able to take down any tactical marines with their bolt pistols.  No units near the Contemptor dared move and provoke its reaction which could contest the objective.  Luckily, the Deredeo was able to stay out of the 12" bubble and get a good shot on Typhon's unit.  The terminators passed all their armour and invulnerable saves from the plasma, but a single Aiolos missile finally made it through and pinned the unit.  Finally, the Esoterist struck down the last Lascannon squad member with his esoteric (d)arts.

Score: EC:5 | DG:4

Death Guard

The game was threatening to come down to secondary objectives, but the Palantine Blades had to be dealt with first.  Their movement reaction would prevent the Tactical Marines from scoring on the objective!  The Tactical Marines moved up while the land raider got in position to blast them!  The Land Raider managed to take 3 down, but the 4th survived through bolter fire from the Tactical Marines, the immobilized Rhino, and a desperate shot from the Siege Breaker.  The Contemptor took down the Esoterist with a Lascannon shot, hoping that might get the edge on secondary objectives.

The Death Guard weren't able to score on their objective, so the final score came down to:

Emperor's Children: Primary: 4 vp | Secondary: 1vp Break Their Ranks

Death Guard: Primary: 3 vp | Secondary: 1vp Slay the Warlord, 1 vp Last Man Standing (6-4)

Final Score: 5 | 5 -- Tie Game!

Conclusions

Wow, what a bloody battle.  I didn't think much of the Death Guard's chances at the start of this, but they were able to deal with the incoming waves of Emperor's Children quite handily.  It was a bit of a shame that Typhon and his unit didn't get into combat, but Typhon's psychic shooting was quite impressive and they did control a lot of space on the board.

The Palatine Blades really highlighted the risk of putting a unit in a drop pod without any other rules to help you reach that 3+ reserve roll.  

The Death Guard rite of war was an interesting one.  I think it helped them out a bit, but the fact that it panicked the Iron Hands off the table and immobilized their Rhino was pretty much the worst case scenario.  It might be nice to go with an outflanking recon squad instead of the tactical squad?  Depends how valuable of a later-game disruption piece that would be.

It definitely wasn't a prefect game for either side, but I think it did a good job of showing off the strengths of each list.